ITMWG 99

Chapter 99…

I’ll spare your life.

The capital greeted a noisy morning.

“Did you hear that? There was a big fire at dawn.”

“Yes. It was a total mess.”

“Thank goodness no one was hurt. They said there was no one working because it was dawn.”

“It’s going to be noisy for a while. The security forces were searching the scene to find the cause of the fire. There was a lot of documents there, I wonder what they would do.”

“I heard it was an insurance company.”

People gathered in small groups and whispered about the fire that had occurred at dawn.

It was a rare incident in the peaceful capital, so it drew even more attention.

Cain pretended to read a newspaper among the whispering people, listening intently.

The whispering people seemed to have no idea that the culprit of the fire at dawn was among them.

It seems like the operation was carried out properly.

Cain smiled and recalled the event at dawn.

It was surprising that the documents he had failed to steal were already in Altair’s hands, and he was so bewildered when he was told to return them to the information storage.

On top of that, when he was told to set fire to the insurance company building, he asked Altair with confusion, “What’s with this nonsense all of a sudden?” and got kicked in the shin.

Seeing Cain, who was so bewildered that he could barely move, Altair eventually told him the big picture from his viewpoint.

Since illegally obtained documents could not be used as evidence in a trial, there was a clever way to legally obtain them and use them in the trial.

If a fire broke out in the insurance company building, the police would definitely investigate the cause of the fire.

Since the fire broke out in the capital where the emperor resided, the investigation would be thorough.

It was obvious that the entire insurance company building would be subject to a search.

What would happen if the police found suspicious documents in the storeroom while searching the scene?

Even if the documents did not seem to be related to the fire incident, a conscientious police officer would submit them to his superiors.

The documents could be released to the public through legal means.

After that, it was not difficult to somehow drag them to trial.

However, there was a prerequisite. The documents had to look suspicious enough to catch the police officer’s eye.

That’s why I played a trick on the documents.

He treated the paper with a special treatment to make it smell strange.

It wasn’t drugs, but it smelled similar to drugs, so of course the police officer would react.

He intentionally treated the documents nearby with a special treatment as well because it would look strange if only one file had a smell.

If it wasn’t revealed that Cain had started the fire, it would seem that Aylesford had nothing to do with the process of obtaining the documents.

Of course, Cain was confident that he would never be caught as the culprit.

His specialty was to move in secrecy without being noticed by others.

But this ‘big picture’ was the Madame’s idea.

The Madame, who seemed so gentle, had the evil idea of starting a fire…

Cain shook his head with a scoff.

Do every couples start to resemble each other after a while together?

Then it would have been better if the lord resembled his wife.

Just thinking about having two Altairs made his spine tingle.

Anyway, the mission is over now.

Cain folded the newspaper and threw it on the ground, then left.

❈❈❈

The news of the insurance company building on fire wasn’t the only thing that passed by the streets.

“Fire…”

Prince Orca smiled, finding the information densely written on the small note his subordinate had brought interesting.

[A fire broke out in the insurance company building in the early morning.

The security forces are searching the entire building.

A security force member secretly took out several documents and sent them to his superiors.

They said they found traces of drugs in the documents.

The ‘target’ we had acquired was also included among those documents.]

He was certain that Aylesford had carried out this incident.

Even if the fire was considered a coincidence, what happened after that was hard to call a coincidence.

Traces suspected of being drugs?

If there was something like that, he couldn’t have missed it when it came into his hands.

How ingenious.

He didn’t know if it was Baron Aylesford or his wife who came up with this plan, but weren’t they really talented people?

And since they gave me a gift…

Prince Orca burned the note in the lonely burning lamp on the table and lowered his gaze to the floor.

There, Dwinhoff was kneeling, shaking all over.

Where had the well-dressed appearance he had at the gallery gone? Dwinhoff was wearing only his underwear.

His exposed body was covered in wounds that looked fresh.

“I-, I was wrong, Your Highness!”

As soon as Orca’s gaze met Dwinhoff’s, he slumped his head on the floor and rubbed his hands together.

“I-, I needed money urgently! So!”

“Money…I think I gave you a generous amount of activity funds though.”

Unlike Dwinhoff, who was shedding tears and snot, Orca responded with a very calm demeanor.

Dwinhoff trembled even more at that attitude.

“That-, that’s because-, I-, l-lo-lost all the money, to gambling…”

“Gambling, you say. Gambling.”

Orca tilted his head as he dwelled on Dwinhoff’s words.

“That’s such a weak excuse, Dwinhoff. I guess you didn’t think of a lie in case you got caught. Huh?”

Orca lowered his body, put one knee on the floor, and reached out to grab Dwinhoff’s head and lift him up.

When their eyes met with his head raised, Orca smiled brightly.

The smile that didn’t fit the situation further fueled Dwinhoff’s fear.

“This isn’t something you can do alone.”

