She added flesh to the skeleton of her hypothesis. The hypothesis was gradually turning into conviction.

Because.

“That’s the crown prince’s method.”

Elena’s eyes shone as she traced back how Suharto intended to use Baron Vulti.

* * *

Elena sighed with relief as she examined Baron Vulti’s condition in the dim light of the basement.

“He’s not dead yet.”

Thank goodness.

He’d already been hit once or twice, as his cheek was swollen red, his nose was bleeding, and his lip was split. His wrists and ankles seemed torn not from Rudfelix’s doing but from his own desperate attempts to break free. Blood from the rope dripped onto the floor one drop at a time, creating a repetitive small sound.

Elena released Rudfelix’s hand and covered her face with her sleeve. The smell of blood flowing from Baron Vulti made the unventilated basement air even more turbid.

Still, he hadn’t lost consciousness, as Baron Vulti looked at her through half-open eyes and even snickered.

“The cunning girl has arrived.”

His slow, stumbling words mixed disappointment and mockery. Disappointed that she wasn’t someone coming to rescue him, he picked on Elena, who seemed easier to deal with.

“And the fool got caught. Serves you right.”

“Uh… uh.”

Elena lightly retorted and turned away without hesitation. Upset by her rebuttal and then her dismissal, Baron Vulti’s voice choked, making only a dumbfounded sound.

“How did you find this place?”

Rudfelix’s cold face gradually warmed from the heat of the small hand he still hadn’t released.

“People were sleeping in the middle of the street. So I came in to check.”

Elena responded with her characteristic answer to his question of how she knew where Baron Vulti was being held.

Not a single person stopped her on her way into the basement.

Everyone had fallen into a deep sleep and couldn’t wake up. She would bet everything she had that Rudfelix was responsible.

“Your Highness, what will you do with him?”

“Kill him or cripple him.”

Baron Vulti’s shoulders flinched and rose. He rolled his eyes around, trying to gauge when someone would come to rescue him.

“Go ahead and kill a powerless noble. You’ll become a Grand Duke without blood or tears.”

He deliberately provoked Rudfelix to hide his weakness, but he was treated as if he didn’t exist.

In contrast, Elena let out a dry laugh, seeing that her thoughts matched reality perfectly.

“Then please stop.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s absolutely disadvantageous. Killing Baron Vulti here gains you nothing.”

“Money-blinded girl.”

Baron Vulti glared at Elena and spat out an insult. Rudfelix lifted his foot and kicked him in the stomach, making him groan and whimper as if his internal organs were collapsing.

He hadn’t reacted when Vulti insulted him, but responded immediately when Elena was attacked. Baron Vulti discovered this through his own body as an experiment, but Elena didn’t notice, being outside her concern.

Rudfelix had no intention of forgiving Baron Vulti, who was trying to drag down not only himself but Elena as well.

He merely thought that it would hurt but not cripple him.

“Your Highness. If you kill the baron, someone watching somewhere will……”

“Aide, he’s a parasite that clings to me annoyingly trying to eat away at me. If I don’t kill him here, I’ll have to live with this annoyance forever.”

He expressed his own thought that killing would be beneficial.

“Even if he’s a parasite, he holds the title of baron. If Your Highness kills Baron Vulti and takes a hard line, there will certainly be resentment among the nobles.”

Elena calmly listed one reason after another why Baron Vulti shouldn’t be killed.

“They won’t openly confront Your Highness, but it’s not good if they think differently of you. Moreover, since this is entangled with Jellisto Trading Company, they could say that you framed Baron Vulti for the double ledger. That you not only created a double ledger to frame him but also killed him.”

“I don’t care what they say.”

“At least my father cares.”

Baron Vulti quietly closed his mouth, which had been drooling. He hadn’t expected her to try to stop Rudfelix, thinking she considered him an enemy and would urge his death. But since no one else was coming, Elena’s persuasion had to work for his lifeline not to be cut here.

Elena gently applied heat to Rudfelix’s unbending iron stubbornness.

“Your Highness, as your aide, I hate hearing bad rumors about you. I want you to be a noble among nobles, someone people want to form bonds with, just as you’ve been until now.”

She didn’t try to heat him completely but gently coaxed him to bend without realizing it.

“Not everything needs to be resolved by killing.”

“Anyone would think you’re Baron Vulti’s aide.”

