“But there’s a catch. What about the religious group?”

“What?”

“Because they caught you breaking in, the Marquis of Saratheve is going to clean up all the evidence in the room tonight, so I don’t know how you’re going to cover that.”

If Nicole had been a little less nervous, she would have realized that Raul was teasing me. But Nicole didn’t notice.

She didn’t seem to be afraid of him after a while and kept talking.

This was the smart, level-headed Nicole that Raul had seen in the examiners’ reports and evaluations. But when she poked her a little, she quickly became afraid and averted her gaze again.

It was quite a refreshing pleasure. Enough to make him want to tease her all night with the tip of his whip.

“Ah, well, it’s not quite time yet.”

“So?”

“You can clean out the basement or run away, but you can’t get rid of a ‘religious group’ overnight. Blood Records isn’t part of the Marquis of Saratheve’s organization, and if you catch him and question him, whether he’s affiliated with Blood Records or not, he’ll have someone to turn to, and since there aren’t many clients who spend as much money as the Marquis of Saratheve, he’ll turn up any evidence. So, if you piss him off with some imperial event, and then put pressure on the religious organization behind the scenes…….”

Raul nodded slightly, then looked at Bastard.

“Are you ready for the interrogation?”

“Yep. We raided their secret meetings, and we’re done analyzing their books.”

Nicole’s ears perked up. If this was what he was saying, Raul had already…….

‘You’ve already arrested the Blood Records people?’

‘Then why did you scold me? Did you ever…….’

Nicole suddenly realized that Raul had looked away from her.

As soon as he saw the copper plate, he knew who it was, and he knew where Blood Records was based.

“Focus on the core group. They’re a small group, so they probably don’t have many executives. Send all the poor religious folk back home.”

“Yes. We’ll use tax evasion and tax arrears as the pretext for arrest.”

Raul was in charge of the Capital’s Knights of the Guard, so he had the authority to arrest them.

“Religious organizations get caught with that a hundred percent of the time. It’s funny, isn’t it? The faithful love cash.”

Raul said. His eyes were smiling.

“Good for you.”

Nicole bit her lip.

“You were good at talking earlier. Why? Keep on talking preetily.”

“…… That’s enough.”

“Speaking of which, get the doctor. Give her some more sedatives before she passes out.”

“Then Ms. Karen is…….”

Bastard asked cautiously, looking at Nicole. He looked like he wanted to take Nicole’s side.

“It’s compassion, it’s a crush.”

Raul said, frowning. Bastard lowered his head again.

“Leave her alone. Move her to another room when she’s better.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll be ready.”

“Remember. Karen. You’re not going anywhere for a while without my permission.”

“Understood.”

Nicole nodded obediently.

“There’s a religion called the Blood Record, one of several societies, and it’s popular in the capital because they have a reputation for performing rituals that allow people to become as powerful as the Seven Houses of the Empire. A ridiculous scam, of course.”

The words left Nicole speechless again. This man was playing with her on the tip of his tongue.

If the Blood Records were a popular group for that reason, Raul would have recognized it as soon as he heard it.

‘The Marquis of Saratheve is becoming impatient to strengthen his powers.’

That means…….

‘Since then, did the Grand Duke already know that the Marquis de Saratheve was losing power?’

Raul laughed with his eyes.

“Let’s just say the compliment was genuine, at least.”

The man liked to talk about people, after all. Besides, Raul seemed quite amused.

***

A few days passed. Nicole locked herself in her room, but Raul was busy and didn’t show.

Nicole stayed in that safe room for a few days, then was moved to another room.

A few days later, Dagger sneaks into the room where Nicole is hiding.

“This is getting very interesting.”

“What happened?”

“You know, our Grand Duke’s way with words. He’s been toying with the Marquis of Saratheve.”

Gaston wasn’t a complete idiot. He realized that someone had sent a spy to learn the secrets of his crypt.

He scrambled to erase all traces of the trafficking and the rituals. He hadn’t thought to retaliate against Raul, and he didn’t have an excuse.

He’d gotten Nicole and Dagger out of the way right away, and Gaston’s suspicions were justified.

Besides, Raul had arrested the entire executive team of Blood Records and was investigating them for tax evasion.

The House of Imperial family had something to say about it: rumors of their social mischief had already spread, and Raul had earned it.

‘The imperial family rules by prophecy, and that prophecy is said to come from the gods, so cults must be an eyesore.’

Nicole had already predicted this.

Gaston was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Rumor had it that Gaston was naturally cruel, but when he was pushed, he became even more violent and bullied those around him.

“Do you still have agents in the Marquisate of Saratheve who have not withdrawn?”

