Chapter 100
Chapter 100. Go Ahead, Do Your Worst (3)
Blustering and threatening.
Grabbing people by the collar, smacking them with document folders, glaring with eyes wide open.
It wasn't as though he was truly angry.
Simply throwing a tantrum was enough to make everyone cower.
Even those who had initially held their heads high declaring 'I am innocent' would eventually do whatever it took to appease Donovan and beg for mercy.
Not a single one had ever come at him the way Baron Keystone just had.
"Wh — you bastard? Has this old man lost his mind!"
When confronted with extreme humiliation —
A human face turns the colour of a tomato.
That was precisely the state District Chief Donovan was in right now.
Baron Keystone clicked his tongue.
"My friend, I've had decades of experience in the North — do you think I haven't seen your type before? Coming tumbling down from the capital — 'I am District Chief, I am Inspector'...... Fellows who show up waving a single nameplate around with their necks held stiff as boards."
"How dare a mere provincial Baron mock me — an enforcer of Royal law?"
"Now, now. I'm asking for mutual respect. If you don't respect me, I can't very well respect you either."
Baron Keystone had by now naturally settled into speaking down to Donovan.
Donovan's moustache quivered.
"Fine, old man. I'm returning to the Branch as things stand. When I do, you'll be the very first one I see to, in the name of the Financial Supervisory Service. Every document! Every contract! Every speck of dust — I'll shake the lot of it out of you! We'll see if you can keep that arrogant attitude then!"
"You'd have caused quite the incident if you'd stayed on in the capital."
Baron Keystone broke into a hearty laugh.
"You think I'm nothing to look at, don't you? Never heard the name Baron Keystone in the circles of the central political world. Some country bumpkin Nouveau Riche brazenly crawling up at the District Chief of the Financial Supervisory Service — that's what you think, isn't it? Well?"
"You senile old lunatic......!"
District Chief Donovan made up his mind.
Y&P was one thing, but that insolent old man's company — he would make absolutely certain to tear it apart from the ground up.
"Never mind Keystone — you surely know Marquis Ashford?"
Donovan, who had been storming off in a fury, stopped in his tracks.
This was not something he could let slide.
Marquis Ashford — a veteran Senator of the House of Nobles.
A traditional Northern Noble who wielded considerable influence even in the central political world.
"Wh — why is Marquis Ashford's name coming up here?"
"Did you know that Marquis Ashford is on very close terms with the Director of the Financial Supervisory Service?"
He did not know that.
"And do you know that it was I who provided political funds for Ashford when he was making a fuss about taking his first steps into the central political arena? If I were to sit down with that friend for a drink and grumble that the newly posted District Chief has absolutely no manners whatsoever...... I guarantee you, you'll be handing in your coat within three days."
Donovan's eyes went wide.
Baron Keystone laughed heartily, as though he found the expression on his face utterly ridiculous.
"Now...... are you threatening me by invoking Marquis Ashford's authority?"
"Oh, goodness! Don't misunderstand. It's not a threat — it's advice. If you start shaking down Keystone Company, it won't be three days — it'll be your coat by the end of the day."
"...... And what kind of nonsense is that supposed to mean......"
"Decades, my friend — decades. How many nobles do you suppose are entangled with our company? And of those, how many do you think are capable of taking your head?"
Donovan steadied his reeling mind.
There was still one card left to play.
"I, I — do you really believe something as absurd as that is possible when you know who stands behind me?"
"Rosemore? Frightening, certainly. Lady Clarisse too — not a shred of pity or tears in that one. But is your surname Rosemore? Isn't it Donovan?"
"That's......"
"Do you think Rosemore will make a permanent enemy of me over one man like you? You can see that for yourself, can't you?"
Every word Baron Keystone spoke carried a reality that Donovan did not know.
Clearly, unmistakably — this was not mere Bravado.
"Well then? Rather different in atmosphere from what you learned in the capital, isn't it?"
Donovan's shirt had grown damp with cold sweat.
He swallowed hard and managed to open his mouth.
"Ah, no...... Baron Keystone...... Lord Keystone. That is not what I meant. I believe there may have been some misunderstanding on my part."
And before any onlookers, he dropped to his knees without hesitation.
This was not a matter of pride.
"I came here wishing to extend a good proposal to your Lordship, but it did not go as intended...... I, I am afraid I have committed a grave discourtesy!"
