There was still some intelligence that needed to be sent out overnight.
After leaving Tessa’s room, she glanced in the direction of Raul’s study and gave a cold smile.
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With the intelligence stolen, even if Raul survived, he would no longer be able to remain Chancellor.
Once the Southcroft Empire’s army entered the southern plains of the Eastvale Empire, she and Tessa both became heroes of the Southcroft Empire, and peaceful days awaited them thereafter.
Keaton took a deep breath and stealthily left the Chancellor’s estate.
At Sunbeam Court.
Tessa thought about her arrangements, so excited that she could not sleep, lying on her bed with a sinister
smile.
“Raul, just as you forced my mother to her death back then, tomorrow I will show you how to kill your own daughter!”
“By then, I wonder if you will still be able to smile!”
*****
Raul had a nightmare on the simple bed in his study.
In the dream, he sat in a dimly lit storeroom, the air thick with dampness and mold.
In the distance, a woman was bound by iron chains.
He closed in on the woman with a knife in hand, his expression brutally cold. “Tell me where the proceeds of the treasury fraud are, or I’ll make sure you suffer a fate worse than death.”
“I don’t know, I truly don’t know. I did not steal treasury fraud. I am merely a musician. I truly know nothing!”
The woman shook her head, her terrified gaze fixed on him.
The iron chains clattered noisily, and for some reason, this excited him. Especially seeing the woman adorned in gold and silver, clearly the daughter of a prominent family, made him even more determined to be ruthless.
“So you refuse to speak?”
Raul snorted coldly. “Then don’t blame me for being merciless!”
With a single slash, the woman’s arm was severed.
No matter how proper a young lady she was, no matter how noble or wealthy her birth, in the end, she was still left shattered and ruined.
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Chapter 203
Raul felt a pent–up frustration in his chest dissipate.
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Blood spurted out, and the woman let out a miserable scream, her entire being in utter disarray. “I truly don’t know, please, I beg you, don’t hurt me anymore!”
Raul also didn’t know whether she truly knew the whereabouts of the treasury fraud.
However, the stolen treasury fraud had to have a destination. He needed to give his superiors an explanation.
Moreover, this person had already been captured and crippled. If she left alive, he could not account for it, so he went all the way. He chopped off her limbs and head, and buried her right there in the cellar.
He felt that all the years of frustration pent up in his chest had been released, and he was overcome by a sense of exhilaration.
He dug a pit on the spot and buried her.
While burying her, he unexpectedly discovered that the location where the treasury fraud was hidden was actually drawn on the woman’s back.
Later, he handed over eighty percent of the treasury fraud, kept the remaining twenty percent for himself, and used this as a pretext to exile the Schneider family from Clearbrook.
Without the Schneider family, Wrenna was no longer a pampered young lady of a wealthy family. She could only rely on him to survive, and could no longer put on the airs of a noble lady.
With that remaining twenty percent of the treasury fraud, he himself also became a wealthy man.
From then on, he made connections everywhere and steadily rose in rank, eventually arriving in Sinderin City.
All those past events resurfaced in his dreams as vividly as reality.
Raul awoke from a nightmare, suddenly recalling many things from the past, and could no longer fall asleep.
After so many years, why did he suddenly dream of the spies of the Southcroft Empire and the Schneider family of Clearbrook?
He turned his head and glanced at the portrait hanging on the wall.
That portrait was deliberately painted not to resemble Wrenna.
He was born into poverty. His father was a hired laborer, his mother was lame, and his original surname was Zimmer, not Wallen.
Because life was hard, he most resented those who lived well. Especially when he reached adulthood and sought marriage, the matchmaker searched all the girls in the surrounding villages, but they either disliked his family’s poverty or thought he was incompetent.
In the end, the marriage proposals failed, and he became the subject of everyone’s ridicule.
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Chapter 203
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Later, with no other options and unable to go on, he went to Clearbrook.
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Unexpectedly, he encountered the newly appointed magistrate of Clearbrook, Harlan Wallen, who drowned in the river, leaving the subordinates unable to report back.
Noting his resemblance to Harlan, he volunteered to impersonate him and take his place.
The escorts, fearing exile, agreed to help him. If he could successfully pass as Harlan, they might even secure minor posts as constables at the county office.
Both sides quickly reached an agreement.
From then on, he changed his name and surname and became the magistrate of Clearbrook.
Yet even after becoming magistrate, his deep–seated inferiority complex remained, burrowing ever deeper and growing more restless, like maggots in the dark.
On one hand, he hoped to find a noblewoman to help him rise swiftly in status.
On the other hand, whenever he saw such women, he could not help but feel a surge of resentment.
It was amid these complex emotions that he met Wrenna.
He was drawn to her radiant smile, yet simultaneously resented her superior background. Under this contradictory mindset, even love became a matter of calculation.
In his scheming, he enjoyed both the pleasure of gaining and the thrill of destruction.
But at his core, he did not love Wrenna.
After Wrenna died, he remained unmarried for many years. Not because he loved her, but because he still could not face women of even slightly higher status, while marrying a commoner felt disgraceful to him.
In fact, back then, he deliberately approached Wrenna, secretly set a trap so she would lose her virginity to him, and ultimately had her bear his children. All because he coveted the shipping dock in Clearbrook.
However, the other members of the Schneider family did not agree to this.
Using the treasury fraud case to send away the rest of the Schneider family, exiling them to the distant northern frontier, was a move he orchestrated.
He thought he could seize control of the dock in the process.
After all, he was the Schneider family’s only son–in–law.
Yet unexpectedly, just a few days later, officials from the province arrived, and with a single iron decree, Clearbrook’s shipping was directly merged into the hands of the Burke family of Valewyn.
The Burke family was the late queen’s maternal line.
Even with the former queen gone, they still had the crown prince supporting them.
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Chapter 203
Raul was no match for them.
In that affair, aside from embezzling twenty percent of the treasury fraud, he gained nothing.
In the end, this move with Wrenna was a wasted effort.
Still…
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After so many years, why did he dream again of that woman who died so tragically and the treasury fraud
case?
He still remembered that after killing her, he branded her a mere songstress and sold her maid and child away together to a brothel.
Thinking back now, that child should be about the same age as Joshua.
At the very least, in their twenties.
Raul’s thoughts were in turmoil, and he could no longer sleep.
He lit a lamp, rose, and went to his desk, where, as if compelled by fate, he uncovered another portrait.
If Keaton were present at this moment, she would surely recognize it as her own portrait.
*****
Amidst the boundless wind and snow, none could sleep.
Amidst the surging undercurrents, a shadowy figure returned to Dashnell’s side and spoke in a low voice, “Your Highness, the details of the treasury fraud case have all been obtained. When should they be delivered to Prince Callum?”
“After tomorrow’s events.”
Dashnell’s study was shrouded in darkness.
He had not slept. Instead, he quietly gazed at the faintly glowing window.
“After tomorrow, news of Raul’s brutal killing of Margaery will spread throughout Sinderin City. I will have the King issue a decree, severing Margaery’s ties with the Chancellor’s estate completely.”
“Wait until then to take action.”
So that Margaery wouldn’t be implicated when Raul was imprisoned.
The shadow sighed in regret upon hearing this. “I truly did not expect Raul to use such dirty means to climb his way up.”
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
