Mess 182
by Cristae182.
“Was my analogy a bit too cruel? Still, this punishment will serve as a good warning for us.”
Count Loria finished speaking and turned to the Crown Prince with a question.
The Crown Prince, who had remained silent until now, slowly opened his mouth.
“I agree. Now that all the facts of the crime are out, dragging it out any further would just be a waste of time.”
“But the trial isn’t even over yet. There could be other crimes revealed, so we should be cautious about stripping him of his title until then…”
A heated debate erupted in the council chamber regarding how to deal with Baglosa.
Amidst it all, Seraphy sat with her head bowed in silence.
‘Son of a bitch.’
A coarse curse filled her mouth.
‘That bastard couldn’t have…!’
Bang! Bang, bang!
“Forgive me for interrupting the meeting!”
At that moment, someone began knocking urgently on the council chamber door.
“There’s urgent news!”
“Everyone remain seated.”
Marquis Castane stood and opened the door in her stead.
There was an unspoken rule that the doors of the Consilium must never open until the meeting concluded, but a sense of dread left her no choice.
“…What is it?”
“My apologies for interrupting, but His Majesty the Emperor has sent an urgent message to halt the meeting immediately.”
Though he was drenched in sweat, he still kept the proper decorum. Seraphy recognized him as one of the Empress’s attendants.
The attendant quickly handed over a small slip of paper.
[Count Baglosa Murdered]
The marquis’s face twisted at once as she read it.
[His son apprehended in the act]
“I am suspending the meeting.”
Marquis Castane declared the unexpected adjournment upon returning to the chair.
The nobles murmured in surprise, but Seraphy did not join them.
“I cannot explain the details, but the nature of the matter compelled His Majesty to issue this order.”
The marquis made no mention of the reason for ending the session.
It was news they would naturally hear once they stepped outside anyway.
As the startled nobles prepared to depart after the sudden dissolution,
“……”
Seraphy, too, rose from her seat and exchanged glances with Orkis and Luni standing behind her.
The two quickly stood and left the chamber first, returning by carriage to the Validus estate to assess the situation and prepare.
“Duke.”
Seraphy sought out Duke Felikia.
At that moment, Felikia was speaking with Marquis Castane. Seeing Seraphy, she gestured for her to wait.
Seraphy waited patiently, then gave a slight nod of her head as the marquis excused herself.
“Count.”
The duke approached.
“I thought you had left already.”
“Did the marquis say anything to you just now?”
“I know nothing. The marquis keeps her mouth sealed tight.”
Duke Felikia spoke loudly, as if for others to overhear.
She could feel the pointed gazes of the Crown Prince’s supporters who had not yet left the Consilium.
“I don’t see my son or Miss Luni.”
“I sent them ahead.”
“Then I shall escort you back to the estate.”
Before boarding the carriage, the two took leave of the other nobles as naturally as possible, agreeing to meet again.
Among them was X, who still looked visibly tense. He gripped the duke’s hand tightly, feigning alarm.
“Whatever it is, it’s terrifying. Is the Elder Council always like this?”
“Haha, this is just the beginning.”
Duke Felikia patted X encouragingly, chiding him not to be so easily frightened.
“…He’s quite the performer,” remarked Seraphy as she stepped into the carriage, succinctly judging X’s act from earlier.
Opposite her, the duke’s crimson eyes glimmered with satisfaction.
“He didn’t spend over ten years playing the wastrel for nothing.”
“I rather suspected, but honestly, I nearly wanted to slap him awake for acting so feckless.”
“I just hope it works as well on the Crown Prince.”
“And on Count Loria?”
“……”
The duke fell silent at Seraphy’s question, eyes widening.
But soon a shadow darkened the grim set of her face, and she ran a hand over the hair neatly swept across her brow.
“Count.”
She called Seraphy.
“Count Baglosa has been murdered.”
“…I see.”
Seraphy squeezed her eyes shut.
“You don’t seem all that surprised.”
“I had a feeling. Have they caught the culprit?”
“They say Baglosa’s son was apprehended at the scene.”
But she had not anticipated the culprit’s identity, and could not hide her shock.
“…That’s impossible.”
It was not that Seraphy wished to defend Baglosa’s son.
She knew better than anyone what a pitiful, contemptible wretch he was.
Pathetically weak before the strong, but a predator toward those who seemed weaker.
If Baglosa’s son ever did kill someone—
“…He would have targeted Lady Batiste Castane instead.”
Recalling the revolting way he stalked and harassed her last summer, this situation made no sense at all.
Though Count Baglosa’s position was precarious, he was still head of his house.
And his father had always been an undeniable force.
“It’s not a promising situation.”
The duke sighed heavily.
