“Resold to the nobles who wanted them!”

“Exactly who and who.”

Brandon bit his lips tightly. Now that he had to say it with his own mouth, he hesitated a bit. It felt like this would completely cut off any escape route.

Seeing the face full of obvious signs of worry, Demian personally put aura into his blade to help with the decision.

As the sharp aura flowing from the metal digging into his skin momentarily paralyzed his whole body, Brandon, turning pale, immediately confessed.

“Huk! M-Marquis Grant and Duke Vandermir!”

“…Duke Vandermir?”

Demian frowned one eyebrow. He had obviously guessed Marquis Grant, but he didn’t expect Duke Vandermir’s family to come up as well.

He thought the western assassination incident was Frederick’s doing, so they wouldn’t be related.

“Why did those two want black magic bombs?”

“I don’t know well either. For these things, it’s a principle to sell without asking about the intended use.”

“Where are the transaction contracts and ledgers?”

“That’s a bit difficult to say…”

If he handed over the contracts and ledgers, Brandon would never be able to do business again. It would completely destroy the trust with clients.

Demian tapped his cheek with the back of the knife and said with a disdainful face:

“Why, planning to take them with you when you die? Does that make the journey to the afterlife more comfortable?”

“Hiik, I’m already a dead man just for revealing the names of the traders. So please show a little mercy!”

Brandon pleaded, rubbing his hands together with tears welling up in his eyes. Demian withdrew the knife and gripped his shoulder tightly.

“I have only one mercy to bestow upon you. If you hand over the contracts and ledgers, I won’t touch your assets, so run away on your own before you die.”

Whether he sought asylum in another country or hid deep in the mountains. Demian intended not to care what happened afterwards once he got what he wanted.

Brandon’s shoulder jerked. With a look of furiously racking his brains, he remained silent for a while.

After a long silence, his mouth opened.

“Really… you won’t touch my assets?”

“Yes, except for the compensation to give to the slaves you illegally captured.”

Brandon quickly calculated in his head again. It wasn’t a bad deal. No matter how much he gave to the slaves, he would save at least half of his assets.

With that, he could flee to a foreign country where he had connections and change his identity to preserve his life.

‘Come to think of it, I could already be considered dead just from the slave auction being busted.’

There were many high-ranking clients who had made dirty deals through the Dom Trading Company. When they heard the news of his capture, many people would try to silence him with death for fear that secrets might leak out.

Brandon, judging it better to reach an agreement with Demian here rather than engage in a battle of wits for survival against multiple parties, said:

“The contracts and ledgers are in the safe in my office. The password is 4885.”

Demian immediately gave Isaac a look to go check. Then Isaac, who had knocked out his subordinate with a strong blow to the back of the neck, left first.

Brandon rolled his eyes nervously and carefully asked:

“Since I told you, can I leave now?”

“No.”

“W-why? You said you’d let me go!”

“When did I say that?”

Demian looked down at Brandon with a snort, as if dumbfounded. He stared at the handsome face with a blank expression.

“I said I wouldn’t touch your assets, I didn’t say I’d let you go.”

“Ah…”

“Try to escape well with your overflowing money.”

Brandon silently screamed, feeling half-cheated. However, Demian pressed down hard on his shoulder to prevent him from running away.

Seeing the shameless slave auction scene made him really want to throw Brandon in jail at least once.

All the illegal slave auction participants and ringleaders were imprisoned. Those who had been unfairly captured were freed and given money.

After roughly finishing up the situation, Isaac returned with the contracts and ledgers of the Dom Trading Company.

Demian sat down calmly and examined them thoroughly. As he did so, he realized something – it wasn’t for nothing that Brandon’s name had seemed familiar at first.

The Dom Trading Company was one of the companies that had frequently traded with the duchy for the past 5 years. He had seen Brandon’s name in passing while investigating the duke’s family at some point.

Recalling that memory now, Demian frowned as he looked at the transaction history of Duke Vandermir’s family.

‘For the past 2 years, they’ve mainly been purchasing weapons. Was it to attack me?’

Until then, transactions had mostly been for money laundering and smuggling purposes, but recently weapons transactions had increased dramatically.

Demian tapped the sofa armrest with his hand, lost in thought. Even the weapons transactions to kill him seemed strange somewhere.

He hadn’t actually been attacked much with the weapons listed in the ledger.

Feeling uneasy, Demian examined Marquis Grant’s transaction history. Whether by fate’s joke or not, the marquis had also mainly traded in weapons.

‘Is this really just a coincidence?’

It was suspicious from the start that Duke Vandermir and Marquis Grant had been continuously trading with the same company.

Usually, such large families would adjust to avoid overlapping with each other to prevent any embarrassing situations.

‘I need to look into this in more detail.’

He judged it better to limit the disclosure of information until he could figure out why both families had been actively trading weapons.

Demian hid and sealed the documents except for Marquis Grant’s contract for purchasing black magic bombs in a secret location.

