Kilim spat on the ground again.

He thought of Sirha, whom he had just sent back in a carriage.

Usually, she was a woman who kept her buttons fastened up to her neck and wore gloves like she didn’t want to show her hands. Every time he saw her like that, Kilim made a promise to himself. That someday he would strip all those clothes off with his own hands.

‘That bastard was so protective of her.’

He remembered Shulat, who had beaten him up leisurely in front of all the knights. After that, other knights would click their tongues or look at him as though he were pathetic. For Kilim, who had been quite confident in his abilities, it was the first humiliation he had ever experienced.

‘If it had been any other Knight Order, it wouldn’t have been like this.’

Of all things, it had to be the 9th Knight Order, and he had to lose to a lowborn who had been a mercenary. Though he had sworn not to let it slide, there was nothing Kilim could do.

‘If I’m unlucky, word might reach the Prime Minister’s office.’

Everyone knew that Nergal often summoned the monster of a vice-captain to reprimand the 9th Knight Order. If he caused trouble and that monster started running his mouth in front of Nergal?

‘I’d be the only one ruined.’

If the Prime Minister’s office started an investigation, even the Third Prince who his family supported couldn’t protect him. These days, the Third Prince was trying hard to curry favor with Nergal. If he caused trouble and got on his bad side, the Third Prince would never look kindly upon him.

So Kilim had to endure without being able to do anything. Then something unexpected happened.

The 9th Knight Order, which had gone to retrieve the Holy Sword, disappeared and was branded as traitors.

Their families and relatives were all sent into exile. However, some remained behind because they were minors. Shulat’s siblings were such a case.

Though they escaped punishment, they had to live under surveillance for the rest of their lives.

Normally, he would never volunteer for such a task, but Kilim volunteered to take charge of the surveillance.

He immediately went to Shulat’s house. The exterior was a mess. Rotten vegetables and eggs were stuck to the walls, the fence was covered in graffiti, and the stench of filth was overwhelming.

He was considering leaving it be, but the moment he saw Shulat’s siblings – or more precisely, the moment he saw Sirha – he changed his mind.

‘The young one is pretty.’

Though young, she would soon be an adult. Moreover, she had excellent grades, and her professors had even written petitions begging for her to be spared punishment, showing how beloved a student she was. What pleased Kilim most was a resident’s testimony about how much Shulat had cherished his younger sister.

‘That bastard must be dead in some cave by now.’

Since he was dead and gone, Kilim had lost his target for revenge. Then wouldn’t it be fine to take out that anger on the siblings he had cherished so much?

‘Might as well have some fun while I’m at it.’

From the moment she first saw him, Sirha seemed to sense what he was thinking and became tense. This only made Kilim more delighted.

‘What can you do about it?’

It might be nice to have that girl crying and begging on behalf of her brother’s wrongdoings. Preferably while providing him pleasure underneath him. But if he forced himself on her right away, she would surely cause a scene.

‘Then I’ll just have to make her take them off herself.’

Kilim deliberately kept volunteering for external duties and headed to Shulat’s house. As expected, the villagers were harassing Shulat’s siblings. Kilim would drive them away and then comfort the two crying younger siblings.

After doing this a few times, the two younger siblings began to wait for Kilim’s arrival. They had noticed that when he came, the villagers’ harassment decreased.

Then Kilim deliberately stopped coming. When he returned to the house two weeks later, it was in shambles. People had started harassing Shulat’s siblings again when they realized the daily visitor had stopped coming, and the security force had ignored it as Kilim had ordered.

When Kilim arrived, the young siblings clung to him and sobbed, while Sirha kept her head down with a dark expression.

“I should have visited more often… Don’t worry too much now.”

Kilim said this while stroking Sirha’s shoulder. Sirha remained still as he touched her.

After that, things became even easier. After repeating this pattern several times, Sirha became increasingly depressed and lost her will.

“If you do as I ask, I can help you move somewhere else. That would be much better for your siblings too.”

It was impossible. Someone like Kilim had no such authority. But Sirha nodded at his words.

‘She’ll be an adult now, she’ll undress herself and get into bed, so they can’t claim I forced her. I won’t face any punishment.’

Thinking this, he had brought her here today wearing the vulgar clothes he and his colleagues had chosen. He was planning to give her something moderately priced to buy. Just in case there was trouble later, he could claim they had been in a good relationship.

