Reasons for Contract Marriage - Chapter 101

“I haven’t told Madam anything.”

At Carl’s whispered words, Lucius gripped the letter tightly in his hand. First, he needed to determine how this letter had arrived and under what circumstances.

“Let’s go to the study.”

Changing his plans from checking on Brianna first, Lucius turned toward the study, Carl following closely behind.

Seated at his desk, Lucius stared at the envelope in his hand. More precisely, he fixated on the sender’s name—Florian Robert.

Carl, watching him closely, cautiously spoke, “A dead man can’t send a letter. Could it be an impersonation?”

“It’s Florian’s handwriting. He always wrote his name this way.”

Lucius traced the unusually curved strokes of the letters with his fingertips. Then, taking a paper knife, he slit open the envelope and unfolded the letter. Carl, filled with unease, watched his master intently.

[Hello, Lucy.]

The letter began with a familiar nickname. In the past, Lucius had always gotten angry whenever Florian called him that. But now, just seeing it made his eyes sting.

[If you’re reading this letter, it means I’m already dead.

How does it feel to receive a letter from a dead man? Even the great Lucius must be feeling a bit eerie right now, huh? I wish I could see your expression. Too bad I’m already dead and can’t watch this spectacle. What a shame!]

Ah…

Lucius let out a groan-like sigh.

Part of him had hoped this letter had come from a living Florian, yet another part had desperately wished it wasn’t so. He and Brianna had only just spent their first night together. If Florian were to return now, there would be no doubt about who Brianna would choose.

A bitter smile formed on his lips at his own self-loathing, making Carl’s expression darken further.

Lucius, noticing Carl’s continued unease, spoke, “Florian wrote this letter while he was still alive. He must have entrusted someone with delivering it after his death.”

Only then did Carl exhale a shallow sigh.

“Since we held a funeral without a body, I couldn’t help but wonder… In any case, it’s…”

Just before he could say “a relief,” he quickly shut his mouth. Lucius continued reading the letter.

[At some point, it crossed my mind that I could die suddenly, even tomorrow. I wanted to leave behind a will, but as you know, my letters are monitored. I couldn’t send it through military mail. Leaving it among my belongings risked it getting lost or damaged. So I decided to entrust this letter to my assistant. If anything happened to me, I asked him to deliver it to you.]

Lucius recalled seeing Florian’s assistant once or twice. Thinking about how the letter had finally reached him through the mail, the reason became clear.

Shortly after Florian’s death, Lucius had deliberately injured his own arm to secure leave from the battlefield. After leaving the front lines, he had inherited the dukedom and never returned. Unlike him, Florian’s assistant had remained on the battlefield. That explained why the letter had arrived so late, and why it had been delivered in this manner.

Most likely, the assistant had taken leave and sent the letter then. As a commoner, it would have been difficult for him to meet the Duke in person.

Lucius glanced down at the date at the end of the letter. It had been written three days before Florian’s death.

[While investigating at your request, I discovered something. Lucius, this isn’t just a simple case of supply fraud. If my suspicions are correct, the Crown Prince and even the Holy See are involved.]

The Holy See?

Lucius furrowed his brows at the word.

It was no secret that the Holy See was behind this war. Officially, it was a conflict between the Kingdom of Basel and the Kazak Empire, but in reality, it was a power struggle between the Holy See and the Kazak Emperor. That much was common knowledge.

However, Florian seemed to be referring to something else entirely.

[It looks like the party responsible for supplying defective gunpowder is the Holy See.]

The content of the letter only became more baffling. The Holy See had the most to gain from winning this war. Why would they deliberately sabotage their own forces by supplying defective gunpowder? It made no sense.

[The defective gunpowder contained a special component that is only produced in a specific region. Soon, I’ll be receiving a sample of the gunpowder used by the Holy Knights. I plan to compare the two when it arrives.]

The Holy Knights were affiliated with the Holy See, and all the supplies and weapons they used were produced there. If the gunpowder they used contained a special component, and if that same component was found in the defective ammunition given to their own forces, then Florian’s suspicion that the Holy See was involved was entirely reasonable.

But why?

As if in response to that very question, Florian’s letter continued.

[I’ve been thinking, Luce. His Holiness has wanted to name you as his successor for a long time. Don’t you think someone within the Holy See must have resented him for looking outside the clergy for an heir?]

Lucius took a deep breath. Now, it was treated as little more than an old joke, but it was true that the Pope had once sought to make Lucius his successor.

When he was a child, Lucius had accompanied his parents to the Holy See, where he had an audience with the Pope. The Pope had sat in a space filled with gold and light, with everyone bowing to him in reverence.

After paying his respects, young Lucius had stared at the aged Pope for a long time. Unlike others, who were filled with awe and even fear, to Lucius, he seemed nothing more than a kindly but somewhat petty old man. The Pope, after observing Lucius for quite a while, had smiled and extended his hand.

“Luce, come here.”

Even with the eldest son, Daniel, right there, the Pope had shown far more interest in young Lucius. When Lucius approached, the Pope had even lifted him onto his lap. Gasps had filled the room. Though the Pope had always been known for his gentleness toward children, never before had he placed one on his lap.

“You have no fear, nor any impure desires. That is a rare thing for a child.”

Holding Lucius, he had spoken with him for a long time. Then, just as the audience was ending, the Pope had made a declaration that had shocked his mother.

“Luce, think carefully. Your parents will not leave you a title or inheritance as their second son. Rather than fighting on the battlefield, killing for the sake of a mere title, wouldn’t it be far better to become my successor?”

As young Lucius pondered the proposal, his parents had hurriedly taken him away from the Holy See. On the carriage ride back to the ducal estate, his mother had clutched him tightly, muttering nonstop that the old man had gone mad, that he had lost his mind, uttering blasphemies all the way home.

Even after that, the Pope had occasionally sent letters and gifts, urging Lucius to consider becoming his successor. His mother, however, had torn every letter to shreds, declaring that her son was more skilled in the art of love than any other man and that he would have no trouble thriving on his own.

Now that Lucius was married, the Pope had likely given up on the idea. But it was undeniable that he had held a particular fondness for Lucius. And as Florian pointed out, someone within the Holy See must have resented that deeply. If they had ambitions for the papal throne, they would have seen the Pope’s gaze being directed elsewhere as a major threat.

“Come to think of it…”

Lucius suddenly realized something.

“Before my brother died, he was investigating a priest, wasn’t he?”

Carl nodded at the unexpected question.

“Yes. He had discovered that the Crown Prince was in contact with a priest tied to an arms manufacturer and was looking into it.”

“And that priest had ties to the Kazak Empire.”

“Yes, it appeared that the Crown Prince was colluding with the Kazak Empire.”

“So there was another traitor… and this one was inside the Holy See.”

“Pardon?”

“It looks like someone within the Holy See who resented the Pope was working with them.”

What they wanted was likely for this war to end in failure, causing the Pope’s reputation to plummet. That way, once he was forced to step down amid public outrage, they could take his place.

And finally, Lucius understood why Florian had called him that day. He had been about to report that the gunpowder sample from the Holy Knights matched the defective ammunition’s composition.