Love Me Just Once (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 155

And Idren grasped her hand, which had been resting between them. Only when his rough, calloused palm enveloped hers did Ophelia realize that her hand had been trembling.

She hadn’t been particularly shocked or nervous, so she found it strange—just as that thought crossed her mind, the man spoke.

“The merchant side seems to have taken the lead in this situation.”

“But what reason would they have?”

Anika had done nothing to earn the enmity of the Egelbamot merchant.

Even if she had somehow incurred resentment, no merchant would be reckless enough to assassinate the head of a powerful noble house.

Idren agreed with her sentiment.

“It would be difficult for a merchant to act out of personal grudge like that.”

“Southern lords wouldn’t easily ally with foreign merchants either. They consider even their own country’s merchants beneath them… Someone must be standing behind that merchant.”

And whoever was pulling the strings must hold a status high enough to negotiate on equal footing with foreign lords—likely another noble, or someone even higher.

“Given they specifically chose the Egelbamot merchant, it’s highly probable they’re from Egelbamot themselves.”

But where would Anika have earned the hostility of an Egelbamot noble?

Only two major factions among Egelbamot nobles could control merchant guilds: Princess Talia, the second imperial princess, and her faction, or those under Crown Prince Orienn. Though distinct, both groups fell under the umbrella of the Luntalis Imperial House.

Yet the current Egelbamot imperial court maintained a reasonably good relationship with Idren.

They focused less on the fact that Idren had killed the previous Grand Duke—a man of their own blood—and more on the fact that the Sigrasil line had branched from Luntalis.

Read full content of this chapter on r e d c a t t y . c o m