Shackled To The Enemy King

Catherine tried to grasp the face attached to that name, but it slipped away, elusive as a fish darting through murky water.

"Aureus is an ancient Roman coin," William added casually.

Catherine’s brows lifted slightly.

Is that it?

Had she heard it in one of Maximilian’s long, winding history lectures—the ones she half-listened to, half-slept through?

Was that why it felt familiar?

...No. This felt different. Closer. More intimate. As if the name had once been spoken to her, and not explained.

But before she could chase that thought any further, Jonathan spoke.

"I’ve come across that name before."

Catherine turned to him immediately.

"He’s a legendary investor," Jonathan continued, his tone measured but edged with something close to respect. "People call him the Market’s Oracle. His predictions are... unnervingly accurate. Almost surgical. He sees patterns others don’t—historical, behavioral, cyclical. And once he acts..." Jonathan exhaled softly. "He doesn’t hesitate."

Catherine blinked. "So... he’s already invested in our company?"

She didn’t understand the mechanics of the stock market, not the way her brothers did, but she understood threats.

She needed to know if this man was one.

"No," William said immediately. "If he had, I would know."

Jonathan nodded, but added, "That doesn’t mean much with someone like him."

Catherine frowned slightly. "What do you mean?"

"He doesn’t operate directly," Jonathan said. "He moves through layers—shell companies, anonymous funds, legal buffers. You never see him coming. By the time you realize..." He gave a small shrug. "It’s already done."

Catherine’s fingers curled slightly in her lap.

"So... he could be investing in us?"

William shook his head. "Our company isn’t structured like that. It’s majority family-owned. Not as exposed as public corporations."

Jonathan gave a confirming nod.

And just like that... The tightness in Catherine’s chest eased. At least, for now, he wasn’t an immediate threat.

"Who is he?" she asked softly. "He must be incredibly rich, then. And no one has seen him?"

In a world where wealth demanded attention, where power announced itself... How could someone like that remain hidden?

Jonathan leaned back slightly. "He rarely appears in public. No interviews. No confirmed photographs. Sometimes there are voice recordings, but even those are suspected to be altered, or delivered through proxies."

Catherine’s eyes widened just a little. Why the secrecy? Who could be that powerful to manipulate the global economy?

"A few letters. Some published theses. Strategic moves in the market..." Jonathan continued. "That’s all it takes. Entire sectors shift when he acts. Retail investors worship him. Hedge funds follow him. Even governments, quietly, keep an eye on him."

There was a brief pause before Jonathan added, almost thoughtfully, "There’s a saying about him."

Catherine looked at him.

"If Aureus touches it... it turns to gold."

Silence settled again. And without meaning to, without even realizing when it happened, a single name surfaced in Catherine’s mind.

Maximilian.

Her gaze drifted, almost instinctively, toward the direction he had walked off to.

Her heart gave a slow, uncertain beat.

Why do I think it’s him?

Maximilian returned from his "call" and took his seat with the same unhurried composure he carried into everything, as though nothing of consequence had happened in his brief absence.

"I might have to—"

"Do you know someone named Leon Aureus?" Catherine cut in, her voice steady but unmistakably intent.

He paused, just for a fraction of a second, before tilting his head slightly toward her. "Who is he?" he asked, his tone light, almost curious.

"Some investor," she said, not taking her eyes off him. "Jonathan called him legendary."

"Oh?" Maximilian’s brows lifted faintly, a thoughtful expression settling over his face. "Doesn’t ring a bell."

Catherine didn’t respond immediately. She simply looked at him, carefully, searching for something beneath the ease of his expression. It wasn’t quite a lie, not in the way she understood lies, but it didn’t feel like the truth either. There was a deliberate smoothness to it, a quiet redirection that only made her more certain he knew more than he was saying.

"Are you sure?" she asked, softer now, but with far more weight.

His gaze held hers, and that gentle, infuriating smile touched his lips, the kind that always made her feel as though he could see far more than he allowed her to.

If they had been alone, she might have wiped that smile off his face herself.

Instead, she kept her composure.

"The other day," she continued, "whom did you call?"

Maximilian’s brows rose again, this time with a touch more interest, as though indulging her line of questioning.

Catherine turned slightly toward William, though her attention never fully left Maximilian. "When we were returning, our jet was held on the tarmac because the Vice President’s plane hadn’t left yet," she said, then pointed subtly toward Maximilian. "He made a call, and suddenly, we were cleared to leave first."

Both Jonathan and William looked at him, surprise flickering into something far more impressed.

Maximilian, however, remained entirely at ease. "I know someone close to the Vice President," he said simply. "It was an emergency, and I asked for a favor."

"So simple," Catherine murmured, her tone carrying just enough disbelief to make it clear she didn’t find it simple at all.

He only gave a small shrug, as though it truly was nothing.

"You’re not putting up airs?" Catherine asked, tilting her head.

Maximilian let out a small chuckle. "Is that what it looks like?"

"Certainly," Catherine answered.

For a moment, no one spoke.

But the silence between Catherine and Maximilian was anything but empty. It stretched, quiet and taut, filled with everything neither of them said aloud. Her gaze lingered on him longer than it should have, drawn not just by suspicion, but by something far more dangerous, something familiar...something she had no right to recognize.

His eyes softened as they held hers, the faintest shift in expression that no one else at the table seemed to notice. It wasn’t teasing, not entirely. There was something steadier beneath it, something that felt almost like reassurance... or perhaps a question he wasn’t ready to voice.

Catherine felt it before she understood it, the subtle pull of it tightening in her chest as her breath slowed, her thoughts momentarily slipping away from Aureus, from Dorian, from everything that had been weighing on her.

In that quiet, suspended moment, it felt dangerously easy to forget they weren’t alone.

Across the table, William and Jonathan exchanged a brief look, the kind that needed no words. It was almost amusing, really, how completely the two of them had faded out of Catherine and Maximilian’s awareness. If anything, the brothers suddenly felt like intruders in a space that wasn’t meant for them.

Those two wanted privacy.

That much was painfully obvious.

William cleared his throat, not too loudly, but with just enough intent.

"Ahem."

The sound cut cleanly through the moment.