98 – Tail
Victoria’s relatives are paying attention to me.
Not just attention, but they are even meddling in my affairs.
My conviction solidified when Siena visited the workshop and casually dropped a bomb.
“Allen. Did your family say they live in Longkenny?”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
“The commander of the infantry division stationed in Longkenny… suggested recruiting your younger brother into the military. If that’s not to your liking, he also proposed recommending him to work at the local office.”
“Did you talk to my brother?”
“You really live without contacting your family.”
It was something I had planned to confirm today, but I didn’t show any signs of it.
She seemed to have considered making some excuses, but Siena swiftly turned her back before hearing my greeting. With loose silver strands swaying, she left the workshop muttering quietly, “It might be right to just kill them all.”
Nevertheless, Siena’s tip-off proved helpful.
“Was she already getting close to my family?”
I was the only one who had succeeded in establishing a prominent position within the Maydoff family.
The rest were mere local landowners who had never crossed the threshold of the academy, essentially rural nobility. Still, even if they made a bit of noise in the town asserting their nobility, they were not resources that could be utilized as bureaucrats. They hadn’t even reached the point where a division commander from the Imperial Army would personally come to propose a job.
It turned out that this division commander was a member of the Victoria faction.
Managing that faction was not Victoria herself, but her uncles. The intention to somehow place my acquaintance within their sphere of influence was blatantly apparent.
“Someday, this scheming will succeed.”
Even now, they must be observing my actions and those around me.
I planned to use this to lure in the Walford family.
The starting point was going to the guardhouse commander.
“I’d like to visit Timothy Walford.”
And that’s how I encountered Timothy, the one who had been tail-slapped by the Walford family.
A military officer who, from the military hospital, covertly diverted around 5 grams of morphine weekly to the op*ium den organization (only the revealed charges), and, in order to cover up the crime, assaulted a military officer who was an accomplice and fell into disgrace after being caught by his cousin, Victoria.
Timothy was currently awaiting trial within the guardhouse.
However, for someone who had ruined his life, his expression was surprisingly resolute.
“Mr. Alan, you won’t get any information from me.”
He declared outright as soon as he saw me, smiling as if to say, “I knew you’d come, and I won’t do anything harmful to the family no matter what you say.”
Disappointment was not something I felt. After all, I hadn’t come to persuade Timothy Wolfall in the first place.
Trying to persuade the tailbearer was an inefficient endeavor.
At first glance, it might be easy to assume that the tail, having been cast aside by the organization to which it had devoted loyalty, would be engulfed in anger. There were many who had been more successful than him but now found themselves relegated to the sidelines, nursing their resentment. It might seem plausible that he, being just a pawn, would be driven by a desire to settle the score. However, reality proved otherwise.
A severed tail was not quick to abandon its trust in the main body.
“Just endure for a while, and you’ll be rewarded. That’s what I learned from quarreling messily with my parents in a past life.”
Moreover, the Wolfall family wasn’t just a group united by power; they were kin by blood. Perhaps Timothy believed that his family would never betray him. Such belief was necessary to endure captivity.
“President Alan, no matter what you say…!”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m just planning to sit here.”
“What are you talking about?”
“When I finish the visit, someone from your clan will come and ask you. They’ll want to know what Alan Medof talked about and if you leaked any information that could harm Victoria’s faction.”
“…”
“So, you just have to tell the truth. Alan Medof came, sat quietly, scribbled something, and then left.”
This should be enough for him to understand my intentions. Timothy Wolfall’s face still bore a lingering doubt.
It was the moment when he truly grasped the fact that this clan didn’t live in a flower garden.
“It might be natural, who knows? Until now, there hasn’t been any need to cut ties with the clan.”
Timothy Wolfall seemed unable to fathom it. Unlike the tail that, even after being cast aside, turns the wheel of hope and continues to trust the organization, the organization easily suspects and rejects the tail.
“President Alan, if you think that I will cause trouble for the 1st Princess or my family by playing tricks like this, you’re mistaken.”
“There’s no need to speak. I already have all the necessary information.”
“Then why, exactly?”
From Noble mtl dot com
Timothy Wolfall continued muttering with a bewildered expression. Mainly reflecting on loyalty to the Victoria and Wolfall families.
Well-educated, he thought. Each time, I nodded and scribbled something.
About 10 minutes passed like that.
“This should be sufficient.”
“What do you mean by ‘sufficient’?”
After organizing the documents I scribbled on alone, I left the visitation room.
Originally, Henry Wolfall, who was imprisoned with him… I had plans to interview the person who had been tortured by Timothy, along with Timothy, but I canceled it.
This was also a trick to deceive the Wolfall family.
If two young individuals with the Wolfall surname were imprisoned, what would the Wolfall family think if I only interviewed one and left?