"A young sprout who bullies and berates an old man — and then comes to him empty-handed?"
"Not at all! What, what can I do for you?"
It was not a matter of securing connections right now.
He had to survive.
That was now District Chief Donovan's sole objective.
"Step away from this matter and release that Jurgen fellow."
Baron Keystone rose from his seat and gave Donovan a pat on the top of the head.
"And from here on — don't summon me without manners. If you need to meet, you come to me. Honestly...... tsk tsk."
At the humiliating treatment, all the District Chief could manage was a single word.
"Yes! I will do as you say!"
***
Unfortunately for Penelope, sleep had not proven to be a perfect refuge.
"Mm...... mmm......"
Wounds carved deeply into the unconscious became nightmares and churned her heart.
'Penelope Rosemore must forever remain a useless flower.'
This was the Family's decision.
If only she had known from the very beginning.
If only she had never harboured any hope in a corner of her heart.
If only she had not held onto the wish that tomorrow might be different from today.
She was surely lying in bed, head against a soft pillow......
And yet Penelope was caught now in a cold, dark vortex of churning water.
Cold.
Lonely.
Breathless.
No matter how much she screamed, only the sound of bubbles came back to her.
Cast into a vast and boundless solitude, her body was falling without end.
Someone.
If only someone would catch her, she thought —
At that very moment.
Squeeeeeze.
Warmth, twining around her fingertips.
A sensation so faint it was barely there, gradually growing clearer and clearer.
This feeling of fingers weaving themselves between each knuckle, each joint.
As though someone was gently holding her hand — this feeling......
Granted a small comfort within the solitude.
Jurgen — Penelope's precious partner.
It was surely him, offering comfort.
With nothing more than a hand being held, it felt as though she could breathe again just a little.
Flinch. Flinch.
That part was fine......
But it was not simply holding her hand still — it was interlaced fingers and stroking and quite a scene altogether.
No, the comfort was appreciated, but fidgeting about with a lady's hand in this manner was a bit —
And that wasn't all.
Schlurp.
"?!?!?!"
Something soft and wet.
As though a kiss had been pressed to the back of her hand!
Even for Jurgen, wasn't this a little embarrassing?
Her heavy eyelids flew open in an instant.
"Jurgen! Holding hands is one thing, but this is a bit......"
What Penelope saw was......
[Hello!]
Not Jurgen, but Vic, cheerfully waving its tentacles.
Vic's other tentacle, having emerged from a gap in the bag, was squeezing and kneading Penelope's hand.
"...... Haa, it was you, Vic?"
Penelope let out a sigh — whether of relief, wistfulness, or deflation she could not tell — and patted Vic gently.
[Comfort]
"You were in the middle of comforting me? Yes, yes — good girl."
[Vic] [Good girl]
That she could smile the moment she woke from such a nightmare —
That was surely thanks to Vic's comfort.
"Thank you."
[Candy]
"Yes, yes. But what was said the moment I woke up just now — that's a secret from Jurgen, understood?"
[Candy] [×2]
Heading to the shelf to fetch candy, Penelope caught sight of a car pulling up to an abrupt halt in front of the Townhouse.
Serena, leaping out of the car as though propelled from it.
The sight of her running on regardless, one shoe having flown off her foot, made Penelope's chest drop.
"Lady Penelope! Lady Penelope!"
"What is it? What happened?"
"Jurgen senior...... Jurgen senior has been taken to the Financial Supervisory Service...... they say! Just now, Branch Manager Belheim......"
At Serena's breathless words, Penelope thought —
An ill foreboding never, ever proves wrong.
"When exactly?"
"Pardon? Were you not together with him?"
"I was asleep."
"Then I, I'm not quite sure either. I don't know that much......"
Penelope had gone to sleep around two o'clock; it was now seven.
Jurgen had left at some point in between — meaning the trouble had erupted in that window.
And immediately after refusing Clarisse's proposal at the Rosemore estate, no less.
"Why has this suddenly happened...... everything was going so well......"
Serena, utterly dumbfounded.
"It's because of me......"
"Pardon?"
As Penelope relayed the full account, Serena turned twice as pale.
If there had been some mix-up, or if he had been hauled in simply to pad the Financial Supervisory Service's numbers, there was still room to work with.
