Chapter 142

Chapter 142: A Trap for Beasts (4)

After reaching the rank of Sword Expert.

Echina had gained enough control over the energy within her body.

She calmed the forced drunkenness through meditation and managed to stabilize herself to some extent.

Thanks to that, her slightly flushed face soon returned to its usual pale color.

Afterward, she returned to her bedroom inside the mansion.

And lay down on the bed just like that.

“…….”

She stared blankly at the ceiling with her usual expressionless face.

There was somewhere she wanted to go right away, but the Grand Duke’s daughter decided to hold back.

Because…

If she were to go find him right after speaking with the eldest daughter, the quick-witted Freya would suspect something about their relationship.

Of course, not in a romantic way, but as a ‘collusive relationship’.

To avoid suspicion at all costs, Echina made the decision not to visit the Erian Hotel for two days.

She quietly attended the Academy and, when time allowed, occasionally stopped by the stock exchange—that was all she did in a day.

Then came the third day.

It wasn’t until lunchtime that she finally made her way to the Erian Hotel.

There, I was waiting for Echina, staring down at my now-cold coffee.

“Roger.”

As I lifted my head, Echina’s eyebrows flickered brightly as if something good had happened.

But soon, she composed herself again and returned to her usual cold demeanor.

“You’ve come. Did you have a good talk with the eldest daughter?”

Echina nodded calmly.

Then, after sitting in the seat across from me, she elegantly brushed off the black jacket draped over her shoulder.

“It’s been two days, and that’s the first thing you ask?”

“……?”

At the Grand Duke’s daughter’s question, I blinked blankly.

Echina let out a short sigh, then called for the bartender.

“Two coffees here, please.”

“Understood, Your Grace.”

The bartender promptly came out and replaced my cold coffee.

Steam rose from the cup, and my reflection no longer showed on the black surface.

“No, it went well. We had a good talk.”

“That’s a relief. It seems the eldest daughter truly was in a desperate situation.”

As I held the warm cup, I expressed my gratitude to her.

Echina simply gave a faint smile as if it was nothing, then picked up her own cup.

“When we were kids, she wouldn’t even look at me. Now she’s got the nerve to slap on a straight face and propose an alliance.”

As if shaking off her bleak past, the Grand Duke’s daughter drank her coffee.

Then, with empty eyes, she gazed at me quietly.

“Well, that’s exactly the kind of family we are.”

“…….”

Thinking she had said something unnecessary, Echina slowly closed her eyes.

Instead of continuing to speak, she chose to savor the aroma of the coffee.

I didn’t ask any further questions.

Because I already knew.

The cold-hearted atmosphere of the Grand Duke of the North’s household.

But even so, Echina was different.

I was the only one who had seen her tears—so I understood.

‘That must be why we’re able to be together like this, even in the next life.’

“By the way, there’s something I’m curious about, Roger.”

“Yes, please go ahead.”

Echina set down her coffee cup, as if trying to change the mood.

Then, returning to her usual cold expression, she asked,

“About the Loyt Shipping situation—why did you tell me to wait until the stock hit 10 times its value, when you're holding out until it hits 25 times?”

There wasn’t any particular greed in the Grand Duke’s daughter’s eyes.

“The reason is very simple.”

I answered while recalling the trait I had just been thinking about regarding the Luton family.

“The Grand Duke’s House is a family that doesn’t trust others.”

Since I wasn’t the Grand Duke’s secretary, I could say it plainly.

Echina nodded boldly, as if to say I was right.

“If someone makes them an offer, the first thing they think is whether that person’s trying to strip them of their assets.”

This was also a typical trait of merchants.

By nature, they never engage in deals where they lose.

They always focus on what profits them, so they assume others are the same.

“People like that don’t easily accept even well-intentioned investment offers. Especially when they’re desperate for money.”

Right now, Freya was the one among Echina’s older siblings who was tightening her belt the most.

She wouldn’t make any investment unless she was completely certain.

To break through someone like that, you had to give them definite ‘trust’.

“That’s why, no matter how well Echina is doing lately, she wouldn’t readily jump into Loyt Shipping.”

