Negotiations with the king were easy.
Kwiz usually wasn't pleased with his brother-in-law whose temperament was different from his father-in-law, and he was personally fond of Roy. In light of his experience of being guarded by Roy for over a year, he believed that Roy was not a brute that would kill people for no reason.
So when Hugo said that he would help with the chronic financial deficit, Kwiz gladly took the bait.
"But did Sir. Krotin say that he would do it? You people really..."
To nobles, honor was more important than their life. Knights were also the same. They couldn't even conceive the idea of saving their life by abandoning their honor. Kwiz couldn't understand both Roy, who agreed to such a thing and Hugo, who suggested such a plan.
Roy, who would recover fine even if he stepped in filthy dog shit. Kwiz, who could throw away his life for honor, like it was a worthless thing. They both stood at two extremes. Understanding each other would never be possible.
"There is one condition. It's not enough with only this king agreeing to it. If my father-in-law agrees, then this king will also agree. As for persuading my father-in-law, I'll leave that to Gong."
"I understand. I have a condition too. Please turn a blind eye towards the truth of this incident."
The dead could not speak, the less mouths that knew, the more secrets could be kept. Hugo was not troubled at all by the amount of effort he had to put in to completely detach his wife from this incident. He wanted to protect her like a flower cultivated in a greenhouse. He didn't want her to have even a small scratch.
His wife was the Duchess and the Lady of the Taran House, whose every action and conduct drew people's attention. As long as you were famous in the social circles, rumors that followed after your name were endless. It was something you had put up with unless it was a fatal scandal, but Hugo planned to thoroughly block any reason for his wife to receive public rebuke and be gossiped about due to an unsavory incident.
"Hm? Then you mean this king won't know why Sir. Krotin did such a thing?"
Hugo ignored Kwiz's grumbling that he was so curious that he couldn't sleep.
"I will talk to Ramis Gong and inform Your Majesty of the outcome."
* * *
Hugo promptly met with the Duke of Ramis that evening. The two sat opposite each other in an exclusive aristocrat club in the city. After exchanging brief greetings, Hugo immediately proceeded to the main subject.
He handed the three documents that he brought with him to the Duke of Ramis.
"The first document contains information about the day of the incident according to the testimony of my knight who is currently imprisoned. You will be able to know why your son became like that."[1]
Hugo judged that he could not use money to negotiate with the Duke of Ramis. He was not someone that would exchange his son's life for money.
He watched as the Duke of Ramis' face darkened and clouded over as he read the document.
The Duke of Ramis thought that there was something off about David's death, but he could not guess that it was connected to the Duchess at all.
It's not like he could ask his dead son, so he could not figure out what his son was trying to do in the princess' break room or why he gave the magical tool to the Countess and could only wake up from restless sleeps and pound his chest in frustration.
Based on Roy's testimony, the documents presented a number of circumstantial evidences to support it, with a recorded trail of David and Anita's continuous meetings, information gotten from the people planted in the bar, and a track record of David making passes at the Duchess and so on and so forth.
'That foolish boy. How could he...'
Sadly, the Duke of Ramis could not defend his son and say that his son would never do such a thing. He didn't think that they had made up false evidence with the intention of slandering his son, instead he thought that this sort of thing was definitely something his son could do.
When he realized that, the Duke of Ramis felt deeply ashamed that he had raised his son wrong. The years he had lived so far, suddenly seemed in vain.
However, the Duke of Ramis was an experienced politician. He would never reveal his thoughts on the surface.
"I won't say that the contents of this are fabrications. I admit my son's mistakes. But I do not think it is enough to warrant for a Duke's heir to suffer such a miserable death and be gossiped about by everyone."
The corner of Hugo's lips went up slightly.
'Mistake? You should thank your ancestors instead, that your son died so unexpectedly. If that bastard was alive, I would have cut off all his limbs and turned him into pig feed.'
If he could not kill the bastard for practical reasons and as time passed, the bastard had actually succeeded the title of Duke, Hugo would have used all of his power to destroy the Ramis family. It was right to look at it as the death of that guy right now, was actually the guidance of their ancestors, looking over the future of the Ramis family from the sky.
"Please, read the next document. I wonder if that could also be called a mistake."
The next document contained information about the youth association that was constantly being monitored. It had evidence that David was responsible for the funding of the youth association and results from the investigation of how dangerous the individuals that were leading the youth association were.
Of course, the youth association was still only a small organization and the chief executives were only just beginning to wriggle out from the shadows.
The numerous pieces of plausible evidence that made them out to be extremely dangerous elements, was the work of the Taran Duke's Information Division.