‘Timothy will probably misunderstand that everything is on fire. The person involved will claim to have said nothing, but that will only arouse suspicion.’
Just this would make the influential figures of the Wolfall family suspect, “Princess Sienna instructed Alan Maydoff to persuade Timothy.” Of course, I hadn’t actually obtained anything tangible, but it didn’t matter. Soon, real material to manipulate them would come in.
That was Victoria’s responsibility.
Detailed instructions had already been given to her.
**
A few hours later. Victoria’s office.
“Your Highness. Why have you summoned us?”
Currently, Princess Victoria had two foreign sons-in-law seated in front of her.
Honestly, they were faces that Victoria found uncomfortable to face. Victoria had already decided to send her relatives away, and the relatives were the influential figures leading the Wolfall family in place of their elderly uncle. They were also the ones who would be most affected if Victoria were to wield her sword.
The reason she endured the discomfort and called them was one.
“It’s something that Alan asked for.”
Alan Maydoff, who volunteered to help with a difficult task despite the tremendous burden Victoria had placed on him.
He had just given her instructions.
“I just visited Timothy in the guards and returned. After I visited on behalf of His Excellency’s relatives, I must have interrogated Timothy. He would be curious about what we talked about, whether he gave me any unfavorable information about themselves. If Your Excellency can step forward now, we can clear the suspicion.”
The story was only possible if her relatives were spying on Alan. Victoria couldn’t just ignore Alan’s advice, though she doubted it.
Victoria spoke exactly as Alan had instructed.
“Timothy says he spilled everything.”
“What do you mean?”
“It wasn’t just about blaming everything on Timothy in the first place.”
“I don’t understand what you mean.”
The two relatives, without even exchanging glances, let go of each other’s hands.
Victoria exchanged a brief stare with them before sighing.
“You really don’t know?”
“Yes. I really don’t know what you mean.”
“Is that so? I want to believe you, but Siena’s story was a bit different.”
“Yes…?”
“Siena… said she would request an audience with Your Majesty, carrying the materials Alan secured. The expression ‘materials’ is exactly what Siena said… By tomorrow, the position of the princess will be confirmed, so I even advised her to find a separate place to live.”
The expressions of the two relatives gradually hardened at these words.
Only then did she feel a sense of crisis, thinking, “Timothy might have revealed something.”
It meant that there was still an undisclosed sin, to the extent that it could shake the position of the princess if it reached the ears of the imperial court. Victoria had suspected it for a while, but now that it was becoming a reality, it felt even more grim.
Hidden were fatal flaws within the extended family,
and to uncover them, resorting to such deceit was necessary.
Since they had already started, they decided to see it through to the end.
“Soon, Siena will inform the emperor. And using the ‘materials’ that Alan Kye secured, we will subtly instigate the emperor.”
“Your Highness.”
“If Siena becomes a princess due to your mistakes… well, I don’t know about anything else, but one thing is certain. It will become harder for me to protect my extended family. Honestly, I don’t even want to protect them.”
“…”
“It’s probably better to capture Alan Kye. Unlike all of you, he is competent.”
Only then did the cousins exchange glances and spoke up.
“Your Highness, it seems that Timothy has played with his words recklessly. Despite insisting so much a few years ago that he would arrange the lottery for us, he… Ah, of course, Timothy himself denied ever revealing anything, but that’s a lie.”
“What did he reveal?”
“It seems that… Uncle Samchon finally began confessing his sins.”
They began revealing their sins one by one only now.
Not only did they steal morphine not only from military hospitals but also secretly took morphine supplied as emergency medicine to division-regiment-level units across the empire, using it for special purposes. And it wasn’t just for money; it was for managing the factions. They even involved the officer Victoria had assigned for inspection.
“Since every family has one or two people suffering from a serious illness, morphine is a suitable gift to buy loyalty, more than money…”
“You moved systematically.”
“I apologize. It was all to establish Your Highness’s foundation. Besides, isn’t it more important to remedy the situation now?”
In the end, it was Victoria who concretely understood the corruption within the extended family.
She managed to maintain her expression with effort as she gave instructions.
Soon, she said that Siena would completely surrender to Bu Hwang, and before the royal family seized the Wolpul family, she should do the ‘necessary task.’
Her step-sisters nodded with determined expressions.
“Yes, Your Highness! We’ve been quietly organizing, but… we’ll clear everything by the end of today. Even if Your Majesty becomes aware, if there’s no evidence, Your Highness won’t be affected.”
A declaration to clear all evidence and witnesses by the end of the day.
Victoria nodded.
However, as soon as her uncles left, she immediately contacted Alan and the Chief Minister, her father’s closest confidant, to share the information she had just received.
It was to swiftly crush the Wolpul family, who were frantically trying to destroy evidence.