Chapter 91

Siena felt fear. Fear that the game might end too quickly.

‘No. It’s still too early to give up, isn’t it?’

Determined not to abandon hope, Siena looked around the opium den.

Made by utilizing an entire floor of a closed hotel, the opium den…

Although it was her first time coming here in person, the scenes she had roughly anticipated unfolded right before her eyes.

Continuously burning opium pipes, piles of exclusive opium pipes lying around everywhere, and what seemed to be strong rum prepared to enjoy alongside the opium.

Eventually, the main product here was opium.

However, opium wasn’t the only thing here.

“Kehe… silver hair? White hair? Speak the truth.”

The students jabbed at Siena with sticks while shivering violently. Each of them was holding a blanket and wearing eerie smiles. Beside them rolled dried red-capped mushrooms.

What she had thought was just a plain opium den seemed to be diversifying its offerings for its own reasons.

“Mushrooms too. Do you deal with these as well?”

A question directed at the opium den’s owners.

However, they didn’t respond to Siena’s inquiry and instead looked like they were on the verge of death, merely observing carefully. They even started cautiously arguing amongst themselves, blaming each other with subtle nudges. Siena was extremely disappointed.

“Anyone can step forward and answer. Don’t waste time.”

“Your Highness Siena! I truly had no intention of colluding with the traitor Leon.”

“That’s later. First, I would like to hear about your business. Where and how do you acquire these hallucinogenic mushrooms?”

Prompted by Siena, one of the stupefied students began explaining in a subdued voice.

Apparently, after hearing a rumor that Empress Lianhua enjoyed the mushrooms and feeling interested, they issued warrants for herbalists to collect mushrooms with special effects. However, due to an incident where one of their customers nearly died, they were planning to stop soon.

“Even with collection, there are limits. With your abilities, distinguishing between poisonous mushrooms and those with hallucinogenic effects alone might not be easy.”

“Th… that’s correct, Your Highness.”

Siena was only left feeling let down.

Of course, she hadn’t really expected a systematic organization. These were just students who were running an opium den, not yet seasoned drug dealers. After some consideration, they hadn’t been in business for very long.

‘If I had known this, I should have waited longer before making my move.’

But once done, actions couldn’t be undone.

Now there was only one hope left for Siena.

Morphine.

The 1 gram of morphine they had paid for under the false pretense of purchasing 80 pieces of nonexistent relics belonging to Leon.

There were only two ways to obtain morphine in the Empire.

Either siphon it off from Medoff Pharmaceuticals, or divert the supply intended for the military. Though the former couldn’t be completely ruled out, the latter was overwhelmingly more likely, as Alan immediately handed over all morphine he produced to the military.

Whose doing was this? A military doctor or a nurse?

Or maybe an officer or noncommissioned officer from the ordnance branch?

Now was the time to find out.

“Bring them all here.”

“Understood, Your Highness.”

The knights, who had been directed to bring the opium den owners before Siena, made them kneel down.

Siena’s knights were quite skilled at “these kinds of tasks.” Generally, royal bodyguards focus on protection and ceremonial duties, but Siena’s knights had to also handle the messy problems that arose from her business ventures.

“Your Highness. We truly didn’t have… any such intention…!”

“…There was no such intention, it’s just a misunderstanding. This won’t happen again, so please just overlook it this one time. If you’re intending to try to justify yourself this way, just give up.”

“…”

“I will consider leniency if you provide some useful information.”

A clear indication that this wouldn’t end well.

Upon hearing this, the students running the opium den looked at her with despair, as if they had hit a wall, but Siena didn’t care.

After a period of silence, one of the opium merchants cautiously stepped forward.

“Your Highness Siena. I am James. My uncle is Lord Venner, who once served as the vice minister of the territorial department ten years ago. Your Highness must know that our family has served the Imperial Court for four generations…”

“Just tell me.”

“…Why is a figure as honorable as Your Highness doing this?”

“For violating the Ordinance of Military Supplies, endangering the Empire’s defense, and even having ties to attempted royal assassination, do you need a reason to eliminate the relevant organizations?”

Responding plainly, Siena left James infuriated.

“That is not what I mean. The real reason…! Your Highness is making absurdly large sums of money, isn’t she? Just from the military supply of morphine, it’s over fifty million talers… and with heroin, I heard it amounted to one hundred million talers. Plus the silver mines too!”

“The silver mining is still in preparation.”

“Regardless!”

James, the manager of the opium den, raised his voice.

Siena’s knight immediately struck him with the scabbard.

“This damn…!”

“Keuh!”

Siena knew why James felt so wronged.

