Chapter 43
It was around the time the applause began to die down.
"You goddamn—!"
Amid the celebratory atmosphere, Ethan shouted in a fit of rage.
"I am Patrian! This is the merchant guild I built with my own hands! Young Master Astin Cardenos! How dare you—"
"Don't disgrace yourself, Ethan."
Ethan's shoulders stiffened with a start. He didn't even have the nerve to meet Astin's gaze head-on.
It wasn't merely the difference in weight between Patrian and Cardenos.
He had never been a man worthy of standing before Astin in the first place.
"A man so crazy about women that he lost all judgment and forced through a personal vendetta."
Astin rose haughtily from his seat.
Open contempt colored the golden eyes looking down at Ethan.
"If you picked a fight without knowing your place, you should have been prepared to be trampled. Didn't you know this was how it would end?"
"Y-You son of a bitch!!"
Unable to contain his fury, Ethan grabbed Astin by the collar. Astin didn't even look flustered.
"What are you waiting for? Drag this bastard out."
"Y-Yes, Young Master!"
"This bastard has no fear! How dare he lay a hand on the Young Master's person!"
The elders seized Ethan one after another.
At the commotion, the burly mercenaries waiting outside the door rushed in as well.
They brutally twisted Ethan's arms behind him and held him fast.
"Let go! I said let go! Astin! Irina! You think you'll get away with this…!"
A hollow and miserable end for the master of Patrian's merchant guild.
Yet no one felt any sympathy for Ethan. If anything, every face looked relieved.
Bang-!
After the door shut, Astin lightly brushed off his crumpled collar.
His unperturbed gaze swept across the room.
"Let's end the meeting here."
"Yes, sir!"
"Thank you for your efforts, Young Master!"
The directors and elders rose in unison and bowed.
Though their postures were bent, bright smiles spread across every face.
To them, Astin was both the Young Master of a Grand Ducal House and no different from a savior.
The elders filed out of the meeting room at a brisk pace.
They intended to move quickly on the opportunity presented by the exclusive distribution rights for the cosmetic.
Only Astin and Irina remained at the empty round table.
It was at the moment Astin rose from his seat.
"Young Master, please wait."
It was Irina, her weak voice tinged with tremors.
Deep emotion showed on the face that had been like an iron mask throughout.
Irina slowly approached and stood before Astin. The fists clutching her skirt had gone white.
"I don't understand."
"What don't you understand?"
"Why did you go this far? You would have achieved what you wanted even without making me guildmaster."
…….
"Giving up that much profit means you're taking a loss, Young Master. Why would you do this?"
Irina's mind was still trapped in questions.
It was a leap that neither logic, reason, nor profit-and-loss calculations could explain.
"I am not a card worth as much as you expected, Young Master."
Deep self-doubt lay beneath her voice.
Tap-
Irina's shoulders flinched. Astin's right hand rested on her shoulder.
"You lack a proper perspective on yourself."
"……?"
"You aren't a disposable card. Investing in you isn't a losing proposition, either. You clearly have more value than that."
"No. I don't have that kind of value—"
"A person's worth isn't decided by the person themselves. It's decided by whoever recognizes that worth."
Irina, who had been staring only at the floor, raised her head.
Her reflection was captured in his refined golden eyes.
Worth is decided by the person who recognizes it……
Irina knew that as well.
Auctions flourished because value differed from person to person.
But potential value had to exist as a prerequisite.
Irina was convinced she didn't possess that much value.
Why would he do this for someone even I don't trust?
For a moment, they exchanged nothing but glances. Their eyes conveyed countless implications.
Amid the silence they had promised each other, Astin quietly extended his hand. It was the rough hand of a knight, not the hand of a merchant.
"I look forward to working with you, Guildmaster Irina."
Irina's blue eyes rippled like waves.
Her lips parted. Even swallowing was difficult with her throat clenched tight.
In the end, Irina pushed away the hand he offered.
"Young Master."
She wanted to hide it. But she couldn't.
If she hid this too, she would have no face to meet Astin.
Irina drove her gaze into the floor. Both fists clutching the skirt of her suit trembled.
"I am not worthy."
Even her voice trembled faintly. Her tightly clenched fists had turned white.
