Cain looked at Luciel with shocked eyes. He examined him for a long while wondering if this was a joke, but couldn’t find any playfulness anywhere on Luciel’s face.

Trading rights were tremendous interests. He’d never even thought they could be bought and sold, but even if they could be bought, he’d obviously have paid an enormous price.

“Why on earth?”

“Thanks to that, we can now strangle Kartran without raising military forces, so doesn’t it not matter?”

But that wasn’t an answer to Cain’s question. Cain narrowed his eyes and thought about why Luciel had moved that far.

Loyalty to the Empire or His Highness the Crown Prince? No, that couldn’t be. No matter how much he observed, Luciel seemed to have little interest in power’s direction. Such a person wouldn’t appeal patriotism or loyalty.

Sympathy for Elizabeth? This wasn’t it either. Though sorry to Elizabeth, no one in the world would waste that much family wealth out of sympathy.

Then did he have some grudge against Kartran? But before this matter, Luciel or the Evanhart family had never been involved with Kartran.

The point when Luciel started moving, the event that occurred at that point, the people involved in that event—as Cain carefully considered these, a strange light suddenly flashed in his eyes.

“Surely…… Vivian Raine?”

Even saying it out loud, it was a conclusion he couldn’t quite understand. The point when Luciel started moving was from when Kartran’s marriage proposal request first arrived. However, Luciel, who hadn’t been noticeable until then, started getting caught in Cain’s information network multiple times starting about a month ago.

That was definitely from the day after Vivian visited Phivoigne Palace to meet Elizabeth. There was no other notable event at that point.

But what was the relationship between Luciel Evanhart and Vivian Raine? They were two people forming a competitive structure evaluated as the best or worst since the Academy’s founding.

Cain understood better than anyone that their relationship thrived on constant clashes. He had been watching closely, aware of how the two who had held first and second place since their admission to the Academy never stopped testing each other.

Though not as much as Vivian, whose emotions clearly showed on her face, Cain had noticed Luciel also hated Vivian. For such a Luciel to start wielding his power without sparing himself because of Vivian was somewhat strange.

He even thought perhaps they’d made a bet on who would block Kartran’s threat, but if Luciel truly hated Vivian, he would have welcomed it with both hands when she stepped forward to marry into Kartran in her place.

However, he’d been quite flustered and angry even from an outside view. Then it was more convincing to say he’d moved to prevent Vivian’s involvement.

And right now, Luciel wasn’t giving any answer to his question.

“Really because of Miss Vivian Raine? For her?”

The stuffy silence flowing through the carriage collapsed at Luciel’s sigh that seemed to have given up on something.

“Does that reason matter to you?”

“Ah…… not that, but it’s a bit…… unexpected.”

Watching Luciel not deny that the reason he moved was because of Vivian Raine, Cain felt somehow anxious.

Luciel Evanhart received everyone’s love. His profile, which had drawn thicker lines since becoming an adult, was delicate yet solid like a work into which a great sculptor had poured everything, and those ruby-like eyes she’d always thought special were deep and distant enough to take one’s breath away.

This man had moved for the adorable Vivian Raine, who always walked as if impatient, moved diligently, and shone her curious green eyes. And he wasn’t even openly revealing it to Vivian to take credit.

Rather, it was closer to secretive movement from Vivian’s perspective. Didn’t this seem like he regarded Vivian as special?

“I thought you hated Miss Raine?”

At that question, Luciel lowered his eyes as if avoiding Cain’s gaze. That sorrowful appearance was pitiful enough to make even another man’s heart sink. Another long sigh followed. And Luciel confessed with the heart of a completely surrendered defeated soldier.

“If only I could…… you don’t know how much I wished for that.”

Cain stared blankly at Luciel, at a loss for words.

“But Vivian has never once considered my circumstances.”

With those final words, a sad smile hung on his closed lips. The man who’d given up denying his love had resolved to accept a painful future.

After parting with Luciel, Cain fell into thought inside the carriage returning to the imperial palace. Luciel Evanhart had favorable feelings for Vivian Raine…… no, that definitely wasn’t feelings at the level of favorable.

