As Planned

Episode 45

Gustav Heizen gave a hollow laugh in his heart.

‘So, I was playing the fool all along. Everything was in the Minister’s palm.’

He regarded the young man standing beside the Minister with an impassive face.

This young man, called Cedric by the Minister, had been his secretary and bodyguard for over three years.

Chairman Heizen himself had even scouted him.

Who could he blame but himself?

‘But more striking than that is the fact that the Minister revealed this to me.’

Recently, information that should have been confined to the highest echelons of the Merchant Guild had been leaking.

They were meticulously investigating to unmask the leaker, so even with all their precautions, they would have been caught soon enough.

Therefore, the Minister had openly laid down the cards he knew would be read eventually.

To deliver a shock while communicating that he knew all the secrets Chairman Heizen was hiding and to sow seeds of doubt within the Merchant Guild.

To put it simply, the Minister was saying:

‘Is this fellow the only one I’ve planted on your side?’

Chairman Heizen couldn’t deny that he had been truly outmaneuvered.

The Chairman’s own hand-picked secretary was the Minister’s man, of all people.

Now, no one could be free from suspicion.

Lamenting how much harder it would be to find the insider, Chairman Heizen resolved to bargain.

Everything had been exposed anyway.

Minimizing the damage was the only path left for the Merchant Guild.

“Yes, now that things have come to this, I will be frank. It is true that the non-mainstream faction, through the Fighters, spearheaded contact with the Punishing Church, but there were also those within the mainstream who sympathized with them.”

Even so, Chairman Heizen emphasized, it was never the collective will of the Merchant Guild to cooperate with the Punishing Church to destabilize the Empire.

“We are merchants. Trade cannot exist if there is no one to sell to.”

To Chairman Heizen’s explanation that there was nothing to gain from shaking the Empire, the Minister offered a faint smile.

An alarm bell went off in Chairman Heizen’s mind.

It was a danger sign.

As if to prove it, the Minister spoke.

“For merchants, wouldn’t chaos be an opportunity?”

“…In the short term, you may be right, but not in the long term. If the Empire, this vast marketplace, were to disappear, the Merchant Guild itself could be shaken.”

While continuously asserting that they were not hostile to the Empire in any way, Chairman Heizen produced a card he had brought in preparation for this situation to defuse the crisis.

“To prove that the Merchant Guild will never oppose the Empire, I offer two proposals.”

The Minister quietly stroked the ring on his right hand.

Interpreting the action as a go-ahead, Chairman Heizen retrieved what he had brought as a precaution from his pocket.

“These are the names of the union council executives and merchants implicated in this incident. Use them as you see fit.”

Use them as you see fit.

That meant the Merchant Guild wouldn’t intervene even if every name on that paper was killed.

But this was, of course, the bare minimum.

Insufficient as a card to quell the situation.

So, Chairman Heizen produced another offer.

“I hear the Empire intends to bring the illegal gambling at the Fighters into the light, and manage it directly. And that a new arena is being built for that very purpose.”

The minister’s hand, stroking his ring, stilled.

Chairman Heizen flinched at the minister’s gaze, but pressed on.

“The Merchant Guild will cover the entire cost of building the arena. In return, we’d like to receive a modest commission each time a match is held…”

As if anticipating this very exchange, the minister immediately stated the commission percentage.

Chairman Heizen, once again amazed by the minister’s perfect guess of the lowest commission he’d considered, conveyed his agreement.

He’d have liked to negotiate for a bit more, but that would only invite further extraction, so refraining from greed was the right approach here.

“Then, I shall consider this matter concluded.”

Toward Chairman Heizen, relieved to have barely survived, the minister rose and extended his hand.

The old chairman let out a hearty chuckle, stood up, and clasped the hand.

—

Diana Barmut, mistress of the Barmut Duchy, was presently experiencing a difficulty.

“So, Vellaria will be hard to come by for a while, is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes… I am truly sorry, Madame. We are searching every possible avenue for a new supply line, but…”

Even as she offered a reassuring smile to the tearoom owner, who bowed deeply, looking genuinely apologetic, the Duchess was lost in thought.