"I prepared for the possibility that you would betray me, Young Master. When that time came, I was going to—"
"Did you think I wouldn't know? A front merchant guild, double ledgers, even a socialite rumor campaign—you prepared all of it."
Flinch-
Irina's pupils dilated and froze in place.
It was not arrogance that had led Irina to assume Astin didn't know all this time.
It was simply because he had not retaliated.
Once Astin had seen through her, taking the appropriate measures was only natural.
There was no reason for him to turn a blind eye while knowing everything.
Irina repeatedly opened and closed her lips.
Only ragged breaths escaped between lips that refused to part.
"Well done."
Astin was the first to speak.
That single phrase left Irina's soul utterly shaken.
"I'm only glad it confirmed I judged you correctly. If anything, you not betraying that trust would have been the real betrayal."
If she had submitted to the Grand Ducal House, pretended to be a puppet, and merely picked up the scraps that fell, she would have been no different from Ethan.
Even before an impregnable wall of power, Irina sought a way to survive. Astin had known from the beginning that she would act that way.
That was why she had been easy to track. The Irina he knew would surely have done so.
"……It wasn't the right thing to do."
"That's for me to judge. It was the right thing to do."
Astin stroked his chin and continued.
"You couldn't do anything about Rosenthal. You lacked information beforehand, and you're only one person. Well, perhaps your attention was divided because you were keeping me in check, too."
"……."
"By your standards, you did everything you could. I mean that sincerely."
From the moment Rosenthal intervened, it had escalated into a clash between Grand Ducal Houses.
There was nothing Irina could do in the middle of it.
No matter how much money or ability one possessed, no matter how much information one had mastered, one was ultimately just a single player.
Even so, in two or three years, Irina would break through the limits of what one individual could do.
On top of that.
"Irina, you are no longer alone. Cardenos will be your backer."
With Astin behind her, her potential value would soar to unimaginable heights.
From Irina's perspective, his choice only deepened the mystery.
"Why are you going this far?"
Unconditional trust. Boundless recognition.
Those were what she had received in return for preparing to betray him.
Before Astin, Irina shrank into herself utterly.
Her shoulders trembled forlornly, and even breathing was difficult.
Even with her eyes open, her vision had grown hazy.
"If you act like this, Young Master……."
Her throat was choked, making it difficult to continue.
Self-loathing made her bite her lips hard. A drop of blood burst from her lower lip and ran down.
In that instant, a soft sensation touched Irina's lips.
Irina's startled eyes flew open.
Astin had come right up before her.
He extended a hand and pressed a handkerchief to Irina's split lip himself.
Irina stared blankly at the handkerchief. It was a natural way to direct her gaze.
Embroidered crookedly in black thread, it featured a conspicuous cat with its fur standing on end, completely out of place.
The absurdity that appeared out of nowhere wiped Irina's mind blank.
"My younger sister made this handkerchief herself."
"……Pardon?"
"You kept staring at it."
Irina moved her lips blankly, stunned. The taste of blood stung the tip of her tongue.
Astin smiled as he withdrew the bloodstained handkerchief.
"Irina. I need you, not Patrian. Patrian exists because you do."
Irina's eyes slowly widened.
An emotion she could not conceal seeped into her ice-cold blue pupils.
"I don't need a partner other than you. You're the only person I want walking the same path as me, and that's how highly I regard you."
Astin's fingertips touched Irina's head.
He lifted Irina's head when she kept trying to avoid his gaze. With nowhere left to turn, their eyes met directly.
"This may sound a little out of the blue. We're preparing an expedition to the Ashen Forest."
"……?"
Irina inadvertently sucked in a breath. It truly was out of the blue.
"We'll raise astronomical war funds with Mermaid's Tears and funnel those funds into the West. We need to gather supplies from across the Empire while controlling the supply lines without the slightest error. There are only a handful of people capable of coordinating such a massive operation."
A faint smile touched Astin's lips.
"That person is you. Irina, you were the first person who came to mind."
Irina's mouth fell wide open.
The Ashen Forest expedition was no joke or casual remark.
Astin was actually preparing the expedition, and he had said he would entrust her with the role of its command center.
"So prove it. Prove that I didn't misjudge you."
