Chapter240

His mother's intimidating influence from the deal she made with the Sargassum Emperor had mostly faded after eight years.

So, Leif gradually became a thorn in their side once again.

Especially because this "thorn" was also a huge piece of fat meat — the massive commercial interests of Zhaiyun Pavilion had been managed by Leif all these years, and certain people in Sargassum had long been jealous to the point their eyes turned red.

Elara calmly followed up on Mr. Yu's words, "So this time, sending Leif as a gift to the Princess of Salvia Kingdom was something the Sargassum royal family, even the emperor himself, helped push forward."

"Yes," Mr. Yu's sneer deepened, "the fact that Leif is the master of Zhaiyun Pavilion is only known to the Sargassum Emperor and a few trusted royal princes."

"They covet Leif's Zhaiyun Pavilion, fear its power, and are even more ashamed to admit that it was founded by a man from the Carnation Kingdom — a country ruled by women — who was born as a slave. So Leif's identity as the pavilion master has always been kept secret from the public."

But now, with that so-called Leif submitting a seemingly reasonable proposal, and the Carnation Kingdom staying completely silent, the Sargassum royals couldn't hold back anymore.

They wanted to take this opportunity to throw Leif into the hands of that cruel old woman and then seize Zhaiyun Pavilion from him with justification.

It truly was the kind of thing that made one feel sick just hearing about it.

Human greed and cruelty never had limits.

Elara told Uno to bring two plates of tasty snacks they bought on the road. After eating two pieces, she asked,

"What's the deal with that Leif?"

Mr. Yu also took a piece from the tray Uno placed down and slowly savored it. "This Leif has an even more 'legendary' background."

He laughed softly as he ate, "Leif's original name is Leif Chi. He was originally a merchant, and only entered Sargassum's bureaucracy two years ago by buying a government position. In the following two years, he continued using heavy bribes and quickly climbed to a high position in Sargassum's court."

"I'm seventy percent sure he's not a native of Sargassum, but actually from the Narcissus Kingdom — the third-class northern nation Edelweiss depended on after fleeing in defeat."

Elara paused. So this really involved Edelweiss, which she and Mr. Yu had previously divided, and Edelweiss's dependency, Narcissus Kingdom, was involved too?

Elara gently wiped the corner of her lips. "What's your reasoning for suspecting Leif? And are Salvia and Narcissus allies?"

Even though traces of these two third-class nations appeared in the situation, it couldn't have been just Edelweiss that stirred up both Narcissus and united with Salvia, right?

A crumbling Edelweiss couldn't possibly have the strength to unite two third-class nations and act against Sargassum.

Mr. Yu looked at her with a smile appearing again in his eyes. "Elara, you're sharp as ever. Salvia and Narcissus are indeed connected, and both are tied to Leif. So I'll start with why I suspect Leif."

"For someone to afford such massive bribes, he couldn't have been a regular rich businessman. Only an immensely wealthy, powerful merchant clan investing everything could make that possible."

"But I investigated all the major merchant families in Sargassum with such wealth, and none of them had the surname Leif."

"The businesses under Leif's name weren't originally his. They all suddenly transferred to his name after he arrived in Sargassum two years ago."

"I had people investigate the assets that were transferred to him in detail, digging up everything about their origins. Turned out sixty percent came from merchants of Narcissus Kingdom, and forty percent from merchants of Salvia Kingdom."

Elara's brows twitched slightly. "...Looks like those two countries have been preparing for a long time."

She thought of the many foreign shops she'd seen in Sargassum's capital. Those shops might be there to make money, but they could also be planted to serve their home countries.

Like spies in disguise — normally acting innocent and ordinary, but able to play a crucial role when needed.

Mr. Yu finished his piece of pastry and gently wiped his pale fingers with a silk cloth. "What's more important is that Leif knows a surprising amount about many important officials and even royal relatives in Sargassum's court."

"Elara, I looked into all the bribes he gave over the years and found that he not only knew exactly what each person wanted, but also had deep knowledge of the secrets of many high-ranking nobles. He even knew about hidden scandals that officials went to great lengths to cover up.

These officials were either bribed by him or threatened. With both tactics, he was able to climb quickly through the ranks of the Sargassum court.

There were even details involving foreign powers — like yours and mine.

Mr. Yu wiped his fingers clean and took out a folded piece of silk from his sleeve.

He unfolded the silk and placed it in front of Elara. "This is a letter intercepted by chance during my investigation. He was sending it to the northern border."

Elara picked up the silk and saw that at the center was the name "Zhaiyun Pavilion," surrounded by densely written names of countries that had business dealings with it.

Above the words "Zhaiyun Pavilion" was the name Leif, circled in red and violently crossed out with blood-colored cinnabar ink.

Besides him, Dahlia Kingdom and Plumera — Mr. Yu's and Elara's respective countries — were also circled in red and marked the same way.

All other countries around Zhaiyun Pavilion were untouched.

It was as if... this was clearly targeting the three of them.

Elara's gaze turned cold. "So how did Salvia Kingdom and Narcissus Kingdom get connected? The Edelweiss Emperor shouldn't have that kind of power."

So many countries connected to Zhaiyun Pavilion, yet only the pavilion, Dahlia, and Plumera were marked. These people clearly planned to take down the pavilion first, then come after her and Dahlia.

"The Edelweiss Emperor certainly isn't capable enough." Mr. Yu snapped his folding fan shut and dipped his finger in water to draw a map on the table for Elara.

"The reason Salvia could connect with Narcissus Kingdom isn't because of Edelweiss. It's because they both have the same suzerain state — a second-tier country in the northwest of the continent: the Kingdom of Steadstone."

On the map Mr. Yu drew, the Kingdom of Steadstone was far in the northwest. Below it were its three dependent nations — Narcissus to the east, Salvia to the southeast, and other third-tier states in the far south.

"Steadstone is a second-tier power in the northwest. These three are all under its rule."

Elara frowned when she saw Mr. Yu write the name of those southern countries.

Back when she killed Lord Gregory, it was the army from one of those countries that tried to pick up his family along the Plumera northeast border, near Daisy River.

Lord Gregory had stolen national taxes and grain from Plumera for many years, and more than half of it was sent to those countries.

He even smuggled the national divine totem of Plumera, making copies and sending them over. That's why those nations tried to save him — they wanted the part of the divine totem still in his possession.

Fortunately, though he crossed Daisy River, Lord Gregory was still killed by Damon's arrow from across the river! With him died the remaining secrets and the divine totem in his mind, forever buried at Daisy River.

But... seeing the map Mr. Yu drew, Elara now suspected that the reason Plumera was also marked as a target on the silk wasn't just because of Edelweiss's interference. The larger reason was likely those southern countries.

After all, they had received years of stolen wealth from Plumera through Lord Gregory. Even though they didn't get the entire divine totem, they must've collected parts of it from him.