Chapter 81. Parting Gift

“What do you mean?”

“I’m saying let’s not have pointless emotional fights.”

The Duke avoided answering directly and drank his wine. It was infuriating how he provoked her and then withdrew.

Isabelle was deeply displeased by the Duke’s words. His indifferent reaction to the fate of Helen, who was also his daughter, was too much.

‘A man without a drop of blood or tears.’

If he could be so cold to his own child, how much worse would it be for Paris, someone else’s child?

Isabelle glanced at Alyssa, feeling troubled. If Paris’s situation was discovered, it would be irreparable.

She was already out of favor with the Duke. Isabelle knew she was being watched, likely by the Black Shadow.

It was certainly because she had used the Black Shadow to kill Sezad.

At the time, she was in such a hurry that all she could think of was covering up the truth. She never imagined Sezad Vaikan was orchestrating such a massive scam.

Isabelle, who had inadvertently helped with the scam, was also feeling the sting. The more the Duke persistently searched for Sezad, the more Isabelle shrank back.

Meanwhile, the Duke was busy praising Aster and Camilla. It was obvious that after Paris’s big mistake, the Duke was turning his attention to Aster.

‘Yes, this was the nature of our relationship from the start.’

The Duke loved Isabelle but would turn his back on her if she became a hindrance. Understanding this gap and maintaining her boundaries had allowed her to stay by his side for so long. Although, lately, even that was becoming strained.

She couldn’t trust anyone in the mansion. Isabelle felt increasingly isolated after discovering someone had been stealing her letters for Camilla.

To make matters worse, she was worried about Paris’s erratic behavior. He had been deeply shocked by recent events, and his face was pale from drinking.

Isabelle felt a surge of emotion. This dinner was originally meant to be a farewell for Paris. But the Duke’s indifference to Paris was infuriating.

‘Endure it, endure it.’

She had to bow her head and wait for the right time because of her own actions.

Eventually, the conversation turned to Alyssa’s theater performance. Alyssa spoke to the Duke.

“Soon, the theater company will hold a 100th-anniversary opera. It’s a special original play.”

“Oh, an original play sounds interesting.”

“The play won an award in a new talent contest, so we’re putting a lot of effort into it.”

When Camilla responded enthusiastically, Alyssa smiled and continued.

“Moreover, it’s hosted by the Letia family, so there will be a reception after the performance. The Marquis of Letia has invited the entire Blanche family.”

“Ohh.”

The Duke’s eyes sparkled at the mention of a direct invitation from the Marquis of Letia. Currently, Blanche was one of the most avoided families.

Even parties they were invited to had been canceled, so Isabelle knew Alyssa’s proposal was extraordinary.

The Duke, realizing the importance of this invitation, laughed heartily.

“That’s great news.”

“I worked hard for my sister.”

Alyssa winked at Isabelle, giving her the credit. Although Isabelle knew it wasn’t really for her, she saw no reason to spoil the mood. She hid her displeasure and said,

“Thank you, Alyssa.”

“Convey our gratitude to Letia.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

With Alyssa’s good news, the dinner ended on a cheerful note. But Isabelle wasn’t one to leave it at that.

After the dinner, she immediately followed Alyssa to the villa. Alyssa seemed to have anticipated her visit.

“You seem quite troubled, sister.”

“What are you plotting?”

Isabelle approached with a fierce look, and Alyssa said,

“What plotting? I’m just trying to help.”

Alyssa patted Isabelle’s shoulder as if to say there was nothing to worry about. But it only made Isabelle more anxious.

“There’s no way the Marquis of Letia would openly invite Blanche at a time like this. If they’re plotting something…”

“Not everyone is as black-hearted as you think.”

Alyssa fanned herself, looking like an arrogant noblewoman. Isabelle was dumbfounded.

After just a few months in Apelli, Alyssa acted as if she had become a noble. Then Alyssa said,

“Don’t worry. I’ll be returning to Kamatie soon anyway.”

“Returning? So suddenly?”

