Rather Than Be Taken, I Will Take - Chapter 38

“Stand up first.”

Feeling upset, Mikhail put down the cards he was holding on the table and stood up.

No one at the table tried to stop him, only carefully watching him as he put on his jacket with an expressionless face.

“……”

Cabelased, who had been watching Mikhail’s receding back, also stood up from his seat.

The reason Cabelased came here today was to meet Mikhail.

He thought Mikhail might know what Duke Amaterasu’s daughter was trying to do with Semper Alpuri.

Of course, he didn’t expect Mikhail to get upset before he could find out about it.

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It had already been two hours since the depressed Mikhail shouted ‘Just one more drink!’.

Cabelased, who quickly withdrew his plan to find out information about Duke Amaterasu’s daughter through Mikhail, grabbed the collar of Mikhail’s jacket, who was rubbing his face on the bar table.

“Get up.”

“Just! One more drink… Huh?”

Mikhail’s expression as he looked up at Cabelased with his eyes slightly raised was quite pitiful, but Cabelased was not one to fall for it.

“If you won’t get up, I’ll leave you behind.”

Cabelased coldly spat out and let go of Mikhail’s jacket he was holding.

“How cold…”

Mikhail glanced at Cabelased lightly and got up from his seat, sniffling.

Then he asked.

“You’ll escort me to the mansion, right?”

Cabelased tightly closed his eyes.

He felt something boiling up inside him because of Mikhail’s childish behavior.

But soon he regained his composure and opened his closed eyes.

“I recommend walking on your own two feet if possible.”

Even during the not-so-long time heading towards the carriage, Mikhail’s whining continued.

“Cabel? Lately, Jieselgrante…”

The name coming out of Mikhail’s mouth was indeed Jieselgrante, but the content was quite different from what Cabelased wanted.

“…She’s changed, you know? She doesn’t call me ‘elder brother’ affectionately like before, and I feel like the way she looks at me has changed a bit?”

It didn’t seem like Jieselgrante had ever affectionately called Mikhail ‘elder brother’ before, but Cabelased didn’t bother to mention that.

And he thought for a moment.

‘Should I just abandon him here?’

Cabelased quietly looked at the surroundings that had rapidly darkened after sunset.

The wind was especially cold today, as if jealous of the flowers that were starting to bloom.

If he left Mikhail here on the street, he would surely catch a cold.

‘Come to think of it, it was around this time.’

Although Mikhail had a sturdy physique no less than the academy trainees aspiring to be knights, during his academy days, he would fall seriously ill with a cold exactly once every year.

Usually, he seemed so simple-minded that one might wonder if he had any thoughts at all, but when sick, he showed a vulnerable side.

Ever since Cabelased had gotten medicine for him from the infirmary just once, Mikhail seemed to think of him as a friend.

“Cabel…? Are you listening to me?”

When there was no response, Mikhail raised one eyebrow and glared at Cabelased, urging him.

Cabelased pushed Mikhail into the carriage.

“Shut up and just get in.”

“Ugh…”

Mikhail looked up at him with a tearful expression.

“Just say if you’re feeling sick.”

At Cabelased’s rebuke, Mikhail just nodded with his mouth tightly shut.

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Jieselgrante thought as she watched the red sunset disappearing between the distant mountain ranges.

‘I wonder what choice Count Frederick will make.’

Today, the price of Semper Alpuri matched exactly with the amount she had predicted yesterday.

Since it had happened as she said, it was quite predictable that there would be a reaction from Count Frederick.

But there were always variables.

“Young lady. It’s quite cold today. I brought something for you to wear.”

Lindsey said, showing a thick shawl.

“Thank you, Lindsey.”

As Lindsey wrapped the shawl around Jieselgrante’s shoulders, she shook her head.

“It’s nothing. But why do you keep staying outside?”

“Just because the sunset is beautiful?”

“It is beautiful indeed.”

After standing beside Jieselgrante for a moment, looking up at the sky, Lindsey asked.

“Shall I prepare some warm tea?”

“Yes. Two cups.”

Lindsey, who had been looking at Jieselgrante with a puzzled expression for a moment, soon nodded.

“Yes, young lady. I’ll prepare two cups of warm tea.”

As she watched Lindsey turn towards the mansion, Jieselgrante slightly pulled the end of the shawl to close the front.

Just then, the sound of horse hooves was heard from afar.

“…Oh? Young lady, it seems someone is coming.”

“Yes, it must be my guest. Please guide them this way.”

“Yes, young lady.”

Lindsey nodded and started walking towards the mansion again.

She had taken a small gamble not long ago.

