Chapter 69 The Dukes Curiosity
Claus tossed the stack of reports onto the desk. Trash. All of it.
The updates from Julian and his spies were just useless filler.
Claus had come back to the capital for only one reason: to figure out about nobles' corruption, but then he found that Ilse Varannes, whom he used to know, that spiteful bully, the one obsessed with malicious schemes, had suddenly turned into someone so impossible to read.
Back then, Ilse was vicious. Claus remembered it all too well from his childhood. She was the type to do anything to help her "best friend" Gisella get close to his brother, even if it meant ruining someone else's life in the process.
But this new Ilse? She's sharp, calculating, and unnervingly calm. Claus clearly remembered the rumors about Gisella and that girl just a few months ago, bullying, tormenting people, the kind of person Claus absolutely despised.
And now? She's getting close to Julian. And that meeting with the Danon Teddler at the park? That wasn't normal behavior for a villainess like her.
Claus stood on the balcony, staring at the dim city lights. He'd searched everywhere for proof. No traces of corruption, no legal loopholes. It was as if Ilse had been born squeaky clean.
Julian might be trapped in her web, but not Claus. He wouldn't let this game play out without knowing who was pulling the strings. Ilse Varannes wasn't the spoiled girl he once knew anymore. She was something far more complicated, a labyrinth.
Meanwhile, at the Mercer residence, Gisella stared at her bedroom ceiling, eyes vacant. She'd been locked up for a week, unable to step out the front door without being stopped by guards or her parents' servants. She looked like a wilted flower in a vase that hadn't had its water changed in days.
"Ilse." Her voice was raspy, lifeless. "I can't take it anymore. I want to leave. Anywhere, as long as it's not this room."
I sat beside her, rubbing her tense shoulders. She needed out. And I needed her out to finish the plan I'd been working on since yesterday.
"We're going," I said softly. Gisella turned, her eyes twinkling just a little. "But we have to be quiet. Through the back kitchen corridor."
"What about Father? What if he finds out?"
"He won't."
I watched her lie back down, looking a bit calmer. She had no idea that in my dress pocket, there was a piece of paper I'd already prepped. A letter for Julian. I'd written it as if it came from Gisella, pleading, meeting him at the Varannes family cornfield.
Gisella didn't know I was orchestrating their second meeting. She thought this was just a quick escape to clear her head.
"Tomorrow night," I whispered to her, then stood up to head home. "We're getting out."
Gisella closed her eyes, probably imagining the fresh air. I gave a thin smile and closed her bedroom door. Tomorrow, when that letter hits Julian's hands, the script I wrote plays out on its own. He'll show up, he'll meet 'Gisella', and that's when the real show begins.