After all, he had to give back as much as he received.

He took the contract of Marquis Grant that would be decisive evidence in the assassination case and went to see someone.

That person was none other than Lucas.

“It makes me happy to see the expensive face of my dearest friend first. What brings you here?”

Lucas greeted Demian with his hearty smile as always. After carefully checking that the people around were gone, Demian opened his mouth.

“Your Highness, do you know that I was the target of an assassination attempt during the western monster subjugation?”

“Of course I know! Whoever did it, if they’re caught, I’ll teach them a lesson they won’t forget.”

Demian stared blankly at Lucas, who clenched his fist with an indignant face, and said:

“Marquis Grant was the culprit.”

“…What?”

Lucas’s eyes widened. To think the crown prince’s maternal uncle tried to kill Demian. His expression grew serious.

“I obtained evidence that the marquis purchased the black magic bomb used by the culprit. I intend to report the marquis with this.”

“…Vandermir, are you serious?”

“Yes.”

At the answer without hesitation, Lucas let out a small sigh and rubbed his face. If they touched Marquis Grant, Frederick would definitely not stay still.

And not just Frederick. The empress was also likely to step in. Marquis Grant was from the empress’s family after all.

Lucas, who had barely organized his noisy mind full of things he wanted to say, opened his mouth quietly.

“I know you’re angry about that incident. Who wouldn’t be furious when their life was threatened? But revenge must be taken carefully.”

“Those who do nothing are bound to lose in the end. And this isn’t revenge. It’s defense for survival.”

“What kind of defense is so aggressive?”

“Originally, the best defense is offense, Your Highness.”

Demian replied calmly. He also knew what Lucas was worried about. He was probably concerned that unnecessarily provoking the crown prince’s side would bring greater harm.

But there was no guarantee of safety just by surrendering with both hands up.

Frederick had started to dislike Demian out of jealousy and resentment for losing Arasila.

Now that their relationship had soured to the point where they couldn’t even be friends, that emotional rift would have deepened.

Of course, he might calm down after divorcing Arasila, but Demian didn’t want to resolve the problem that way.

He didn’t want to run away just to make himself comfortable when Frederick might do something to Arasila again.

For Arasila’s sake too, he had to respond strongly to Frederick. He had to warn that he couldn’t be easily messed with.

Furthermore, he was willing to get involved in the imperial family’s fight.

That was why he came to see Lucas today, so Demian opened his mouth again.

“I would like Your Highness to lend me your strength.”

“What do you…”

“I want to be Your Highness’s ally. Would you consider forming an alliance with me?”

Lucas’s expression hardened. He had heard similar words from others before.

Mostly from those who wanted him to aim for the throne next by pushing out Frederick.

However, Lucas didn’t want to make his life difficult by fighting with the empress and her son.

Even though they were the culprits who made him wander outside his homeland for a long time, that’s why he didn’t want to bear any more grudges.

Aren’t they already considering him a thorn in their side because of his diplomatic achievements? Lucas wanted to resolve the issue peacefully.

If he lived quietly like this, the empress and Frederick wouldn’t bother him either. He knew what his mother and those around him wanted, but his mind was firm.

“…I’m sorry, Vandermir. I have no intention of fighting anyone at all.”

Lucas apologized, honestly stating his position. But Demian shook his head as if there was no need to apologize.

“If that is Your Highness’s will, I understand.”

He answered plainly. He had only wanted to lend his strength and form an alliance if Lucas had ambition for the throne.

He had no intention of persuading or pressuring him to walk an unwanted path if he refused.

“Then I’ll take my leave now. As a friend, I would be very grateful if you could forget today’s conversation.”

“If you say that, as a friend, I have no choice but to suffer from temporary short-term memory loss.”

Lucas replied jokingly with a smirk, then added in a serious face:

“Vandermir, I can’t help you this time either, so please move carefully.”

“Don’t worry, Your Highness.”

Demian showed a smooth smile, bowed his head politely, and left.

Lucas felt his heart becoming complicated somehow as he watched that confident and resolute back.

Demian Vandermir reported Marquis Grant. The reasons were attempted assassination and use of black magic.

Without Lucas’s help, he used his connections to the fullest to bring the report up to the court meeting.

The imperial family was turned upside down when evidence emerged that Marquis Grant had initially purchased the black magic bomb used by Ken.

To think that someone who was the maternal uncle of the crown prince not only tried to kill a precious sword master, but also dabbled in black magic, which was considered a serious crime.

The emperor naturally flew into a rage, saying he had lowered the face of the imperial family and tried to eliminate the country’s talent.

“Imprison the marquis immediately and thoroughly investigate the Marquis Grant family!”

The fact that the marquis could be imprisoned with his limbs intact was thanks to his sister, the empress, who cried and pleaded with the emperor.

The Marquis Grant family was devastated, and the marquis completely denied the charges. But he couldn’t avoid being expelled from the noble assembly and court meeting.

This news spread quickly and reached Frederick’s ears as well.