The Lady Only Deals With the Real Ones - Chapter 180

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“Eivor-!”

Crodil was at Etewyrn Manor.

The Imperial Palace was a place with many watching eyes.

So he had maintained a minimum of rationality, but now that he had arrived at the manor, there was no need for that.

Etewyrn Manor was a place where only his own people were present!

With bloodshot eyes, Crodil smashed all the furnishings and shouted.

“Come out right now, Eivor. Show your face!”

When that bastard appeared, he would tear him limb from limb.

He would plunge a knife into the heart beneath that smoothly smiling face!

Crodil drew his ornamental sword and screamed.

“Do you think I don’t know what you’re scheming!”

Count Hestian had been arrested.

All attempts to extract him had come to nothing.

This was because the House of Hestian had been delivered directly to the Temple, not to the Imperial Palace.

Still, Crodil had something he believed in.

‘Count Hestian will take all the blame since he has to protect his daughter at least.’

That’s why he had deliberately drawn his daughter, Edwina, into the jewelry brand.

Even if Count Hestian betrayed him, he had burned all documents that could connect the gambling den to himself to avoid any consequences.

‘But of all things, that daughter!’

She was said to have handed over a massive amount of documents.

Not only accounting ledgers and fund records, but even blueprints and floor plans of the gambling den that the woman couldn’t possibly have had!

“Did you want to renegotiate or something?”

Where the burned documents had come from was a secondary issue.

If they traced the documents, his name would naturally come up.

Though his reason was paralyzed with rage, the conclusion Crodil reached by squeezing out a fragment of thought was one thing.

“You’re pulling this stunt because you want to modify that ‘unbreakable’ contract you agreed to!”

The reason Eivor was doing this insane thing was surely a scheme to modify the contract.

“I would provide maximum cooperation to achieve Your Highness’s goals, and when Your Highness was finally satisfied, you would grant me one small request.”

It seemed that bastard Eivor was no longer satisfied with just one ‘small request.’

That’s why he was causing trouble like this.

‘He’s showing me what happens without a mage, then trying to get me to sit at the negotiating table!’

Of course, Crodil had blocked as much as possible the possibility of Eivor pulling nonsense through conditional clauses.

He didn’t trust people, only believing in desire, which was people’s motivation.

[1. The mage cannot lie to the contractor.]

As a test, when he ordered him to say that 1+1 equals 3, he remembered Eivor’s entire body burning as if thrown into a furnace.

That fire could only be extinguished by his command.

Though he wouldn’t actually get burned, he seemed to vividly feel the pain of his flesh burning.

After the fire was extinguished, the suffering Eivor muttered ‘I almost died,’ so it must be certain.

That too wouldn’t be a lie.

[2. The mage cannot reveal the contract contents and the contractor’s ‘purpose’ to anyone.]

He had eliminated the possibility of running to tell Katarina, the Emperor, or Ailren,

[3. The mage cannot modify or break the contract under any circumstances without the contractor’s consent.]

He had nipped in the bud the possibility of attempting to modify the contract through dirty tricks.

Most importantly.

[4. The mage can never harm the contractor.]

Eivor cannot harm him.

Since he can’t touch him, and since he can’t break the contract himself, he’s pulling this dirty trick!

Though the effectiveness of the conditional clauses was proven once again, Crodil’s anger did not subside.

“Did you think you’d be safe after pulling this stunt?”

No matter how Eivor tried to manipulate him, Crodil had no intention of doing as he wished.

How dare a mere monster try to negotiate at the same table as its master.

‘I should eliminate him.’

Wasn’t it a crime truly deserving of death?

Crodil gripped his sword tightly.

“How can I trust that you won’t slack off or act carelessly?”

“You’ve bound me with so many clauses and you’re still not reassured? You must evaluate my abilities quite highly.”

“If your abilities were even half as good as your tongue, I wouldn’t ask for more. Just answer what I’m asking.”

“Ah, you want a sure way to hold my leash.”

