Chapter 12

Despite the relentless sound of crashing waves, the place was strangely serene. According to Angela, this was a secret base for an organization that illegally imported exotic poisonous plants. Though they posed as a merchant guild, they didn’t operate their own ships directly. Instead, they leased their vessels to smaller, struggling guilds, using them as a conduit for smuggling illegal goods. If problems arose, they could simply cut ties, claiming they had only lent out the ships.

“A typical multi-layered criminal operation. If something of this scale hasn’t been exposed yet, there must definitely be collusion with the city authorities,” Ruslan commented, assessing the size of the warehouse.

It was through this organization that a new type of poisonous plant had been smuggled in. It was said to grow in the remote, deep mountains of the East, but its origin was actually irrelevant. Medicinal herbs don’t produce immediate results on their own. To become a poison capable of subtle effects, as Grand Duke Licht had experienced, a refining process was necessary. Naturally, achieving this would require countless trial-and-errors.

But who would willingly subject themselves to that many failed experiments?

“There’s a rumor they’re using people for the refinement experiments. There are plenty of refugees in the East, after all,” Angela said offhandedly. “It would be perfect for proving you’re the reincarnation of Charlotte, too. Go and smash it to pieces yourself. And see what your friends have done with this country over the past five years.”

Juju slowly returned the coat to Ruslan. She untied the ribbon that secured her cloak. The moment aura enveloped the fluttering ribbon, the lace fanned out as if embedded with wire.

There were one, two, ten… thirty enemies hidden nearby.

“Not many,” she remarked.

“Is that so?”

Ruslan scanned the surroundings with his eyes, but he didn’t need to move.

Juju lowered her stance. “The Count might want to see this too. See how Charlotte became the villain she was.”

“Hey, you lot, what do you want?! Get lost!” several men shouted as they emerged. They surrounded and charged at her from all directions.

Juju calmly looked over each of them, then turned to Ruslan behind her. “Count, you’ll be bored, so time it. I want to see how I measure up against my old self.”

Without complaint, Ruslan elegantly pulled a pocket watch from his breast pocket. The ticking sound of winding it filled the air.

“We start now. What’s the ideal time?”

“Forty seconds.”

Juju planted her feet firmly. Memories of her past self flooded back. Just like then, aura flowed freely through every part of her body. Her blood was boiling.

A smile bloomed beneath her veil. “So, which of you wants to be tonight’s dinner for the fish?”

The hem of her dress fluttered. Mixed with the sound of the waves, screams of pain echoed.

A monster.

That’s what someone who had fallen had gasped.

“You really should develop a new expression by now. It’s starting to lose its sincerity after the five thousandth time I’ve heard it,” the blonde girl had muttered, sounding bored.

Several men and women were sprawled on the dock like fish out of water. Their physiques and movements all showed they were accustomed to fighting. Scattered on the ground were various weapons, from iron clubs to swords that likely had been smuggled out of a military armory.

All of them had been taken down by a single ribbon of lace. The aura-infused ribbon moved freely, guided by Juju’s will. The few pieces of cloth snatched all kinds of weapons and hurled them into the air. Eventually, they even snatched the elbows and knees of those who resorted to hand-to-hand combat.

Once a joint was ensnared by the ribbon and pulled in the opposite direction, there was no escaping. While her opponents were reeling in pain, she delivered a straight punch that shattered countless bones. It was a technique wasted on a brawl like this.

A while later, Juju kicked open the warehouse door. The guild master was dragged out from where he had been hiding. As she came face-to-face with a middle-aged woman prostrate on the ground, pleading for mercy, Ruslan quietly released the pocket watch’s winder.

The time taken was approximately one minute and two seconds.

“Ah, I’m still far from my old skills… You’re not going to think I’m below your expectations now, are you, Count Keitel?” Juju clicked her tongue, hearing the time. As if to vent her frustration, she stomped her heel into the guild master’s shoulder, then sweetly asked the terrified woman, “Now, madam. You wouldn’t be just doing business with the ones inside, would you? Do you want a drink of seawater as we talk? Or…”

“…”

Ruslan leaned back on an armchair in the hotel, scribbling something on documents placed on his lap. He paused his work to look at Juju, who had fallen asleep on the bed.

