Half-step Purgatory

Durin stroked the black cat on the armrest of his chair, sitting on the black leather sofa. Through the glasses perched on his nose, his gaze passed over the long table in front of him and settled on the man kneeling on the carpet:
"I understand, you've made money in Naples, your business has been very successful, and you've led a happy life. You've had those secret police, friends in both the law and the underground, and even the Royal Family speaking on your behalf."
"You don't need a friend like me, I know that. You're afraid of owing me a favor, and you don't want to get involved in troubles."
"But now you come to me and say, 'I beg you, Mr. Durin of the Corleon family, please help me seek justice, so that my life and my family will not suffer and sink into despair.'
Yet, in your eyes, I was nothing more than a second-rate artist involved in movies and music. Even at the brink of death, you still show me such disrespect, not even willing to call me by my title... Keeper of Secrets."

Durin's Diary

Joseph had come to the North as an exchange student from the Austria-Swiss Union's Military Academy. Publicly, he was an exchange student under the agreement signed between Duke Alessandro and Durin, even possessing a diplomatic identity.


Privately, he had joined the Northern Doctrine, openly admitted through official channels. Regardless of the department, even if they knew there was something problematic about him, they couldn't touch him without sufficient evidence.


Moreover, Durin had granted him the rank of lieutenant, so even if he truly committed an offense, as long as it wasn't a major crime, the Northern Kingdom could only expel him.


Thus, hardly anyone bothered monitoring a troublemaker, let alone such a trivial matter as the young man sending his laundry to the launderette. No one would expect that those receiving him would be the newly appointed Secretary and Political Commissar of the Northern Doctrine in Copenhagen.


Chapter 208: I Handle Things