Chapter 327: Roses for Information
Most were daughters of eastern noble houses. A few faces were familiar; they were the young ladies my vassal nobles had been ardently courting. The girls had shot off toward the imperial crown prince like arrows, but they might still end up as my men’s matches.
Princess Elisabeth spoke with a pouting look.
"It seems you’re more interested in my handmaids than in me, Baron."
"Some of these handmaids have marriage talks underway with nobles who follow me. I was merely taking a brief look."
"Is that so? If you grant me a favor, I’d be willing to play matchmaker."
"Ahem. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that."
From anyone else, maybe, but owing a favor to you is a little frightening. The sulking princess drank her tea irritably. Enough to make a mockery of all those noble tributes to the refined, graceful princess of supreme beauty.
"Now then, out with it. What information did you obtain?"
"Count Palatine Heinlein approached me."
A count palatine does hold the standing for a direct audience with a princess. The question was why he approached Princess Elisabeth. Simply to win her favor? Or was there a connection to the Wittelsbachs?
"He gifted me a jewel of the Mediterranean. I had never seen a pearl so large."
"That pearl necklace at your throat—could it be..."
"Doesn’t it suit my beautiful neck perfectly?"
The princess shifted from pose to pose as if to show off the pearl necklace and the line of her neck.
Who are you flirting with? Can’t you see the sparks flying from your handmaids’ eyes?
"Princess, please, your dignity!"
"It’s fine. There’s no one here but the baron."
"I would ask you to keep your dignity in front of me as well."
"No, Baron."
The way she elegantly sipped her tea, she seemed an even tougher opponent than Lily. Lily is at least fun to tease; with the princess, I felt like I’d be the one swept up in her pace. Truly a first-class vixen.
"He asked me to make him part of my escort when I return to Breisburg."
"So he figured that as an escort of the princess—no, the queen—he would be beyond my reach."
"I didn’t understand why he made that request at the time, but when I heard you were moving against Count Heinlein, it finally made sense. The eastern princes did not take his side, you see."
"Did you happen to grant the count’s request, Princess?"
"I stalled for time, saying I would think it over. He hasn’t contacted me since."
So she simply swallowed the pearl necklace whole. Heinlein must have calculated that with the queen’s protection in Breisburg and the Finance Minister’s return, even I couldn’t easily touch him, but he should have picked someone more willing to help.
Count Heinlein seems utterly cornered now. Unlike when he first came to see me, he was now timing the perfect moment to cut and run. He might have already fled to Schafen, come to think of it.
The princess’s information was extremely useful.
I could now read Heinlein’s movements and aims. In that case, the key was to strike Schafen and Grefeling simultaneously and leave him no room to maneuver.
Today being Christmas, they might be resting easy.
But soldiers are creatures who choose a small offering and the tavern over Mass.
"Thank you, Princess. I’ll send you a great heap of roses later."
"How very romantic, Baron. I’m glad I could be of help."
"Every moment counts, so I’ll take my leave."
"Off you go. I’ll look forward to the roses."
Princess Elisabeth genuinely seemed to be looking forward to them.
So she likes roses. Then I’d better send her the finest grade.
Dried roses can be steeped as tea, and ground fine like starch, they can be used as bath powder, so they would make a fine gift for a rose-loving princess. No, I should just send them regularly.
The moment I left the palace, I headed for the temporary Military Department offices.
Today was shaping up to be a truly busy day. On Christmas, no less.
They say everyone rests on Church feast days, but that’s a story for commoners. My father-in-law was off inspecting the northern region with Ulrich, so only Michael was in.
After the slum blockade was lifted, the Bull and most of the slum gang members were locked away in prison. The plan was to set a date and hang them, but with Christmas and the new year liturgies in the way, the executions were postponed.
Thanks to that, the dark circles under Michael’s eyes had mostly faded.
"What is it, brother-in-law? It’s Weihnachten, you know."
"We can settle our debt to the Lord’s nativity with an offering. Muster the soldiers at once."
"Huh? Why all of a sudden? Never mind the nativity, did you forget today’s a day off?"
