Chapter 145

Chapter 145:  The Eldest Daughter’s Hunt (2)

Erian Hotel.

The current time was twelve o’clock, when the warm sunlight streamed down.

The guests had gone down to the restaurant for the lunch course.

However, I didn’t join them.

When everyone went to eat, I sat alone in the spacious lounge bar, taking out my lunchbox to enjoy in peace.

“Is making lunchboxes popular among young ladies these days?”

I had received Istina’s lunchbox a few weeks ago.

But it turned out that it wasn’t a one-time thing—she’d been sending one every weekend.

And Echina, too, would often offer to share her lunch whenever classes at the academy ended early, saying she’d made too much.

Thanks to that, I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d eaten hotel food.

‘Echina really should eat a bit more.’

She was a knight on the verge of becoming a Swordmaster, so she ought to eat well.

When I looked at her slender wrists and ankles, I couldn’t help but wonder how she could wield a sword so skillfully with that kind of body.

“Today’s from Istina, huh.”

The reason the saint sent me lunch was simple.

It was because of the weekly daycare support event.

It was a meaningful program where lunchboxes made at the cathedral were sent to orphanages and single-parent households…

Apparently, it began after I returned to Nord.

“At times like this, she truly feels divine.”

Echina’s lunchboxes were simple yet delicious—like something a mother might prepare.

On the other hand, Istina’s lunches were… harder to define.

If I had to put it into words, I’d say they were interesting.

The first time I tried her lunch, the taste was quite peculiar.

Dishes that were supposed to be sweet had a strange sourness, and ones that should’ve been refreshing tasted oddly bland.

At first, I found myself tilting my head every time I ate, but after a while, I started to like them more and more.

Now, I even looked forward to seeing how much she’d improved each week.

If Echina looked like a younger sister and the saint like an older one…

It was amusing how their personalities flipped when it came to things like this.

“Hmm… this time, it’s actually quite good.”

At last, her cooking had reached the level of a proper restaurant lunchbox.

With that, I couldn’t help but chuckle faintly as I confidently poked a sausage with my fork.

“The plating’s still bizarre, but she’s really put in the effort.”

Now, even the children would finally get to eat decent meals.

I thought that as I chewed on a roughly sliced sausage.

Just then, I heard hurried footsteps from afar—heels clacking in haste.

I knew exactly who they belonged to.

It was always my manager who came rushing whenever I caused trouble.

“Director…!!”

The quiet hotel had grown noisy again since my return.

The red-haired woman, Yuria, caught her breath as she spoke to me, still holding the fork.

“Something’s happened! Outside, right now…!!”

“Oh, Freya’s here, isn’t she?”

My manager’s already large eyes widened even more, as if asking how I knew.

But I didn’t bother explaining.

I simply put another piece of sausage into my mouth and calmly tried to soothe Yuria.

“It’s fine. Just bring her to the lounge bar.”

“Y-yes, sir…!!”

Yuria turned to go escort the Grand Duke’s eldest daughter back—

But she didn’t need to.

The silver-haired woman strode confidently into the lobby on her own, her expression as fierce as that of a lioness.

“Eek…!!”

Overwhelmed by her presence, Yuria instinctively retreated behind me.

The moment Freya arrived, the warm atmosphere of the lobby turned frigid.

“Roger Julius.”

“Welcome, Director.”

I rose naturally from my seat, setting the crude lunchbox down on the table.

“To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit to our hotel?”

“To what? Don’t tell me you’re seriously asking that right now?”

Freya wasn’t as gifted in mana as Echina, but she still possessed some talent.

Perhaps that was why, under the pressure of her killing intent, I felt the fine hairs on my face stand on end.

“What on earth happened? This isn’t what you said would happen. Lloyd—!!”

“Could it be… you’re here because of the crash of Lloyd Shipping?”

I cut her words short.

Then…

Letting out the most pitiful sigh I could muster, I spoke with despair.

“You’ve come to dig into my wounds, haven’t you…”

“What?”

Freya frowned deeply, clearly at a loss for words.

Her aides, glancing around nervously, bit their dry lips.

“Even now, I still wake up in the middle of the night thinking about it… ha…”

I placed a hand on my chest and tightly closed my eyes.

“That hundred billion I scraped together… and it turned out to be a Northern Maritime Union stock scam…! Good heavens, how could a nation commit such fraud against the world!!”

