Callid looked up and down at the other person as if inspecting them.

They were fairly good-looking.

Annoyingly so.

“Greetings, Your Highness Prince Callid. I am Rain, the branch manager of the Runes Information Guild for the Kingdom of Ronica.”

“An alias, I see.”

It was absurd to introduce oneself with an alias when it was obvious who they were.

“Haha. It’s a habit.”

Derek answered with a relaxed laugh.

Callid disliked that expression too. The laughing voice also grated on his nerves. Callid disliked everything about Derek. Perhaps it would have been less irritating if he had been a middle-aged man.

The thought of this handsome man around his age talking alone with Bellia made his stomach churn.

Hadn’t he himself fallen completely for Bellia after meeting her alone? If even he, who had no interest in others, had fallen, there was no guarantee this man before him wouldn’t.

After all, Bellia was overflowing with charm to the point where it was impossible not to fall for her.

…He acknowledged to himself that he was already completely smitten.

“I received the contents via letter from Princess Bellia. She said Your Highness knows everything about me.”

Callid merely nodded without saying anything.

It seemed clear that these sorts of riffraff were attracted to Bellia because she was so beautiful.

His suspicions were confirmed by the slightly raised voice when mentioning Bellia, and the subtle upturning of his lips.

‘Hmm. Somehow it seems he doesn’t like me.’

Though Callid’s expression barely changed, Derek, who had long experience dealing with people, sensed intuitively that he was not very fond of him.

But having met all sorts of clients as an information broker, dealing with someone like Callid wasn’t particularly difficult for him.

“Due to unavoidable circumstances she couldn’t come today, but next time it would be good for the three of us to meet.”

Derek nodded with an even brighter smile than before. This was just an information broker’s formal response to a difficult client, but Callid interpreted it differently.

To show such a bright smile at the mention of meeting Bellia!

So he added a word cautiously:

“…We’ve been too busy preparing for the upcoming engagement ceremony.”

He casually dropped a hint that they were engaged, and that he had a lover, so don’t try anything foolish.

But as if he hadn’t understood the warning, Derek smiled brightly and replied:

“Is that so.”

Callid knew he was acting childishly in a way that even a child wouldn’t.

‘This is serious.’

Bellia had said the Information Guild’s master was a trustworthy person. And that he was someone we absolutely needed. Though he didn’t like it, he recalled the reason he came here, since they would have to work together for now, putting aside personal feelings.

“Let’s hear about the plans going forward first.”

Callid asked, crossing his arms.

“What the princess asked of me was to spread rumors about Prince Callid throughout the empire.”

“I heard.”

“Currently, our guild members have already been dispatched throughout the empire. When I give the signal, they will spread rumors about the existence of the gold mine and about Prince Callid.”

It was the same content he had already heard from Bellia.

Surely he didn’t want to meet just to say this much.

Callid stared intently at Derek. As if to say, if you have something to say, say it quickly.

“Actually, the reason I requested to meet Your Highness was because I had one question.”

Despite Callid’s piercing gaze, Derek continued speaking without changing his expression.

“The discovery of a new gold mine is extremely high-level information. It’s too valuable to spread widely.”

Callid agreed with that statement.

It would be much more profitable to keep it secret and negotiate with King Ronica to keep it as his own property. There was no need to give the First Prince’s faction something to check against.

“Moreover, this is a gold mine discovered by an individual, not at the national level. I think it’s excessive to spread rumors like this. I’ll pay you sufficiently for providing the information, so how about keeping this story hidden?”

“And then you plan to profit by selling the information here and there?”

There was no reply, but Callid could guess what he was thinking.

As a merchant, he couldn’t simply let go of the clearly visible greater profit.

Moreover, if Raul had been in the same situation, he would have kept the existence of the gold mine strictly secret and used it as a foothold to build up his private funds.

But Callid shook his head.

“This is what Bellia decided.”

His answer was very firm.

However, seeing Derek’s subtly raised corners of his mouth, he asked again somewhat quizzically.

“I’m asking Your Highness. Wasn’t it Prince Callid who discovered the gold mine?”

Callid wanted to say that it was Bellia, not himself, who discovered the gold mine.

But thinking that she must have some reason for deliberately putting him forward to orchestrate this, Callid kept his mouth shut.

‘Bellia tends to think a lot.’

Callid asked Derek in return.

“Then in your opinion, is there any story that could stir up the entire empire without a rumor of this magnitude?”

Derek stroked his chin and gathered his thoughts for a moment.

It was a statement with many hidden meanings.

