"Every action begets repercussions—and some are more bitter than blood."
Thank you, Uncle Raju."
Samon maintained a cordial relationship with Count Raju, who also served as his sister's godfather.
"But since I've already aligned myself with Grand Duke Castullo, is there truly a need to pursue the Fourth Princess as well? If His Highness discovers this, he'll certainly be displeased."
"If you become the Fourth Princess's paramour, your fellow lords will naturally take notice. Wouldn't that prove far more advantageous to His Highness the Grand Duke?"
Samon nodded with satisfaction.
Even if he were treated as little more than a stud, securing the Fourth Princess's favor—and potentially the First Prince's as well—would be worth the indignity.
"How much effort you've exerted in this distant foreign land. Now that circumstances have turned against you, everyone scrambles to avoid blame."
Samon approached the princess and offered solicitous comfort.
"It must be difficult when no one around you understands your heart."
But the princess didn't spare him even a glance—just as when they'd first met.
Rather, she waved her hand dismissively, as though shooing away an irritating insect.
"I know you harbor feelings for my cousin, but the King is royalty and would never bow before Katzen."
Despite the princess's persistent indifference, Samon's voice remained honeyed.
"Isn't it frustrating to merely admire a glass flower that will never shatter? Wouldn't it be far more satisfying to possess a real bloom you can touch whenever you desire?"
As though he'd forgotten the humiliating rejection he'd previously endured, he appeared as polished and handsome as the day they'd first met.
The princess's eyes flickered toward Samon.
Since arriving in Valdina, nothing had proceeded according to her wishes—but now, seeing a handsome man lingering before her, her pulse quickened.
She opened bleary eyes. The night was deep, and Samon's cologne pervaded the air.
Intoxicated, even features that bore no resemblance to Peleus began to seem vaguely similar.
"So you're the flower I can pluck?"
As the Fourth Princess sneered, Samon smiled seductively.
"If Your Highness wishes it."
The princess's irritation surged to her very fingertips. The alcohol convinced her it would be acceptable.
'Medea... that wretched Valdinian princess.'
Whenever she thought of that woman's face, rage consumed her. It intensified further when she remembered the king was her brother.
If neither the king nor his sister will kneel, what harm could come from taking a substitute?
"Don't get too cocky."
Contradicting her own words, she seized Samon by the collar and pulled him toward her.
*Click.*
The lights extinguished.
As the night deepened, darkness shrouded their desires.
As Jared departed like a raging typhoon, Jason massaged his temples, recalling their final conversation.
"Your Highness, please lodge a formal protest with Valdina on my behalf. The princess's champion inflicted a crippling injury upon me—shouldn't she bear responsibility?"
"Calm yourself, General. I've summoned my finest physician. He'll restore your injuries in no time—"
Jason had attempted consolation.
But to Jared, who'd lost all rationality, it seemed nothing more than evasive posturing.
"Your Highness appears intent on maintaining favor with both myself and Valdina. But the world doesn't work so conveniently."
"I believe you're overly agitated. Let us speak again once treatment is complete and your condition has stabilized. I will certainly find a solution to satisfy you—"
Jason's cautious diplomacy had created an irreparable emotional chasm between them.
"Enough. I've found the mountain lion. I have no interest in meddling with scheming foxes who dig holes everywhere."
"General! General!"
Though Jared could no longer wield his dominant hand, he remained a ten-star general bearing the Emperor's favor.
While incapable of direct combat, his status and influence were far too valuable to squander.
"Damn it! Why did circumstances turn out this way?!"
His ordinarily gentle, benevolent features twisted into something demonic.
*Bang!*
Unable to contain his fury, he swept the table aside.
Among the scattered objects lay a letter with one crumpled corner.
"...His Majesty commands that the delegation be entrusted to Her Highness Princess Angelique, and that Grand Duke Castullo return to the Empire immediately."
It was only natural for Perdiccas II to harbor suspicions.
At that banquet, his daughter—the Fourth Princess—had lost both reputation and material advantage. Yet Jason had lost nothing. On the contrary, he'd gained renown for being just and trustworthy.
Moreover, wasn't it Jason, serving as referee, who had formally validated the Fourth Princess's defeat?
If one stripped away all context and examined only the results, that was precisely what had transpired.
"Shit!"