“A few, following my instructions.”

Dagger said leisurely.

“What’s the story?”

Dagger recounted an earlier meeting not long ago.

“It is said that on that day, the Marquis of Saratheve gritted his teeth as soon as he saw our Grand Duke.”

Raul happened to be discussing the festivities with the Emperor at the time. He said

<I don’t think I’ll be in the best of spirits that day, so I think it’s best if I don’t take the lead, but it’s a relief to know that there’s someone other than me to uphold the power of the Seven Houses. As you can see, the Marquis of Saratheve seems to be in high spirits these days, so why don’t we have him take the lead role in the ceremony instead of me?>

Gaston’s face went blank and then white in an instant.

But he could not refuse. It was a matter of pride, for he was deathly jealous of Raul.

<Since the Marquis of Saratheve is willing, I think we can go ahead with this event as planned, and open the Summer Palace to the public.>

The Summer Palace of the imperial family was an outlying palace on the edge of the capital. It was rarely used, so it was regularly open to the public.

So Raul’s suggestion had this subtext: “Let’s make it a big event, not just for the imperial family and nobles, but for the citizens as well.”

“Did the imperial family say yes?”

“Of course, because the Marquis of Saratheve is paying for everything.”

“Really? How did you organize such an event?”

“I don’t know how much provocation our Grand Duke would have needed, but of course, he would have pushed for it.”

Nicole felt like smiling. Dagger seemed to be in a good mood, too.

“What tricks do you think the Marquis of Saratheve will pull?”

“It’s an important event for the imperial family, and tampering with animals like rabbits and small birds won’t impress anyone, so…….”

“I suppose he’ll have to demonstrate subjugating a lion or tiger, like the one the Marquis of Saratheve keeps?”

“It would be something to see if it worked, though I doubt it.”

“Then why is the Imperial family being so hard on the Marquis of Saratheve? I thought they knew the Marquis of Saratheve would never be able to tame a lion.”

“Noona, what do you think is the use of grasping the opponent’s weakness for some moment?”

Nicole thought for a moment.

“To spite the other person?”

“Similar, but different… Weakness, you need it for when they’re weak, and you plunge the knife of weakness into their back dozens of times.”

“And what knife did you drive into the Marquis of Saratheve’s back this time?”

“The Grand Duke has informed the Imperial House that the Marquis of Saratheve has secretly sought out the survivors of House YvesChapel.”

“…….”

She knew the Marquis of Saratheve was looking for the survivors of YvesChapel.

The Marquis of Saratheve was losing his powers, and he wanted to capture the powerful women of YvesChapel and have them bear him children.

“Same reason the imperial family wants Grand Duke Valentine.

So Nicole was constantly being hunted by three factions: the Imperial Family, the Marquise of Saratheve, and the Grand Duke of Valentine.

‘I’ve lived this long without being caught by those people…….’

It’s amazing how discreet her father and mother were.

Anyway, the point is that the Marquis of Saratheve’s attempt to get his hands on the YvesChapel’s daughter was enough to anger the imperial family.

The House of YvesChapel was an enemy of the Imperial family. Freya, their eldest daughter, had managed to escape.

It had damaged their reputation considerably, and now that he was trying to steal one of their women, the Empress would be furious.

“Perhaps the Empress is trying to tame the Marquis of Saratheve by punishing him, for he is but a hound to her.”

“I see the hound taming the hound.”

The only thing Gaston was good at taming was his pack of large, beautiful black dogs, which he had pampered and bred since they were young, and they served him well.

“The Marquis of Saratheve will be embarrassed at the very least, and at best be put in a very bad light.”

Nicole said to Dagger with a light smile.

“Dagger, I haven’t spoken until now because we’ve been in a hurry. Thank you for helping me with my plan, and thank you for taking my side in front of the Grand Duke.”

“Well, I’m just glad you’re alive, and anyway, things are moving along quickly thanks to you, and it’s pretty fun.”

“Dagger doesn’t like the Marquis of Saratheve, I see.”

“Yeah, he’s really disgusting. A lot of people have been wronged by him, and he’s never been punished.”

“I hear you’re very close with Estok, come to think of it, you two look alike sometimes.”

Dagger didn’t know if that was an insult or a compliment.

“He’s a weirdo who doesn’t know the difference between heaven and hell, and besides, we’re just friends.”

“How close? Does he know Dagger’s secret?”

“What do you mean ……secret?”

Nicole said softly.

“Does Estok also know that Daeger has healing power?”

Dagger’s body stiffened. Dagger slowly raised his head.

“What?”

[T/N: WAIT what bombshell is this?!!]