I raised my voice dramatically—so loud that even the staff in the lobby flinched in surprise.

“Ha…”

I covered my face with one hand.

At the same time, I subtly lifted a finger toward the crude lunchbox on the table—the saint’s creation.

“The shock from that loss forced me to tighten my belt. Please, take a look at this.”

Following my gesture, the Grand Duke’s eldest daughter glanced at Istina’s handiwork.

“What is that…? Dog food?”

“It’s my lunch… I’m trying to save every penny I can, so I’ve been eating lunchboxes.”

Freya’s anger subsided slightly at the sight—it looked nothing like the food she was used to.

“It does look pitiful indeed.”

“It tastes good, though.”

I placed a hand on the table as if standing was difficult.

Barely managing to hold myself upright, I looked up at her.

“Anyway, thankfully it was all done with my personal funds, so the foundation didn’t suffer any loss. I almost invested the foundation’s money too, but thank heavens I stopped myself in time.”

Now it was my turn to prod at her wounds.

“By the way, did Lady Echina suffer much loss as well?”

“You… are you mocking me right now, even though you know the truth?”

I hastily shook my head, insisting that I hadn’t meant it that way.

“Of course not. How could I ever dare to insult the illustrious eldest daughter of the Luton family? I was merely startled that you came all the way to the hotel yourself.”

Her beautiful silver eyes trembled faintly.

“Don’t tell me… you went beyond using your personal funds and even dipped into the company’s capital?”

And at that moment, she instinctively realized the truth.

That the real orchestrator behind the scheme wasn’t Lloyd Shipping—

It was me.

“You…”

Freya grabbed my shoulder with a trembling hand.

Then she leaned in close enough that I could smell the dangerously sweet scent of her perfume.

“Do you think you can still walk this land alive after doing something like this?”

Her gaze was chilling—just like the Grand Duke of the North’s.

But—

I didn’t even flinch under that killing intent.

Because I had long since understood their true nature.

And I too…

was one of them.

“Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?”

I met Freya’s eyes with my pitch-black ones,

and spoke in the same cold voice I’d once used as Chief Secretary.

“When did I ever introduce Lady Freya to Lloyd Shipping?”

I firmly caught her wrist resting on my shoulder,

and gently lowered it as I whispered,

“I distinctly remember introducing it only to Lady Echina—and I clearly told her to withdraw after a tenfold gain.”

“Y-you insolent wretch…!!”

The woman who once smiled so gracefully at the secretary candidates on the first day of my return—

that same woman now had completely lost her composure before me.

“You leaked the information on purpose…!! You must have conspired with Echina!! She’s the one who told you I was close with the stock exchange!!”

It was quite a sight to behold.

If there were ever a masterpiece that captured this moment, it would surely be among the greatest.

“How could you call her that?”

I clasped my hands leisurely behind my back,

and this time, it was I who leaned in and whispered to Freya.

“You shouldn’t refer to your younger sister in such a way.”

“……!!”

Hearing the genuine tone in my voice, the eldest daughter’s lips quivered.

Once, this mature woman had basked in all the Grand Duke of the North’s affection—but now, she had lost everything:

five hundred billion in losses, a reckless verbal agreement, and finally…

her father’s trust.

“I see now… I finally understand.”

Freya stared blankly into my long, narrow eyes, her expression dazed.

She spoke as though peering into the depthless void within my dull black pupils.

“You were a spy Echina trained from the very beginning…!! She must have told you all the family’s secrets to win you over…!!”

The Grand Duke’s eldest daughter raised her finger—

so close that it nearly brushed the bridge of my nose.

“I’m sorry, but this has nothing to do with Lady Echina. So, if you would please leave.”

I gently took her finger and lowered it.

“I haven’t finished my lunch yet.”

Now she realized she had become something even lower than that pitiful lunchbox.

The moment Freya grasped the meaning behind my words, she nearly collapsed.

She could barely stay on her feet thanks to the support of the Chief Secretary and the Director who stood by her sides.

“Just wait and see, Roger… You’ve made a grave mistake this time…!!”

“Instead of wasting time warning me, shouldn’t you hurry to see His Grace?”

I sat back down in the lounge chair as I spoke.

“If you go and confess everything right now, you might at least put out the immediate fire.”