So, naturally, Aylesford thought that the ‘higher-up’ was involved.

So they started to track down who the ‘higher-up’ was, and in the process, they caught Dwinhoff, the ‘higher-up’s’ pawn.

Prine Orca didn’t know how they were able to figure out that the one who was commanding Dwinhoff was himself, but in any case, the ‘higher-up’ in this case wasn’t him.

The implication was clear.

Dwinhoff was serving two masters.

He probably thought that since he didn’t know which ship would sink or which would cruise, he would have his feet on both sides.

I knew he was an opportunist, but…

He had kept him by his side because he highly regarded his ability to hold on to information about the capital, but he ended up getting stabbed in the back like this.

It wasn’t particularly surprising.

It definitely seemed like something a guy like him would do. That was the kind of thought he was bound to have.

However, Orca absolutely had to find out who owned the other ship that he was on.

“If you tell me, I’ll spare your life.”

“(Gasp)!”

Dwinhoff gasped in fear at the cold threat.

Prince Orca, who he had always thought was a good superior who smiled softly and gave gentle orders…

I-,I-, I didn’t think he would be this crazy!

Prince Orca chuckled and patted Dwinhoff on the face as if he had read the thoughts through his eyes.

That was also how Prince Orca tested his opponents.

If he approached them with a gentle and kind face, he could easily figure them out.

There were many people who bowed their heads to the strong and flattered them, but not many treated those with gentle and kind faces properly.

It was only at that moment that Dwinhoff realised that he had been completely fooled.

The superior who he thought completely trusted him had actually never had faith in him, and had been testing him from the beginning until now.

How could that be?

He was more afraid now than when he was suddenly dragged into a dark place and beaten like a dog.

The presence of the man sitting in front of him felt so big and cold.

“That’s why you should become a good subordinate even now, Dwinhoff. So that I can be a good superior and show mercy to you.”

“I-, I…”

“Yes. Tell me. Where else were you dipping your feet in?”

Prince Orca smiled softly as if he had never spoken coldly to Dwinhoff and tried to coax him in an encouraging tone.

Hope filled Dwinhoff’s heart at his affectionate attitude.

If I really tell him everything here, will he forgive me? But what about the other side? What about the other side’s superiors?

The wheels in Dwinhoff’s head were spinning fast like never before.

Dwinhoff, who had been calculating with much tension which way to go, came to the conclusion that he should somehow escape the danger right in front of him first.

“I-, I will tell you!”

Prince Orca nodded with a soft smile as usual at Dwinhoff’s determined voice.

“Yes, wise choice. This is how you should be a good subordinate.”

“So, um, my other connection that planned this incident is…”

Dwinhoff closed his eyes tightly and shouted loudly.

“His Highness the First Prince!”

“First Prince? My older brother?”

This was another unexpected statement, so Prince Orca tilted his head.

“There’s no reason for someone like him to get involved in something like this.”

“He-, he said he needed money. He-, he needed to buy drugs…”

He vaguely said ‘drugs’, but if he was going to buy legitimate drugs, there was no reason to raise money this way.

Orca immediately realised that the ‘drugs’ were illegal.

“Do you have any evidence?”

“Of course. I approached him first, saying I’d get it for him. Just in case, I’ve gathered all the evidence in the safe.”

It seemed that he was storing the evidence separately, fearing that he, a traitor, would be betrayed as well.

Prince Orca chuckled and patted Dwinhoff on the shoulder.

“You’ve explained it well. Thanks to you, it’ll be a great help.”

“Th-then…!”

Dwinhoff’s face brightened at the positive response.

Prince Orca nodded with a still smiling face.

“Yes, I will spare your life.”

“Thank-, thank you! Thank you, Your Highness! I will be loyal from now on!”

However, Prince Orca only tilted his head in confusion at Dwinhoff’s fervent oath.

“Well, I wonder if I need a blind mute who has lost his limbs.”

“… Pardon me?”

Dwinhoff’s eyes became hollow as if he did not understand Orca’s remark.

However, Dwinhoff, who was quick-witted, quickly realised what Orca meant.

He meant that he would cut off his limbs and tongue and pluck out his eyes.

“That-, that wasn’t what you said!”

Dwinhoff protested fiercely, but Orca shrugged his shoulders lightly.

“When did I promise not to cut off your limbs? Did I promise not to cut off your tongue? The same goes for not plucking out your eyes.”

“You-, you promised to spare my life…!”

“And so I’ll spare your life. Your life, that is.”

Prince Orca grinned and turned around.

There was no smile on Prince Orca’s face as he did so.

As he slowly walked away, a huge man suddenly appeared from the darkness.

It was the man who had left Dwinhoff covered in wounds.

“ARRRGGGHH!”

Listening to Dwinhoff’s screams of pain, Orca leisurely thought about something else.

So it was my brother. Thanks to Aylesford, I’ve gotten an unexpected harvest.