Sissair shrugged.
He seemed like he was doing him a special favor since the minister didn't notice.
"How did I know that the Black Eyes were leaking the children of the palace to other countries?"
"What?"
"At first, I thought you two were bait to lure me in because Prince Claudio was showing off. But why? The tail you kept hidden has really come out."
Sissair laughed.
His eyes looked up and down the shabby minister's appearance as if pitying him.
"So, I thought the two of you had completely split up, but now I see that it was just the minister who took the blame unilaterally."
"Lie! Do you think I don't know that this is an affair?"
He bared his teeth roughly as if he were about to catch and eat a seafish.
"If you think like that, I can't help it."
"Shut up! Your intentions are clear! You're trying to create a wedge between me and the Duke!"
Contrary to his confident shout, Etienne's eyes were shaking violently.
It seemed like there was a cracking sound in the once-solid bond.
Sissair silently suppressed laughter. In his heart, he felt like he could dance in front of the minister.
"Gee, there's no way the Minister doesn't know that political comrades are inherently shallow, so how can you be so naive?"
"...That can't be possible. The Duke was on the same boat as me. If I fall, he falls too!"
"Is that really true? Isn't it possible to grow stronger by absorbing your collapsed strength and power?"
Sissair asked back and shrugged his shoulders.
Etienne was speechless.
"Well, the Minister probably knows the answer better. Anyway, I told you the truth last time. So, when the dew from the execution ground touches you, don't blame me."
He slightly bent down and placed a small bottle of alcohol under the bars.
"I heard you like vodka. I hope this will be a warm comfort to you on this night of abandonment."
Sissair, who turned Etienne's stomach, left the room with light steps as if he had finished what he had to say.
"You-! Did you know that I wouldn't fall apart like this? Soon I'll be out of here and tearing you limb from limb!"
The Minister threw the small bottle of alcohol that Sissair had left for him at the wall as if he were giving it to him.
Clink-!
The bottle hit the stone wall and shattered, and a strong scent filled the prison.
“Ha, ha, ha.”
While he was huffing and puffing out his anger, the words of Sissair a moment ago did not leave his mind.
His mind was furiously calculating the possibilities of truth.
'There are only two people who can move the top of the black eye where the evidence came from.'
Duke Claudio and Etienne himself.
Etienne, there's no way he would gamble with his life.
Then there is only one culprit, Duke Claudio.
Doubts slowly began to creep into the once steadfast mind of the minister.
Duke Claudio already had a history of using his daughter to drug him and try to bring him down.
Moreover, before Sissair came in, wasn't the two of them engaged in a fierce battle of conflict to the point of splitting up?
Etienne suddenly became anxious. Why did he only trust the Regent?
If the Regent changes his mind, he's done.
"Hmm, guests have come and gone, My Lord. Do you need anything or do you have any orders?"
A jailer walked in where Sissair left. Then he rubbed his palms and looked at Etienne.
An ambiguous situation in which Etienne has not yet been punished.
The jailer still believed in the power that Etienne wielded as Minister of the Palace and accommodated him.
This was also because the bribes given by the minister every time an errand was ordered were generous.
"Medea..."
Etienne muttered.
"Yes?"
"Call the Princess. Her Royal Highness, hurry!"
A small piece of gold was moved under the handheld by the guard.
"Of course, my Lord. I will rush to the Princess's palace as soon as I leave."
The guard grinned and nodded. At each node, there was the sound of gold rolling between grime-covered fingers.
***
Three days later.
At some point, a clear and clean scent began to emerge through the prison. At this, Minister Etienne, who was half out of his mind, raised his head.
Silver hair slowly appeared in his eyes, as if brightening even the dark interior of the prison.
He was so happy that he forgot his body pain and jumped up, almost shouting.
"Wow, Her Royal Highness!"
She's here! Here! He grabbed the bars and shouted passionately.
"Oh my, Minister."
Medea walked slowly. Calm green eyes scanned the minister's figure from head to toe.
"What is this? Where has that spirit and good looks gone?"
Medea clicked her tongue as if she felt sorry.
She didn't mean to hurt the other person's feelings.
Minister Etienne had actually fallen from the top of the tower and was rotting in prison, looking like a crushed and dirty lump of dough. Suspicion and anxiety about Duke Claudio grows, as he receives no response to the difficult communication he sends.
"Idiots say they only think it's a tsunami if they shut up, but it turned out to be advice you gave yourself."
"Your Highness, this is a frame-up. I have never violated military law and have no intention of doing so. How can I, a loyalist in charge of Valdina's state affairs, do that! That sneaky black-eyed merchant has planned a plan targeting me!"
Despite the Princess's subtle mockery, Etienne simply bowed down. Indeed, his change of attitude was different.
"Well. Of course, I believe your sincere excuse, but the matter has become too much."
Medea shook her head.
"Somehow, your story spread beyond the palace and throughout the castle. Now even the common people are crying out for you to be executed to avenge the children."
Etienne was imprisoned and did not know any news from the outside world.
His servants and the Duke were too busy filling their chests with gold coins, so they had no time to leisurely spread the news about the world to the minister.
"So I don't know if they will believe your excuses. It's a pain in the ass."
Etienne's face became thoughtful.
The people hated him even more. This is because he was so powerful that he was notorious for kidnapping commoners.
'They will try to chew and swallow my corpse.'
Etienne knelt down and stretched out both hands out of the bars to Medea.
"Your Highness, please help me. Get me out of here and you won't regret it."
Originally, he would have contacted Duke Claudio somehow.
But somehow, there was something uneasy about it.
The seeds of doubt sown by Sissair grew rapidly in his mind in just three days.
The minister wanted to avoid getting stabbed by Duke Claudio, even though he would later criticize him for making a mistake in his plan.
Chancellor Sissair was determined to punish him, and Duke Claudio could no longer be trusted.
So now the only thing left to him was the Princess.
Medea snorted.
"With bare mouth? Minister, don't be naive."
The minister paused, but then shook his head as if he had never been so embarrassed.
"It can't be, Your Highness. I have a hidden slush fund. It's a huge amount, you could say it's my entire fortune. I will give it all to you."
"Hmm, it's a slush fund."
The Princess showed interest. The minister was inwardly delighted. After all, who doesn't like money!
Etienne's weasel-like eyes sparkled.
He walked towards the bars with kneeling steps. With all his might, he twisted the handcuffs and finally had enough room to move his fingers.
Etienne took out a neatly folded piece of paper from his pocket.
'The Princess lived in the palace her whole life."
It was a piece of cake to deceive an innocent girl with no experience in the world.
Despite his true feelings, he held out the piece of paper with a somewhat sincere attitude. It was a checkbook used in the guild.
"This is a slip from my secret safe. It's my slush fund. Since I was born, this body has been through a lot of hardships, so I have saved quite a few pennies. It's all yours
If only you would get me out of this damn place."
The secret safe of the Minister of the Palace of Internal Affairs.
The slush fund of the man who quickly became one of the most rejected figures in the capital must be so enormous that anyone would roll their eyes and rush to him.
Neril, who was listening next to Medea, also widened her eyes and looked at him and Medea alternately.
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