At the same time, Arianna Valois was facing Adela Giloyt, whom she had managed to meet with great difficulty.

“As expected, you came, Lady.”

“If the Viscount came, it would surely raise suspicion. At times like this, it’s convenient to be a woman.”

Arianna smiled faintly as she looked at Adela, who seemed somewhat haggard.

“Thank you for taking the trouble to come.”

“You said you had information worth the trip. I have to bear with this much.”

As Arianna watched her put on a pretentious expression of apology, she raised her teacup to hide her own expression.

It was certainly a troublesome journey.

From the annoying questions at the entrance of the mansion, asking why she had come in the first place.

It was quite a bothersome journey, having to face even Duke Giloyt before coming to this room.

However, despite that, Arianna had come all the way here because she judged that the information Adela claimed to have was sufficiently valuable.

Arianna had suppressed the thought of turning back countless times and made it here.

She had some thoughts about how many times she would have to do such troublesome things as a duke’s daughter.

Honestly, if Lloyd had not insisted that she must obtain Adela’s information, it would have been something she didn’t need to do.

“So, what information do you have?”

“You seem to be in quite a hurry. I suppose Count Philipa is being very troublesome?”

“To be precise, it’s not me, but the Viscount who is uncomfortable. Since we work together, we can’t have any discomfort between us.”

Arianna said as she put down her teacup.

That’s what she said, but in fact, it was a meeting that didn’t need to be prolonged.

Adela Giloyt was now a piece that had no significant use, and now that the Empress proposal had fallen through, there was no reason to hold onto her.

So, there was no need to sit for long once the purpose was achieved.

Arianna straightened her back and looked at Adela.

“Can you tell me what information you have and what help you want? I don’t have much time.”

“I suppose the Viscount told you to keep it brief and come back?”

At her words, Adela asked sharply with an unpleasant face.

She must be feeling bad about being treated as useless.

But unfortunately, even without bringing up the Viscount’s story, she also had something to say.

“Rather than that, Duke Giloyt said it would be best not to exceed an hour if possible. He said if I stay too long, it might interfere with the lady’s rest.”

She brought up what Duke Giloyt had subtly told her with a chilly face before entering here, urging her to return quickly.

Not to stay too long.

Not to fill her head with unnecessary words.

Not to reveal the lady’s condition elsewhere, and there were many other things he had requested.

But for Adela, who looked startled, Arianna decided not to mention the other things.

“Did my father really say that?”

“Yes. He repeated it to me several times. We don’t have much time.”

But leniency only went so far.

Arianna looked straight at Adela and asked again.

“I’ll ask again, Lady. Tell me what information you’re selling for the help you want. Then we’ll make a judgment.”

At her resolutely ringing voice, Adela bit her lip slightly.

“Count Philipa has a daughter who hasn’t been revealed.”

And after some hesitation, the story she told was quite shocking.

“So, why have you summoned this old man here?”

Daimar tilted his head crookedly, showing a very displeased look.

At his impudent behavior, I felt Betty and Hayley behind me flare up for a moment.

I raised my hand to calm the two of them.

Not only was he dragged here against his will, but the person he was facing wasn’t even properly revealing their face.

It was no wonder he reacted that way with his personality.

No, in fact, I had expected a much rougher reaction.

This much could be considered favorable.

I examined his expression visible under the deeply pulled robe and handed him the documents I had prepared.

“I understand you came from the East.”

“So what?”

“Please write down in detail on the documents in front of you everything you know about the current state of the epidemic occurring in the East.”

“……”

“The total number of deaths so far, the number of infected, the treatment status and discovered treatment methods, prevention methods, and even the necessary support.”

The documents I handed him were designed to find out the current situation in the East in as much detail as possible, down to the number of resident doctors.

Whether they were isolating the infected, and if so, in which areas, how the doctors mainly entered and exited, and if there were any lacking medicinal ingredients, and so on.

Daimar, who was examining the documents in an almost imperial reporting format that would be used when reporting to the Emperor, immediately furrowed his brows.

“Why do I have to report this to you? No, did you drag me all the way here in the first place to ask about this?”

As his expression hardened, the faces of those standing behind me also hardened.

The atmosphere couldn’t be more murderous with the rough-looking knights hardening their expressions on top of their already intimidating appearance.

But I looked at him calmly, unperturbed.

“Yes. I invited you here to ask about that. We need to know the exact situation in the East to determine how much more support is needed.”

