A contract (4)

Two silhouettes could be seen sitting quietly across each other in an elegant office.

Moonlight poured in from the windows, making it seem like the exquisite wooden table between them was shining. Yellow light from the table lamp illuminated the previously dark room. It was not bright enough to light up the big office, but enough for the two to bath in its warm radiance.

With that, the two's features were exposed. They looked familiar, and there was an indescribable aura around them.

Both had pitch-black hair and blue eyes as deep as the sea. They sat quietly across from each other. While the handsome middle-aged man had his eyebrows frowned in concentration, the younger man leaned lightly on the back of his chair comfortably with a small smile on his face.

Thud.

"Checkmate."

A small thud resounded within the room, followed by the young man's voice.

"You're good. I'm relieved that Winford's future is in your hands." The middle-aged man replied after a brief silence.

"I'm flattered, Father. I'm sure you went easy on me."

At first glance, they looked like they were enjoying some quality father-son bonding time. However, upon closer look, the two parties were both having their own complicated thoughts.

Duke Charles' eyes landed on his son's knight, the piece that had checkmated him and ended the match, quietly with his arms folded. He didn't say anything, nor did Alfred rush him.

After a while, the duke raised his gaze and looked at his son.

"So, what do you want to talk about? I'm sure you didn't call me here just to play chess."

[…and humiliate me.] was the extended part that he didn't say.

Duke Charles was a man of pride to the point of excessive. There were two things that he deemed most important: his pride and his reputation.

He hated losing face. In fact, he hated losing in general. He had always been full of jealousy towards his talented son, who he could not avoid even if he wanted to.

That was why the duke was dissatisfied with Alfred's words a while ago. His own son went against him, and that affected his pride as a powerful Father and Duke.

Alfred, on the other hand, did not care about such things.

"Yes, I supposed we should get to the main point.", he said, "I want to take Adelaide to school along with me."

"…"

Thud.

"..."

"What was that?"

Before Duke Charles could reply, a small thud echoed within the room and alarmed both father and son. Their sharp eyes stared at the direction of the noise in unison.

Alfred excused his father and walked towards the source of said noise. His footsteps were light like that of a cat's.

As a half-elf, enhanced vision was also his specialty. With small hovering flames flying around him like a barrier of dedicated protectors, he stopped in front of a small table and heaved out a small sigh of relief.

A small nutcracker soldier used to stand on this wooden table, but it fell down due to the model's unbalanced legs. Alfred checked his surroundings again just to be sure, even went as far as open the wardrobe and nearby glass bookshelves, but he found nothing.

As someone exceptional in both academics and sword arts, it was not easy to hide one's presence from Alfred.

"What was that?" asked the duke when his son returned.

"Nothing. Mother's nutcracker fell again."

"I told her that that thing was a scam, but she didn't listen to me." Duke Charles smiled unconsciously; his expression softened a little.

Alfred looked down to hide the uncontrollable chilly look in his eyes. The 'mother' here wasn't referred to the siblings' real mother, but Duchess Elicia. If it were their mother's, there was no way the duke would have put it in his personal office.

He was a person full of prejudices. The marriage was arranged, and he did not like it, therefore the hatred was transferred to the innocent elf who did nothing wrong.

"As I said, please let me take Adelaide along to school with me, Father."

"Don't be ridiculous. You are not a kid anymore."

Duke Charles' expression darkened at his son's outrageous words. Set aside the fact that Western Imperial Academy was not a kindergarten for six-year-olds, what Alfred said was nothing different from doubting his abilities.

The duke felt like his son was mocking him even though Alfred was asking for his permission in a sincere tone.

In truth, Alfred already knew himself that bringing his sister to the academy was impossible. Not only was it against the rules, but it would also bring bad publicity to the duchy even if they succeeded in forcing their way through, as the two academies hosted both noble and rich families' heirs.

He just wanted to say something far-fetched to start the negotiation.

"You know why I want to push this through, Father. You know it very well."

"Why are you being irrational whenever Adelaide was involved? That girl will be the death of you."