If this matter was resolved well, she could gain two benefits at once.

Although the probability of her winning was high from the beginning, nothing in the world could be guaranteed.

In the past Jieselgrante’s diary, it was written that small changes in the present could greatly alter the future.

Of course, it seemed that the future didn’t always change for the better.

Just as the previous Jieselgrante, who had seen the future multiple times, couldn’t prevent her own death.

It was a situation where every time she changed a part of the present and looked at the future, the future changed anew, so it seemed she had no way to deal with it.

And now, Jieselgrante was trying to remove the part that the past Jieselgrante had worried about.

The diary contained quite detailed accounts of the Semper Alpuri incident.

In fact, it had been the case before, but recently, the value of wealth had risen to a level that threatened status.

To the extent that the head of a large merchant group was treated better than a lower-ranking nobleman without proper territory.

Although the wall of status was still high for now, no one could guarantee that it would remain so in the future.

So everyone must be desperately trying to get Semper Alpuri.

If they could resell the Semper Alpuri they had bought at a low price for a sky-high price, their future lives could change.

Right now, due to her small action of provoking Countess Minster at the Empress’s tea party, Countess Minster was in danger of being dismissed from her position as the Empress’s lady-in-waiting, but in the future written in the diary, it wasn’t so.

Although they go through a precarious period with their fortunes temporarily declining, the Minster family gains more gold coins through Semper Alpuri this time than they had lost due to failed investments.

That wasn’t all.

The Minster family, continuing to accumulate merits and gaining the Empress’s trust, even manages to receive the title of marquis.

Thanks to that, the power of the Minster family grows to the point of standing shoulder to shoulder with the Ratse marquis family.

‘That can’t happen.’

So the method Jieselgrante used was to block one of the Empress’s forces that would grow in the future.

So that this small flutter of wings now could become a huge storm and swallow up the Minster family.

And if things went according to Jieselgrante’s will, she could break one of the Empress’s wings.

By now, the sound of horse hooves was rapidly approaching.

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As the carriage stopped in front of the huge iron gate, the guards, after confirming the carriage’s emblem, opened the gate.

Count Frederick thought as he looked at the vast garden of Duke Amaterasu’s mansion.

‘It seems she knew I would come.’

It seemed that thought was correct.

As Count Frederick got out of the carriage, an employee who had been waiting guided him.

Contrary to his expectation of heading into the mansion, the employee led him to the vast garden.

After walking for a while, Jieselgrante came into view.

“It seems you were certain I would come.”

Count Frederick said as he approached Jieselgrante.

“I checked the price of Semper Alpuri today. I hope you didn’t think that you could guess correctly just once by chance.”

Count Frederick was inwardly startled.

When Duke Amaterasu’s daughter, who had suddenly visited Count Frederick’s mansion yesterday, said something that came true exactly today, it was indeed surprising.

But he didn’t think that future events would also happen as she said.

However, he was curious.

“How did you know? Today’s price of Semper Alpuri.”

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you the source of the information. More importantly, the fact that you came to see me today means you’re here to provide me with appropriate information in return, right?”

“Unfortunately, I haven’t found out anything new regarding the incident with Her Highness the Princess.”

“Oh my, how disappointing.”

Duke Amaterasu’s daughter said with an expression that didn’t look disappointed at all.

“It might not be much of a substitute, but I have succeeded in finding the traitor of Princess Trinity.”

“You mean Countess Zimmer?”

“You… already knew?”

“I happened to hear about it. Is there nothing else?”

Duke Amaterasu’s daughter naturally asked for new information.

Although he was a bit taken aback by her attitude, as if she believed her pet dog would naturally perform tricks, Count Frederick obediently opened his mouth.

“I hear that Baroness Oppenheimer’s trial will be held soon.”

Count Frederick glanced sideways at Duke Amaterasu’s daughter.

Judging by her lack of surprise, it seemed she already knew about the trial as well.

“A thought just occurred to me.”

Only then did Duke Amaterasu’s daughter turn her head towards Count Frederick.

“It seems that what you want from me is not information about Princess Trinity’s case.”

Duke Amaterasu’s daughter looked at Count Frederick with an expression that seemed to ask what he meant.

“I have a feeling that you have more demands of me regarding Semper Alpuri. Although I have no evidence to support it.”

“As I told you before, dispose of all the Alpuri you have before Semper blooms. That’s all I’m asking of you.”

“…?”

Count Frederick’s brow furrowed slightly, but Duke Amaterasu’s daughter continued speaking without minding.

“Then the Frederick family will come into possession of enormous wealth unprecedented in its history.”