Chapter 98

The maternal relatives of Victoria are paying attention to me.

It’s not just attention; they’re even taking action around me.

My suspicions solidified when Siena entered the production room and casually said:

“Alan. Aren’t your family from Longkenny Prefecture?”

“Yes, that’s correct, but—”

“Isn’t it true the brigade commander stationed in Longkenny Prefecture offered your younger sibling a position as a military apprentice? And if not, recommended them for a job at the local government offices?”

“My younger sibling?”

“You really don’t keep in contact with your family, do you?”

I was about to confirm this today but decided not to show it.

I had intended to thank her somehow, but Siena turned her back on me before I could. With her unbound silver hair flowing, she departed from the production room. And as she left, she quietly muttered, “It’s best to kill them all.”

Anyway, the information from Siena was helpful.

‘Already trying to get to my family?’

Currently, the only Medoff who has successfully made it to the center of power is me. The others never set foot in the Academy, essentially being wealthy local farmers. But even if they make noise in the village as nobles, they aren’t suitable as bureaucrats. Certainly, it wasn’t the case that the brigade commander of the Imperial Army personally approached them about a job offer.

Upon investigation, it turned out the commander was part of Victoria’s faction. This faction was led not by Victoria herself but by her maternal uncles, and their obvious intention was to try to bring my acquaintances under their influence.

‘Someday, these efforts will succeed.’

I have to assume they are observing my actions and the actions of those around me closely.

I intend to use this to trap the Wolphall family.

It starts with a visit to the detention center of the Military Police.

“I would like to visit Timothy Wolphall.”

There, I met Timothy Wolphall, who had been cut off by the Wolphalls. Timothy, an Army lieutenant, was accused of diverting around five grams of morphine weekly from the military hospital to sell to the opium field organization (only the revealed charges) and ended up disgraced when he assaulted a medical officer to cover up his crimes and was caught by his cousin, Victoria.

Timothy is currently awaiting trial.

However, he looked remarkably resolved, considering his ruined life.

“Director Alan, you won’t get any information from me.”

He declared this the moment he saw me, then smirked.

As if saying, “I knew you’d come,” and “No matter what you say, I won’t do anything that harms my family.”

I didn’t feel any disappointment. After all, I hadn’t come here to recruit Timothy Wolphall.

It’s an inefficient move to try to persuade someone who has already been cut off by the organization.

At first glance, it seems easy to assume that someone severed from the organization would be consumed by anger.

After all, they were abandoned by the organization they served, and while others who committed greater offenses remain untouched, they were left holding the blame. It’s easy to think they’d be so incensed by this that they’d lash out.

But severed tails rarely lose their faith in the main body easily.

‘They misguidedly think that if they endure a little longer, they’ll be rewarded.’

This is something I learned from a past life of messy arguments with my parents.

Moreover, the Wolphall family isn’t just a group bound by common interests but is a clan tied by blood.

Perhaps Timothy believes his family would never betray him. Such faith might be necessary for survival in a detention cell.

“Director Alan, no matter what you say…”

“Doesn’t matter. I just plan to sit here silently for a while.”

“…What do you mean?”

“When I finish the visit and leave, one of your kin will likely come to you and ask what I tried to pry from you, whether you disclosed any information that might harm Princess Victoria’s faction.”

“…”

“Tell them simply the truth. That Alan Medoff came, sat in silence, scribbled something, and left.”

This should be enough for you to understand my intentions. But Timothy Wolphall’s face was still filled with suspicion.

This was the moment I realized how sheltered this family had been.

‘Of course, they might have had no reason to cut ties with the family up until now.’

It seemed Timothy couldn’t fathom the reality that, while he clung to the hope of loyalty from an organization that had cast him out, that same organization might easily distrust and reject him.

“…Director Alan, if you think that by your schemes I will cause trouble for Her Highness Princess Victoria or my family, you are mistaken.”

“I’ve already said that you don’t need to talk. I already have all the information I need.”

“Then why are you here?”

Timothy continued to mutter anxiously. Mostly reiterating his loyalty to Victoria and the Wolphall family.

‘Well-educated.’ Each time, I nodded and scribbled something down.

After about 10 minutes,

“This is enough.”

“What is enough?”

After tidying up the documents I’d been writing alone, I left the visiting room.

I had originally planned to meet with Henry Wolphall as well (another Wolphall who had been imprisoned with Timothy for torturing the army medical officer), but I canceled it.

