Adler's Last Breath (3)

Even though she could no longer see his body, Emily kept staring at the seat that Adler had died in. She had only recently learnt that he was the culprit behind her master's downfall, but the unfocused anger that she had built up targeted him. Before she knew it, he had become her most hated enemy. Previously, she had chosen not to draw blood, but the moment her vengeance could be limited to a single target, only death felt suitable for him. It seemed impossible for the two of them to live under the same sky, so when Shui proposed that they kill him, she agreed without hesitation. Surely, by putting an end to this villain, she could appease her master's soul in the afterlife. However, now that she thought about it, she really didn't know. Nikolai had never taught her the significance of taking a life, so she wondered what he would think about her revenge.

"Those stories about revenge being empty, I didn't think they would be so accurate."

"Do you regret it?"

"No. Even if this isn't what Master would want, this is the decision that I made. I'll bear the responsibility."

"..."

Shui had mixed feelings about the growth she showed at this moment, but he still patted her head. Emily looked up at him with surprise, replacing her solemn expression.

"We should go."

Even days after, when Adler was confirmed to be missing, no one found the empty tea shop suspicious, and just like Emily wanted, all memory of him faded away.

Elsewhere, the young duke's guardian was stomping his way to the Array Association Head's office. It would be easy for them to block him from stepping on the Array Association's grounds, but the Array Association Head had given permission to allow him in. The guardian was not simple enough to believe that he did this because he was afraid of the duke's influence, but even if the Array Association Head had resisted, this was his only choice. He hadn't recovered from the wounds that Astar had given him, but he wouldn't be able to face his Lord if he couldn't bring back his child.

When the young duke's guardian burst into the Array Association Head's office, he was still peacefully sorting through a tall pile of documents. This was a busy period for him since the main evaluation was still upcoming, but his workload was always like this so he had gotten used to it. He was aware of the guardian's presence from the moment he stepped onto the association's land, but he had nothing that he needed to prepare so he merely waited for him. With the man right in front of him, the Array Association Head finally lifted his head.

"How may I help you, Sir Ensen?"

"Please, stop the frivolities. Let him go."

"My apologies, Sir Ensen, but you'll have to be more clear than that."

Ensen silently attacked him with killing intent, but the Array Association Head was unflustered.

"Do you understand the consequences of your actions? If you don't release the young lord immediately, we will expose the failure of your association."

'The failure of the association', that was referring to the piece of blackmail that the duke had on the association. The story started a few years ago. The Array Association was commissioned by Duke Eclair to build a tier 4 energy gathering array. The array was built and paid for with an amount of high quality spirit gems that would make vagrants drool, but a problem happened a month ago. Until then it worked perfectly, but one day, the array exploded. The space where it had been was boiling hot, and the lines that comprised it were fractured as if it had been overloaded by the energy it concentrated.

There were no casualties, but that didn't change the fact that this unforeseen incident made the duke incur losses. And to recover from these losses, the duke decided to make the association take responsibility for their failure.

At first, the association didn't believe that one of their arrays could have malfunctioned, but the evidence was damning. The one who was in charge of constructing the array, was stripped of their position and banned from the association after they were forced to compensate the duke. However, it didn't end there. Although the tangible problems had been solved, the duke now had a tight grip on the association's weakness and used it to blackmail them more than once.

The Array Association Head had pondered on how to solve this situation, but he never had the courage to make a move. Part of the reason was that the duke would be a very difficult opponent, but it was also because the duke knew where his bottom line was, so none of his 'requests' were daring enough to force the Array Association Head's hand. Until now.

"Try it then. You surely know more of our hidden skeletons, but if this becomes a contest of who can bring out the most dirty laundry then, you're the ones who will crash first."

This wasn't the best idea that he came up with, but it was the one that he judged the duke would fear the most. It was near impossible to climb into power without some sort of dark history, especially if it was an organization since the stain of one member covered the entire group. Furthermore, it was difficult to cover up these inconvenient truths forever because the walls always had ears. Information was power, this was a concept that both of them knew.

If both sides began smearing each other with truths and lies, the duke would be in a more vulnerable position since he had more competitors ready to tear at him while he was down. Ensen also understood this, so he tried to change the angle of his argument.

"Grandmaster, are you sure you want to threaten my Lord with the life of his heir?" he asked with a progressively cold tone.

"Threaten? You seem to be mistaken here, Sir Ensen. I'm simply imprisoning a dangerous element in my city. If the duke wants to be entrusted with the opportunity of looking over it himself, then his 'sincerity' is all I ask for. Besides, let's not forget, if I really wanted to find out who was behind the attack on our new princess, none of those greedy cowards would be able to stop me. And if your side decides to slander us, then this will be the first piece of news I release. So, I want you to ask your master this. Which is more important, your son, or your wealth and reputation?"

From start to end, the Array Association Head showed not a single gap. It was as if he had predicted this entire conversation and had prepared for it in advance. There was not a opening for him to exploit, Ensen knew that. He wasn't much of a talker to begin with, so he didn't know what else he could say. Once more, he could only entrust this matter in the hands of the duke.