Chapter 46
The three left Karon sprawled where he was and, as though nothing had happened, returned to their seats and continued speaking normally.
[Lord Abel did not want things to escalate any further, either.]
There was no need to keep berating him.
So, with great leniency, [Dark Shadow] decided on Karon's punishment.
[Yeah. Roughly a 50% cut to your annual salary.]
"Ugh!"
[It'll remain in effect until Lord Abel says otherwise.]
"Ugh!"
[And you didn't have much money saved up, did you? I'll limit your operating funds, too.]
"Ghk!"
The Nebula ducal family's sharpest blade and most covert knife, [Dark Shadow].
What was most necessary for operating such a special forces unit?
Strength? Or loyalty?
Well, both were true, but the single most necessary thing was something else.
Money.
Most members of [Dark Shadow] could receive almost unlimited amounts of money from the ducal family as operating funds whenever they wanted.
On top of that, they received a set annual salary from the great Nebula ducal family.
All of them had amassed enough money to be called billionaires without exaggeration.
This was a rule of sorts established by the first head of the family when he founded Nebula's [Dark Shadow].
[No matter how loyal they are to the family, they must be properly compensated.]
[No, precisely because they are our people, they should be paid more.]
Other families also secretly operated special forces units, but this was why they could not possess power as formidable as [Dark Shadow].
Even if people were bound by a loyalty contract, there was a great difference between someone acting because they genuinely wanted to and someone acting because a contract forced them to.
Whenever there was a legitimate reason, the family would hand them as much money as they needed.
Their basic compensation was generous to begin with.
And on top of that, if they achieved countless accomplishments, they received an additional share of the money earned by the ducal family?
Besides, considering their abilities, the workload was not particularly demanding.
Even when they retired, the ducal family often made sure to give them a proper reward.
In other words, the structure was one in which the work was easy, the pay was high, and the retirement compensation was substantial, so their loyalty naturally grew stronger.
"Uuuaaah."
Karon unconsciously groaned at the violence of money, a blow even more devastating than the injuries he had suffered in his fight with Abel.
[Well, that's enough joking around.]
In truth, none of [Dark Shadow]'s members were loyal to the ducal family primarily because of money.
Every one of them had been raised by the family from childhood.
Naturally, their loyalty to the ducal family was extremely strong.
So all of that had been nothing more than a sort of playful punishment.
"Uuugh..."
Yes, it really was nothing more than a joke.
The three then began exchanging opinions on how to proceed from there.
They discussed whether to move to pick up the trail again or take some other course of action.
[We found something out this time. Those bastards had already obtained information about Lord Abel and even left a warning for that Heros guy?]
This was information they had obtained by requesting it from the Empire after interrogating Heros, whom the Nostra Family had captured.
[So I was thinking. It might not be a bad idea to stop the investigation for a while and remain here at the Nebula ducal family.]
There was an organization that suspiciously possessed information about Abel.
They had yet to learn even its name, but a point of connection to it already existed within the Nebula ducal family.
Abel.
The man who would soon be known as the sole heir of the Nebula ducal family.
[Of course, he's not bait or anything. I'll explain the entire situation to him instead.]
Worried that they might harbor some strange misunderstanding, Velias explained her thoughts to the other two.
[He said he wanted to have tea with me, so I was thinking of bringing it up there.]
"...A tea party?"
Sebastian questioned the sudden appearance of a subject that had nothing to do with the current situation.
"Why a tea party all of a sudden?"
Nella felt the same way.
[Hm?]
"Please explain in detail."
[Umm... It's just a simple matter. Since he accepted my apology, he suggested that we have tea together.]
Tea?
Lord Abel?
The two unconsciously looked at each other and began communicating through their eyes.
Judging from the personality they had ascribed to Abel, he honestly did not seem like someone who enjoyed tea parties.
No, if anything, he would enjoy cigars or cocktails, not tea; tea did not suit him at all.
'Strange, isn't it?'
'Yes.'
Sebastian and Nella quickly began organizing the information.
A sudden proposal from Abel. And Abel was a man, while Velias before them was a woman.
A man suddenly asking a woman to have tea with him?
It was one of the most common signs of romantic interest in aristocratic society.
'But there is no way Lord Abel would do that.'
[???? Everyone?]
'Then... Ah, if we consider the current state of the ducal family as Lord Abel had judged it, the answer might come quickly.'
