Chapter 48: The Butterfly Effect?

"That bastard’s going to be the death of me..."

The day after I saw Trish in the library, I overheard Father complaining in his study as I passed by. Naturally, I eavesdropped, finding a nearby painting to pretend to admire while sharpening my hearing enough to catch the conversation through the walls.

It turned out Father wasn’t alone. Trish was with him, and the sound of flipping pages accompanied her voice.

"It’ll be fine, Lord Brimstone. I have a plan. Please read clause 15 of the..."

She walked him through the contract between the Bank of Aurion and House Brimstone, then cross-referenced it with the one the bank had held over her own family.

From what I gathered, most of the bank’s contracts were riddled with clauses and loopholes worded to near perfection, every one of them tilted in the bank’s favour for any legal or financial dispute.

And now, after successfully testing those tactics on House Fillaunete, the Bank of Aurion was turning them against the Brimstones.

According to Trish, anyway.

But...

That didn’t make sense in the context of the novel. If those clauses had always existed, why hadn’t the Brimstones been targeted much sooner, or even at all after the original fall of House Fillaunete? That contract they were discussing predated my birth.

So the Bank of Aurion always had the ability to crush noble houses without issue? They just hadn’t used it?

Or did stopping the Fillaunetes’ collapse somehow give them enough motivation to turn on the Brimstones? It was impossible to know. The novel had been written from the protagonist’s perspective, so background information like this was something I had no access to.

Still, judging by Trish’s voice, she had it covered.

SCREECH!

"My lord."

I flinched, cutting off my enhanced hearing as a voice near me nearly destroyed my eardrums.

"M-My lord? Are you okay?"

"I-I’m fine. Continue..."

"I apologize for disturbing your appreciation of the artwork. But a message has arrived from Lady Rose."

A maid handed me a letter and departed. I quickly read the contents, and it wasn’t what I expected.

Apparently, House Rose was dealing with their own share of trouble from the Bank of Aurion. Anna’s letter made it clear she was supremely annoyed by it, frustrated that she was too busy helping her family to spend time with me.

Naturally, I sent a letter back, telling her what I’d overheard in my father’s study through a maid that passed by.

Now this was interesting...

"The Bank of Aurion is targeting almost everyone, huh...?"

Wait...

The fall of House Fillaunete, a relatively weak and inconsequential house. Trish’s downfall and eventual revenge. The collapse of the Bank of Aurion and her later plan to destroy the aristocracy itself.

"That’s way too obvious, isn’t it?"

I wasn’t sure if I was right, but I’d already formed a theory. The Bank of Aurion might have used House Fillaunete as a test, a trial run to see if their power was truly as absolute as they believed.

In the original timeline, House Fillaunete collapsed. Trish then used every remaining resource to take revenge, effectively distracting the bank from further expansion.

But in this timeline, Trish was preoccupied with being a maid. Her house never fell. The test was technically still complete, and there was no vengeful Trish to stop them from turning on the other noble houses.

So, in essence...

The reason all of this was happening now was because of the changes I’d made to Trish.

I’m starting to sound like one of those crazy conspiracy theorists...

But it was the closest theory I got.

✧ ✦ ✧

I made a last-minute trip to Aqua’s dormitory at the academy. For a duke’s daughter, I was surprised she’d chosen the dorms over her family’s estate in the capital.

Either she was the studious type, or she simply hated commuting by carriage every day. I couldn’t blame her if it was the second one, though I’d stopped minding the trip myself once I had two beautiful women walking home with me every evening.

KNOCK!

KNOCK!

"Lady Aqua, may I have a word with you?"

It was seven in the evening. No chance she’d be asleep already.

Silence.

I knocked again.

KNOCK!

KNOCK!

"Lady Aqua, it’s Reyn Brimstone."

A few seconds later, the door creaked open.

"Lord Brimstone?"

The smell of sweat and magic hit me before I saw her face. She peered through the narrow gap, skin glistening, clearly mid-workout.

So she trained at night. Made sense, different schedule than mine, but the same discipline. Sage rank for a reason, I see.

"Pardon the intrusion, but I have a quick question."

Her brow furrowed slightly, but she didn’t shut the door. "What is it?"

"Is your family, perhaps... being troubled by the Bank of Aurion?"

Her eyes widened. Not much, just a flicker, but it was enough to confirm my suspicion that the Bank was now going on the complete offensive.

"How do you know about that?"

"House Brimstone’s having the same problem."

Aqua’s expression shifted from surprise to something more calculating. She opened the door wider, leaning against the frame with her arms crossed, a posture that failed spectacularly at hiding how the thin training clothes clung to her damp skin.

"The Bank of Aurion approached House Historia two weeks ago. They offered to refinance several of our older debts, very generous terms on the surface."

She paused, her blue eyes narrowing.

"Then my father’s advisors found the clauses."

"Let me guess. Buried in the fine print. Worded to look harmless unless you cross-referenced them with other sections."

Aqua’s eyes snapped to mine with renewed interest.

"You’ve seen them."

"My father’s been going over them all day with Trish."

"Trish... Lady Fillaunete?" She tilted her head. "I heard she’d become your maid, but I assumed that was just a rumor."

"It’s true. And she’s the one who caught the clauses."

I saw no reason to lie. If anything, Trish’s involvement made the Brimstone position look stronger.

Aqua uncrossed her arms, stepping back from the doorway.

"Come in, then. If we’re going to discuss this, I’d rather not do it in the hallway where every noble with sharp ears can hear us."

I followed her inside. The room was exactly what I’d expected from a duke’s daughter living in academy dorms: too small for her status, but immaculately organized.

A training dummy stood in the corner, covered in a faint sheen of frost. A desk near the window held stacks of papers, a few of which had been hastily covered by a textbook.

She’d been reviewing contracts.

"I won’t waste any more of your time. So I’ll say it plainly, ally with House Brimstone, and we’ll ensure your house’s survival. No, more than that. Its rise, once this whole debacle is over."

Trish most likely had this entire situation handled anyway. My job now was to use her skill to gather more allies. And more importantly... more villainesses.

Aqua was just my first stop.