Was Bodo the reason the viscountess had headed into the slums? There was nothing else to go on. Adelbert seemed certain that was the reason. He howled in anguish like a wounded beast.
"Mort, that son of a bitch, worked with Viscount Neunil to lure Amalia there. Now it all finally makes sense. They used your retainer to get to Amalia! To that poor girl!"
"Is there proof that Bodo is Viscount Elsheimer’s illegitimate child?"
"Only the late Amalia or those bastards would know!"
For Adelbert, who had known nothing of Bodo’s kidnapping, Amalia’s death must have been both an agony and a mystery. And that proof, if it existed, was in the hands of the very men who had killed her.
Perhaps Viscount Elsheimer had left behind some clue, and Mort or Amalia had discovered it, bringing about this outcome. But why had Amalia gone to the trouble of tracking down her father’s illegitimate child in the first place?
"How did Mort and the viscountess usually get along?"
"Unfortunately, not well, as far as I know. Amalia often came to me with her grievances. I should never have brushed them off back then. I had no idea it would end in a catastrophe like this."
Wracked with guilt as he was, all I could sense from Adelbert was pure hatred for Mort and Neunil. The tangled web binding Neunil and Mort, Elsheimer and Reinfeldt, had in the end produced this tragedy.
As I suspected, we’d need to arrest those bastards to get an accurate account.
In truth, having grounds for a charge was enough on its own.
Men with dirty hands always leave some kind of evidence lying around. Mort was currently on the run, so the target was clear. The Viscount Neunil family. It was the Capital Sentinel Command’s turn to move.
Holding judicial authority as I did, I had the power to arrest them.
The catch was that if no clear evidence turned up, it could blow back on me. But Neunil had let far too much evidence slip. And digging up evidence and clues of that sort happened to be my specialty.
"I’ll find out the rest through Neunil. But answer me one more thing. What does Mort stand to gain?"
What exactly could Mort gain from all this?
Men of a conspiratorial bent scheme only for profit.
"The Bishopric of Lanseh lies within your domain, Baron of Rosenheim, if I am not mistaken. My half-sister is there. A younger sister, born to my father’s third wife."
"If you die, all of Reinfeldt’s inheritance rights would pass to that sister?"
"That’s right. She and I are all that’s left of the Reinfeldt bloodline. That’s what Mort was after."
So that was it. If Mort’s scheme had succeeded perfectly, the sole remaining Reinfeldt blood relative would have inherited all the family’s rights along with the office of Finance Minister. Mort intended to marry that sister.
With the viscountess dead, he would have been a free man, after all.
The sister, knowing nothing, would have faced the cruel fate of marrying her family’s enemy and having everything stolen from her. It was a scheme so vicious it went past appalling into sheer absurdity.
"Did Mort approach you with that intention from the very beginning, Count?"
"No, he did not. Recruiting Mort was my own decision."
So that choice had come back to him like a boomerang. It didn’t seem Mort had come to him with ill intent from the start. Perhaps the motive behind Mort’s betrayal lay in the viscountess’s own actions.
"I believe in your innocence, Count, but clearing the charges will be difficult until we catch Mort. Still, I will put pressure on the Judicial Minister myself. He won’t be able to attack you for a while."
"Please do. If the Judicial Department’s offensive eases up, I might finally be able to catch my breath."
Surrounded by enemies on all sides, he had joined hands with the most powerful faction of all, so the Reinfeldt family had at least bought itself time to recover. But Adelbert’s expression was far from happy.
At its core, our relationship had been born from a deal.
He must have sensed that the price he’d have to pay would be steep, but for now, putting out the fire at his feet came first. With his family standing at the crossroads of survival and ruin, he would have to throw everything into getting his own house in order.
And as promised, I went to meet the Judicial Minister.
The Judicial Minister was not exactly thrilled to see me. I had met with Adelbert first, after all. And as expected, he balked at my demand that he call off the offensive.
"Your visit is welcome, Baron of Rosenheim, but that is a difficult matter."
"Do you intend to drive out the Finance Minister’s family entirely and install one of the Judicial Department’s junior houses in its place?"
The Rubelich family of ceremonial officials, the department’s second house, would be one example. Their name was easily confused with that of the Rudelich family of Offenburg. Honestly, German noble family names all sounded alike.
"Hmm, I won’t deny it. However, every court noble has an eye on the Finance Minister’s seat. Sitting idle at a time like this would be foolish. Does the Military Department intend to enter the fray as well?"
"I don’t speak for the Military Department, but I do know His Highness the grand duke’s mind on the matter."
"...His mind, you say?"
The power of the minister families flows from the grand duke. Depending on his intentions, all their plotting could come to nothing and leave them barking up an empty tree. Yet the grand duke had simply let it all play out. Go on, fight harder, tear each other apart.
But I knew the grand duke was, if anything, favorably disposed toward Adelbert. He hadn’t given me any particular instructions. He was simply enjoying the pandemonium over the minister’s seat.
So I took Adelbert’s side.
"His Highness intends to grant the Finance Minister’s seat to whichever family proves its ability."
"A fair method, worthy of Altringen, guardian of law and justice."
Handing the seat to whichever noble family schemes its way to the end was fair? It was horrifying. And the Judicial Minister seemed convinced he would win that fight.
Not a chance, not with me and the Military Department watching with our eyes wide open.
We would not let the Judicial Department swallow court politics whole.
"I support the current Count Reinfeldt keeping his position."
"Hmm, that is merely your own wish, is it not, Baron? The Military Department would never support Reinfeldt."
"But if I persuade him, my father-in-law will support Reinfeldt in the end as well."
"...One can hardly ignore the argument of a prince’s son-in-law."
"The same goes for His Highness the grand duke. Wouldn’t he give it at least a moment’s thought?"
I stared steadily at the Judicial Minister. Reading the meaning in my gaze, he let his displeasure show plainly. But faced with the formidable military power in my hands, he could not easily open his mouth.
"Baron, did you come here to threaten me?"
"If Count Reinfeldt’s charges are cleared, the one in danger will be you, Judicial Minister."
"You speak as though Adelbert did not kill Heinz (the Finance Minister)."
"The one dancing on someone else’s strings is you, Judicial Minister."
The Judicial Minister was seizing on Adelbert’s predicament to attack him relentlessly, but in truth he was rampaging around on a stage built by Neunil and Mort. If that isn’t a clown, what is?
"Baron of Rosenheim, if you were just any ordinary noble, I would not let this stand."
"And if not for our friendly relations in the past, I would have attacked the Judicial Department without hesitation."
The Judicial Minister and I glared fiercely at each other.