But if Penelope had fallen out of favour with the Family, and Jurgen's emergency arrest was part of a political attack......
That would be a truly grave problem.
When the notorious Supervisory Service drew their blade with murderous intent, even the most virtuous saint could not escape unscathed.
The newspapers would tear into Y&P day after day, and the Royal Warrant won through such painstaking effort might well be revoked.
A supplier to the Royal Household evading national taxes — that was simply unthinkable.
The engine of Y&P, just as it had been ready to surge forward, had ground to a halt.
"Wh, what should we do? For now — ah! Baron Keystone! Could you try contacting Baron Keystone? If I do it, the Baron dislikes me so much that......"
Serena, flustered and flailing.
Penelope bit her lip until all colour left it.
Refusing to face reality would not make the tragedy disappear.
This was not the time to bury her head like an ostrich and sleep away the hours weeping.
It had to be dealt with before her colleagues were further entangled.
"I'll resolve it."
Go find Bell.
Get down on her knees and beg.
Say that she would do whatever the Family wished.
If they told her to enter a Convent, she would enter. She would live out her days in silent obscurity, like a decorative fixture of the household.
The very moment Penelope turned and rushed off to change her clothes —
"Oh, Lady Penelope. You've woken up."
She stumbled on her toes.
Because Jurgen walked in through the front entrance — as casually as though it were his own home, which it was — but in any case.
He walked in far too peacefully, step by steady step.
"Where are you off to in such a hurry?"
The sensation of seeing a ghost.
"I, I...... I heard you'd been arrested......"
Penelope, flustered and fumbling, spun sharply towards Serena.
A look that said — what is all this?
"Huh......? No, I swear! I was told he'd been taken to the Financial Supervisory Service! Emergency arrest, they said......"
This time both Penelope and Serena turned their gazes toward Jurgen.
A silent request for an explanation.
"I was arrested, and then I was released."
Jurgen answered with a shrug.
"So you were arrested at midday and out by evening?"
"That's right. Come to think of it, I've missed a meal. Miserable lot didn't give me a scrap to eat......"
"You were thinking about food in the middle of all that......?"
Out of everyone ever hauled into the Supervisory Service, Jurgen had to be among the fastest to be let back out.
Both Penelope and Serena could do nothing but let their jaws drop.
***
"Are you an idiot?"
Bell had a headache.
She had just heard something incomprehensible from the other end of the telephone — District Chief Donovan.
[Even so...... I am the District Chief — isn't calling me an idiot a bit much......?]
"Then are you a fool? A maggot who can't even chew bread that's been put in your mouth, and chokes on it?"
It had been a perfectly simple operation.
Legal pressure on the commoner Jurgen.
Hand the Y&P Stake off to Baron Keystone to fracture the alliance and bring him over.
But this desk-bound milksop had managed to bungle the whole thing.
"I gave you the materials too."
[Well, but — those materials said nothing about Lord Keystone being on particularly close terms with Marquis Ashford......]
"And who told you to threaten him? I said to coax him gently."
[That, that's......]
"If you've got a head on your shoulders, shouldn't your first thought not be to swagger around on someone else's turf trusting nothing but your title? What possessed you to do the 'Are you a chief warrant officer? Bow your head' routine?"
[Ah, regardless, I am washing my hands of this matter. Please do be sure to convey my sincerest apologies to Lady Clarisse.]
Clang!
Bell slammed the telephone down hard.
She worried that speaking with this imbecile any longer would drag down her own intelligence.
"Of all the things."
She had thought the Financial Supervisory Service would be an effective blade — but the fool swinging it had been breathtakingly thick-headed.
Even so......
There was something to be gained.
Information had been obtained.
That Baron Keystone held Y&P Trading Company in considerable regard.
And that the commoner Jurgen was a far more significant figure than she had thought.
"Is that so?"
Unfortunate for him — but it would have been better for him to have been dealt with through this affair.
At least then he could have come out of it with his body intact.
In this North, there were still several blades for Rosemore to wield.
Bell picked up the receiver once more and dialled a number.
"Marcus — it's me. Bell."
[Your orders.]
The one who answered was Marcus — Chairman of the Gray Council.
"There's someone who needs to be seen to."
He was the Underworld hunting hound that Bell had kept and cultivated for a long time.