Chapter 162

Jan 27, 2024

“Are you upset that I’ve kept that from you until now?”

“No, I simply wanted to verify what I heard.”

Despite her denial, Roxana’s face still appeared frigid. Although her uneasiness was stemming from a wholly different issue, Cassis was taking it to heart. “Then are you perhaps upset that I used your sibling for my own plans?”

She hesitated for a moment while considering how to answer. In truth, she was upset that Grizelda had acted of her own accord. However, hearing that her sister had done so in a way that allowed him to make use of her ironically made Roxana feel better.

“This may sound odd, but knowing that actually makes me feel a bit better now.”

He smiled awkwardly as if he was unsure of how to respond. She, in turn, let out a small sigh.

“I was aware that while I was recovering and laying low at the Blue fortress, you were avoiding any mention of Agrece-related topics for my sake, but I do have some things that I still need to explain to you.” In truth, she recognized that it was not her place to find fault in him. His desire to investigate those around her for the purpose of keeping her safe was something she herself had been doing from the start. Above all, she felt nothing when he confessed to using Grizelda.

As was common among the Agrece siblings, she and her sister’s ties were not at all tightly intertwined. What’s more, she was aware of the impossibility of Cassis keeping as many secrets from her as she was from him.

“I’m not mad at all. I have no right to be.”

He paused as she smiled faintly.

“Xana!”

Their conversation was interrupted by a familiar voice calling out to her from the greenhouse entrance. Although the plants growing above and around them prevented them from seeing who exactly the voice belonged to, he knew there was only one person who would call out to her in such a manner.

Roxana turned her gaze away from the direction of the voice to look back at Cassis. “Unfortunately, it seems our time...”

“...is up.” He frowned as he completed her sentence, but made sure to relax his brow while bidding her farewell.

“Though our time together was short, it was wonderful to see you again, Lady Roxana. Until next time.”

He proceeded to snap one of the flowers off from the vines around them, then presented it to her. He planted a kiss on her hand for good measure.

“Xana, hey!”

By then the owner of the voice had moved in closer. It seemed Jeremy had yet to realize that his sister was currently with the Blue Heir.

“Well, I best be on my way.”

“I trust we will meet again.”

She smiled and returned the flower to him after pressing her ruby lips to its petals in return before disappearing from his sight.

“Jeremy.”

“Sis! Hey, I’ve been looking all over for you!”

“Oh, were you? You seem rather happy.”

“Yep! Guess who I just got through meeting with?”

The siblings’ conversation was muffled but audible from afar. Yet even at a distance, anyone would think that his voice gave the impression of a puppy happily wagging his tail before his master.

In truth, such a chipper tone of voice for such an imposing figure was daunting. As he continued to listen to the voices fade behind him, the Pedelian reaffirmed his belief that he neither could nor would ever get along with Jeremy Agrece.

Of course, he also considered him better than the other Agreces. As he walked away in silence, he felt noticeably colder than when he had been with Roxana. In truth, he had his own duties to return to.

For starters, he had tasked Isidore with keeping an eye on Deon Agrece’s movements and had learned that the older Agrece sibling had disappeared from sight during the fire in the Red clan’s quarters. Other than that, however, there was no substantial evidence to suggest he had been involved.

As for the items Cassis had seen in the burning room where the poison butterflies had congregated... He decided to decipher their meaning at another time. Instead, he lowered his brow and glared toward the greenhouse entrance Jeremy and Roxana had disappeared through.

* * *

“Everything happened just like you said it would. After the meeting, the Castros approached me first.”

Although Jeremy was whispering, he was still speaking just loudly enough for me to hear him as we left the castle’s greenhouse. It was a starkly different tone from the annoyed one he had when he first called out to me.

“Oh, and something else you told me about yesterday turned out to be true as well.”

I was relieved that he at least seemed to remember that others could be listening in on our conversation.

“How long have you known that the Red clan are clients of ours?”

He was making absolutely no attempt at concealing his curiosity as he looked at me. I couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at the boyish expression.

“Let’s discuss this in my room.”

His pace almost immediately doubled as if he was eager for yet another private chat with me. Then he suddenly spotted the flower in my hand.

“Hang on... What’s with the flower? Is it from the greenhouse?”

I lowered my gaze while taking another whiff of the petals.

“Mhm. I’m going to keep it in a vase in my room.”

The only thing that had improved my spirits since the fire incident was meeting with Cassis before Jeremy arrived.

“You like that kind of flower? Then I—”

“One’s enough. Don’t even think about cutting down every last one in the greenhouse.”

“Hmm... Okay...”

He reluctantly muttered his understanding as if I had caught him red-handed. Judging from the look on his face, if I hadn’t stopped him, he would have snipped every flower that looked even remotely similar to the one I was holding, then filled my room with them.

“I’m more curious to hear what happened. Let’s hurry back to my room so you can tell me all about it.”

“Okay!”

His disappointed, blue gaze immediately lit up like ice glistening under the sunlight. Thus, we were quick in returning to the Agrece wing of the castle.

* * *

Once we reached my room, I led him over to my sofa. He excitedly began to run off at the mouth the moment his bottom met the cushions.

“I should start by saying that they didn’t say anything outright, but I got the feeling they are fairly high up on our client list. And judging from the goods recovered from the ruins of the Castro wing last night, I’ll bet anything my hunch is right.”

My lips curled up slightly at his words.

“Did she mention anything about the trade items between Castro and Agrece?”

“Nope, she just kept beating around the bush. I guess they’re still exercising caution.”

I began to think that the cunning Badrisha Castro had likely tried to pull one over on my brother. As I considered that, he continued to retell me about what they had actually discussed.

“The fact that their clan’s name hadn’t come up until now got me thinking that they’ve probably been buying under fake names, but we apparently stopped trading with them back in winter. Then again, we haven’t been able to do much business since Dad died. Then I told her exactly what you told me to say. I said, ‘We shouldn’t discuss such important matters regarding our clans so casually. Why don’t we set a time to do so later?’ Then I got up and left.”

Although I wasn’t there nor used my butterflies to watch their meeting, I could imagine just how much Jeremy had to have bluffed in that moment. Surely, the Castros would be even more on edge after that though. Without warning, Jeremy sat up as if he suddenly thought of something else.

“Hey... Do you think that’s why the Red Master voted in favor of having our clan reinstated? I mean, we are the only clan who deal in the drug trade.”

Honestly, even now I’m still floored by that kid. First he dealt with the Castro leader on his own without losing his composure, then he even deduced all that information from the tiny hints Badrisha had dropped... For Jeremy, that was definitely some praiseworthy development.

“My, my... Since when did my sweet little brother become such a clever detective?”

He, of course, beamed with delight at hearing me compliment him. I had seen for myself how good he’d become at controlling his expression whenever we were in front of others, but his boyish honesty about his feelings whenever we were alone seemed to be a side effect of that.

“But how’d you know, Sis? Most of our deals fell through since the coup, so I had no idea. And on top of that, they were using fake names.”