“If no one had reported that I was illiterate, no one would have reported that I was adopted.”
“What the hell is this?”
This is beyond bullshit, it's a brain-stopping statement.
Illiteracy. Adoption. These two things could never be true, because they contradicted everything he had been told.
But when the woman played the video with the tip of her finger, Sion's brow furrowed.
The video showed a very young blond child crying and begging not to be abandoned.
“...”
Even Sion of the world was speechless as if shocked.
Then, finally, as if he understood the situation, he muttered in a low voice, “Damn it.”
“The birth certificate from the beach at Meursault that I sent during the day... No, that’s okay. As you can see, that’s also a lie.”
Dare to make me an idiot?
Sion chewed his cigar irritably, quickly erasing the hundreds of thousands of pages of reports from his mind.
While the number of parsley items on a dinner menu is reported, these two important pieces of information are never communicated.
This means that this information was intentionally filtered out and that all nine members of the elite intelligence unit defected.
'That bastard Ferdinand.'
That scoundrel had a knack for dirty tricks. He should have been treated like a dog by the Intelligence Service, not the Navy.
Sion, who was pressing his eyebrows with a deep sense of defeat, asked Odette sharply as a thought suddenly occurred to him.
“Then, surely it wasn’t you who refused to purify the transcendent until now?”
Odette was silent for a moment, then nodded her head.
Ha, a rough laugh burst out from Sion.
After that, he seemed quite surprised and let out several self-deprecating laughs.
'Damn, the intelligence agency is in a terrible state.'
What the hell is this?
The woman who had once been one of the most important figures in the empire was now completely unknown to him.
The Odette he knew was a daughter who was so loved that even her parents could not stop her from committing evil deeds.
"Shit."
In a few minutes, the cigar, flat as a piece of paper, was roughly rubbed out.
“Yes, let’s assume what you’re saying is true.”
Turquoise eyes looked at Sion.
“Why did you ask for a private meeting with me?”
“I would like to make a deal with you, Your Grace.”
“A deal requires a give and take. The identity of the spy has already been revealed, so what else can I trade with you?”
The woman spread out the documents she had just poured out on the table with a calm demeanor.
“No one was informed that I was illiterate or that I was adopted. That means all nine of them defected.”
“I know. Are you trying to tease me?”
“But is it possible to deceive Your Grace with just nine agents from the Intelligence Service?”
“...”
“The documents I sent during the day have already been confirmed by Your Grace. There is a reason I sent them to you.”
'Is this what it feels like to be pushed back in an information war?'
The feeling of defeat he had never felt before was so bitter that he couldn't help but put a third cigar in his mouth.
“I wanted to show you that these documents were so elaborately fabricated that even Your Grace could not find a flaw in them. You know that it would take at least a few dozen people to do that.”
"...Shit."
“I’ll even tell you the names of the rats hiding inside the intelligence agency. That’s my deal.”
'I wonder if anyone would say I have obsessive-compulsive disorder.'
To Sion, who was not sure of the fact of the excommunication just from the video, Odette handed him a bundle of papers she had kept.
Odette learned of the existence of the rats she just mentioned in her past life because of Ferdinand. The day Ferdinand came to prison to rape Odette.
As the Empire's greatest criminal, Odette was in the deepest triple dungeon of the Imperial Prison, but Ferdinand entered there alone.
To her surprise, Ferdinand showed off the three keys he needed to get inside the bars. Then he bragged about them.
He was talking about how many people he had bribed into the intelligence service. He was calling out the names of 9 people from the Count's household and 35 people from the intelligence service, one by one.
With that much effort, he concluded that he had the right to rape Odette.
Sion's expression gradually worsened as he turned the paper.
At first, it was just a distorted eyebrow, but by the time he finally checked, it was almost distorted like a demon's. It was a face that could be called a monster of God.
'The most monstrous thing is the reading speed.'
If she remembers back when she was Han Soo-wan, that kind of speed reading was only possible when re-entering the joint certificate terms and conditions.
“Did you bring this as proof of abandonment? All you have is a receipt that you would leave behind when buying or selling livestock.”
“Because it was an illegal adoption, I never received an official adoption certificate. That’s the only remaining evidence of the adoption.”
'It's flimsy information, so it may not be noticeable, but what can I do? That's the real evidence of my excommunication.'
The receipt was proof of the transaction between her father and the orphanage director. It was the paper he received after giving money to Odette, who had been abandoned, to prevent her from being adopted elsewhere.