“Right. Since she wasn’t sure of my real intentions, she wouldn’t have made a move.”

The Grand Duke’s daughter took a sip of her coffee, seeming to understand her older sister’s mindset well.

Then, her hand holding the cup came to a sudden stop.

“But right now, she knows that I’m backing you.”

Because I had looked at Echina with such deep, affectionate eyes.

“And she’s under the impression that I’m thoroughly using Your Grace for my own gain.”

I gently wiped a drop of coffee that had fallen on her saucer with a napkin.

A habit left over from my days as a secretary.

“In this situation, if I tell you to invest only up to 10 times, but secretly place a sell order for myself at 25 times, what do you think will happen?”

At my question, Echina blinked her sharp eyes.

“She’d think you’re holding on to insider information that you didn’t share with your partners.”

“Exactly. She’ll believe I figured out the real selling point from the force backing her little sister, and she’ll let go of her doubts.”

The Grand Duke’s daughter smiled faintly, her pale face softening like fresh white snow, as if looking at a fox repaying a favor.

“Once she drops her suspicions, she’ll follow you all the way to the 25-times sell point.”

“Correct. And conveniently, I just received news that 50 billion gold was bought up today.”

Just like during my time as Chief Secretary, I had already bribed an employee at the stock exchange.

Thanks to that, it was easy to obtain Freya’s transaction history.

“If she’s aiming for 25 times on 50 billion, that means it’ll shoot up to 1.5 trillion gold... Greedy, isn’t she.”

“With that kind of money, she could buy out the entire Luton family and still have change left.”

To seize the Luton family…

That meant becoming the most powerful person after the Emperor himself.

If you were someone who had grown up your entire life basking in your father’s influence, it was only natural to crave that power.

But that blind greed would soon drag them all into ruin.

All the sins they had committed in the name of chasing after their father.

The burden of that sin would inevitably catch up to them.

“…….”

Echina stared at my hollow eyes in silence.

Then, like a young lioness just come into her prime, she asked sharply,

“Then should I also invest only up to 25 times, just like you?”

Hearing the Grand Duke’s daughter say that, my hazy eyes suddenly sharpened.

For a moment, I doubted her—wondering if she, too, had been blinded by greed like the others.

‘Did I plant the wrong ideas in her head?’

Maybe the woman who once shed tears for me was now falling into my sweet trap in this life as well.

That thought brought an unsettling feeling over me.

“You may do that, but ten times is the safest option.”

In this life, Loyt Shipping was going to receive an extraordinary inflow of capital.

And with that, stock volatility could follow.

That’s why I had only proposed up to ten times for Echina.

“Once it hits twenty times, there’s a high chance the price will stagnate.”

“But that means you’ll take a loss.”

Echina tilted her head, looking genuinely puzzled.

“Traps have to be convincing to work. The bait has to smell of blood, or the beast won’t show any interest, right?”

The Grand Duke’s daughter nodded as though she more or less understood.

Still, her expression betrayed concern—perhaps wondering whether such a great loss was necessary.

As if she were worrying about me.

“A hundred-billion-gold trap… That’s quite extravagant, isn’t it?”

Seeing how she cared for me made the corners of my lips twitch.

But I made sure not to show it and continued speaking.

“There’s a big difference between me spending 100 billion and Representative Freya spending 100 billion.”

“…….”

Echina’s lips parted slightly, as if she had grasped the meaning of my words.

“Right. The only way Freya can come up with that kind of money now is…”

“You’re thinking it too—only by dipping into the ‘company funds’.”

We were talking about 25 times.

If she invested 100 billion, she’d get 2.5 trillion.

If she put in 500 billion, it’d exceed 1 trillion.

And on top of that, someone backing Echina was all-in with her, investing 200 billion together.

How could anyone sit back and watch that?

Even if she weren’t the daughter of the Luton family, she’d have no choice but to follow.

“If Your Grace wishes to follow up to twenty times as well, you may do so. However…”

I looked at her with a piercingly cold gaze.

A silent signal—pleading with her not to walk the same path as her older sister and brothers.

“There’s one thing I can tell you with absolute confidence.”

