The Villainous Noble Son Wants to Capture His Stepsister! - Chapter 34

SIDE: ???

“Impossible! You mean to tell me the plan failed!?”

A man slammed his palm against the table. The force knocked over a glass, spilling its contents onto the pristine white tablecloth.

Judging by the grimace on his face, he had hurt his hand in the process. He glared at the middle-aged man standing before him, his expression dark with fury.

“…Why did it fail?”

“The abduction itself was successful. However, Lord Kraut and his personal maid, Heliotrope, caught up to them. Every last one of our men was slaughtered.”

“—!!”

The man clenched his teeth in frustration. In a fit of rage, he yanked the tablecloth away, sending plates and glasses crashing onto the floor with a deafening clatter.

“You useless fools! Do you have any idea how much I paid for this!?”

“…My deepest apologies.”

“Silence!”

“—!”

A plate, thrown in anger, struck the middle-aged man square on the head. A thin trickle of bl00d ran down his face, yet he remained bowed, unmoving.

“Do you understand what this means? If things continue as they are, we are finished. I don’t know what happened, but Kraut is no longer the man he once was. If he becomes the Duke, we will never be able to live as we please again.”

“……”

“Worse yet, he will undoubtedly move to eliminate us. Do you remember the purge from some time ago? Nearly all of the officials we had under our thumb were removed.”

“…Yes.”

“And now, rumors abound that the King and Queen—as well as Princess Lilliane—hold him in high regard. That wretched man!”

Once again, he slammed his hand against the table. This time, his fury was so overwhelming that he didn’t even seem to register the pain.

“He had the audacity to decline Princess Lilliane’s birthday banquet! That alone is a grave offense! The royal family should have sentenced him to death on the spot!”

A preposterous claim. Yet, in this room, there was no one with the authority—or the courage—to contradict him.

After all, he was the highest-ranking person present.

“And to think we finally had a useful pawn in Primelia. Yet he hasn’t even made an effort to introduce her to the princes. This was the perfect chance to forge stronger ties with the royal family!”

“…However, I have heard that the current royal family has rejected all proposals for political marriages.”

“Hah! That’s only because those offers came from petty nobles. A proposal from our ducal house would be another matter entirely—the royal family would welcome it with open arms.”

“…Is that so?”

Arrogant words, spoken with absolute certainty. He remained blissfully ignorant of one crucial truth—this very arrogance was what the current royal family despised most.

And it was precisely why Kraut had gained favor in their eyes.

“For now, he is still only an heir. But he has already seized control of the duchy’s affairs. In time, he will take over completely.”

“……”

“We have to act before that happens.”

“…Act, my lord?”

“We will eliminate him.”

“!”

“Right now, we still have many allies, while he has no shortage of enemies. There are plenty of ways to do this.”

“……”

“Once Kraut is gone, Primelia will be married into the royal family, and I—no, our house—will rise to even greater power.”

“……”

“Hah… I can hardly wait. You will make up for your failure by ensuring that this plan benefits me.”

“…As you command.”

Beneath the glow of an extravagant chandelier, in a dining hall designed to flaunt wealth and power, the men wove their treacherous schemes.

But they failed to realize.

They were not the only ones in this room who had ears.