Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 253

As Arendt went into the guest room provided within the Union to get some sleep, Henry and Arcus sat across from each other in the dimly lit hall.Instead of the tea they had recently drank to the point of being sick of it, there was a bottle of alcohol and simple glasses placed between them.

“It feels like it’s been a really long time since we last drank.”

“It wasn’t the right time. We were too busy before.”

Arcus quietly responded to Henry’s words.

After Henry took a sip of alcohol, he let out a bitter smile and began speaking.

“Lord Arendt was really amazing. I never dreamed that this would actually be possible.”

Everything went according to Arendt’s calculations.

Arendt and Neumann worked together to trace back the merchants who had broken their deals with the Khan Union, while also thoroughly searching the merchants owned by Count Eckhart.

During this process, Neumann noticed that the East Merchant Group was preparing to sell the new store.

Arendt, upon hearing this, suggested the possibility that the buyer might be someone related to Count Eckhart, and Neumann agreed.

The two men’s guesses matched up quite nicely.

Among the merchant groups under Count Eckhart, the one led by Drayton was caught preparing for a big deal.

And then, Arendt began to devise the strategy for this game.

He decided to import goods from the Elven Kingdom to the Everan Kingdom through Prince Llewellyn.

After that, things progressed rapidly.

Arendt immediately made a deal with the Everan Kingdom, and Neumann gave some advice to the merchant groups that he had selected in advance.

It was a blatant threat to cut ties with the East Merchant Group’s tea shop, but the merchant groups, seduced by the chance for immediate profits, took the bait without a second thought.

Arcus, who had briefly resisted, questioning whether it was really necessary to go that far as things spiraled out of control, had no choice but to shut up after receiving a blow to his shin.

“Do you have to be able to do that kind of trick to call yourself a merchant? I’m too timid to even try to imitate it.”

As Henry joked, Arcus answered without even looking at him.

“Didn’t you just cooperate obediently despite that?”

“Was I going to resist and not cooperate? You know Lord Arendt’s personality better than I do. f I had even slightly opposed him, I would have been the one who got kicked out first, not Mr. Drayton.”

Although it was a joke, Arcus’ expression did not lighten at all.

In the end, Henry could only give up on changing the mood and let out a short sigh.

“…Are you upset?”

“Yes.”

Arcus emptied the glass in front of him in one go.

Without saying another word, Henry refilled the glass.

Arcus muttered as he accepted the glass filled with clear liquor.

“I had no right to be angry. I was the one who abandoned that guy.”

“You’re doing your best right now. That’s all that matters.”

“No, I should have intervened before it got to this point.”

Henry tried to comfort him, but Arcus answered curtly.

“Once again, it was Arendt who ended up solving the problem. If I had cut him off earlier, this wouldn’t have happened. In the end, I’ve caused trouble for you too.”

“What do you mean by causing trouble? It’s something I should endure to gain a business partner like you.”

Only after hearing his teasing words did Arcus raise his gaze.

Seeing the look of displeasure in Arcus’ eyes, Henry couldn’t help but chuckle softly.

“That sulky look, I didn’t notice it before, but it’s actually quite similar to Lord Arendt’s, isn’t it?”

“I’m not in the mood for jokes.”

“Just kidding. It’s a good day. How about celebrating the victory rather than blaming yourself?”

“It’s not over yet. You can’t let your guard down until the very end.”

“Tch, what a boring guy.”

Henry grumbled in discontent.

But thanks to that, Arcus seemed to feel a little better.

Arcus muttered lamentingly as he picked up the bottle and filled Henry’s glass.

“I won’t be seeing my father for a while.”

“…Don’t you regret it?”

Henry, who had been observing for a moment, asked cautiously.

“You could have just stayed at the Count’s house.”

Although that kind of talk has quieted down a bit now, not long ago, there were definitely people criticizing him, saying he was trying to latch onto Arendt, who was riding high on success.

Arendt also said the same thing at first.

Arcus nodded silently.

“That’s right, but once I started noticing it, I just couldn’t stand it anymore.”

“What was it?”

Arcus, who had been hesitating for a moment after hearing the short question, spoke.

“I thought of my mother.”

Arendt was particularly similar to his mother.

She was a free-spirited, loving, and very affectionate person.

Even the blunt and stubborn Count Eckhart couldn’t help but fall hopelessly in love.

It wasn’t until he saw Arendt, who acted as if he had never received any familial love, despite having a face that was a perfect mirror of hers, that he came to his senses.

But by then it was already too late.

It was the same today.

Even while facing Drayton directly, Arendt remained consistently indifferent.

“It might have been better if Arendt had been angry and resentful.”

Henry nodded slowly at Arcus’ quiet addition.

“…I know what you mean.”

As he watched him, completely unfazed, Arcus couldn’t help but feel a knot twist in his stomach.

His trademark expressionless face seemed to reflect the dark, rotting heart he had been carrying all along.

That’s why he ended up uncharacteristically venting his anger.

Extremely pathetically.

Henry silently raised his hand and patted Arcus on the shoulder.

Arcus silently accepted the touch and poured more liquor into his glass, accepting the awkward consolation.

Arendt, who had fallen into a light sleep, opened his eyes at the sound of movement from outside.

Thud. Thud.