Astin laughed aloud and extended once more the hand she had pushed away.
Irina looked down at his hand with a dazed expression.
The crushing weight of responsibility briefly stole her breath.
When she raised her head, Astin filled her entire field of vision.
This man had acknowledged her. Young Master Astin Cardenos had.
The man who had recognized a value even she did not know she possessed.
After a moment's hesitation, Irina took his hand.
With her eyes clear again, she faced Astin.
"I won't disappoint you again."
"I keep telling you, I've never been disappointed. I look forward to working with you, Guildmaster Irina."
After releasing her hand, Astin gently patted her arm.
Astin turned away with a smile still on his face. That face remained on Irina's retinas like an afterimage.
"Are you going to stay here?"
"……Ah."
Irina came to her senses belatedly.
"Yes. I'll stay a little while and sort out my thoughts……."
Her sentence trailed off. Irina suddenly felt something strange.
Had I always been this bad with words?
"All right. Good work. Go in and get plenty of rest."
With that, Astin started walking.
Even as Astin grew distant, Irina's gaze remained fixed on his back.
Clack- clack-
Astin left the meeting room, his footsteps regular.
Irina's gaze lingered on the spot where he had stood last.
"……."
Her vacant gaze shifted to her own palm.
She lightly curled her fingers. A deep warmth left behind by that rough hand still lingered.
Thud-
Irina sank down as if collapsing on the spot.
Her gaze remained fixed on empty space—specifically, the spot where Astin had stood.
"Haa……."
Irina clasped her cheeks with both trembling hands.
If she stayed like this, she felt as though her thought processes would burst.
"No."
She slapped one cheek and forcibly steadied her breathing.
The trembling subsided in her blue eyes, and reason began to return.
It was long past time to indulge in sentiment.
What he demanded from her was not blind loyalty.
It was immense profits to fund the war effort and a flawless system, with loyalty as the baseline.
'Exclusive distribution of Mermaid's Tears. The Ashen Forest expedition. Astronomical war funds…….'
Irina's thoughts began racing.
Simply selling the cosmetic at a high price was a one-dimensional approach.
The cosmetic that could control high society could become power, not merely a product.
'The nobles will line up for this cosmetic at first. If we accept only cash, we won't get its true value.'
A pass exempting goods from inspections in their territories. She would even include priority rights in forward grain contracts as part of the exchange.
The forward contracts and cash secured would immediately be divided among several front merchant guilds and put into circulation.
Then, while high society's attention was fixed on the cosmetic, she would force the flow of grain, iron ore, and magic stones across the Empire under Patrian's umbrella.
"The first things to skyrocket when the expedition is announced will be magic stones and preserved provisions……."
In addition, the mercenaries' iron arms and armor.
Let's think, Irina.
She murmured softly, tapping her cheek.
An expedition on this scale could not end with merely supplying materials.
It was bound to become entangled with political issues as well.
How could Astin break through the opposition from the surrounding noble families—especially the Imperial Family and Rosenthal—and focus on the Ashen Forest?
'If the Imperial Family tightens its control, the supply effort will be paralyzed immediately. Money and force alone have limits. We need a justification—a righteous cause.'
Irina lightly bit her nail.
'We have to present the Ashen Forest expedition not as an expansion of the family's territory……but as a holy war for humanity.'
A strange light appeared in Irina's blue pupils.
She would use the mass media to transform the expedition into 'a noble sacrifice for the future of humanity.'
If that happened, neither the Imperial Family nor the great nobles could recklessly block the supply routes.
The moment they obstructed it, they would be branded traitors who cared more about their own interests than humanity's safety.
'……If it's Young Master Astin, he must have already taken steps to that end.'
Politics was a separate domain.
Cardenos was better suited than Irina to use the press.
She had a different area in which she could—no, would—excel.
At that point, Irina changed the direction of her thoughts.
Her immediate priority had to be perfectly shielding procurement costs from inflation.
She had to quietly secure long-term supply contracts or forward contracts through front merchant guilds.
Buying up physical goods immediately would throw the market into chaos.
Only by tying up future production on paper could she control rumors and defend the purchase price.
Financing through the cosmetic. Diversification and cornering the market. Securing physical assets across the Empire. Controlling the logistics network. Establishing supply routes.