“Yes. I’m tired of it all. I tried to live like you, but the social scene is so dull and dirty.”

“……”

“Think of it as a parting gift. You’re good at accepting those, aren’t you?”

Alyssa’s mocking words made Isabelle frown. But she agreed that Alyssa wasn’t suited for the social scene.

“Did you think this was easy?”

“There are plenty of people like you. Anyway, I’ve gotten everything I wanted, so I’ll go back and live comfortably.”

Alyssa had extorted a considerable amount of money from Isabelle through threats. She had also exploited the Duke of Blanche.

But she wasn’t leaving just because she had gotten some money. It was because of Camilla’s orders.

‘There might be a bloodbath soon.’

Apparently, the Duke had done something terrible.

Even though she was leaving, Alyssa wanted to give her sister a parting gift. Like putting poison in cheese to catch a rat, it was a grand gift to finish Isabelle off.

Alyssa smirked as she pretended to be generous.

“So stop sending assassins. How much money do you think that costs?”

“If you hadn’t threatened me, I wouldn’t have done it.”

Isabelle’s expression softened slightly at the news that Alyssa was leaving. She asked quietly,

“Is Joseph going with you?”

“Of course.”

“Then that’s fine.”

Isabelle turned away, indicating she had no more business there. For now, it was best to accept anything that would improve her reputation.

As soon as Isabelle was out of sight, Alyssa smiled faintly. It was a gesture of pity for her sister, who was desperate enough to accept a poisoned chalice.

* * *

Meanwhile, Aster was backtracking the Black Shadow’s base using the whistle he had taken during the previous Black Shadow attack.

The whistle had a built-in remote tracking device. It seemed to be a measure taken by the leader to root out traitors.

Aster removed the device to prevent the enemy from tracking it and then used it to estimate the location in reverse. The place he pinpointed was a village quite far from the capital.

The Rivera Wall.

It was a distance that required either a portal or a teleportation magic circle.

Being able to travel such distances easily meant there must be a separate travel point.

Given that a large number of Blanche family’s merchant groups were stationed near that area, it was highly likely to be related to some conspiracy.

Just then, the Duke had delegated some authority to Aster. Aster used his authority to investigate all the Blanche-affiliated merchant groups near the Rivera Wall.

Among them, there were ten places likely to be used as portal points.

The Duke of Blanche suggested expanding the business rights of the Rain Mine to Aster. The plan was to distribute half of the produced magic stones to the Blanche family business.

Lacking funds to purchase magic stones, the Duke’s intention was to secure them by pretending to delegate the business to Aster.

Using the Rain Mine business as an excuse, Aster requested meetings with all the Blanche-affiliated merchant groups. His real intention was to investigate the ten merchant group leaders.

At the meeting, representatives of the merchant groups sat around a long table.

Aster glanced at them. Most of them appeared ordinary, but Aster had a way to distinguish them.

He opened and closed the lid of his pocket watch, stalling for time. The seemingly ordinary watch was actually a magical tool.

‘I made a magical tool that reacts to the same substance as the fragment we obtained from the Black Shadow. With this, we can identify their agents.’
‘When did you prepare something like this?’
‘My husband is going into enemy territory, I should at least do this much. For the mages of Francis, this is easier than eating soup.’

Recalling his conversation with Camilla, Aster smiled faintly. He was genuinely happy to be called ‘husband’ so naturally.

Tick-tock. The sound of the watch’s second hand faintly echoed in his ears. When Aster confirmed the direction the watch was pointing, he grinned.

As expected, all ten places were related to the Black Shadow. Out of the thirty or so people gathered, all ten showed reactions.

“The reason I called you all here today is to discuss who will handle the distribution of the magic stones produced from the Rain Mine.”

Aster spoke casually as he closed the watch.

“Since this is a task assigned by the Duke, it’s important to find the right person. Based on the documents I’ve reviewed…”

Aster pretended to look through the documents while identifying the person the watch pointed to. It was the merchant group that showed the strongest reaction among the ten.

“You there. The Almand Merchant Group, right?”