Unlike the fake documents, which are made of fancy paper, the only thing that proves the real Odette is this shabby wad of paper.
Because while she was pretending to be a fake purifier, the orphanage director who did that deal also died at the hands of her father.
“Which of these many receipts is your record of abandonment?”
“These are all my records of being excommunicated. I’ve been excommunicated a total of 38 times.”
At the calm answer, Sion's face became that of an evil spirit beyond a monster.
“38 times?”
Shocked purple eyes swept over her as if she were a mad woman.
“Would you like me to play the back of the video too? All 38 records of abandonment will be there.”
“Is that the time when you say something like that so calmly? Why are you so indifferent?”
“After being abandoned about 38 times, you become indifferent to most things.”
He seemed speechless at her answer but soon became silent.
“Fuck.”
With a short curse, he lowered his gaze back to the wad of paper.
The living room became quiet again, and she stroked the screen on the table.
'I loved the destruction of the evidence, and they could not be left to the end.'
Count Albrecht was a snake-like human who filmed 38 abandonment scenes with that rare video stone without fail. A piece of trash who repeatedly abandoned and picked up children, destroying them, and feeling omnipotent in the process.
“It matches Director Stiller’s handwriting, and there’s no sign of forgery. Damn, I was wrong. It’s a shame, but...”
Sion put the receipt down nervously.
“Yes. I declare surrender. I need a list of rats you’ll hand over. I’ll take the deal you asked for.”
"Thank God."
“What you want is probably something to do with revenge against your family.”
Odette smiled bitterly at Sion's words, which hit the nail on the head.
“How can you be sure? Couldn’t it be another deal? A deal to save me from my family, for example?”
She looked at Sion for no reason. He snorted as if he had heard nonsense.
“You, who always show perfect manners, show me your pitiful past without any shame or humiliation, and you are so indifferent. That’s the kind of attitude that only someone blinded by revenge would show.”
Is that a personal experience? Odette suddenly recalled the background of Sion that she had read in the setting book.
“So what am I going to put on the scale? What do I have to give in exchange for the list of rats?”
She met Sion's purple eyes and answered powerfully.
“Please manipulate the information about my father’s assets. While I’m taking away all of Count Albrecht’s assets, I’ll make sure that he never notices that I’ve taken them.”
“What the hell is this?”
This is beyond bullshit, it's a brain-stopping statement.
Illiteracy. Adoption. These two things could never be true, because they contradicted everything he had been told.
But when the woman played the video with the tip of her finger, Sion's brow furrowed.
The video showed a very young blond child crying and begging not to be abandoned.
“...”
Even Sion of the world was speechless as if shocked.
Then, finally, as if he understood the situation, he muttered in a low voice, “Damn it.”
“The birth certificate from the beach at Meursault that I sent during the day... No, that’s okay. As you can see, that’s also a lie.”
Dare to make me an idiot?
Sion chewed his cigar irritably, quickly erasing the hundreds of thousands of pages of reports from his mind.
While the number of parsley items on a dinner menu is reported, these two important pieces of information are never communicated.
This means that this information was intentionally filtered out and that all nine members of the elite intelligence unit defected.
'That bastard Ferdinand.'
That scoundrel had a knack for dirty tricks. He should have been treated like a dog by the Intelligence Service, not the Navy.
Sion, who was pressing his eyebrows with a deep sense of defeat, asked Odette sharply as a thought suddenly occurred to him.
“Then, surely it wasn’t you who refused to purify the transcendent until now?”
Odette was silent for a moment, then nodded her head.
Ha, a rough laugh burst out from Sion.
After that, he seemed quite surprised and let out several self-deprecating laughs.
'Damn, the intelligence agency is in a terrible state.'
What the hell is this?
The woman who had once been one of the most important figures in the empire was now completely unknown to him.
The Odette he knew was a daughter who was so loved that even her parents could not stop her from committing evil deeds.
"Shit."
In a few minutes, the cigar, flat as a piece of paper, was roughly rubbed out.
“Yes, let’s assume what you’re saying is true.”
Turquoise eyes looked at Sion.
“Why did you ask for a private meeting with me?”
“I would like to make a deal with you, Your Grace.”
“A deal requires a give and take. The identity of the spy has already been revealed, so what else can I trade with you?”
The woman spread out the documents she had just poured out on the table with a calm demeanor.
“No one was informed that I was illiterate or that I was adopted. That means all nine of them defected.”
“I know. Are you trying to tease me?”