Vellaria, a tea leaf notable for its delicate sweetness, was a favorite of everyone in her family.

Particularly her eldest son, who was the most particular of the family and with a sweet tooth, cherished these leaves, and so she always kept a supply in the house, ready for his visits home.

‘There’s nothing I can do if it’s unavailable, but…’

Just as the Duchess, resigning herself to the situation, was about to ask the tearoom owner if there were any suitable substitutes, someone cautiously addressed her.

“Excuse me, I couldn’t help but overhear, but are you perhaps looking for Vellaria leaves?”

Turning her head toward the voice without thinking, the Duchess let out a small “Oh my,” involuntarily.

For there stood a young lady of extraordinary beauty and grace.

Immediately realizing she had been impolite, the Duchess apologized and answered her question.

“Yes, I’m looking for Bellaria leaves. By chance, do you know of any other vendors?”

“No, nothing like that, but I enjoy those leaves so much that I happen to have quite a bit at home. If madam wouldn’t mind, I’d be happy to share.”

The Duchess gazed at her for a moment.

Observation suggested that she wasn’t the sort to flatter, at least, not knowing she was speaking to a Duchess.

“If mademoiselle wouldn’t mind, could I perhaps?”

“Of course. You could come back to my home with me… Ah, come to think of it, I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Céline Blasia.”

Watching Céline introduce herself with due decorum, the Duchess smiled more approvingly and gave her own name.

“Diana Barmut.”

“Madame Barmut… Barmut?”

Céline tilted her head, then, seeming to realize something, she jumped back in surprise and quickly bowed low.

“Th-the Minister’s mother?!”

“Hm? Do you know my son?”

“Ah, I, I’m a, a, a secretary…!”

This time, it was the Duchess’s turn to be surprised.

“A secretary? You work with Ervin?”

“A-ah, yes. I’m so sorry…”

Upon hearing that, the Duchess’s face lit up with immediate interest, and she asked Céline,

“Mademoiselle Blasia, you said? I have so many things I’d like to ask you. Do you have time right now?”

Still bowing low, Céline smiled secretly at the Duchess’s question.

‘Just as planned.’

—

Céline had been struck with immense shock upon belatedly learning that the Minister had taken Francesca Chirner as his partner to the Marquis Munteanu’s heir’s wedding.

‘Commander Chirner met the Minister’s parents before me!?’

Dangerous.

This was a very dangerous situation.

She was, after all, a woman who had even been a potential match for the Minister.

Even if the matchmaking had fallen through, if she’d made a new impression, the topic could easily be brought up again.

‘Ugh! I can’t just be satisfied with packing him a lunch!’

Feeling an immense anxiety, Céline coldly formulated a plan.

She couldn’t just barge into the Duke’s estate, so she needed a justification to encounter them naturally.

Luckily, Celine worked in the Intelligence Bureau.

What’s more, she was a secretary to the Minister.

A position that allowed her to investigate practically anyone within the Empire with ease, should she choose to.

‘Ahem, I see. The Minister’s mother enjoys tea, does she? Especially purchasing Bellaria tea leaves from her regular tea shop…’

As luck would have it, there were recent issues plaguing the distribution of tea leaves.

If Celine’s predictions held true, it would become difficult to find Bellaria tea leaves in the capital within days.

‘First, I should procure some beforehand, if possible.’

Not enough to stockpile, of course.

Only enough of her preferred tea to feel like she simply stocked up a bit more than usual.

Carefully controlling the quantity to avoid suspicion, Celine completed her preliminary preparations.

‘Next, I need to identify the Duchess’s shop visit times and routes, and wait in anticipation.’

This was the Imperial Intelligence Bureau, after all; they knew what someone ate the previous day better than the person themselves.

Celine retrieved and reviewed all the data—the most recent visit date and time, as well as past records—and narrowed it down to a few candidate dates and times when the Duchess was most likely to revisit the tea shop.

All that remained was to loiter near the tea shop around the dates and times she had flagged as possible.

Before long, her efforts bore fruit.

Celine approached the Duchess, who was looking rather perplexed about the tea leaves being out of stock, and spoke.

“Excuse me, please.”