“Ha! I don’t know who you are, but it was His Highness the Crown Prince who has been supporting the East. If I’m to report, it should be to His Highness, not to you!”

Daimar slammed the desk with a bang.

His force and spirit were so tremendous that it sent a chill down my spine for a moment.

But if I backed down here, there would be no reason to have gone to such lengths.

That proud Daimar wouldn’t tell the whole truth even in front of Leoprick.

So I straightened my back and put strength into my voice.

“Until now, it was the Jenit Company that supported the East under the orders of His Highness the Crown Prince. You must be aware that a considerable amount of Vermerian’s private funds went into it, right?”

“Ah, so you’re saying you also have the right to know now? Are you a Vermerian?”

“To be precise, I am His Highness the Crown Prince’s person. I wanted to meet you before you enter the Imperial Castle out of concern that the Chief might hide the scale of support needed out of loyalty to His Highness.”

“Not because you’re worried I might have embezzled the support funds?”

So let’s not make it difficult for each other and speak honestly.

I tried to smile as much as possible under the hood and conveyed my words, but Daimar, whose mood had already been twisted once, didn’t seem willing to take anything I said in a good way.

Anyway, his stubbornness was something to behold.

I suppressed the urge to sigh and rub my forehead, and slowly opened my mouth again.

“When you enter the Imperial Castle, there will probably be many people saying that the Chief embezzled the support funds.”

“What?”

“They’ll say that even more because it’s difficult to estimate the scale of the initial response since the Eastern nobles used their private funds for a life-or-death epidemic.”

That was the difference between the previous life and now.

Unlike then, when we openly provided full support through Lloyd from the beginning, now there were more people who didn’t know about the situation in the East than those who did.

Leoprick wanted this matter to be kept quiet until an official request for support came from the East.

I also quietly supported only through the company so that other nobles wouldn’t know.

So if Daimar suddenly appears and requests support, saying that until now he had been receiving help from the Crown Prince’s private funds?

Nobles who clearly knew the circumstances of the imperial family would undoubtedly raise endless suspicions.

They might even go as far as to question whether the epidemic originating from the East was even true.

Furthermore, they might treat Daimar as a hotbed of the epidemic and insist on immediately expelling him from the capital.

…They would try to slander Leoprick using that as an excuse.

There were quite a few nobles who were already dissatisfied with the imperial family support projects these days.

They would try to find any flaw in him using this incident.

Maybe they would try to change the imperial family support projects back to their liking, as if they had found his weakness.

“We need the exact scale of the epidemic and specific progress of the situation.”

So Daimar’s cooperation was absolutely necessary.

For the sake of both the East and Leoprick.

“It would be even better if there are documents detailing the support provided by the Eastern nobles. We have records of what the company supported, so that’s fine.”

At my words, Daimar seemed to be thinking for a moment.

Because he was a somewhat stubborn person who had lived his whole life thinking only of how to keep the people alive in barren lands, he had a single-minded side to him, but he was a person who worked for the country and the people.

Even if he didn’t know the complicated political situation, he wasn’t the type to keep getting angry about borrowing power for the sake of the people.

And sure enough, after a moment of hesitation, he spoke in a much calmer voice.

“So if I fill out this document and submit it to the nobility council, that’s it?”

The rough hand picked up the documents that it had thrown down as if tossing them.

As he seemed to be carefully reading through the documents, that’s when-

“No.”

I brought up the real purpose for which I had summoned him here.

“If you fill out that document, we will deliver it directly to His Highness the Crown Prince.”

And at my words, Daimar stopped reading the documents and raised his head again.

“Even if you give it to His Highness the Crown Prince, he will eventually see it at the nobility council, won’t he? Why do you have to go to such lengths?”

And why does it have to go through your hands when it’s a matter of my territory?

Daimar raised one eyebrow, showing a displeased look.

Well, one could think that way, but I’m saying this because I know the result will be completely different if the process is different.

I shook my head and opened my mouth.

“If you submit it to the nobility council, it will likely go through many hands. Right now, the nobles are desperate to find fault with His Highness the Crown Prince.”

It’s a story of knowing one thing and not knowing two.

And it’s also a story that would disrupt my plans.

“In such a situation, is there any guarantee that the documents you submit will reach the council intact?”

Daimar must have thought my words made sense, as he lowered his head again and began to read the documents.

Soon, he looked for a quill pen.