The careless footsteps echoing down the corridor carried the irregularity typical of a drunk person.

That alone was enough to give an idea of ​​who was approaching the room.

“…”

The other person stopped in front of the door and hesitated for a while.

But, perhaps emboldened by the alcohol, he decided to do something he would never normally do, and soon grabbed the doorknob.

‘If you’re drunk, you should just sleep.’

Arendt suppressed the sigh that was about to escape and simply closed his eyes.

A moment later, the door opened with a click and a cautious figure approached, accompanied by a slight smell of alcohol.

Arcus, standing beside the bed, remained frozen for a long while.

As the distance narrowed, the sweet scent of alcohol became even more pronounced.

A strange standoff occurred between Arcus, who was just blankly looking down at Arendt, and Arendt, who was pretending to be asleep.

Arcus reached out and gently stroked Arendt’s head.

It was like touching a precious treasure that might break at any moment.

But that was only for a moment.

As if he was afraid that Arendt would wake up, Arcus quickly removed his hand and quickly turned around and ran out of the room.

.

The door closed again, and Arendt slowly opened his eyes.

“…What should I do about that guy?”

While everything was going as planned, the only thing that was unexpected was Arcus’ reaction.

He had expected him to be upset, but he never imagined he would unleash such anger toward his own father.

‘I don’t really like this kind of thing.’

In “The Blue Knight of the Holy Sword”, how did Arcus feel after Arendt was executed?

Arcus was likely so focused on making up for the damage Arendt caused to the Count’s family that he failed to notice how much it was eating away at him inside.

Then, one day, he must have suddenly realized that something was wrong.

But by then, Arendt was already dead, and the Empire had been caught in the flames of chaos.

There was no way to turn back anything, so it was, in every sense, a tragedy.

“Tsk.”

It was much better to live a life of yelling at his father, rebelling, and getting kicked in the shins by his younger brother, even if he was just a shell.

The person he truly needed to apologize to was already gone, but as long as he kept up the act, Arcus would never know that.

‘I guess I’ll have to play along for a while.’

Having made up his mind, Arendt closed his eyes once again.

Arendt’s words that this was the beginning were not wrong at all.

Merchants who had stopped coming began to slowly reappear the next day.

Henry greeted them with a friendly smile as if nothing had happened.

Thanks to that, a week later, when the Elven Kingdom’s tea arrived, the area in front of the Union was packed with people.

Until then, the merchants who had been hesitating could not help but stare wide-eyed.

“Wow, is this really the price?”

“Haha, of course. I just want to introduce various teas to many people. It’s just a shame that I can’t bring in more.”

Henry answered the merchant who asked him the question with a smile on his face.

The Khan Union put the Elven Kingdom’s tea on the market at a price that barely broke even.

It was possible because it wasn’t something that was done for profit from the beginning.

Their sole purpose was to screw over the East Merchant Group and Count Eckhart.

‘Anyway, he’s amazing.’

Henry clicked his tongue inwardly as he looked at the excited merchants.

The store was already bustling, with no space to even put a foot down.

The collaboration between Arendt and Neumann, which lasted for several weeks through the night, was a huge success.

Llewellyn, who was informed of the situation by Arendt, gladly introduced the merchant guilds under his command.

It wasn’t easy to find common ground with them, but Arendt eventually succeeded.

Not only did he scrape up all the remaining stock, but he also secured a promise that 30% of the Elven Kingdom goods imported from there would be supplied to the Khan Union in the future.

In exchange for offering 2.5 times the market price to the Everan Kingdom, he also added the condition that, for the next six months, goods from the Elven Kingdom would be exclusively exported to the Khan Union.

‘The East Merchant Group must be feeling like they’ve been hit hard in the back of the head by now.’

Of course, they probably didn’t think that Neumann and Arendt would just take it.

As they constantly kept a watchful eye on the Union, they must have been alert to react immediately if Neumann or Arendt took any action…

They picked the wrong opponent.

When a merchant group tries to figure out the other party’s movements, it was basic to track the flow of people, contracts, and money.

As money changes hands, traces inevitably remain, so in transactions between superiors, there were clearly aspects that could not be hidden.

But Arendt was also shockingly thorough on this point.

The first investment money to go to the Everan Kingdom was paid directly by the Crown Prince in the form of a promissory note, and thanks to Llewellyn being used as the transaction agent, there was no trace left behind.

When they heard the rumor that both the Crown Prince and the prince had been manipulated at his fingertips, the two of them were left in a daze, but by then, the spilled water was beyond saving.

‘…I have no choice but to apologize to His Highness separately next time.’

Henry shook his head, shaking off his thoughts as he felt a chill run down his spine.

The tea shop across the street, which had only recently opened, was already gathering dust with hardly any customers.

The main reason was the influx of rare items into the Khan Union, but it was also revealed that the store had been taken over by Count Eckhart in order to get revenge on his rebelling sons.

It was judged that a store created for such a small reason would not last long.

The East Merchant Group and Count Eckhart, who had been thoroughly embarrassed, were sure to struggle for a while, making it an absolutely flawless victory.

Henry quietly made a promise as he gazed at the crowded Union, with employees running around frantically and merchants busy looking at the unique teas and tea sets produced in the Elven Kingdom.

“Never cross Lord Arendt.”

Never.