Renad

Ian could not help but frown at Viscount Rubingston, who had come to see him and delivered his report. It was news about a family he did not want to hear about.

“Renad, is it?”

“It seems there are more than a few people who have suffered because of this Renad, the youngest son of the Tarshos County. I hear some even went so far as to commit suicide.”

“I warned him so firmly, and yet they still let him run wild and pull something like this.”

“Judging from what has surfaced, it does appear to have been Renad’s act alone, Your Majesty.”

“Even so, is it not the count’s fault as well for failing to keep his son in check?”

It seemed that Renad, the youngest son of Count Tarshos—Ian’s maternal uncle—had run quite the scam. Naturally, what particularly irritated Ian was that the man had used the king’s own name to commit fraud. He had always known something like this might happen someday, but experiencing it directly left him thoroughly annoyed.

“How much did he swindle from them?”

“The losses tallied so far amount to 3.3 million grang, Your Majesty.”

“He certainly took a lot. And how many victims?”

“Approximately 245, according to the current count.”

“So he went down to the provinces, used my name freely, and pulled a grand scam.”

Apparently, Renad, his uncle’s youngest son, had gone out to the countryside, gathered people, and carried out a large-scale fraud. Lately the state had been launching major civil engineering works here and there. He had exploited that, luring people in by claiming he would attract such projects to their region and then stripping the small local nobles living there of their money.

“Where did he run off to?”

“First, he is said to have fled to the Vincent Kingdom.”

As its name suggested, the Vincent Kingdom was the state established by his elder brother, the former First Prince. That he had run there meant he had initially chosen a place away from the active front lines. Ian could tell from Viscount Rubingston’s expression that they had ultimately lost him, though he had to admit Renad had shown a certain low cunning.

“And from there, he left again for somewhere else, I assume.”

“Yes, he fled to an entirely different place. He must have done a great deal of prior research, because he erased his tracks quite thoroughly.”

If they had learned of it earlier, they could have enlisted help from the Vincent Kingdom and arrested him, but it had taken time for his actions to be exposed as fraud. As a result, the pursuit had begun too late. Ian could not help thinking that it was a waste for someone with a head like that to turn to swindling.

No, that was not right—he remembered that he had blocked any chance for Renad to use his abilities in a proper career.

‘Did he start running frauds because I completely cut off his path to advancement?’

It had been a measure to prevent his mother’s family from gaining too much power, and also a price for the way they had turned their backs on him. But the very fact that he had chosen fraud in response suggested his character had been rotten from the start. Ian felt that if he had given him freedom, Renad might have gone on to do something far worse.

‘Maybe it’s actually better that he only ended up a conman. Otherwise, he might’ve been the kind to sell out the whole country.’

“Is there truly no way to track him down?”

“No, Your Majesty. We will continue the pursuit. The most likely places are foreign colonies that are not directly embroiled in the war. If we focus our agents on those areas and follow the trail, we should be able to find him.”

“Do so. If at all possible, I want him tracked down and dragged back here.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I will see it done.”

As Ian listened to Viscount Rubingston’s reply, he could not help but ponder what to do about Count Tarshos.

“More importantly, are you certain it was really his doing alone?”

“From what we can see, it can only be judged as a solo crime. He left the family and went independent quite early, and even before that, he often clashed with the count.”

“And what was the cause of those clashes?”

“As one would expect, the blockage of his path to advancement. I hear that back when he attended school and university, he performed quite well academically.”

Renad was around Ian’s age, and had graduated from university with excellent grades, only to find all avenues of advancement closed. It seemed he had vented his resentment on the count—his uncle. Their relationship had soured, he had left the family, and then he had gone on to commit fraud and flee the country.

‘It’s highly likely he did this out of resentment toward me as well. But the question is: how do I handle this?’

From what Ian heard, it was clear the count himself bore no direct fault. But in the eyes of others, he would inevitably be branded as a father who had failed to control his son. Ian could not help but feel somewhat sorry for him because of that.

