Claws
"A kitten had sunk her claws into his throat."
The Minister's Estate
Umberto finished the letter with a look of profound relief.
Then, with perfect composure, he rejoined the chaos unfolding around him.
"Hurry! Destroy those documents!"
"What good is shredding papers now?!"
"Stop moving! Anyone who moves from this point forward will be considered an accomplice. Everyone is being transferred to the palace!"
Royal Knights and Count Etienne's household collided in frantic confusion.
And in that chaos, Umberto vanished without a trace.
The Duke's Estate
Because Umberto had casually discarded his orders, news of the Count's arrest reached the Regent far too late.
"Your Excellency—the Royal Knights stormed Count Etienne's estate and seized him!"
By the time the messenger arrived, the Royal Knights had already swept through the Count's household entirely.
"What?!"
"What brought them there?!"
The Regent's face flushed crimson as he learned the charges against the Minister.
Of all things—they caught him playing with toys?
"Damn you, Etienne! If you wanted to indulge your vices freely, you should have cleaned up your mess properly!"
Crash!
The ornament the Regent hurled shattered against the wall.
If Etienne had been standing before him, even that wouldn't have been sufficient outlet for his fury.
Yet this disaster wasn't entirely the Minister's fault.
"Your Excellency," Samon reported grimly, "while investigating the Minister's slush funds, we discovered traces of black money flowing to the Black Eyes organization. As the investigation deepened, they uncovered evidence of child trafficking."
"We could have stopped this from the beginning if we'd intervened when the investigation first started..."
The Duke's heart sank as realization struck:
He could have covered this up from the start— if only he hadn't dismissed it out of petty spite, pretending not to notice because of his pointless quarrel with the Minister.
"My God..."
"Now isn't the time for infighting. I need to see the Minister immediately. Where did they take him?"
"The situation is grave, Father. The Minister was transferred and placed in immediate isolation. Even our channels can't reach him easily."
Samon had dispatched his subordinates the moment he heard the news to assess the situation.
Each charge hanging over the Minister's head was devastating.
"Violations of military law, Father. Cesare played this brilliantly."
The first two charges could be dismissed as eccentric indulgences of a nobleman.
But selling children to foreign nations—that could be construed as treason against the Crown.
Especially now, when they were secretly raising rebel forces to march on the capital.
"They're continuing their investigation, combing through the Minister's residence. Father, what if they uncover our connection?"
"For now, our people have scattered and disappeared. They'll be waiting until we make contact."
But there was no advantage in wasting time. They had to extract the Minister from prison as quickly as possible.
"What's the situation at the palace?"
"That woman Pinatelli has purged so many of our contacts, I have almost no one left in the palace. The Minister must be panicking, unsure of what to do."
The Regent frowned deeply, wrinkles carving permanent furrows between his brows.
"Father, that cunning bastard Cesare won't miss this opportunity."
At that moment, Samon's mouth curved in a calculating smirk.
"But we still have Medea, don't we?"
The Cascade
The butterfly effect of Cesare drawing his sword proved immense.
In wartime, when even a single piece of intelligence could determine the outcome of battle, the crime of trafficking dozens of people who worked within the royal palace was extraordinarily severe.
Ministers on a grand scale, along with officials, nobles, and merchants who had assisted or turned a blind eye, were arrested in rapid succession.
Naturally, most of them belonged to Duke Claudio's faction.
As Etienne's fate grew as precarious as a candle flickering in the wind, Duke Claudio turned to his favorite tool of salvation.
The Princess's Palace
"Your Highness, Duke Claudio has arrived."
"Medea! We're in terrible trouble!"
Claudio burst into her study, even dabbing at theatrical tears.
His tone was exaggerated with false urgency.
In short: Minister Etienne was innocent. He had fallen into a vicious trap designed to slander and destroy him.
All the charges were fabrications, lies spun by enemies of the Crown.
He thrust a document onto her desk.
"Here—place your seal here, and you can help this poor, suffering man. Your Royal Seal will be his salvation."
Ah, Uncle...
Medea had once truly admired him.
There had been a time when she believed those flashy words represented conviction and truth.