At most, completing all these processes would take a month. If she moved quickly, she could cut it down to three weeks.
No—she had to set three weeks as the deadline.
Since no deadline had been given, finishing as quickly as possible was the right choice.
"Phew……."
Her labored breathing gradually settled. A faint smile spread over her injured lips.
The blueprint of the expedition taking shape in her mind was beginning to come into view.
If everything went according to plan, she could fulfill Astin's expectations.
It was when she began thinking solely of Astin.
Thump- thump- thump-
A sound like something vibrating echoed through the quiet meeting room.
Where was it coming from?
Irina suddenly felt puzzled.
It wasn't a sound reverberating from any particular place.
"……."
It was definitely something only she could hear.
Irina placed a hand over her chest, the source of the sound.
Deep inside her chest.
Her heart, which had seemed as though it held nothing but mercury, was beating as it pumped red blood.
"……."
She had thought it was the pressure brought by the Ashen Forest expedition. But it wasn't.
The presence of one man still could not be erased from her mind.
The feel of a rough, calloused hand. The handkerchief that had casually wiped her lips. And the blind trust.
The pounding bursting from her chest muddled her reason. The blueprint she had drawn rationally scattered.
Irina exhaled a heated breath. The pulse of an emotion she had never experienced before made her breathing quicken.
Reason evaporated, and emotion filled the empty space.
No matter how she tried to focus her thoughts on the expedition plan, it would not go as she wished.
Thump-
Emotions were unnecessary for profit. As a merchant, she had lived as though she had all but excluded emotion.
That was why this flood of emotion felt so utterly unfamiliar to her.
Thump-
Even before the sudden fortune she had never touched in her life, or when she had concluded a contract with a great noble house, her heart had never pounded this noisily.
"……Young Master Astin."
Unconsciously, words slipped out between her lips.
In her blue eyes, only one person was engraved like a brand: Astin.
As she pictured him, her heart beat even harder.
Irina clutched her chest tightly with trembling hands.
A man's voice overlaid the sound of her heartbeat.
She listened to the echo for a long while.
***
It had now been twenty days since Irina took office as guildmaster.
"Chief, are we really running it like this?"
The editorial department of the Imperial Capital Central Daily.
Feeling the faint vibration of the rotary press through the floor, senior reporter Felix parted his lips.
Morgan leaned back indifferently against the back of his chair.
"They told us to run it like that. So that's how we'll run it."
In Felix's hands was a notice titled 'Recruitment for the Ashen Forest Expedition.'
A special report provided by Cardenos—or, more precisely, Young Master Astin.
Since Astin had brought it to them, they naturally had to schedule it according to Astin's demand.
That time was today.
Thump!
Editor-in-chief Morgan smoked a cigar with his shod foot propped on the desk.
"I know. It's tomorrow morning's front-page headline."
"Haa……."
Felix let out a deep sigh, but carefully folded the manuscript he was holding and tucked it inside his coat.
"Understood. If they tell us to run the damn thing, we have to run it. To be honest…… I'm also a little curious how the public will react."
Since the Imperial Capital Daily was founded, this was the first special report this absurd.
Uncertain survival. No pay until the expedition ended. Honor and glory.
It was a mad notice driving applicants into the jaws of death.
Even people who made their living from print doubted their own eyes, so the shock to the general public was obvious.
"By tomorrow morning, everyone in the Imperial Capital will know. In three days, it will spread across the Empire, and everyone will know."
"Heh heh."
Morgan let out a laugh before he could stop himself.
"From the Founding Festival to the Ashen Forest expedition, there hasn't been a quiet day because of that fellow."
Felix wholeheartedly agreed.
At the center of every issue shaking the Empire lately stood Cardenos's wastrel.
Felix nodded a couple of times, then turned his head.
His worried gaze looked out at the nighttime streets beyond the window.
"I really wonder what will happen……. What do you think, Chief? Will people even take this seriously?"
"Who knows."
Whoosh-
Cigar smoke rose like a cloud. It drifted through the air beneath the ceiling before dispersing.
Morgan had not known it before, but by now his view had opened wide.
Perhaps Astin was looking at the same picture he was.
"Let's see what happens tomorrow."