Jason felt as though he were losing his mind. Even if he explained every detail, the Emperor wouldn't cease his suspicions.
Jason bit his lip savagely.
The one who initiated the wager was the Fourth Princess. The one who lost the duel was Jared.
Yet in reality, Jason had suffered the greatest damage.
Having alienated Jared, he was now regarded as a traitor by the Katzen delegation—and had even drawn the Emperor's wary scrutiny.
"If the princess had lost, none of these problems would have occurred..."
Resentment toward Medea—the catalyst for everything—blossomed within him.
Yet unbidden, images surfaced: silver hair fluttering. Blood trickling down pale arms. Green eyes as vulnerable as a wounded deer's.
Jason bit his lip harder.
Inexplicably, a corner of his heart ached.
'Ha. Am I truly in a position to feel sympathy for her right now?'
Jason issued orders to his attendants while inwardly scoffing at his own sentimentality.
"Send medicinal supplies to the princess's palace."
Having lost standing within the Katzen delegation, he needed to consolidate his position with someone he could rely upon in Valdina.
"What will you do regarding His Majesty's summons?"
"I'll postpone using illness as pretext. There's still time before the official imperial edict arrives."
He hadn't journeyed all the way to Valdina only to return empty-handed.
Jason's eyes gleamed with renewed determination.
The Katzen delegation's quarters—Kensington's chambers.
Jason was not the only recipient of unilateral imperial edicts.
"His Majesty cannot do this to me!"
Kensington slammed the table violently.
Umberto retrieved the scroll bearing the imperial decree that Kensington had hurled away and unfurled it. He gasped in astonishment.
"Disband the Red Fox Corps and relinquish control to the imperial household? What is the meaning of this?"
Kensington could scarcely believe the words before his eyes.
"Isn't His Majesty going too far? This is the intelligence network I devoted my entire life to creating. Without us, His Majesty would never have ascended the throne safely. The empire would never have prospered to become the continent's hegemon."
"..."
"Yet rather than reward me, he seeks to confiscate my achievements through such insult."
Umberto couldn't voice it aloud, but he thought the Emperor resembled a common thief.
"You don't intend to simply accept this, do you? We should lodge a protest with His Majesty."
"Don't you know that disobedience leads only to death?"
Kensington sighed heavily.
After ascending the throne, his lord Perdiccas II had grown even more obsessively possessive of his crown.
While he welcomed intelligence from across the continent through Kensington's Red Fox network, he simultaneously feared Kensington might betray him and disseminate information about Katzen.
Just as he'd celebrated and supported his son the First Prince's great accomplishments—yet always remained suspicious and wary of him.
Now that the First Prince had perished, it seemed Kensington's turn had arrived.
"He'll tighten the leash using the Red Foxes themselves."
'Whether I retain it or relinquish it, danger awaits. The leash metaphor is quite fitting.'
Kensington laughed bitterly.
Didn't the Princess of Valdina's warning seem to have foreseen this precise moment?
Early morning—the Fourth Princess's bedchamber.
Warm light spilled across the naked forms of a man and woman entangled in sheets.
However, vivid red marks marred the man's body—flushed cheeks, pinch marks scattered across his torso.
"If you possessed any sense, you would have known to leave. What have you been doing all this time?"
Samon swallowed his rising fury at the Fourth Princess's persistently cold tone.
He had succeeded in seducing the Fourth Princess the previous night—but what transpired afterward had exceeded his darkest imaginings.
'I'd heard she possessed a wild, cruel temperament...'
He hadn't anticipated it would extend to the bedchamber itself.
Last night, she'd tormented Samon relentlessly—pulling his hair, mocking him without allowing him to speak.
She'd even called him"Peleus" and struck him until he answered to that name.
Shame and rage toward the Fourth Princess filled him—for treating him, the young Duke of Claudio, as nothing more than a worthless substitute.
Yet he gazed at the princess like an adoring lover, revealing not even a hint of his burning anger.
"Your Highness, did you rest comfortably? Did I do anything to displease your precious person?"
"Hmph. I'm already in a foul mood having to see Valdinian faces first thing this morning."
The Fourth Princess dismissed him as though he were beneath contempt.
At that moment, distant cheering reached their ears.
"Long live! Long live Princess Medea!"
A maid burst in, breathless.
"What? What on earth is happening now?"
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