The Villain’s Aide Has Run Away

Moreover, Count Maven never doubted that the Crown Prince would recommend Viscount Vincent.

If the academy fails to open, the responsibility would fall squarely on me. There’s no way the Crown Prince would make a choice unfavorable to me.

Even if he seemed careless on the surface, when it came to matters he was entrusted with, he never treated them lightly. The accomplishments the Crown Prince had built up until now were proof of that.

“The one I recommend is…”

Hearing Kailos trail off at the end of his sentence, the Count swallowed dryly. He assumed the Crown Prince was hesitating because choosing Viscount Vincent would mean practically handing the academy over to the Empress.

Thinking this way helped calm his excitement. Before long, Count Maven was wearing a faint smile, waiting for the name he had in mind to be spoken aloud—

“Baron Kelly.”

Count Maven’s jaw fell open.

“Did you say… Baron Kelly?”

To mention the very person who had been put in as a choice precisely not to be chosen? Count Maven doubted his own ears.

“That’s right. Was there someone else I was supposed to say?”

“No, that’s not it.”

The unexpected choice had rattled him. As things stood, he had practically exposed his inner thoughts to the Crown Prince. Hastily composing himself, Count Maven said,

“I would like to know the reason you chose Baron Kelly.”

“Reason? Weren’t you the one who put him forward as a candidate for headmaster?”

The Crown Prince kept turning the arrow back toward him. The Count tried to maintain composure while concealing his unease.

“He is an excellent man. His knowledge is extensive, and I am certain he would manage the newly established academy with the utmost rigor.”

The only problem was, that rigor was to a degree most nobles would find undesirable. Not only would he insist on housing nobles and commoners together in the same dormitory, but he would also address every inconvenience arising from it with absolute fairness.

“That is exactly what I had in mind.”

Was he being sincere? As Count Maven struggled to steady his confused mind, a thought struck him.

Perhaps he’s pretending not to choose Vincent because he knows Vincent sides with the Empress? At first, he’ll come on strong like this, then—

Could it be that, knowing Viscount Vincent is on the Empress’s side, he was only pretending not to choose him? That he was starting off with this hard stance, only so that once they offered some “reasonable” alternative, he would grudgingly accept it?

So that’s why he’s dragging things out.

Count Maven scoffed inwardly at the Crown Prince’s fox-like tricks but outwardly pretended to take it seriously.

“So you recommend Baron Kelly. Very well. I’ll report it as such.”

But he had no intention of actually following the Crown Prince’s lead.

Count Maven planned to go straight to the Empress. If the Crown Prince had chosen Viscount Vincent, it would have been confirmed immediately with support from others as well. It was the Crown Prince himself who threw away that easy path.

As he busily turned his thoughts toward how to consult with the Empress, the subtle smile on Kailos’s lips nagged at him.

“Count.”

Kailos twirled his wineglass and inhaled its sweet aroma.

“I never said that she’s who I want.”

“But… the recommendation should naturally reflect the majority opinion—”

“Count Maven.”

At the sound of his name, Count Maven stiffened, seized by a faint tension.

“I’ve given you plenty of consideration until now. Is that still not enough?”

The words implied that throughout the process of establishing Wisley Academy, most choices had already gone Maven’s way. Indeed, the Count had given opportunities to those aligned with him.

Thanks to that, not only had he secured considerable profit, but he had also openly consolidated his power a little further. Even then, the Crown Prince had shown little interest.

But now, the Crown Prince was warning him. In this matter, Count Maven was merely the executor.

“I trust you understand what I mean. You may go.”

At Kailos’s dismissal, Count Maven clenched his fist and rose to his feet. Until now, he had toyed with the situation as though he were the master of it all, but in the end, the most crucial piece had been taken from him. It was humiliating.

After Maven withdrew, Kailos drained the wine in his glass in a single motion and set it down.

“The aroma’s good, so the taste is too.”

It felt as though a weight had been lifted.

“I wonder how the Empress will respond.”

At Robin’s words from his place in the shadows, Kailos imagined what might be unfolding outside those doors.

“She’ll insist on Baron Kelly. Then she’ll plan to pin all the consequences on me. To do that, she’ll need allies to lend their strength, so the number of people moving in and out of the Imperial Palace will grow.”

“Every one of them will be obstacles in Your Highness’s path.”