As Elena worked so hard to save him, Rudfelix uncomfortably gestured toward Baron Vulti, who was watching him cautiously.

“Don’t say that. I’d rather take a dog as my master than be Baron Vulti’s aide. I willingly volunteered to be your aide because you’re righteous, and I work with all my heart.”

Rudfelix’s mouth opened at Elena’s confidence as she thumped her chest.

“You willingly volunteered to be my aide?”

To prevent him from saying ‘I don’t think that’s how it was,’ Elena hurriedly interrupted.

“Anyway. I like being with Your Highness.”

Having said she was happy to be Grand Duke Rudfelix’s aide rather than the pathetic Baron Vulti’s, Elena had the leisure to look around, sensing the situation would resolve favorably.

As Rudfelix’s face reddened and he covered his eyes with his large hand, Elena turned to look at him.

In the dark basement, his blue eyes shone brilliantly like jewels, but little else was visible.

“Leave the rest to me.”

Instead of answering, Rudfelix took a step back, indicating Elena should do as she wished.

As soon as she received permission, Elena stood in front of Baron Vulti.

“To think you’d save me. The world is indeed worth living in.”

“Indeed. How long has it been since we talked face to face like this? Uncle?”

Elena used the term she had called Baron Vulti when he worked at Jellisto Trading Company.

‘Yes. Both Count Jellisto and his daughter were weak-hearted.’

Baron Vulti’s mouth twitched as he realized why she was trying to save him. He thought Elena had pleaded to spare his life out of past affection.

“I momentarily forgot about you and the count. I’ve always worked with loyalty, but I felt hurt because you didn’t acknowledge me.”

The man who had insulted Elena as cunning and money-blinded now put on a kind face.

“Didn’t you always thank me? Didn’t you ask me to lead the trading company properly? I dedicated everything for your sake.”

He mixed pleading and persuasion, using words she had said when she was very young to escape this situation.

“Save me. Then I’ll abandon everything I’ve been doing and quietly leave.”

“Really?”

Elena’s voice softened for the first time, as if she wanted to believe him one last time.

“Of course.”

“Will you also cut ties with Spark Trading Company?”

“Even though I’m not taking anything with me. Of course I’ll sever ties with Spark Trading Company.”

“And the night market too?”

When Elena asked while counting on her fingers, Baron Vulti nodded vigorously.

“What does all that matter? It was the trading company master’s from the beginning, not mine.”

If he says so.

“Then you’ll stop all illegal dealings too? Including smuggling?”

The content didn’t match her cheerful tone.

The moment she mentioned illegal dealings and smuggling, Baron Vulti’s face drained of color. As soon as he realized he had been completely played, the expression he had forced on his face crumpled.

“You have no intention of letting me go peacefully.”

“I also know you won’t change your wicked heart.”

“If I get out of here……”

His voice, about to say he wouldn’t let this go, disappeared before Elena’s smiling face as she pulled out a book.

“That’s!”

“A familiar book, isn’t it?”

Elena showed him the double ledger, turning it this way and that.

She looked like an innocent child asking, ‘This is yours, right?’

“This is truly beyond expectations.”

Even Rudfelix, who had been watching, couldn’t help but smile at this moment.

When they had gone to the night market, they had spent money without finding the double ledger, yet somehow she had found it.

“Shall we make a deal?”

“Th-that’s nothing. If you’re trying to deceive me with something you brought, it won’t work.”

Baron Vulti scoffed, calling it a shallow trick, but his voice trembled at the familiar appearance of the ledger.

“Is that really so?”

Elena opened the double ledger as if reading a book and ran her finger down each entry. When she silently mouthed the names of nobles he had bribed, Baron Vulti’s mouth clamped shut.

The moment he realized it wasn’t fake, he knew that giving everything in this deal wouldn’t be enough.

Elena, with her eyes fixed on the ledger as if reading a book, whispered in a calm tone.

“I want nothing from you, baron. Our relationship ended when you raised a knife against my father.”

It was a warning that the friendly exchanges they had when she was young would have no influence on this deal.

“But I was so fond of you.”

“And you were going to continue being fond of me? In bed?”

Baron Vulti ground his teeth, about to argue that she was returning kindness with enmity. But Elena’s sarcastic remark stopped him.

“That was a guess, but it seems I was right.”

Seeing how he could only glare without denying it.

Elena sighed deeply. Bad guys always talked and threatened like that.