In truth, there was no real reason for her, as a princess, to personally hunt down an insignificant organization that merely ran an opium den. Compared to Medoff Pharmaceuticals, they were just small fry. It wasn’t even necessary to suppress them from a purely business perspective.

But Siena had a more important motive.

“It’s interesting.”

“…”

James, who had been struck and fell down, sent a look of utter despair. Even the opium den patrons who had been cautiously observing couldn’t help but look at Siena with a baffled expression, as if they had heard something they weren’t supposed to.

However, Siena had simply spoken the truth.

**

‘Crazy girl.’

That was the near-insult James, who had been running the opium den for just over three months in a closed hotel, almost let slip, but he barely managed to hold back because the other party was a princess.

Still, even though she was a crazy girl, she was royalty, and practically held the lifeline of James and his friends in her hands. He didn’t know how he got caught by this crazy princess, but the situation was utterly disadvantageous.

“Speak. Where did you get the morphine from?”

Even now, Siena continued to press him.

Despite her having already sold over sixty kilograms of morphine to the military…

Despite her having given better, allegedly more deadly heroin to elves for immense profit…

Just asking where he got 1 gram of morphine was deeply unfair.

‘So this is how I die..?’

Still, revealing the true source of the morphine was a dangerous affair.

Because the person who supplied the morphine to him was no ordinary human.

The supplier had an impressive family to begin with, and it was probably because of their influence that they were able to divert the morphine.

If he disclosed the truth recklessly, retaliation would surely follow.

But keeping the supplier’s name concealed also seemed impossible.

“James, if you wish to uphold your loyalty to the person who gave you morphine, I won’t stop you. I don’t have investigative authority, after all, so what can I do?”

“Your Highness…?”

“But I can still pass a few words to the commandant of the military police. It wouldn’t be difficult to request severe punishment for you.”

“…”

It seemed like an offer to utterly destroy his life unless he confessed.

“Sending you and your friends to the punishment forces like Leon Rothe Dale isn’t a bad idea either. Unlike Leon who would serve on land, you’ll probably serve as deck hands. I won’t explain the conditions of such service, though.”

“Your Highness, please…”

“Ah, wouldn’t this also be good? I could have you work in the unpaid mining crew installed in the silver mine I recently secured the rights to. Would you like to work there for 10 years, located right in the heart of the Great Forest?”

“…”

“Surviving for 10 years there will be hard.”

…Saying such a horrifying thing with such a bright smile.

James, along with his business partners, were already pale with fear. This was far more intimidating than being threatened with a knife.

Eventually, James opened his trembling lips.

“Highness, if we honestly disclose the supplier…”

“Are you asking if I’ll reconsider now?”

“Please, show mercy.”

“Don’t try to bargain with me. …However, I can tell you one thing. The longer you delay, the worse the situation will get. Honestly, it’s already a little too late. You should’ve answered right from the start.”

She’s completely devoid of human empathy.

But desperate situations do not allow for stalling. Continuing to delay might lead the second princess, Siena, to conceive of even more terrible ideas.

Finally, he helplessly disclosed the supplier’s name.

“A lieutenant from the Ordinance Command provided us with the convenience. They worked in collaboration with a military hospital medic to secure the supply, pretending that some patients needed morphine when they really didn’t, and consistently… about 4 to 5 grams a week of morphine….”

“I roughly understand the method. So, which lieutenant is it?”

“Lieutenant Timothy Wolphall… sir.”

Timothy Wolphall.

The moment this name was revealed, James noticed Siena’s expression brighten.

Is it because of the significance of the individual in relation to the empire’s defense? No, but the “Wolphall” surname held considerable weight within the Empire.

One of the top five noble families in the Empire, producing over a hundred officers if you include all branches of the Wolphall military family.

And…

The maternal relatives of Crown Princess Victoria Carrail.

Among the three princesses with different mothers, Princess Victoria maintained the closest relationship with her maternal family.

Unbelievably, my sister Victoria might be implicated.

Siena couldn’t help but laugh—either trying to suppress her laughter or deciding there’s no need.

How delightful news it was that a member of the Wolphall family had been implicated in morphine leakage.

Honestly, Timothy Wolphall was a minor lieutenant.

Victoria’s sixth cousin. In terms of Timothy Wolphall personally, he was a common branch of the Wolphall family, so he was probably making pocket money through morphine.

But the degree of relation didn’t really matter. Since the entire Wolphall family was at the core of Victoria’s faction. In contrast to Siena, Victoria had a very close relationship with her maternal family. It was likely due to this closeness that Timothy ended up handling the morphine distribution.

This was potentially useful material.

In many ways.

Siena decided to deliver this news directly to her beloved older sister.

Not merely to mock her, but for another purpose entirely.

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