"That girl that you are so casually talking about is your very own daughter, Your Grace."

"Do you think I can't protect her within my own territory? It happened once, do you think I would not enhance her security and let it happen again?"

"…"

"Are you doubting your father's abilities? Are you doubting my dignity as a Duke?"

"You know I don't, Your Grace."

"Then why are you….ah."

The duke froze as he realized something. He no longer looked agitated. "This is not what you want. You want something else."

"You are threatening me, your very own father."

"I wouldn't dare, Your Grace."

Alfred smiled slightly at his father's remarks. It was the truth. He wouldn't dare do anything to the Duke of Winford, the leader of the West. Not when he was thirteen and a dependent minor, while his father held absolute power.

Duke Charles thought of his eldest's composed manner as an eyesore. His relaxed demeanor, his unreadable gaze, his usual smile - they were all annoying.

As if to strengthen his own confidence, Duke Charles let out a short laugh.

"Hah. Do you think you have the rights to threaten me into making a deal? You have nothing in your hands, Alfred. Don't overestimate that minor, insignificant force of yours."

It was also the truth. Unlike Duke Charles who was in possession of Winford's massive accumulated resources, Alfred's loyalists were similar to toddlers still learning how to walk.

Nevertheless, despite the hard truth, Alfred's expression did not waver.

"You see, Father." He started. "I was lucky these days, and stumbled across something unexpected."

He did not waver because he had something to trade.

"I heard our trade routes are transporting Esine leaves these days? I was genuinely surprised. Since when did our family get the permission, Father?"

Crash.

The whiskey glass in Duke Charles' hand shattered. Wine spilled from his hand to the floor, but he didn't care.

"What did you just say?" the duke's face darkened once again; there was not only utter disbelief, but also fury.

"I thought Esine leaves are strictly prohibited? Or did His Majesty the Emperor change the law?" Alfred calmly replied, "Seems like I did not pay enough attention to politics, so please enlighten this ignorant son, Father."

One must know that Esine leaves were exclusively managed by the royal family for numerous reasons.

Esine was a strange type of plant that could only grow using Yodam Kingdom's special soil. The plants' leaves were an indispensable ingredient for producing different types of medicine, including anesthesia and painkillers. It could even temporarily stop excessive bleeding from serious injuries while waiting for healers and doctors to arrive.

The Yodam Kingdom itself also survived from the First Emperor's conquest due to this type of leave. As of now, Yodam was the only place that could export such precious medical ingredients. It was a small nation with weak military power, therefore providing Esine was the only way that Yodam managed to remain independent all these years.

However, as nature had always been fair, Esine leaves came with a critical weakness – they were highly addictive. If a person inhaled pure Esine powder just once, they would be on a road of no return.

Such a thing could be taken advantage of easily by people with malicious intent.

Therefore, professional processing and managing must be put in place. All nations that imported Esine, including Yodam itself, had signed a contract. The content was simple – the royal family must manage the leaves directly. Any other noble family was prohibited from directly possessing pure Esine leaves.

Of course, the Empire thought of conquering this place for good several times. No one would hate being the monopoly. However, they decided not to, since all the other nations also depended on Esine leaves for their own medical system. Declaring war may upset them and they could even unite to fight.

No matter how powerful a country is, arrogance should always be out of the picture. A world war where one nation fights the entire world isn't desirable.

"What did you invest in with only three years?" the duke asked with a firm expression.

Duke Charles knew his son had been building his own authority, but he did not expect Alfred to be able to get his hands on such information under his father's eyes. He was ten when he started - a mere kid! He was supposed to fool around clumsily.

"Intelligence, Father"

"I see, that's why." The duke let out a self-deprecating laugh. If Alfred knew about this, that meant he was also in possession of evidence.

Duke Charles was anything but proud at that moment. In fact, he felt threatened.

Alfred did not tell Duke Charles the identities of his people, but it was common sense that secrecy was only on the premise that the duke would not exert everything on his hands to figure out.

He never tried to pry into such matters, but even if he wanted to, he was sure it would not be easy now.