But now, having returned from a past life filled with bitter lessons, she could see through her uncle's—or rather, the Regent's—true nature with perfect clarity.
Claudio is just a big-mouthed fool.
Medea looked down at the stiff parchment the Regent held out, her expression utterly indifferent.
"What is this?"
"It's a pardon for an innocent man. He's a citizen of Valdina too. As a Princess, would you reject one of Valdina's own people? The King's representative doesn't occupy such a position. On behalf of Peleus, you must show mercy—"
"Uncle."
Medea cut off his words, placing her hand over the document he offered.
"Slush funds, military law violations—all those complicated matters I don't understand."
"But this time, I learned something."
"The old Head Maid Cuisine. Minister Etienne. Even the maid who cared for me all my life—they all lined their pockets at my expense."
"After helping and saving them, I truly have nothing left."
Medea waved her signet ring-adorned hand before Claudio's face.
"Just as you said, Uncle—I can do anything with this seal."
"To try and take this precious, powerful authority for nothing..."
"How ridiculous must I have appeared all this time?"
She turned away coldly.
"Go back, Uncle."
"If they want to return to their positions through you, tell them this: I, Medea, will no longer indulge in cheap sympathy."
"Wh—Medea? You mean..."
The Regent had prepared several arguments to persuade Medea, but he had never anticipated this response.
He'd heard Medea had changed after her fall from the horse. Has she truly gone mad?
He asked, barely concealing his shock:
"Well... how much do you need?"
"Well. How can someone asking a favor put a price on such a secret request? I believe that's the job of the person seeking the favor."
As she spoke, Medea brushed her hand across the small chest sitting beside her table.
"Nowadays, I hear gold bars are stored in chests like this... It was a precise requirement to place the gold in chests."
The Duke stared, astonished.
"...So how many chests are we talking about...?"
Instead of answering directly, Medea picked up the pen from her table.
She wrote a number and slid it across the desk.
The Duke glanced at the figure.
He leapt to his feet.
"Thirty chests?!"
"Isn't that excessive...?!"
A foolish girl with a belly full of greed—!
But Medea's power was absolutely essential to stop this crisis.
The Duke forced an awkward smile, suppressing his rising fury.
"Hmm, I understand your point, but I'm not sure how much a person whose family assets have been confiscated can possibly have saved. Don't expect too much."
"Ahaha."
Medea's laugh was short and sharp.
If it weren't for the innocent smile that bloomed between her well-shaped lips, Claudio would have sworn his niece was mocking him.
"Uncle, all their assets belong to me."
"No—they belong to Valdina. They are this country's wealth."
"If my brother returns, Etienne will lose his head, let alone preserve his position."
"How much of a bargain is it that I'm willing to cover for him?"
She enunciated the final sentence slowly, word by word.
"...But thirty chests is too much. No matter how noble and wealthy the Minister may be—"
"Oh, Uncle. Must I present the evidence myself? I know exactly how much he stole."
"..."
The Regent, having given up on persuasion, tried at least to reduce the bribe amount.
Even that proved impossible.
It was as though the meek, gentle Princess had vanished entirely—replaced by a ruthless moneylender.
'This child wasn't like this before... Could it be because of Cuisine?'
She had to sell her jewelry because she had no money. I suppose it's understandable...
"Ah... I understand, Your Highness."
The Regent nodded stiffly, internally cursing the deceased Cuisine.
Medea smiled warmly, patting the Regent's arm with affectionate familiarity—as if asking when she had ever been cold.
"Uncle, please squeeze everything you can from Etienne. You're on my side, aren't you?"
In the end, Duke Claudio left without gaining a single concession.
He departed feeling as though
a kitten had sunk her claws into his throat.
Behind Closed Doors
The moment the door closed behind him, Medea's smile vanished like smoke.
"Thirty chests," she murmured to Neril.
"That should restore the Royal Treasury quite nicely."
Her fan snapped shut with crisp finality.
"And Etienne,"
she added softly,
"will still hang."
The Kitten Awakens ## No Longer Prey
A letter burns to ash in silence. A regent grasps desperately at straws. And a princess discovers the true weight of her seal.
[ To Be Continued ]
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