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Chapter 426:

Drewes's Point of View

The Duke's Estate

"Excuse me for a minute, but I need to steal my wife." I told the kitchen staff that were catering to my wife's every whim.

She eyed me for a moment before she reached out for a tray of freshly baked goods. "Why?" Luthi inquired.

I rolled my eyes. "You can eat your desserts whenever you want."

There was a skeptical look in response. "Can I get that in writing?"

Turning to the chef, I immediately spoke. "Please put my wife on-"

"No! No, no!" She quickly said and put the tray down. "Come along, dear." Grabbing my hand, the two of us teleported out of the kitchen. "To threaten my snacks and cravings... How dare you!" It was an accusation I was more than familiar with.

"I would never threaten your desserts. You technically never let me finish." I told her as I pointed at her. "So, you have no clue what I was really going to say."

"What were you going to say?"

Moving to my desk, I held up a few papers. "It matters not. We need to talk."

She scoffed. "Sweetheart, my pastries and baked goods matter quite a lot." Luthi, in her mood, snatched the papers from my hand. "What do we need to talk-" Her eyes widened as she started going over the papers. "Is all of this true?"

Sitting down, I smirked and nodded. "It is."

"Then... Arthur..."

A sigh escaped my lips as my shoulders sagged a little. "Arthur essentially owns Lestrania at this point. He has a hand in almost every business. Several new merchants have opened new trade routes in and out of the Kingdom thanks to him."

My wife held up the papers. "He has bought out every debt owed throughout Lestrania, including the nobles!" I nodded. "Where did he get such vast amounts of gold?" She whispered in disbelief.

"That little project of his in the lowest rung is being done throughout the Kingdom. Many have no idea that he's the one who bought the rights to the land and the wall that went up around Lestrania. That project is his entirely and will open up even more trade throughout the Kingdom." Rubbing my eyes for a moment, I took off my rings and set them on the desk. "Can you believe we offered him Helmsforth when he already had us all in the palm of his hand?"

The papers dropped from my wife's hands as they trembled. "What do we do?" Her tone was barely above a whisper.

I shrugged. "Is there anything we can do?"

Luthi became quiet for a moment as she began pacing back and forth. "Should we alert the Priestess?"

"To my knowledge, all of this was done legally. Arthur's deals were outstanding, and each individual agreed to everything. There is nothing she could do." Then I held up my hands. "Well, to punish him legally anyway. She could very well order his execution if she wanted to on some trumped-up charges."

"Do you think the people would believe that? He's the Hero of Lestrania! Our Guardian Knight!" Her pacing quickened as her turns got sharper. "What do we tell the Priestess?!"

"As far as we are concerned, we tell her nothing." Her head whipped to me in shock. "We wait as long as possible for Arthur and Priestess Elincia to return, where we will no longer be in the middle of the situation. Let them handle it."

She eyed me for a moment as her arms fell to her sides. "So, we just wait?"

I nodded. "I see no reason not to."

Slowly, Luthi began nodding. "We can take our time, and if she does summon us, we just ask for more time."

"Agreed. We just go about our daily lives like normal."

"Then how should we handle Arthur?" That got me to frown. "When he comes back, there is going to be a clash between the two..."

Taking a deep breath, I exhaled slowly through my nose. "I know." Scratching my eyebrow with my middle finger, my mind raced. "The question is, how ambitious is Arthur. Does he seem like a man to covet the throne?"

Luthi shook her head. "Doubtful. From what I know, he hates how large his mansion is." She finally sat down across from me. "There is more to Arthur than meets the eye."

"I know."

"There are rumors he is even stronger than the Priestesses."

"I know." I repeated as my scratch hardened.

"We're missing information." She said, and I just sighed. "I know, you know." Luthi said before I could in a mocking tone. "So," My wife immediately continued. "Where do we get the information we need? If we want to stay ahead of whatever plans Arthur is concocting, we need to figure out what his goals are."

My head shook back and forth. "There is no one we can ask without tipping Arthur off. When he gets back, the last thing I want to deal with is a man who is known for killing nobles in crowded rooms and getting away with it. If anyone has information, it will be someone close to Arthur."

Luthi hummed out in thought. "This isn't good."

I hummed back. "No. No, it's not."