Yes. I remember.

I had definitely prepared for even this situation.

The bastard who could no longer lie answered.

“I’ll gladly give it to you. I can go anywhere, but I can’t stay in one place for long. I have something I must do.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means there’s a place I must stay to maintain this life.”

“…Is there some kind of hideout where you replenish your magic power?”

“Something like that. The location is here. Even if I disappear, if you come to this place, you’ll be able to meet me.”

Ailren and the Temple will surely find my name in those documents.

They might have already noticed that Eivor is involved.

If so.

“I trust you won’t sell me out.”

…I’ll make the first move.

I can just sell out that vicious mage, Eivor!

‘His magic has no incantations.’

So conversely, wouldn’t it be easy to frame him for crimes?

Just like with the tablet and tiara, I can announce that the documents were also magically manipulated by that bastard Eivor.

Not just the gambling den. I can frame him for all the criminal acts I’ve committed and have him hanged.

‘Since it’s the word of a dirty mage anyway, no one will believe him!’

Public opinion can be manipulated.

Though quite a few nobles have sided with Katarina, the antipathy toward mages will transcend all of that.

Evidence can be fabricated.

Don’t we have Ailren’s hourglass?

Even without incantations, the amount of magic power detected should be similar, so couldn’t we compare it and use it as evidence?

‘I could analyze magic even from a corpse. …I’ll arrest him in front of everyone, then kill him so he can’t be interrogated!’

Crodil, who had been scheming, let out a laugh.

“Are you watching this too, Eivor?”

Of course, problems would remain even if he eliminated Eivor.

For instance, that Empath Girl who interfered with his affairs at every turn, claiming to be Duke Rionet’s granddaughter.

Though Ailren had kept it top secret, Crodil knew that the Emotion Mage had played a part in the gambling den investigation.

However, Crodil had a plan to counter that as well.

‘Even if that girl uses some extraordinary method like forgery detection to discover that I’m behind the gambling den….’

He just needed to completely destroy her credibility.

The easiest way to destroy credibility was to attack the speaker.

The most convenient flaw to bring down that girl was.

‘Doubts about her birth.’

The frame of ‘How can we trust the emotions read by a liar?’

“That girl may have hidden Michele Rionet away, but…!”

After investigation, he had found the nursing home where a patient presumed to be Michele was staying.

But, of all times. Of all times!

She had been discharged just a few hours ago!

It was an annoyingly quick response that made his teeth grind, but there was something that Empath Girl could never hide or move.

A corpse. Death itself.

‘How could anyone believe that a child born on a battlefield returned alive when both parents died?’

So Crodil was secretly recruiting witnesses from the war where Princess Beatrix and her husband had departed for battle.

There would be one or two people who witnessed the circumstances of Princess Beatrix’s childbirth.

If the suspicions were real, nothing could be better, and even if they weren’t real.

‘There will definitely be people who’ll give false testimony for money!’

“Haha, hahahaha…!”

This was a fight he couldn’t lose.

Crodil muttered.

“If you were going to rebel against me, you should have considered that I’m not someone who gives up easily.”

He gritted his teeth.

“This was your last chance, Eivor!”

Crodil threw down his sword and strode toward the door.

He intended to go see his damned sister’s unopenable safe, which was useless even in death.

He planned to renew his resolve. He intended to vow that he would never collapse like this.

“…What, what?”

But then.

“Why are you here…!”

“Come to think of it, I don’t know why I thought I needed permission to come here all this time.”

The person standing before the open door was.

“This is my mother’s family home, so naturally I have the right to enter. Isn’t that right, Uncle?”

His niece, who looked exactly like that damned sister.

The moment he saw Katarina staring at him expressionlessly.

Cold sweat ran down Crodil’s back as he was about to shout out of habit.

“But there’s something I’m curious about.”

Her green eyes, those too-vivid green eyes….

“Exactly… whose name were you shouting like that in an empty room, Uncle?”

Somehow, it was eerie.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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