“But is it possible to deceive Your Grace with just nine agents from the Intelligence Service?”
“...”
“The documents I sent during the day have already been confirmed by Your Grace. There is a reason I sent them to you.”
'Is this what it feels like to be pushed back in an information war?'
The feeling of defeat he had never felt before was so bitter that he couldn't help but put a third cigar in his mouth.
“I wanted to show you that these documents were so elaborately fabricated that even Your Grace could not find a flaw in them. You know that it would take at least a few dozen people to do that.”
"...Shit."
“I’ll even tell you the names of the rats hiding inside the intelligence agency. That’s my deal.”
***
'I wonder if anyone would say I have obsessive-compulsive disorder.'
To Sion, who was not sure of the fact of the excommunication just from the video, Odette handed him a bundle of papers she had kept.
Odette learned of the existence of the rats she just mentioned in her past life because of Ferdinand. The day Ferdinand came to prison to rape Odette.
As the Empire's greatest criminal, Odette was in the deepest triple dungeon of the Imperial Prison, but Ferdinand entered there alone.
To her surprise, Ferdinand showed off the three keys he needed to get inside the bars. Then he bragged about them.
He was talking about how many people he had bribed into the intelligence service. He was calling out the names of 9 people from the Count's household and 35 people from the intelligence service, one by one.
With that much effort, he concluded that he had the right to rape Odette.
Sion's expression gradually worsened as he turned the paper.
At first, it was just a distorted eyebrow, but by the time he finally checked, it was almost distorted like a demon's. It was a face that could be called a monster of God.
'The most monstrous thing is the reading speed.'
If she remembers back when she was Han Soo-wan, that kind of speed reading was only possible when re-entering the joint certificate terms and conditions.
“Did you bring this as proof of abandonment? All you have is a receipt that you would leave behind when buying or selling livestock.”
“Because it was an illegal adoption, I never received an official adoption certificate. That’s the only remaining evidence of the adoption.”
'It's flimsy information, so it may not be noticeable, but what can I do? That's the real evidence of my excommunication.'
The receipt was proof of the transaction between her father and the orphanage director. It was the paper he received after giving money to Odette, who had been abandoned, to prevent her from being adopted elsewhere.
Unlike the fake documents, which are made of fancy paper, the only thing that proves the real Odette is this shabby wad of paper.
Because while she was pretending to be a fake purifier, the orphanage director who did that deal also died at the hands of her father.
“Which of these many receipts is your record of abandonment?”
“These are all my records of being excommunicated. I’ve been excommunicated a total of 38 times.”
At the calm answer, Sion's face became that of an evil spirit beyond a monster.
“38 times?”
Shocked purple eyes swept over her as if she were a mad woman.
“Would you like me to play the back of the video too? All 38 records of abandonment will be there.”
“Is that the time when you say something like that so calmly? Why are you so indifferent?”
“After being abandoned about 38 times, you become indifferent to most things.”
He seemed speechless at her answer but soon became silent.
“Fuck.”
With a short curse, he lowered his gaze back to the wad of paper.
The living room became quiet again, and she stroked the screen on the table.
'I loved the destruction of the evidence, and they could not be left to the end.'
Count Albrecht was a snake-like human who filmed 38 abandonment scenes with that rare video stone without fail. A piece of trash who repeatedly abandoned and picked up children, destroying them, and feeling omnipotent in the process.
“It matches Director Stiller’s handwriting, and there’s no sign of forgery. Damn, I was wrong. It’s a shame, but...”
Sion put the receipt down nervously.
“Yes. I declare surrender. I need a list of rats you’ll hand over. I’ll take the deal you asked for.”
"Thank God."
“What you want is probably something to do with revenge against your family.”
Odette smiled bitterly at Sion's words, which hit the nail on the head.
“How can you be sure? Couldn’t it be another deal? A deal to save me from my family, for example?”
She looked at Sion for no reason. He snorted as if he had heard nonsense.
“You, who always show perfect manners, show me your pitiful past without any shame or humiliation, and you are so indifferent. That’s the kind of attitude that only someone blinded by revenge would show.”
Is that a personal experience? Odette suddenly recalled the background of Sion that she had read in the setting book.
“So what am I going to put on the scale? What do I have to give in exchange for the list of rats?”
She met Sion's purple eyes and answered powerfully.
“Please manipulate the information about my father’s assets. While I’m taking away all of Count Albrecht’s assets, I’ll make sure that he never notices that I’ve taken them.”
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