Of course, it could happen. They were young and attractive, from both sexes, Academy classmates who had spent the past three and a half years clashing with each other whether they wanted to or not. Under those conditions, it was only natural for hatred toward a rival to flip into affection in an instant.

‘But why am I so flustered?’

The problem was Cain Latrell Jeremiah himself.

Why was he burning inside and flustered when Luciel liked Vivian and no longer intended to hide it?

Vivian Raine. The only daughter of the Raine household with no sons. She’d shown unique presence by taking second place in the Academy entrance exam without going through Pre-Academy, hadn’t lost that position except once after their admission, and was a prodigy the professors unanimously acknowledged along with Luciel.

Ironically, until last year when she hadn’t lost second place, he’d been withdrawing his expectations of her. It seemed national affairs wouldn’t be received as more important than exams to her.

That thought began changing from the day she didn’t lose her confident attitude even covered in muddy water. Why was it only now that he remembered Vivian’s face smiling at him while cutely wrinkling her nose had often come to mind since that day?

Cain leaned his complicated head against the carriage door, wishing all idle thoughts would shake off from the rattling carriage vibrations.

⁕⁕⁕

Luciel and Cain’s movements were immediate and powerful enough to embarrass Vivian, who’d caused all sorts of trouble and even persuaded her parents.

The trading company Luciel handled in the Evanhart family was one he’d planned and conceived since his regression. Since he roughly predicted what would happen in the future, he’d created it to preempt items suited to those times in advance and secure trading rights with countries that would need those items beforehand.

Called the ‘Shadow Trading Company,’ Count Evanhart had assembled it small under Luciel’s name when he’d found his young son cute for wanting to help the family business. However, the Shadow Trading Company now generated the largest profits among all the Evanhart family’s trading companies.

Of course, since it was a business under Luciel’s name, even Count and Countess Evanhart didn’t know exactly how much the trading company was worth, but with the profits generated from that trading company, Luciel had steadily built his power.

After grasping money, one must grasp military force, and after grasping military force, one must obtain power. After securing sufficient funds, Evanhart had even created a group called ‘Shadow Owls’ that would move like his limbs. They handled not only Luciel’s escort but also information investigation and various dirty cleanups, and their influence was growing day by day.

They were people loyal to Luciel Evanhart personally rather than the Evanhart household, but even they couldn’t understand Luciel’s move to buy up all trading rights heading to Kartran by spending enormous money. However, they didn’t add words to his decision. Luciel’s decisions had never once been wrong.

When such a trading company of Luciel’s stopped all item transactions demanding ‘withdraw the marriage proposal request to the Empire,’ Su e Der and his son Su Mai Tan were flustered as if struck from behind.

They hadn’t known until now that all supplies coming to Kartran were being controlled by just one single trading company.

“Shadow Trading Company? It’s a place I’m hearing the name of for the first time. But that place is strangling our Kartran’s lifeline?”

Kartran’s Tribal Chief Der looked down at his brother with a pale complexion while clenching his trembling hands in anger.

“Yes, brother. Just three months ago, Müon trading companies definitely participated in transactions, but in the meantime, the Shadow Trading Company bought up all trading rights.”

“This is maddening. Is that even possible?”

“We didn’t expect it at all either. They must have given Müon tremendous interests in exchange for the trading rights. Antalea has already completely cut off trade because of when we invaded before, and Tubium doesn’t even have the goods we need. Zaatar and medicine are already running short, so what should we do……”

Der let out a sigh while holding his throbbing head.

Fighting with a sword was rather easy. Even gathering kinsmen who had no thought of founding a nation, integrating other tribes that resisted change, eliminating opposition, and seizing the coast to create a city that could be called a capital—though overwhelming, weren’t impossible tasks. But being recognized by the Empire was truly, unexpectedly difficult beyond imagination.

‘Must bringing just one Empire noble woman as a bride be this difficult? People live here too. It’s not like they’re sending her somewhere to die. And we’re even putting her in a position equivalent to crown princess!’