Chapter 54

Baaang—!

King Argen slammed both fists against the desk, his knuckles white.

There was betrayal, and then there was this kind of betrayal.

He had secretly removed the corpse exactly as Duke Pose requested. In exchange, the duke had offered only a single condition during their covert dealings:

Never bring a spy into the royal castle.

Do not plant spies among those living in the royal castle, and especially never assign spies to anyone connected to the castle—even if those people left the kingdom afterward.

And yet—

“How could you do this, Duke Pose? You have already broken the one condition I gave you!”

Baaang—!

King Argen struck the desk again, his face flushing red with fury.

The truth was, relations between the Frozen Kingdom and the Kingdom of Doctia had been hanging by a thread, and rebuilding diplomatic ties with Doctia’s king had become urgent.

But despite that, the reason he had approached Duke Pose first was simple.

Jealousy toward Duke Calypse.

He wanted to drag Duke Calypse down and take his place himself.

That was all.

“Please hear me out for a moment, Your Majesty. This... this was something even I did not anticipate.”

Standing across from him, Duke Pose pressed a hand to his forehead with a low sigh.

“What? You did not anticipate it? You mean you did not expect your spy to be discovered?”

“No, Your Majesty. As per your condition, I never placed any spies inside the royal castle.”

“But when you saw the corpse, you yourself said it belonged to a Pose family spy!”

“That is precisely why this is so strange.”

“...?”

“Your Majesty.”

Silence settled over the room.

Duke Pose fixed King Argen with his pale gray eyes.

There was no fear in his gaze.

Only confusion.

“If I truly had planted a spy there, would I have informed Your Majesty that the corpse belonged to one of my spies?”

“...?”

Argen’s ragged breathing gradually slowed.

Only then did reason begin returning to him.

No.

He would not have done that.

Pose family spies did not walk around carrying evidence that openly identified them as spies in the first place.

Everyone in the underground world knew that a spy’s final mission was to disappear quietly without leaving a trace.

He could have lied easily enough. There was no evidence.

But he had not lied.

And if Duke Pose had truly intended to bring a spy into the castle...

There is no way a dead spy would have been discovered by royal knights. Those people are meticulous to a terrifying degree.

Only then did King Argen slowly lower himself onto the sofa.

“Fine... explain it. Sit.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Duke Pose bowed and finally took a seat.

Truthfully, the duke’s mind had already been in turmoil because of the situation in the north.

The frenzied monsters—something he thought would take days to suppress—had been subdued by the Kreutz family in a single day.

That alone had made Duke Pose question the effectiveness of the madness enhancer.

Meanwhile, King Argen had been forced to stare furiously at the front page of the newspapers praising Calypse as a hero.

As if dealing with Argen’s temper over that were not already exhausting enough, now this spy business appears out of nowhere.

Duke Pose narrowed his eyes.

The corpse in the morgue had originally operated in the north.

A narrow-eyed man. That had been his distinguishing feature, if he remembered correctly.

The duke had never bothered giving him a proper name, so his memory was vague, but he had once ordered the man to secretly sell illegal potions through a front business called Perkus’s Bookshop.

If he had stayed at Perkus’s Bookshop, he would have survived. Then why leave a perfectly safe base and come all the way to the royal castle?

His thoughts spun rapidly.

As the head of a spy family, he had handled countless incidents over the years.

And then—

...Aisha.

One of the spies Duke Pose currently treasured most.

That clever child who had actually managed to secure the position of young lady of the main line under Duke Calypse himself.

I heard that child came to the royal castle.

That was the most likely explanation.

The now-dead spy must have followed Aisha to the royal castle.

And Aisha...

Disappeared without even meeting the king.

Granted, they claimed she had been transported away through some kind of portal accident, but this was the royal castle. What kind of accident could possibly happen here?

Unless a spy had confronted another spy...

Did something happen to Aisha?

“I sincerely apologize for causing Your Majesty such offense through this incident.”

“...Ahem!”

Duke Pose lowered his head so deeply the crown of it was visible, but Argen merely coughed awkwardly.

Just as expected.

The duke lifted his head again and forced the most humble smile he could manage.

“What I can do for Your Majesty, at the very least, is uncover the truth behind why one of our spies came to the royal castle and died here...”

“......”

“But naturally, that alone will not satisfy you. So I intend to share one of the Pose family’s highest-level secrets with you. I believe it is a secret that will greatly interest Your Majesty.”

At those words, King Argen—who had barely been pretending to listen—suddenly perked up.

Simple-minded fool.

Still, simple-minded people were useful.

Strictly speaking, King Argen was not an ally. He was merely a tool to suck dry and discard once he had outlived his usefulness.

Duke Pose clicked his tongue inwardly and continued.

“The Kreutz family recently caused quite a stir by registering an orphan as the young lady of the main line.”

Argen answered stiffly.

“Yes. So?”

“An orphan becoming the young lady of the main line... Does that not sound like something out of a fairy tale?”

“What exactly are you trying to say?”

“......”

Smiling faintly, Duke Pose deliberately stopped speaking.

Argen’s head slowly turned toward him.

Then, unable to contain his curiosity, the king subtly leaned an elbow against the table.

There we go. That is how you should react when someone is about to reveal something valuable.

Only then satisfied, Duke Pose finally spoke again.

“That fairy tale was entirely orchestrated by us. The child named Aisha, who rose from orphan to young lady of the main line, is one of our spies.”

“...What?”

Argen’s mouth slowly fell open.

He wiped a hand across his face as if he could not believe what he had just heard, but the shock never left his expression.

“Is that true? From what I heard, Duke Calypse cherishes that girl tremendously.”

“That is the caliber of a Pose family spy.”

“...Good heavens.”

Argen rose from his seat and began pacing in circles, too stunned to stand still.

“A young lady of the main line who is secretly a spy... and Calypse knows nothing about it.”

“Correct. I, too, desire Duke Calypse’s destruction. Aisha, carrying the title of young lady of the main line, is my greatest trump card.”

“A trump card...?”

“Your Majesty. Imagine learning that the child you treasured most was actually a spy from the family you consider your mortal enemy.”

“!”

Argen’s eyes widened.

The madness enhancer operation may have failed...

But Duke Pose was still Duke Pose.

All this time, he had apparently been preparing contingency after contingency to destroy the Kreutz family.

“As expected of you. An excellent idea!”

“You honor me.”

“If you require anything during the process, say the word. Anything within my power, I will support.”

At the king’s praise, Duke Pose smiled mildly.

Now that I have soothed that idiot king, the next step is obvious.

First, he needed to dispatch a new spy.

He needed to find out what exactly was happening within the Kreutz family.

And what Aisha—who had recently stopped sending reports so regularly—had been doing.

***

Several days later.

The cat opened its eyes inside a familiar iron cage and froze in confusion.

Am I back at Ahili’s Circus?

For a moment, panic seized him at the thought that the circus staff might have harmed Aisha.

Sniff, sniff.

The cat buried its nose into the mountain of blankets piled softly beneath him like a bed.

Food.

Snow.

The scent of human hands.

All kinds of smells blended together there.

And among them, faint but unmistakable—

Aisha’s scent lingered too.