‘Of course, that doesn’t mean I can simply overlook how he refused to stand by me in the past.’

“How is the Tarshos County faring at the moment?”

“Hundreds of nobles from the provinces have just arrived in the capital and are now occupying the front of the estate gate, loudly denouncing this incident.”

“So the rumors must already have spread through the capital. Is there any chance those angry people might force their way into the mansion?”

“We have already deployed the police to guard the main gate, so there should be no intrusion, Your Majesty.”

“That was well done.”

Even though he had cut himself off from his mother’s family, Ian knew he would have felt deeply unsettled if an enraged crowd had stormed the estate and caused an incident. That went double when he thought of his mother. He had no doubt this news would soon reach her as well.

“What shall we do about those nobles, then?”

“We cannot simply disperse them by force, so let us first try persuasion.”

“Do you intend to compensate their losses, Your Majesty?”

“What else can I do? They are still my mother’s kin. Especially for Her Majesty the Queen Dowager’s sake, I think it best to settle this quickly. Of course, we must investigate thoroughly to ensure that only actual damages are compensated.”

“Indeed, for Her Majesty’s sake as well, it would be best to resolve it swiftly.”

Knowing how deeply Ian cherished his mother and younger sister, Viscount Rubingston understood the decision. He resolved to move quickly.

“Then I will set to work at once.”

“Do so. Dragging this out would do us no good.”

With that, the viscount turned and walked out of the office, and the door shut behind his departing figure. Ian let out a long sigh. Troublesome matters were suddenly piling up out of nowhere.

‘As if that ambassador from the Magnia Empire wasn’t enough to worry about, now this happens too.’

He had thought today would end with a light walk and his usual work, but it felt like everything had come crashing down at once. At the same time, he could not shake his unease about the behavior of the newly appointed ambassador. Before Viscount Rubingston had arrived, the report he had received was that Princess Adrina had raised her voice in anger.

‘They said it sounded like she shouted in real disgust… What exactly did he do?’

Knowing her usual temperament and behavior, Ian could easily imagine the ambassador had done something extremely offensive. The thought left him feeling unpleasantly irritated. The man had come of his own accord, without so much as a by-your-leave, and ambushed Princess Adrina. Ian already disliked this newly posted ambassador.

‘I’ll have to meet him myself sometime soon.’

As he was thinking that, he heard a voice outside announcing a visitor.

“Your Majesty, Her Majesty the Queen Dowager has come to see you.”

“Show her in.”

With those words, the office door opened again, and his mother entered. Ian rose from his seat at once to greet her. It was practically the first time she had ever come all the way to his office like this.

She took a moment to look around the office before turning her gaze to him. Ian forced a smile and spoke.

“Welcome, Mother.”

“Have you… heard anything?”

“Yes. You’ve come to speak about the Tarshos County, haven’t you? I’ve already been briefed.”

“Yes. Because it concerns my birth family, I could not help but come to you like this.”

“If it’s about your family, please don’t worry too much. From what I’ve heard, it seems clear this will be judged as an independent act by the youngest son.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yes. And I will make sure the victims receive compensation somehow.”

“I will also offer my own private funds, at least a little, to repay them.”

“There’s really no need for you to go that far, Mother.”

“No. I feel guilty toward you. I want to help, even if only in a small way.”

It seemed she felt sorry that trouble from the house she had been born and raised in might bring harm to her son. Seeing tears well up in her eyes, Ian quickly took out a handkerchief and handed it to her.

“Please don’t cry. There’s no need to worry so much about this. I hear the police have already been deployed, and the provincial nobles who came up are being kept from entering the mansion itself.”

“Ah, that is a relief.”

“So if you can rest easy, I will see to everything myself.”

“I feel truly sorry to everyone. Something like this should never have happened…”

“There’s no need to say that. This is all the doing of that Renad fellow. No one else is at fault.”