Eventually, Derek’s face was covered with a meaningful smile.

“You intend to shake up the empire.”

Callid immediately caught the hidden meaning in Derek’s words. As expected, he wasn’t the Information Guild master for nothing.

Quick-witted and quick to calculate. He immediately understood what they were planning to run towards. Though he didn’t like it, he had to admit he was a useful talent.

“One must be at least that level to be worthy of meeting the master, no?”

“Hahaha. That’s too kind, but for now please treat me as Branch Manager Rain, since my identity is a secret.”

Even within the Information Guild, only a select few knew his true identity. So he couldn’t carelessly use the name of master. Callid immediately understood his situation.

“I see. Well, since you asked me a question, may I ask one in return?”

“Of course.”

Callid spoke as if finding it amusing.

“I heard from Bellia recently that Duke Selon has an illegitimate child.”

Derek’s expression hardened.

“It was about half a year ago, I think. I heard news that the only legitimate son of the Selon ducal family had died. So there was a lot of worry that the Selon ducal lineage would be cut off. I never imagined there was another son like this. The duke is known to be quite devoted to his wife publicly.”

Callid observed Derek’s expression as he asked what he was truly curious about.

“Do you really have no intention of entering the ducal family?”

“Is this Your Highness’s question?”

“It is.”

Derek hesitated for a moment before answering.

“Yes. I have no intention of entering there.”

“Why? If you just enter the ducal family, it’s certain you’d become the next duke, isn’t it?”

He couldn’t understand why he was rejecting conditions that anyone would find tempting.

If he doesn’t become the heir and the ducal family falls, that would certainly be advantageous for himself. But regardless of his personal feelings, this was an opportunity for Derek.

“The Selon ducal family is one of the most prestigious in the empire. It’s an opportunity to grasp power, there’s no reason to refuse.”

As someone who runs an information guild, he should clearly know that much.

Then Derek sighed softly and said:

“From the beginning, I grew up thinking the person called father was dead. Now he’s looking for me only for his own greed. I don’t want to be associated with Duke Selon in any way.”

Derek spoke cautiously.

“You have no ambition.”

“Wouldn’t it be better for Your Highness too if the ducal family just disappears as is?”

Duke Selon was a supporter of the First Prince.

So in a way, this was a golden opportunity to reduce the First Prince’s power.

Derek made a meaningful expression as if he had grasped the entire current situation and asked, but Callid feigned ignorance.

“What does that have to do with me?”

“Aren’t you trying to become emperor?”

Oh?

Callid looked at Derek with interest.

“Why do you think that?”

“Because I met Princess Bellia.”

His answer was quite intriguing.

“There was a lot of commotion for a while about how Princess Bellia chose Prince Callid instead of Prince Raul.”

Callid’s shoulders rose involuntarily.

“I was curious why that was, but when I saw the princess, I understood right away.”

Derek recalled when he met Bellia and searched his memories.

The proud and dignified expression of Princess Bellia remained unforgettable in his mind. This was a near-certain premonition based on his long experience as an information broker.

“Princess Bellia is not someone who will remain merely as a prince’s consort.”

Callid felt somewhat proud at his words, but also disliked how he spoke as if he knew Bellia well. But he didn’t show it.

“Moreover, isn’t the content of the rumors an attempt to change Your Highness’s image? The only reason for her to do such a thing would be to make Your Highness emperor.”

The eyes proposing a deal to me were filled with ambition looking towards a very high place. At that time, I realized that Princess Bellia had decided to make Prince Callid emperor.

“Of course, at first I thought it might be to slightly reform Your Highness’s image since it’s so poor, but I was surprised to find there was a much greater intention hidden than expected.”

To think of winning over the people to their side first.

It wasn’t an easy thought for royalty to have.

“Honestly, I don’t want to get involved much in the empire’s struggle for the throne.”

Derek lowered his eyes.

But soon he raised his head again to look straight at Callid.

“Are you testing me like this because you think I could be your trump card?”

Callid let out a dry laugh at Derek’s question of whether they were thinking of hiding someone on their side within the First Prince’s forces.

He’s quite useful, isn’t he? Derek very naturally grasped the core and led the conversation. He was certainly fit to lead Runes. However, Callid was not so easy to deal with either.

“I merely asked out of curiosity. But you impudently tried to truly test me. Cleverly calculating whether to side with me or the First Prince.”

Callid placed his interlocked hands on the table.

“So… How do I look to you? Have you calculated which side you should join now?”

Then he waited leisurely to see what kind of answer would come from him.

After some time passed, Derek’s mouth opened.