Echina listened intently, signaling me to go on.

“Money earned without paying a price always ends up eating away at a person.”

This was advice I had come to feel in my bones during my ten years as Chief Secretary.

Maybe it was too much for someone who had just turned twenty-one to fully understand right now.

“No matter what kind of success you achieve, if it was money earned with nothing more than a sell order, you’ll end up feeling no sense of fulfillment from it.”

It's just like gambling addiction.

When a huge sum of money comes in from a single card game, it becomes impossible to keep your head straight.

Stocks aren’t much different.

“…….”

Echina placed her fist against her red lips, deep in thought.

Then, letting out a pure and delicate laugh, she looked at me warmly.

“No, I’ll get off right at ten times.”

Just like any other twenty-one-year-old woman might say.

“Because I trust you.”

As I thought—she really was different from the other children of the Grand Duke.

Still was.

「――――――」

The next day.

Just as I had expected, Loyt Shipping’s stock began showing slight movement.

In my previous life, the price had risen quickly too, but in this life, thanks to the 500 billion investment from me, Echina, and Freya…

The stock began to surge an entire week earlier than projected.

「Gold Morning Finance: Focus on Loyt Shipping of the Northern United Kingdoms!!」

The alarming, blood-red graph left every citizen in the Empire in shock.

The impact was so immense that even our Erian Hotel was flooded with people in despair.

“Damn it! What kind of shipping company from some island nation makes a graph like this…!!”

“Shouldn’t we jump in even now?”

“Are you crazy? It’s already passed five times! If it plateaus now, it’ll bleed you dry!”

The lounge bar split in two—between those shouting, ‘We have to get in now!’ and those yelling, ‘It’s already too late!’

Amidst it all, I silently read the newspaper alone.

“When the hell is that Mansachs guy publishing my interview?”

I really don’t get why he put me—a businessman—into the entertainment news section.

To make things worse, Gold Morning’s illustrators were known for their artistic flair, and they’d gone completely overboard exaggerating my face.

Because of that, a few noble ladies came to gawk at me, and it became quite a hassle.

‘If I were actually good-looking, maybe they’d at least talk to me.’

But up until now, not a single woman had approached me.

They’d sneak glances from afar, and then suddenly disappear.

They must’ve been disappointed after realizing I didn’t look like the picture.

Well, no wonder I never had a relationship in my past life either.

Of course, the fact that I’m picky didn’t help.

To begin with, I had no interest in romance, and the only woman around me was the Grand Duke’s daughter—Echina.

In this life, it had only ever been the Saint and the Western Grand Duke’s daughter.

But I never really saw them as women.

They had too much ambition to be considered romantic prospects—more like business partners than anything else.

‘Come to think of it, yesterday she even gave some noble ladies in front of the hotel a deadly glare…’

She was probably asserting dominance as a businesswoman.

Anyway, the fact that I was having these idle thoughts showed just how little I cared about the rising stock prices.

I simply sat in the lounge bar, savoring a new batch of Eastern coffee beans.

Stealing my favorite beans—originally meant for the Grand Duke’s House—and bringing them to our hotel instead.

That, too, was part of my revenge.

“…….”

While I was enjoying my solitary contemplation like that—

I suddenly raised my head at the sound of hurried footsteps echoing from the lobby.

This quick-paced, light step…

It only ever meant one thing—when our hotel manager, Yuria, came running in a panic to find me.

“President…!! Something big’s happened outside!!”

“What is it?”

The red-haired woman who had rushed in pointed toward the lobby.

When I lifted my head to follow her gaze, I saw a familiar figure.

“A… a guest has arrived!!”

It was none other than the eldest daughter of the Grand Duke of the North—Freya.

The beautiful silver-haired woman stood outside, her hands clasped behind her back, waiting for me.

“So suspicious, aren’t you.”

I nodded, got up from my seat, and began walking toward her—the eldest daughter who had joined this 50-billion-gold poker game.

“Welcome, Lady Freya.”

The thing I had always been best at since my previous life—

Putting my lord at ‘ease.’

“What brings you to our hotel?”

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