“It’s clear the Crown Prince’s faction had a hand in Baglosa’s death. They’re cleaning up loose ends before their own crimes come to light.”
In short, they had disposed of him.
They’d uprooted a flower already rotting from within.
Now, it was impossible to draw out forged gold bars or new explosives through Baglosa.
“Until the council reconvenes, we must tread carefully. Not even the matter of currency reform will be discussed easily.”
The murder of a noble by his own son would shock the empire for some time.
In such circumstances, advocating for monetary reform would only seem tone-deaf and draw negative reactions.
“Do you think Count Loria is behind it?”
“You’re quite suspicious of him, aren’t you, Count?”
“And you, Duke?”
“He’s always been inscrutable.”
More so than myself.
Duke Felikia recalled her own notorious days as a long-haired oddity in youth.
Back then, Count Loria had seemed much as he did now.
A fragile appearance, a gentle nature.
And accused of murdering the entire former Viscount Kia household.
‘I never believed it back then…’
When she and Baglosa were named murder suspects alongside Loria, even the infamous Duke Felikia had not believed it.
She’d thought Loria a victim, unreasonably slandered.
“He had a mild demeanor, and lived as if the very prejudices about him were true. No one ever doubted him.”
But if all of it had been a lie—
If he had not been an innocent, wronged man, but the one who used it all as his means—
“……”
Even Duke Felikia shivered at the prospect.
Just how far had that madman gone?
“…But tell me.”
The duke suddenly recalled something her wife had recently mentioned.
“Are you acquainted with Count Loria?”
“Pardon?”
Seraphy wrinkled her brow, forgetting her manners in surprise.
“My wife heard it from the marquis’s wife.”
“From the marquis’s wife?”
“According to her, Count Loria seemed to recognize you. That’s why you received an invitation to the funeral.”
“……”
Seraphy stood dumbstruck, jaw slack.
‘What utter nonsense.’
Count Loria knows me?
“That’s absurd…!”
Just as she moved to deny it, Seraphy stopped short.
The duke’s gaze grew sharp as a blade.
It’s impossible.
It can’t be.
There was not a single point of contact between Seraphy and Count Loria. Besides, last year when Seraphy began gaining notoriety, Loria wasn’t even in the Ortus Empire.
They were even generations apart, old enough to be parent and child.
“…He doesn’t know me.”
Seraphy forced strength into her trembling voice.
“He knows my biological father, not me.”
After escorting Seraphy to her mansion, Duke Felikia spoke.
“Tell Kis not to come home for a while.”
Though in any case, she knew he would stay by the count’s side. She forced a laugh and added,
“And…”
She could not bring herself to finish the thought.
Seraphy understood right away what she meant. Though it was hardly a time to laugh, she almost did out of sheer disbelief.
“Not much of a father, am I?”
“Not much of an in-law, it seems.”
To interfere so much with her child’s own life.
Duke Felikia found the young head of house both pitiable and admirable.
“Our count can manage just fine now.”
No longer was Seraphy the clumsy novice noble who needed constant guidance.
“What if I can’t manage after all?”
“You’ll still do better than most.”
Just then, Orkis arrived to greet Seraphy.
Felikia clicked her tongue at her son’s eagerness to find Seraphy first.
“And they say sons are useless.”
Still, she was secretly proud to see him so devoted to the woman he loved. Embarrassed, Seraphy flushed without reply.
“I’ll take my leave.”
The duke raised a fist, extending her thumb and pinky near her ear—a sign she’d call later.
After the carriage departed, Seraphy and Orkis entered the house.
‘Good thing I had the phone set up.’
The day after the magic communication’s debut, telephones had secretly been installed in both the Validus and Felikia estates.
‘I prepared for a day like this…’
Though relieved by her foresight, Seraphy was unsettled that she’d already had to use it.
“Kis.”
Seraphy asked,
“How much have you learned?”
“They say Baglosa’s son was imprisoned covered in blood, apparently caught in the act.”
As she entered, Seraphy was about to head straight to her office.
“Bring Luni and join me immediately in my study—”
“Seraphy.”
But Orkis stopped her.
“…There’s a guest.”
He wrapped an arm around her waist and turned her away, delivering the news.
A guest, now? Seraphy’s eyes widened in confusion.
“Miss Luni is with them.”
Saying she would understand once she saw, Orkis led her to the parlor, where Luni and Karl awaited.
And when Seraphy entered the parlor—
“……”
She understood at a glance why Orkis had withheld the guest’s identity.
“It’s been a long time.”
Seraphy was the first to greet her guest.
“Count Baglosa’s daughter.”
It had been over a year since she had last met her, back when she’d unknowingly overheard Seraphy and her friends gleefully cursing her in the fitting room.