Chapter 49 : Not Yet

Barthe rushed to Leopold, who had been stripped and bound, and quickly removed his chains, handing him something to wipe his body with and a change of clothes.

“Sorry for the delay. It took me longer than expected to find the fake ledger.”

Barthe apologized, and Leopold shook his head.

“I’m sorry. I screwed up and it caused you a lot of trouble.”

“I’m glad they reduced the number of guards. Well, it would have been bad to treat the Lord’s son as a decoy.”

Chuckling at his words, Leopold prepared himself quickly.

In the meantime, he heard a report from Barthe. It seems that he has already taken control of the whole area.

Apparently, Barthe and others, who were dispatched from the side of the Marquise of Reinalpha, and the shadow guards from the side of the Marquise of Strydom, collaborated together.

A forged secret account book belonging to the Marquise of Reinalpha, which they have been wanting to obtain for a long time but have been unable to.

It took more time than expected to find it, as it was well hidden, but it was a good thing that it was midnight and most of the servants were resting, and that Zacharias and his men were in the basement for Leopold’s interrogation.

Still, they said it took them quite a while to find the hidden safe embedded in the wall and open the door.

Around the time they obtained the forged account book, the private army of the Reinalpha family, which had been informed of the situation, arrived. They thus suppressed the entirety of Alejandro’s detached house. At the same time, they rescued Leopold.

Rembrandt, from the Marquess of Strydom, first went to the Reinalpha family after receiving the news from Unukan, aka Theseus. There, he issued instructions together with Thomas, the head of the Marquise of Reinalpha, who had also received the report.

Rembrandt, who appeared leisurely when the private soldiers he had sent out had seized the servants in the detached house, took one look at Leopold, who was fully wounded.

“They’ve been very rough with you.”

The first thing he said was that.

“Ah, it was pretty terrible.”

“You look surprisingly good for a guy who says that.”

He was bruised and swollen from whip marks and was battered all over, but Rembrandt still laughed at his good looks. But the look on his face told him that it was neither sarcastic nor anything else.

In fact, it was probably a compliment.

Very Rembrandt-like,?Leopold thought.

At that moment, Barthe and two other shadow guards of the Marquise of Reinalpha stood beside him.

“Leopold-sama.”

In the shadow guard’s hand is the forge account book that Alejandro had ordered to be made.

They first give it to Leopold, the son of the Lord. Then Leopold gave it directly to Rembrandt.

That was the agreement made between Leopold and Rembrandt.

“Mm, sure.”

Checking the contents, Rembrandt nodded in satisfaction.

“The goods that were supposed to have gone down with the ship, the goods that were supposed to have been stolen by the bandits, the exact items and names of those items are somehow listed in this forged account book prepared by the people of the Reyes Chamber of Commerce. It’s as if they have already confessed that they orchestrated the whole thing.”

It is obvious that he would win if he took the case to court, but it would be too much trouble to do so, and Rembrandt’s argument is that if he could get the same thing without spending money or time, he would do it with the least amount of effort.

With this evidence, he intends to go to Mackay, the head of the Reyes Chamber of Commerce, to negotiate after this.

However, even Leopold was aware that this was a threat in the name of negotiation.

Either way, this is itーーー

“..I guess that settles it.”

Leopold said with a sunny expression.

Finally, they could cut down Alejandro’s power. He could no longer touch them, it was a remark that he had thought so.

The night sky has already begun to turn light.

Leopold was especially exhausted from lack of sleep, fatigue, and injuries, as were the others. He wanted to return to the house and rest as soon as possible.

Nevertheless..

“No, not yet.”

“..eh?”

Rembrandt returned to Leopold, who had lost his mind, with a straight face.

“Take a good look. You don’t see the important guy, do you?”

Leopold is puzzled by what he meant, but Rembrandt points to the servants whom he had just detained with his right hand.

He looked at the faces of each of the slaves and the servants in the backroom he was using for work, and then..

Leopold also noticed.

“He, Alejandro, is gone..?”

“I’m telling you, he’s not even at the villa. He hasn’t been back here since yesterday.”

“What?”

Rembrandt glanced sideways at Leopold, whose eyes widened, and let out an obvious, exaggerated sigh.

“..I thought you would attach it to the stone.”

“What do you mean?”

“I went out of my way to tell you how you got in here. If that had been the case, there would have been a person who should be protected first.”

“..eh?”

Leopold blinked his eyes a few times, not immediately grasping the meaning of his words when it was pointed out to him with dismay.

Leopold ruminated on the point he had just received.

How we came to sneak in here, that is.

Because I was sabotaged by that man who is obsessed with Natalia in order to get rid of his conspicuous self.

I was her lover, and I was in the way..

There would have been a person who should be protected firstーーー

“ーーー..!”

“..yes. Your girlfriend, that girl.”

Rembrandt gave a quiet look at Leopold, who turned pale in an instant.

“I heard Alejandro took her last night.”