“…I cannot understand how a child like that could come from our family. We are still a count’s house. To think we would produce a common fraud…”

She trailed off, as if the words caught in her throat. Ian continued to reassure her that everything would be all right, and at last she began to calm down.

“When things have settled somewhat, I intend to meet them myself and settle this.”

“How will you do that, Mother?”

“I am going to tell them in person that the entire family must leave the capital.”

“That might be too harsh a punishment.”

“No. I believe it must be done. Isn’t it possible something like this could happen again? For the sake of the future, I think it is absolutely necessary.”

His mother, not Ian, was the one insisting that stern measures be taken against the Tarshos County. Understanding her feelings all too well, Ian could not bring himself to tell her not to do it. To be honest, he himself did not truly want his mother’s family to remain in the capital.

“…Very well. If that is what you wish, Mother, then please do so.”

“All right. And I want to say that I’m sorry to you once again.”

“Please don’t say that. As long as your heart is at ease, that is all that matters to me. That’s what’s important.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Hearing her son speak as if comforting her, she thought that at the very least she had raised a good son. Ian gently embraced her and patted her back. While mother and son comforted each other like that, the provincial nobles who had come to the Tarshos estate quietly dispersed in the face of the measures swiftly taken.

Of course, rumors of the incident quickly spread through the capital, but they died down just as quickly. Since the king had personally taken charge and resolved the situation, people had little to gain from bringing it up. Some journalists had managed to sniff out a story, but when word came down from the royal family, they had no choice but to close their articles.

One could call it pressure on the press, but in a monarchy, such things were only natural. In the end, this became an affair known only to those directly involved.

Of course, the pursuit of the criminal Renad continued.

Somewhere on the Colonial Continent.

“By now they must all be in an uproar trying to find me, right?”

The man’s twisted grin matched the smug satisfaction on his face. His name was Renad—more precisely, Renad von Tarshos. In truth, he was King Ian of the Polia Kingdom’s maternal cousin.

He had not originally been particularly dissatisfied with the world. He had simply been someone who thought it would be nice to live a quiet, unremarkable life. But as the domestic political situation changed, things had taken a strange turn. First, out of nowhere, his ninth-prince cousin Ian had staged what was essentially a coup.

With the Capital Defense Command at his back, he had seized the royal palace, and once he had taken full control of the capital as well, he had secured the throne. When Renad first heard about this, his heart had raced. He thought the time had finally come for his family to step into the light.

He had dreamed of a modest life, but as his environment changed, ambition had begun to grow. Soon, however, he realized things were not going to go that way. The king had turned his back on his mother’s family and started imposing restrictions on them.

He was informed that, under no circumstances, would anyone from their house ever be allowed to hold public office. This struck him as deeply unjust. So he went to his father and asked directly. What had happened? Why were these restrictions being imposed? In response, his father brought up the past.

The family had been the first to foolishly sever ties with Prince Ian. When he learned of this, Renad shouted at his father for the first time in his life. They had a terrible fight, and their relationship became disastrous. In the midst of that, he moved out on his own and eventually graduated from university.

He searched for what he could do in that situation, but found nothing he could truly be satisfied with. There were jobs available, but none that could be called respectable. The king’s restrictions meant he would never be allowed to rise above a certain level.

The only thing open to him was tutoring—teaching students for money, thanks to his excellent university record. As he continued that life, he realized this was not the life he had wanted.

For him, living a quiet life had always included reaching at least a certain status. But now he could not even aim for that, and he felt both deeply wronged and full of hatred for the king. In the end, he made up his mind: he went down to the provinces, pulled off a major fraud to strip people of their money, and used that money to flee the Polia Kingdom.

‘With these gold bars I brought out, I’ll build a base—and someday, I’ll definitely get my revenge.’

Thinking of Ian, who even now was surely in the royal palace of the Polia Kingdom, Renad left the place where he had been staying and began moving toward a destination no one could have predicted.