To verify the authenticity of the document, one would have to spend a lot of time and effort. To the eyes of those looking at the document right now, they could only see it as the truth.
The contents detailed that the Taran family were suspicious of a dangerous organization and as they investigated, an enormous root was gradually revealed and when they dug even more, they discovered that David was the key figure funding the organization.
As he was reading the document, the Duke of Ramis' eyes shook tremendously. The Duke of Ramis also knew of the New Nation Youth Association[2]. He had believed his son when he said that he had washed his hands off them, but had no idea that his son was avoiding his eyes and funding them instead.
'This scoundrel is determined to destroy our family.'
Disappointment and anger towards his son surged inside the Duke of Ramis. The family that he had protected and cultivated his entire life was more important to the Duke than his own life, let alone his son's life.
For the Duke, his family was the most important thing. The reason why he could be so level-headed about his son's death was because his son was pushed back that much on the Duke's list of priorities.
There was another son to continue the family. There was no issue of the succession being broken off. What the Duke of Ramis was concerned about, was that his son's death would damage the family's honor.*
"I'm sure you can predict how His Majesty will react if he were to be shown the contents of that document." (Hugo)
The Duke of Ramis heavily closed his eyes.
The King had a heartless side to him. He would never save anyone that he had deemed to be an enemy. He killed many of his brothers, defended his position as the Crown Prince, eventually, he ascended to the throne and would not hesitate to spill blood to keep the throne.
If the King learnt of the contents of the document, even if he ignored it right now, he would continue to have doubts in his heart. He needed the Duke of Ramis' power right now, so he would leave it alone, but someday, when the power of his royal-in-laws became burdensome, the doubts in his heart would become distrust and he would strike at the Duke.
The Duke of Ramis opened the final document, fearing what the outcome might be this time. But then, he knit his brows and turned the page. The document contained information regarding his son's sexual preferences, something that he had never wanted to know.
During this time, the Taran Duke's Information Division had continued to search the red-light district for anything scoop-worthy that had to do with David. If David had a thing for abusing women, it would grow more and more extreme and they expected it to lead to an accident. During the investigation, they discovered that David had strangled a prostitute to death.
"That final document is my last resort."
The Duke of Ramis frowned. The information in the final document had the most insignificant value among the negotiating tools that the Duke of Taran had brought today. He could not understand what the Duke of Taran wanted to use these things for, when his son was already dead. Dirty laundry such as the death of a few prostitutes, was a messy topic for nobles to talk about in rumors. Nobles liked rumors, but they were silent about rumors that hurt their reputation.
"The place where the incident happened, was Princess' Katherine's break room. As Gong knows as well, His Majesty has strictly forbidden referring to the scene of the incident as the princess' break room."
The King's action proved to be effective and the public referred to the case as an incident that had happened within the palace. There were a lot more people that did not know that the incident had occurred in Princess Katherine's break room. The king blocked the possibility of his sister being involved in this incident. It was similar to what Hugo had done.
"In the event of today's negotiations breaking down, I will take that document to His Majesty. And I will inform him that two rumors will soon spread in the social circle, about Count Ramis' ugly sexual preferences and that Count Ramis harbored lecherous feelings towards Princess Katherine. The princess' break room happens to be the perfect place. I will ask His Majesty to choose between Ramis Gong and his sister." (Hugo)[1]
"Are you saying that you dare...to threaten His Majesty?" (Duke Ramis)
"I'm saying that presently, there is nothing I won't do." (Hugo)
The Duke of Ramis' hand holding the document trembled. After a long stretch of silence, the Duke of Ramis opened his mouth, looking very exhausted.
"What are you playing at."
"I have to save my sacrificed knight to protect my wife's honor."
"Impossible!"
The Duke of Ramis responded fiercely before Hugo finished speaking.
"Let me finish. I will protect Count Ramis' honor."
'While you are alive.'
Hugo added inwardly. He wanted to quickly resolve this incident, and have it disappear from people's minds. He planned to put Roy away where eyes couldn't reach him, but only until the Duke of Ramis was dead. And around when the incident became faint in people's memories, they could then use the excuse that Roy was unjustly executed when the real culprit was someone else and quietly reinstate him.
To do that, he would have to re-negotiate with the king and the new Duke of Ramis, but that would not be difficult.
Hugo spoke briefly about his plan to switch Roy with someone on death row. The Duke of Ramis looked at Hugo with a strange gaze, almost like the one that Kwiz had given him. It was an expression that said, 'How did you come up with such an idea?'
For the Duke of Ramis, his family's honor was the most important thing to him. He had no energy to fight against the Duke of Taran. He had already grown too old. He was an old man that preferred to compromise rather than smacking heads.