He was going to take her to a quiet villa and make her kneel and cry in place of her brother, but….

‘If that Sirha were to see Lord Nergal and try to appeal to him, it would become troublesome.’

So he sent her back in a carriage instead.

Kilim spat again and said, “Well, today’s not the only opportunity. Let’s wait for Lord Nergal for now.”

Kilim and the knights returned to the main street. After they left, Ir closed the window and went back into the hallway.

Even without asking, it was easy to guess what Kilim was trying to do. Anyone could tell from that disgusting look in his eyes when he watched Sirha.

Ir immediately headed toward Nergal. She needed to ask for his help.

***

The store owner swallowed dryly as he watched Nergal seriously examining the catalog.

It wasn’t just because he was a central power in the imperial palace.

‘Wasn’t Vativira essentially created by him?’

Vativira hadn’t always been this bustling. When the new shopping district was created, merchants from the old downtown naturally opposed it.

Moreover, before Vativira was established, the empire’s royal family and nobles considered it shameful to go out shopping themselves instead of having merchants come to their homes.

In this situation, the imperial family found themselves in a difficult position. It wouldn’t look good for a street newly created to commemorate the current emperor’s ascension to be empty with only flies buzzing around.

So the imperial family ordered someone to revitalize the place somehow, and Nergal was put in charge.

The owner remembered Nergal from that time. When he came here then, he was barely twenty years old, having been appointed as Prime Minister just recently.

At first, everyone dismissed him, wondering what he could possibly do. But in less than a year, they all had to change their minds. During that time, Nergal had concluded negotiations with the Southern Continent that had been stalled for decades and even completed massive trade agreements.

Goods from a place that had barely had any exchange for over a century began pouring in endlessly, and the nobles wanted to acquire them. But there were so many items that it wasn’t easy to bring them all during visits, so Nergal rented the largest building at the entrance of Vativira with imperial funds and displayed the Southern Continent’s goods there.

On the surface, it took the form of a museum. Thanks to this, nobles who thought it shameful to go shopping themselves could easily come to browse without worrying about others’ eyes.

Naturally, after seeing the new items, they wanted to place orders before others, and merchants rented empty shops nearby, decorating them like salons where nobles could place orders right away.

Eventually, nobles came to consider it more natural to come out, browse, and buy rather than ordering from their mansions, and Vativira was reborn as the empire’s finest shopping district.

‘That’s why His Majesty the Emperor gave the building, which was initially borrowed from the imperial family, as a gift to Lord Nergal.’

It’s still the first place where new items are displayed each season. The income, of course, became Nergal’s private wealth.

‘Unlike other royalty who show it off, it wasn’t very noticeable, but…’

The owner glanced at the order form in front of him.

The amount Nergal had ordered in the past hour was enough to astound any ordinary shop owner.

‘Though they say he’s entering society… to this extent?’

The owner wanted to suggest that Nergal might as well buy the entire shop, given how excessively he was ordering items. Especially for the woman who came with him.

‘Everyone will be in an uproar.’

Not only was she beautiful, but this woman would appear at this social season more wealthy and luxurious than anyone else. After all, Nergal was buying everything for her without reserve.

Just then, the door opened. The owner turned around, thinking it might be next month’s expected import list he had asked the staff to bring, but it was Ir who had left earlier returning.

She immediately approached Nergal and, pointing to a spot in the catalog he was holding, whispered:

“Ner, I want this.”

It was such a plaintive voice that anyone would have to grant her wish, as if she really wanted it. But even more surprising was how she called Nergal by a nickname. While the owner’s jaw dropped, Nergal replied in a calm voice.

“…Oh? But I’ll have to think about this one.”

Nergal said this and then looked at the owner and staff. They were people familiar with such situations. Therefore, they quickly understood the meaning of his subdued gaze and rose swiftly.

“We’ll be outside. Please call us if you need anything.”

As they left, they thought that once they were gone, the two would probably engage in some intimate conversation and actions.

After everyone had left and the door closed, Nergal asked Ir in a composed voice:

“Did you find someone you want to kill right away?”

As he spoke, he looked at what Ir had pointed to. There were blue-bladed foreign swords drawn on that page.

—

T/N: GO FUCK HIM UP, QUEEN! 😚