He looked at me with the pure revulsion of a man watching his boss order everyone into the office on a Sunday. It’s not that I don’t understand the feeling, but every moment counts right now. We have to catch him before he runs.
"We may end up attacking Schafen."
"Schafen? That’s the territory bordering Lake Boden, if I remember right?"
To Michael, this must have sounded like nonsense out of nowhere, so I explained that Count Heinlein—tied to the slum—and the Lord of Schafen were very likely in league, which meant we might have to fight a battle.
At the mention of smuggling, he was aghast.
For a commoner or merchant, it meant the ultimate penalty; even a noble could not escape execution.
"Those bastards are completely out of their minds! Smuggling!"
"Unbelievably, it seems they’ve been at it for quite a long time."
"Did Duke Altringen just let it slide?"
"We won’t know until we ask the duke himself."
"Hmm, I can’t work up the courage to ask that. Anyway, understood."
Michael promised to prepare as many troops as he could, but warned me not to expect much.
Leaving the Military Department, I ordered Anton to muster the Gale Knights. Given that it was Christmas, only half the roster answered the call. In truth, today being a holiday, mustering troops at all was problematic.
So the members who couldn’t answer the call weren’t to be blamed.
It was an official holiday guaranteed by the Church, but miss the timing and everything falls apart, so I mobilized whoever remained and headed for the count’s mansion. Beort and Drek joined us along the way.
"Sir Ferke is a devout believer, so he says he absolutely cannot miss Mass."
"If that’s how it is, it can’t be helped. You two come along, at least."
Fifty-five Gale Knights surrounded the Radensdorf mansion of Count Palatine Heinlein. The day was steadily darkening, and the nobles who had come out to attend the Christmas Mass were startled out of their wits by the sudden commotion.
"What is it this time? That’s Count Palatine Heinlein’s mansion, is it not?"
"Good heavens, what on earth is all this uproar?"
"First he cleans out the slum, and now he means to clean us out too?"
Before the nobles’ commotion could grow any louder, I made the announcement first.
"Count Palatine Heinlein, hear me! I hereby give notice that the count stands accused of four charges!"
To arrest not just any noble but a count palatine, it’s best to first declare the legitimate grounds and charges to those present. And over the course of the investigation, we had uncovered four pieces of circumstantial evidence.
"One, the charge of manipulating the slum from the shadows to reap illicit profits. Two, the charge of orchestrating the ledger fraud case seven years ago. Three, the charge of directing smuggling in Schafen. Four, the charge of instigating the kidnapping of a noble house’s handmaid! As there is risk of flight, you would do well to disarm at once and surrender quietly!"
"Baron of Rosenheim! The count is innocent!"
"And who are you?"
A middle-aged man with a rigid face emerged from the mansion. Through the Manager Scouter, I could tell he was the butler of the Heinlein house. The very man who had given the lackey his orders in person.
"The Bull who ruled the slum and your lackey have both confessed!"
"You cannot arrest the count on the testimony of those butchers alone! This is naked political persecution! Baron of Rosenheim, you cannot do this on mere accusations without hard evidence!"
"The evidence will be in Schafen, no doubt. The duchy army has already set out for Schafen."
We hadn’t actually marched yet, but troops were genuinely assembling, so I used it to put a scare into him. At that, the butler, who had been holding firm, was thrown badly off balance by the duchy army’s unexpected deployment.
"Wh-What are you talking about?"
"The duchy army has marched on Schafen."
"Oh, Lord! Do you mean to start a war?"
Schafen was a wealthy territory, but hardly a military stronghold capable of standing against the duchy army. The lord will surrender before the fighting even starts, I’d wager. The butler must have sensed that everything had gone completely wrong.
They had clearly assumed no one would move troops on Christmas. But we had exploited that very assumption, and with the duchy army marching out, their plans were thrown into disarray.
Beort, sensing something was off, spoke to me.
"My lord, it seems he’s stalling for time."
"You think so too? Then there’s nothing for it but to force our way in."
In the end, the Gale Knights pushed into the mansion.
As expected, Count Palatine Heinlein had already slipped away.