Chapter 52
“You’re starting again.”
Del, the loyal aide to the Duke of Persia, let out a long sigh.
Until recently, Kainel had been eating well at the stew shop, but now he had stopped eating altogether again.
‘What does he mean the taste changed?’
Kainel, who used to visit the stew shop almost daily, had suddenly stopped going, saying the taste was different.
Del had tasted the stew himself to check, but he couldn’t tell the difference.
Just in case, he had the head chef try it too, but he also couldn’t notice any change. He insisted that it tasted exactly the same as before.
‘It must be because the cook changed, then.’
The owner of Where Your Feet Rest, who had been cooking for a while, had temporarily left.
And when Del heard that she was now working as the temporary secretary to the Master of the Magic Tower, he was shocked.
‘A secretary to the Master of the Magic Tower?’
There was no way to know what had passed between them, but he had heard that the Master of the Magic Tower often visited the shop. Did they grow close because of that?
Either way, when Del spotted her at the last imperial meeting, he had subtly tried to start a conversation with her—only to be utterly devastated.
She had told him that she would no longer be working at the shop.
‘Then where is our Duke supposed to eat now?’
He had barely managed to stop himself from asking that question out loud.
“Advisor Del, Oselt Ellsia has arrived.”
“Oh! I’ll go meet him.”
At that moment, a servant approached to inform him of the scheduled visitor’s arrival.
Hurrying to the entrance of the mansion, Del saw an elderly man stepping out of a carriage.
“Welcome, Lord Oselt.”
“Hm, where is His Grace?”
“He is expecting you.”
Del led him to Kainel’s office.
Knock, knock.
“Come in.”
Upon entering the office, the two men were greeted by the sight of Kainel, completely surrounded by towering piles of documents.
Even though a guest had arrived, Kainel didn’t lift his head from the papers until Del cleared his throat.
“Sit.”
At Kainel’s invitation, Oselt took a seat and studied him with a curious gaze.
He had heard countless rumors about the man, but this was his first time seeing him up close.
He looked like he was in his twenties, yet Oselt knew well that Kainel had lived for over 300 years.
Still, it felt a little odd to be addressed informally by someone with such a youthful appearance.
“You want Ethel?”
“That’s correct.”
Kainel’s abrupt way of speaking—diving straight into the main topic without any small talk—made Oselt flinch momentarily, but he soon smiled.
He didn’t care for meaningless pleasantries either.
Ethel.
A type of mineral.
It was found only in the northern Duchy of Persia.
More efficient as fuel than coal, it was highly sought after.
The problem was that the Duchy of Persia had closed its borders for a long time, cutting off the supply completely.
Now that the Duke had made an appearance in the capital, Oselt saw this as the perfect opportunity to reopen trade with the North.
Even though he was already immensely wealthy and had plenty of successors waiting, he still personally pursued lucrative deals like this.
Kainel tapped his fingers against the desk as he observed the ambitious old man in front of him.
“If you grant me exclusive rights to Esolin, I will give you exclusive rights to Ethel.”
“Esolin, huh…”
Esolin.
A type of grain.
Less sticky than wheat, it was a staple food in some countries—including the Kingdom of Katusha, which was closely tied to the Duchy of Persia.
Although currently an ally, Katusha had waged war against Persia for a long time. Their relationship could easily turn hostile again at any moment.
‘So he plans to use Esolin to pressure them.’
One-third of all the Esolin distributed across the continent came from the Devrica Empire.
And the one who controlled its trade rights was none other than Oselt Ellsia, who had come here to negotiate with Kainel.
“Fine.”
Oselt, having determined that this was a deal he would not lose out on, nodded his head.
“We can discuss the finer details while drafting the contract.”
“Indeed.”
Seeing that the main negotiations had concluded, Del placed tea in front of the two men.
“Please, have some.”
“Thank you.”
Del, still standing beside Kainel, smiled faintly.
The Duke’s role was over—now it was his turn.
“I heard that there have been significant changes in the Ellsia Count’s Estate recently.”
At Del’s casual remark, Oselt’s expression stiffened slightly.
“…You’re well informed.”
“It’s a major event—the birth of a new head of the family.”
Though no official announcement had been made yet, those who needed to know were already aware.
The head of the Ellsia family had changed.
And rumors had quietly spread among the nobility that Creel, who had poisoned his master, would soon face trial.
Ironically, the connections Creel had worked so hard to cultivate among the aristocracy were now the very reason they were the first to cut ties with him.
“You must have been quite shocked when you found out that the heirloom ring was a fake… I could feel second-hand embarrassment on your behalf.”
“Haha, they say the intelligence network of the Duke’s family is extraordinary, and now I see why.”
The poisoning scandal had already become a well-known rumor, but the truth about the fake heirloom ring was something only a few within the Ellsia family itself knew.
Oselt’s sharp gaze flickered, wondering how that information had leaked, but Del remained unbothered.
If he were shaken by something like this, he wouldn’t be able to serve Kainel properly!
In the end, Oselt sighed, exhausted by Del’s shameless confidence.
“There was someone who found the real heirloom ring and brought it back. Without them, it would have been difficult to prove Creel’s crimes.”
Without the testimony of the Spirit King of Fire, Jubellios, the death of the previous family head would have remained an unresolved mystery.
“A true benefactor, then. Was this person from the Ellsia family?”
“No, that’s the strange part…”
“What?”
Del, who also did not know the full details, showed keen interest in Oselt’s words.
Meanwhile, Kainel paid no attention to their conversation. He simply sipped his tea in silence.
The Ellsia Count’s Estate without Grace held no interest for him.
“The one who found the ring was the temporary secretary to the Master of the Magic Tower.”
“…The temporary secretary?”
At those words, Kainel immediately set down his teacup.
If it was the temporary secretary to the Master of the Magic Tower…
“She was the one who retrieved the ring?”
Oselt’s eyes widened slightly at Kainel’s reaction.
That was unmistakably the reaction of someone who knew her.
‘How?’
How did the Duke know the temporary secretary to the Master of the Magic Tower? There was no apparent connection between them.
“Tell me everything that happened that day.”
“What?”
“From the beginning to the end. Every detail.”
“…….”
For someone prying into another family’s affairs, he was quite brazen about it.
Oselt found himself slightly taken aback.
But his silence didn’t last long.
“You owe me for this, Your Grace. And you must remember that all of this is confidential.”
Even during the discussion of the exclusive trade rights for Ethel and Esolin—worth astronomical sums—Kainel had seemed uninterested.
If he could place a debt on such a man, this wouldn’t be a bad trade.
“It happened when we were questioning Creel about the whereabouts of the real ring. Suddenly, the Second Prince burst in and—”
Oselt began recounting the events of that day in detail.
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