This was also a trick against the Wolphalls. What would they think if I visited only one of the two young Wolphalls imprisoned?

‘They’ll assume Timothy told me everything. Even if he claims he said nothing, it will only raise further suspicion.’

This would lead the Wolphalls to suspect that “Princess Siena directed Alan Medoff to recruit Timothy.”

Even though I don’t actually have anything in my hands, it doesn’t matter. Soon, the real materials will be in my possession, to be delivered by Victoria.

She already has detailed instructions.

**

A few hours later. Princess Victoria’s audience chamber.

“Your Highness, for what purpose did you summon me?”

Currently, Princess Victoria has seated her two maternal uncles.

To be honest, facing them was uncomfortable. Victoria had already decided to turn her back on her maternal side, and these uncles were the power players who led the Wolphalls in place of her elderly maternal grandfather. These were the people who would be most hurt if she took decisive action.

The reason she endured the discomfort and called them was simple: “Because Sir Alan asked.”

Despite the immense pressure she put on him, Alan Medoff offered to help her in a difficult situation, and he had just given her instructions:

” moments ago, I visited Timothy in the military police detention center. Your Highness’s maternal side likely interrogated him immediately after my visit, seeking to discover what Timothy and I discussed and whether he revealed any unfavorable information to me. If Your Highness acts now, we could expose further crimes.”

It was a story that would only work if her maternal side was indeed surveilling Alan. Though unlikely as it seemed, she couldn’t disregard Alan’s advice.

So Victoria repeated exactly what Alan had instructed.

“Apparently, Timothy confessed everything.”

“Whatever do you mean?”

“From the start, Timothy shouldn’t have been made the scapegoat; it was never meant to end there.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

The two uncles continued to deny everything, avoiding eye contact.

Victoria held a staring contest with them for a while before sighing.

“Do you really not know?”

“Yes. We truly don’t—”

“Alright. I may want to believe you, but Siena has a different story.”

“…Your Highness?”

“Siena has claimed that Alan secured some materials and requested an audience with His Majesty. The ‘materials’ are Siena’s words exactly. She even indicated she may be named Heiress Apparent by tomorrow, and I encouraged her to find alternative paths.

This caused the uncles’ expressions to gradually stiffen.

It seemed they finally sensed a crisis: the possibility that Timothy might have exposed some unknown offenses that, if revealed to her father, would threaten her position as Heiress Apparent.

Victoria had suspected some wrongdoing from her mother’s side for a while now, but the reality felt much bleaker.

They had hidden fatal flaws, and she had to resort to such tricks to uncover them.

Since they started this, she decided to see it through to the end.

“Siena will soon have an audience with His Majesty. And she will cleverly nudge His Majesty based on the ‘materials’ secured by Sir Alan.”

“Your Highness—”

“If the situation leads to Siena being named Heiress Apparent due to your mistakes, there’s one thing I can be certain of: I will have a hard time protecting my maternal relatives, and frankly, I won’t want to.”

“…”

“Perhaps recruiting Sir Alan would be better. He is competent, unlike you.”

The uncles finally exchanged glances and spoke.

“Your Highness, Timothy seems to have said something despite our repeated assurances that we’ll reinstate him in a few years. Although, of course, Timothy himself continues to deny it—but we believe he’s lying.”

“What did he reveal?”

“Apparently… not just military hospitals, we’ve been diverting morphine from regimental and brigade medical facilities across the Empire to use for special purposes. It wasn’t purely for money—it was to maintain the faction. Even the officers Victoria assigned to monitor us joined in.”

“Rather systematic.”

“Apologies. All of this was done to secure your foundation, Your Highness. But now damage control takes priority.”

In the end, Victoria grasped the specific misdeeds of her mother’s side.

Even as she struggled to maintain her composure, she issued her commands.

Siena would soon reveal everything to her father, so she instructed them to take “necessary steps” before the Imperial Court swept through the Wolphalls.

Her uncles nodded solemnly.

“Understood, Your Highness!”

“We were quietly clearing things up, but we’ll ensure everything is done by the end of today. Even if His Majesty discovers the truth, without evidence, it won’t harm Your Highness.”

That was their way of saying they’d eliminate all evidence and witnesses by the end of the day.

Victoria nodded.

However, the moment her uncles left, she immediately contacted Alan, and also her father’s closest aide, the Chief Steward, sharing the information she had just received with them.

Her intention was to completely destroy the Wolphall family’s efforts to erase evidence.

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