“You vile bastard…”

Freya tried to shout at me, but when she caught the calm, steady gazes of the executives supporting her, she closed her eyes tightly instead.

“Director, let’s return for now.”

“You should start by sorting out the company funds you misused.”

Freya staggered away with the executives’ help.

I popped another sausage into my mouth as I watched her retreating figure.

‘Good thing today’s lunch was Istina’s.’

If it had been Echina’s, the meal would’ve been so neat and tidy that I might have flipped the entire table.

After that huge confrontation with the eldest daughter, that was all I could think about.

“Roger, I’ll see you next time. But by then, the tables will have turned completely!!”

Those executives supporting her—

they had served the Grand Duke’s house for generations, and their loyalty to Freya’s leadership was deep. Because of that, the company wouldn’t collapse so easily.

‘Ah, though she’ll still have to step down from her position as major shareholder because of the embezzlement.’

“Yuria.”

“Yes… Director.”

The hotel manager, who had been cautiously watching from afar, came closer.

I pulled the fountain pen from my suit pocket and said,

“Bring me some paper. And send it with the hotel’s fastest carrier pigeon.”

“Understood…”

Even after such a dramatic scene, Yuria swallowed hard as she looked at how calm I remained.

A moment later, she handed me a sheet of stationery with trembling hands.

“To Lady Echina,

Soon, a shareholders’ meeting will be held to determine the new major shareholder of Luton Maiden. Let’s attend together that day.”

The one billion gold that Echina and I had secured—

that money would soon make her the rightful owner of Luton Maiden.

――――――

The embezzlement of five hundred billion in company funds by the CEO of Luton Maiden.

Already weakened by the Marble Incident, the company was struck by yet another major blow.

To keep the matter contained, the board began silencing the executives.

But just as one cannot cover the sun with a hand, the news inevitably reached him.

The man Freya feared most within the company—

the Grand Duke of the North himself.

……

The absolute ruler of Nord, Baylis Luton.

Seated in his office, he rested his hand along his firm jawline.

“Freya… that child has done something foolish again.”

Beside him stood Chief Secretary Debier.

With his hands clasped behind his back, he closed his eyes tightly and exhaled a short breath.

“It seems this was her first case of embezzlement. Until now, she had managed the company funds with integrity…”

“The first time, yes—but utterly fatal.”

She was now on the verge of losing her position as major shareholder.

Until this point, every Luton family enterprise had always been led by members of the family.

But now, for the first time, the position might be taken by an outsider.

“It appears she pushed herself too far, trying to redeem the recent mistakes she’d made.”

“How complacent. Results are not created from nothing—they come from the path one has walked.”

The Grand Duke of the North pressed his hand against his deeply furrowed brow.

“Lloyd Shipping, was it?”

“Yes. It was a major speculative stock under the Northern Maritime Union.”

The Duke of Luton was a man who never spared a glance at anything he didn’t fully understand.

Whether prices rose or fell, if there was no sound reasoning behind it, he dismissed it without hesitation.

That was one of the very principles that had allowed him to reach his current station.

“How did Freya end up stumbling into something like that?”

“It seems she followed Lady Echina’s lead. The younger daughter invested first.”

At those words—that Echina was involved in the affair—the Grand Duke lifted his head.

“Echina?”

“Yes, the second daughter invested one hundred billion into it. Then she sold at precisely ten times that—one trillion.”

The Duke took a sip of the water on the table.

“So Echina made a bet like that.”

The Grand Duke’s golden eyes gleamed.

He fell silent for a moment, deep in thought…

“Roger.”

He immediately recognized the one behind it all.

“Roger… You mean Roger Julius, sir?”

When the Chief Secretary asked, the Duke quietly set down his glass.

Then he began to rise from his leather chair.

The secretary reached out to help him, but he gently refused.

“It’s fine. I’m not that frail yet.”

The Black Lion of the North stood and placed his hand against the window.

Outside, fields of ripened golden wheat swayed gently in the wind.

“Summon Roger here.”

The continent’s second-in-command let out a short sigh.

Staring at the slowly setting sun, he spoke.

“I must find out whether Echina is part of his plan.”

Even though his eldest daughter had fallen into serious danger, the Grand Duke showed no sign of anger.

If anything, he looked indifferent—

as though he regarded the entire incident as nothing more than another stage in the family’s succession struggle.

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