Sebastian briefly considered the current situation in the ducal family from Abel's perspective and nodded as though he understood why Abel had acted that way.
Let's lay out the information Abel had gathered after coming to the ducal family.
[What is it? What? Why are you all acting like that?]
The Duke was on the verge of death.
Moreover, while it was impossible to understand everything, the decisive cause was clearly his sudden poisoning.
In such a situation, how would [Dark Shadow] appear from Abel's perspective?
'The most dangerous organization—and, at the same time, one he needed to bring into his fold, I suppose.'
'Ah...'
"Lady Velias?"
[What?]
"Does Lord Abel perhaps know your identity, Lady Velias?"
[Hm?]
Although she tilted her head at Sebastian's sudden question, Velias readily nodded.
Before coming here, she had met the Duke and learned that her information had been passed on to Abel.
[Yes. He knows.]
"I see..."
At last, all the pieces of the puzzle had fallen into place.
As Sebastian nodded, Nella, who had been silently organizing all the information beside him, reached a similar conclusion.
"Lady Velias."
Why had Abel wanted to spend time with Velias?
There could be many reasons, but the Abel they had assessed was an extremely calculating and cold person.
It was only natural to conclude that such a person would not act without a reason.
Because of that conclusion, they were jumping to increasingly wild conclusions in real time.
"Perhaps Lord Abel is trying to build a relationship with you, Lady Velias."
From Abel's perspective, he already knew that the boss of [Dark Shadow] was the Duke's granddaughter.
In that situation, Abel had quickly made a judgment.
"Of course, that relationship might be one between a man and a woman."
[...Huh?]
Abel was a man, and Velias was a woman.
The situation in the ducal family that Abel had assessed was a complete mess.
In such a situation, who would be the most dangerous person, in a sense?
It was obviously Velias, the only blood relative who remained.
Sebastian thought Abel was more than capable of making such a choice.
He had no qualms about devising elaborate schemes, and when facing the Duke, he had displayed a rational yet insane way of thinking.
Considering all this, perhaps Abel had chosen Velias as his future spouse.
A situation in which the ducal family's power could be split in two.
If he married the root cause of that division, such a thing would never happen.
"Then shall we start by dressing her up?"
Nella said that and slowly approached Velias.
Besides, in this situation, there was nothing for the two of them to lose, either.
They would have stood in his way if he had tried to take Velias by force.
But Abel was treating Velias very gently.
Furthermore, the man they had judged Abel to be had decent character and caliber, too.
A man like that, as Velias's husband?
For their boss, who had thought she would never meet a husband in her lifetime?
Even if all of this was merely their own misunderstanding or overinterpretation, they did not mind.
[Dark Shadow] had no intention of making an enemy of the Nebula ducal family, nor any intention of antagonizing Abel.
But if Abel and Velias developed a relationship?
If they simply dressed Velias up and had the two meet, their mutual favor would surely increase, and even if Abel did not feel that way, there would be nothing bad about their union.
In the first place, all they were doing was making Velias look pretty, not employing any sort of scheme.
[Huh...?]
One was Sebastian, the butler who had served her since the day she was born.
The other was Nella, with whom she had been close because they had often played together as children.
Since they were those two, Velias could not rebel even once; she merely stared blankly at them as they approached, without knowing what was going on.
***
"So, there is one thing I'd like to ask."
"Hm? What is it?"
Rustle.
I raised my head from the book I was reading and looked at Mist, who was quietly seated in a chair and peeling fruit.
"Why did you want to have a tea party with our boss?"
"Ah..."
Ah, right. From her perspective, it might seem strange.
Thinking that, I bit into a piece of fruit she had peeled and spoke in a truly offhand tone.
"I was curious how that telepathy works, that's all."
"Excuse me...?"
"You know how difficult it is to infiltrate another person's body with mana, right?"
"Well... yes?"
"Telepathy works on a similar principle, but you broke through my mana, didn't you? So I was curious. But I couldn't just ask you to teach me the technique right there, could I?"
So I had intended to gradually build a rapport over tea.
That really was the only reason, nothing more and nothing less.
Though if someone asked whether I was trying to seduce her, I wouldn't have much to say.
'No way.'
'Surely the boss of [Dark Shadow] wouldn't have such a grand misunderstanding.'