He stopped himself from smiling. He didn’t want to risk her hurting her neck.

It wasn’t that he had wanted to mock her as Juju had thought. For one, there was nothing to look down upon in the girl’s sleeping face. She even resembled an angel sleeping on a cloud.

Yet if she had been just an ordinary girl, Ruslan would have only objectively noted that she was beautiful.

He remembered her from the pre-dawn hours. As the Charlotte of the past, Juju had been overflowing with life, her aura boiling within her.

Only someone who had witnessed that could grasp the unreal serenity of this scene.

Again, a faint smile appeared on his lips.

To a criminal, she might appear to be a monster. But could such a beautiful monster truly exist in this world?

‘She deserves a break after moving so much.’

Juju had done her part.

Ruslan knew that the rest of the clean-up was his responsibility.

From the moment he decided to take this woman out of that prison cell, he had known that this would be his role in this play.

He silently rose and exited the room. Semyon naturally followed behind him.

“Will you be going out, sir?”

“I’m going to meet with the mayor. Get things ready. And call ahead.”

It was just past lunchtime, a good time to arrive as a guest.

Ruslan didn’t have the hotel carriage readied. Instead, he arranged for a carriage bearing the northern insignia. The town hall wasn’t far from the hotel, but it was certainly improper to walk in a situation like this.

The mayor of Obernhafen had been in a foul mood since the morning.

The news about a brawl that had occurred on the dock in the early hours of the morning was the cause.

Such incidents were common in a port. People accustomed to being at sea often caused trouble on land. Moreover, issues like taxes and profits could quickly escalate into brawls.

Usually, cases like this never even made it to the mayor’s desk. The constabulary would just round up both sides, give them a lecture and send them on their way. If the damages were severe, they’d determine the amount of a settlement. If the crime was serious, they would be beaten a few times before being released.

This time, however, the situation was different.

First of all, the victims were a merchant guild to whom the mayor was giving special consideration. They couldn’t be dismissed easily, they required careful handling, which was a nuisance.

The mayor had received much from the victimized guild master over time. The guild master had secretly invited her to her salon and provided her with precious perfumes and oriental silks. Sometimes she would even present handsome young men said to have been discovered on distant islands.

The logic of helping each other in a harsh port seemed logical. To slightly bypass a few procedures, or to quietly bury a few complaints, wasn’t such a hard thing to do.

However, the prospect of catching the perpetrators and punishing them was proving difficult.

For one, it didn’t seem that the fight was between locals. The perpetrators also didn’t have any connection to the port’s economic factions.

The guild master was claiming that a girl had caused all the chaos. She’d even taken all of her underlings, causing major losses.

On top of that, the girl had been accompanied by a man who seemed very suspicious. His attire was said to have been quite extraordinary.

‘The guild master was bragging about having found a good business partner recently. Maybe this is some complication from that?’

The mayor bit her nails hard. Gnawing on them, she tried to speculate about the situation’s origins. Just then, a report came in that a visitor was requesting an audience.

“I’m swamped here, who could want to visit at this time?”

“The Northern Count Keitel has arrived in the city yesterday and wishes to meet with you.”

That was unexpected. The mayor rushed out of her office.

She had heard the news about the northern Grand Duke unexpectedly passing away. She had also heard the rumor that his adopted son was currently traveling to the capital.

However, the issues of the Grand Duke’s family were irrelevant to her. Issues of displaced rural immigrants had nothing to do with the port either, so she had ignored them. The only thing that bothered her was the growing number of beggars that needed dealing with.

Nevertheless, she had to treat such a high-ranking guest with respect. The Grand Duke’s family, however diminished, still possessed immense history and wealth. A mere mayor could not afford to antagonize someone of their standing.

Stepping into the reception room, she gasped.

‘They said the adopted son was a usurper of his sister’s inheritance, I imagined him to have a villainous face…’

The mayor cursed the harsh environment of the North.

