Novel Full Chapter 484: Betraying His Family
Discovering that the Aethel Archduchy was secretly stocking firearms, I told Iris and my sister that I would not be around. Since they did not know yet, I did not tell them that I was going to see Francis today to have a talk with him regarding the firearms as well as other matters.
“It’s nice to see you again, Your Highness Raphael.”
“Good day, Francis.”
Today, I was in the Aethel estate in the noble district of the Imperial Capital. I secretly snuck in, by the way. Francis was the only member of the archduchy here right now, so we chose to use the archduke’s office as our meeting place.
Once we had done the greetings and handshaking, Francis and I took our seats accordingly. We were not treating one another professionally, so he sat on the couch across mine instead of his father’s desk, which had thick piles of paper on it.
“I excuse myself for not getting in contact with you recently to keep you up to date, for I am quite busy.”
“It’s fine. I should be the one who is excusing here for suddenly calling you out.”
“So what can I do for you today?”
“Well, I did my own investigation recently, and I found something that you might know.”
“So what have you found out, Your Highness?”
“Wait a second.”
I paused our conversation, and then I opened my Inventory in the form of a foot-wide oval disk. I put my hand in it and pulled something out before placing the thing on the low table between us.
“Oh…”
Francis was surprised when I pulled out the karabiner. I guessed I was right; he knew a thing or two about it, but I doubted he would deny this.
“As you can see, this is the newly introduced firearm from Astley called a karabiner, but actually not, as this is not an authentic one. I have been wondering why there are karabiner imitations in the warehouse owned by your family?”
“I would immediately inform you about it when I got time. But it seems like you found it before I could tell you. So you are the one who infiltrated the warehouse last night, huh?” Continue your journey on
“It was not me, but rather my investigator.”
“Really? The security in that area is tight; your investigator must be good. Nevertheless, about the firearms, the organization had sent them here. And you are right that they are just imitations of the original.”
“As I suspected, the organization is really the one behind it. Wait, if the archduke is not here, does it mean that you are the one taking care of it now?”
“Unfortunately, yes. I need to get along with them in order to hide my hidden agenda.”
“I understand you.”
Francis was actually not on the side of his parents, who were cooperating with the organization. He was loyal to the empire, but it did mean that he needed to betray his family.
But since he could not afford to get discovered, he had been getting along with their plans, and he even approached me to cooperate with him. It was not like he was sabotaging their operations; he just provided the latest information I needed so I could do my part outside.
“So what are they planning to do with the guns?”
“There are no specific instructions yet. The order was to store them, nothing else.”
“The organization is rather strict with anything and does not seem to trust anyone, including your family.”
Even Melville, an upper echelon of the organization and one of the leader’s children, stated that she did not know every one of their plans and not everyone was allowed to get involved with others’s jobs. Everything was organized by their leader, and they had to follow his word in absolute.
He probably feared that someone betrayed him or someone pushed them to spill their plans. That actually came true as I manipulated Melville to tell me everything she knew. If he could not trust even his children, then he had no reason to spill too much to a family on another continent.
“What are your assumptions about it, Francis?”
“I am not sure if I was right, but I have a feeling that they had plans for the upcoming harvest festival.”
“Oh, right. The harvest festival is coming in a few months. If someone wanted to wreck havoc, that time would be the best since not only the Imperial Capital, but other cities would be holding large events to gather people.”
“Yeah. That is one of the main things I have been working on right now. For that reason, I rarely see and spend time with His Imperial Highness and the others.”
“I see. By the way, what is the latest update in regard to Miss Edith?”
“Well, actually, our family has offered her to come to our family, but she has yet to provide her response. If she accepted it, she would be immediately used as a bargaining chip by marrying her off to His Imperial Highness Edward.”
“Hmm. It seems like she indeed loves Prince Edward, so she would probably accept it if she wanted to be with him.”
“She is quite gullible, and I would not be surprised if I heard her she is getting married with His Imperial Highness. In addition, her family is still in their hands and is out of options.”
“Is that so?”
“Anyway, this Azrael guy… Are you the one who sent him to get rid of that upper echelon?”
“I am. What about it?” freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
“I have met him in person, and I cannot help myself but become bothered by how powerful and mysterious he is. Where on earth did you get this guy?”
“Just somewhere. I heard that he had become acquainted with Prince Edward.”
“Well, the initial intentions of His Imperial Highness for finding Sir Azrael were to thank him personally as well as convincing him to become his knight. However, Sir Azrael remained loyal to you, so they became friends afterwards. But His Imperial Highness is not giving up yet.”
“Yeah, I understand his desperation. There is no way he could let someone as powerful as him slip from his hands.”
Francis and I talked for a little bit before we ended our conversation.