The Duke of Ramis could close his eyes to his son's death if his son's honor could be protected, unless it was an unjust situation where his son had died an innocent death.
"In addition, not even His Majesty knows that my wife is involved in this incident. I have only revealed this truth to Gong in order to get your cooperation. I do not want this fact to be spread outside for whatsoever reason. Gong will take this to your grave." (Hugo)
"...Alright. In return, please discard all the information you have about this youth association. And as for the youth association, I will deal with it myself." (Duke Ramis)
"Sounds good." (Hugo)
The negotiations had reached an agreement. Hugo took back one of the three documents, the one that contained information regarding the truth of his wife's involvement in the incident.
"Why are you going to this extent?"(Duke Ramis)
"Just like Ramis Gong wants to protect your family, I want to protect my wife." (Hugo)
The Duke of Ramis stared at Hugo because it seemed like he was saying 'you want to protect the superficial face of your family while I want to protect my people'. But there was no trace of ridicule in those cold red eyes.
The Duke of Ramis was amazed every time he saw Hugo. He was the owner of the vast land called the North and as the Duke of Taran, he was very forthright. He didn't bother himself with petty tricks and always confidently did what he wanted to do. People were not displeased with him and accepted it 'because he is the Duke of Taran'.
It was a great talent as a politician to not cause jealousy in another's heart. And that was why whenever he saw his son who was the same age as the Duke of Taran, he always felt that his son fell short.
'It's my virtue that fell short. Who can I blame?'
Rather than blaming his son's shortcomings, he should have guided his son's good points and covered him magnanimously. The Duke of Ramis deeply felt his shortcomings as a father, and as the lord of a family.
* * *
While the secret deal between the Duke of Taran and the Duke of Ramis took place, the King pretended not to know, and the situation flowed like a stream of water.
Fabian search the entire nation and found a reasonable stand-in among the prisoners on death row. While being interrogated for his crimes, the man was beaten a lot so he was in a bad shape, but that made it even more believable. After all, if the knight who killed the Duke's eldest son was in a good shape at his execution, people would think it was strange.
The King passed down a brief statement. There was no detailed information about the truth of the case, just that Sir. Krotin had admitted his crimes and was to be executed. Since it was a case involving such a high ranked person, even though people did not know the specifics, they would only speculate amongst themselves.
Roy came out of the dungeon, wearing a sack-like hood and after walking a while in bound ropes, he was substituted in the middle. The one heading to execution was the death row prisoner imitating Roy.
The carriage carrying Roy away did not even have windows and ran straight to the gate.[2] He had to leave the capital as soon as possible without being seen by anyone. Hugo had already used his influence to make it so that Roy could pass through the gate without going through the identification process.
Lucia was still pacing up and down the receiving room, impatiently. Publicly, it was time for Roy to be executed.
Hugo went into the palace and was officially meeting with the King and the Duke of Ramis. It was a formality to show that the two close forces of the King had no animosity with each other.
'Has he gone through the gate safely?'
Lucia felt regretful for not being able to give Roy her last farewells, but she could not take the risk of bringing a felon, who was known to be publicly executed, into the ducal residence.
When the door to the receiving room opened and Jerome came in, Lucia stopped her pacing around and lifted her head. Fabian was following right behind him and entered the room.
"Sir. Krotin...?" (Lucia)
"He left safely."
Lucia heaved a huge sigh of relief.
"I feel so sorry, I don't know what to do. Because of me, Sir. Krotin lost his honor as a knight and left for the north like he was being chased away."
Hugo sent Roy to the northern border. It was the region where Roy used to stir up trouble with delight. Meanwhile, Roy had cheerfully asked if he could kill all of them(the barbarians) because his body had been growing itchy for a while.
Fabian could not sympathize with the Madam's sadness in the slightest, but when he thought that he would not see the guy for a long time, he had mixed feelings.
"Did you tell him I was thankful and sorry, and that he should stay healthy?"
"Yes, I told him. But Sir. Krotin said that there was something he wanted to ask Milady..."
"What is it?"
That crazy bastard. Swallowing those words inside, Fabian said:
"He asked if Milady remembers all the noblewomen you meet at a party. Apparently, he was curious about that."[3]
Roy said that with a very serious look on his face and asked Fabian to get the answer and let him know when he came to the north later. Fabian really could not understand that guy's state of mind.
Lucia burst into laughter.
"There's no way that's possible. I only act like I do."
"...Yes, I'll tell him that later."
Fabian replied with a sour look on his face, and Lucia laughed again.
'Roy is really a good person. He's being considerate of me till the end so that I won't feel sorry.'
Lucia's misunderstanding was growing bigger. And there was no one to correct it.[4]