How could a man so handsome have gone this far without even a hint of rumor? Had the late Grand Duke hidden him away and raised him?

It was a tragedy for half of the empire!

Compared to that face, even the most famous opera singer of this generation would be put to shame. She suddenly felt much happier and sat down.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Count Keitel. What brings you to our humble port city? If you are just visiting on your way to the capital, perhaps I could organize a small ball…”

“Thank you for the consideration, but I’m not here for that,” he said curtly. The mayor managed to hide her stiffening face.

“Is there some pressing matter you needed to discuss with me?”

“While I was taking a stroll by the sea last night, I unfortunately encountered a little attack.”

“A, an attack, you say?”

The mayor’s spine grew cold. Her mind automatically jumped to the obvious incident.

What if the guild’s one-sided account was just to make themselves look better? What if, in fact, they had caused offense with their overreaction, irritating the Count?

Ruslan, sensing her panic, smiled calmly. He took some documents from Semyon, who had been standing behind him, and handed them to the mayor.

“Don’t get me wrong. I haven’t come here to ask you to punish them. Any merchant guild would respond accordingly if a stranger was lurking about. Of course, we could hardly allow ourselves to be attacked without reacting, so there was a bit of a conflict.”

“A-Ah, I see. Oh, well if there had been an issue, I would have been happy to mediate…”

“However, it occurred to me to look into things when I saw a large gathering of people that late at night, when no ships were even being loaded.”

Ruslan opened one of the documents slightly, then dropped it on the table with a thud.

“I found evidence of children being imprisoned and trafficked from the warehouse, and the basement beneath it. Do you have any knowledge of this, Madam Mayor? I believe the Empire strictly prohibits slavery.”

“What? Is it possible that such terrible things are happening?”

“The average age of the children is ten to fifteen years old. There are about sixty or seventy of them. All of them were able to identify themselves, and most claimed they were forcibly taken. I also discovered other illegal activities, and here is the evidence for it.”

Several stacks of documents were scattered on the table. Ruslan gave the last stack directly to the mayor.

“And this. Please, take a look at it.”

The mayor picked up the document, looking flustered. The sound of her fingernails scraping against the paper echoed. As she flipped through several pages, her face turned pale.

The documents were the guild’s account ledgers. Tables full of this year’s sales and net profits filled the pages. The details of their due port taxes and tariffs, and other miscellaneous fees were recorded… but.

Everything was marked up with red ink.

He had pointed out every instance of accounting fraud. The amount of tax evasion had been roughly added up and highlighted. There was one line that was highlighted in particular.

Entertainment expenses.

Ruslan rested his head on his fist, his elbow propped on the armrest. His red eyes seemed colder.

“It’s hard to imagine that just a few tax officials would be able to ignore a guild that submits this kind of accounting report. What do you think?”

The mayor crumpled the document in fear. She cried out desperately.

“Count!!”

“It seems I made a good choice by stopping by on my way to the capital. I wonder what the Central Government will have to say once they learn how much tax revenue is being lost because of you.”

“P-Please, just turn a blind eye this once! The local economy is centered around established local merchant guilds, so if one were to be so strict, there would occasionally be deviations from the standard….”

“That’s not something you should be discussing with me. Oh, and you must already know that what I’ve given you are just copies. Before the official orders from the Central Government come down, you should make an effort to resolve the matter. For example, you could make an example out of this troubled guild.”

Ruslan smiled coldly as he stood up.

Because of people like this, poison was allowed to flow into the country. The Grand Duke had been victimized by that poison.

The documents that contained the details on how to refine the new poison had already been located and burned. All that remained was getting rid of the raw materials. The easiest way to do that was by utilizing the authority of the government.

If this woman wanted to survive, she would need to frantically demonstrate her loyalty. Those exotic poisonous herbs should all be thrown into the sea.

Ruslan slowly bent down, whispering to the trembling mayor.

“So then.”

His voice was both seductive and cold.

“Stop stealing from the country.”

Instead of killing them, he would have them work to their deaths.