Chapter 24
Perfecting Plans
I f human trafficking is involved, wouldn’t Soo Hebin want to keep the capital in Gondol, the hub of the slave trade?” Tam asked Bong, who sat with his hands clasped loosely over his flat belly.
Eli answered on behalf of the Ryu brothers as she kept her gaze on the letters exchanged between Finlay Ashowan and Jiho Ryu. “She’s most likely hoping not to rely on the trafficking to maintain control, as well as trying to gain loyalty from the lords in Junya who have remained neutral on who they support to be the next ruler of Zinfera. Many of them would love the chance to improve their own investments, and Junya becoming the capital once more? Would undoubtedly do that.”
Tam considered this information for a moment before continuing his questioning. “Which lords specifically could Soo Hebin be trying to win over? Any that would be surprising?”
Jeong replied, in a rare show of seriousness, “Kim, Soon, Bak, and Guk, to name a few. That isn’t including the low-level untitled officials.”
“None of those lords care about human trafficking?” Tam interjected. “Even after Troivack cut their trade, in light of the case with Duke Iones, where they discovered hundreds of people he had illegally acquired from Zinfera?” Tam didn’t disguise his disgruntlement, keeping his arms folded while the carriage jostled them.
Bong responded with a sad shake of his head as the arid land outside the window raced by on his right. “Lord Kim definitely does not approve, and Lords Soon and Bak are uncomfortable with it but won’t speak out. And Lord Guk is a greedy soul; he doesn’t care as long as it benefits him. He probably has been a helping hand to Soo Hebin smuggling people in and out,”
“How can we convince Lords Soon and Bak to take a stand against her? What is it they in particular would gain from Junya becoming the capital again?” Tam queried.
“Lord Soon has a good amount of real estate in Junya that hasn’t performed as well as he’d hoped, but with Junya becoming the capital, the value of the land would triple. As for Bak… it’s hard to figure out how to sway him either way, as he is in the tea trade. He would be more heavily taxed for exporting his goods if Junya were to be the capital again, but his profits within the city due to the increase in demand for his high-end leaves could overcome those losses— if he secures a deal with the next emperor. Which I imagine is the angle Soo Hebin is going to take when she broaches what her son, Jum, could accomplish on the throne,” Bong concluded.
“The easiest solution would be for us to cripple Lord Soon’s and Lord Bak’s power,” Tam reasoned before letting out a sigh. “But they don’t sound absolutely evil. Would it be possible that Kim could persuade them?”
“He’s…” Bong searched for the right words to describe the nobleman.
“Prudish,” Eli supplied bluntly. “He’s a member of the Acker religion, and it hasn’t boded well for him among several of the other nobles. Most of them have a friend or loved one who prefers the same gender, and so he has alienated himself in a lot of ways,”
Tam cringed.
The religion of Acker had been founded by a Daxarian woman named Valerie Acker. Those that followed the religion believed that homosexuality to be a sin, and witches to be no better than the devil. Only the Gods who understood the universe in its entirety were worthy enough to indulge in both sexes.
Years later, it came to light that Valerie herself had been abandoned by her husband, a witch, for another man. Upon discovering that this religion was illogical and spiteful in origin, it swiftly lost its popularity with its followers in Daxaria. During its peak popularity, it had spread to Zinfera. The Zinferan scholars, however, believed she was correct when it came to homosexuality not being meant for mortals. When it came to witches, they were of the mind that those with magic were only a step below the Gods themselves, and therefore were capable of favoring both genders in their romantic lives. Despite changing a large component of the Acker religion’s basis, the Zinferans continued to call it ‘Acker’. Though even with this change, very few people still followed the religion.
“What if we simply make an example out of Guk?” Tam speculated, earning a look of wariness from Bong and Jeong.
“How would you do that…?” Jeong dared to wonder aloud, though he was already eyeing Luca, who was staring dazedly out the carriage window from his spot on the carriage bench between Eli and Tam.
“What is Guk’s business?” Tam asked instead of answering.
“Lord Sang Guk has a diverse portfolio of investments,” Eli began, her gaze drifting to an empty space on the plum-colored upholstery of the bench across from her where Bong and Jeong were seated. “It isn’t easy tampering with his means of income. He’s a smart man, with ships importing wine from Daxaria, farms near the capital, and some real estate in Gondol. He also breeds horses. So… food, land, transportation, and luxury. He even buys debts, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the people who have no hope of earning enough to pay the interest or the debt itself off find themselves forced to work for him for free. And who knows what kind of connections he has, now that he has been a part of the human trafficking.” The assistant lowered the pages in her hand, the set of her jaw revealing her anger.
“Unfortunate,” Tam agreed. “I guess that just means I’ll have to be more base in my approach to dealing with him.”
Eli looked at him, a fleeting inclination to discourage her employer notably passing through her eyes before she managed to begrudgingly ask, “What do you mean?”
“Get to him through those he’s close to, or… simply attack him outright.”
The carriage fell silent.
Jeong slowly reached over and covered Luca’s ears.
“Tam, are you… are you suggesting harming Lord Guk?”
“Yes, but I was trying to be vague for Luca.”
“That was far less vague than you thought it was,” Eli informed her employer glibly.
Jeong spoke out in a quiet, high-pitched voice. “Goddess, I thought you Ashowans were wholesome!”
“That would be my father. I don’t have his charm.”
“You can be charming when you want to be,” Eli rebutted.
Tam raised an eyebrow at her. “I suppose being dour can have its charms, but I just meant I don’t have his ability to charm people into becoming better.”
“You find Tam charming?” Bong looked at Eli interestedly.
“Bong! Focus!” Surprisingly this outburst came from Jeong. “Luca is about to hear that his father wants to K-I-L-L people!”
“He can spell,” Tam pointed out dryly. “And for the record, it is only my last resort.”
“Tam!” By this point, Jeong had his arm fully wrapped around Luca’s head and was smothering the poor lad against his chest. “You aren’t setting a very good example!”
Tam looked to the ceiling of the carriage, caught between wanting to save Luca as the boy struggled in Jeong’s arms, and changing the topic all together. “Would you like to hear about my non-lethal plan, to start?”
In the end, it was Eli who gently pried Luca from Jeong’s hold. The boy’s hair was sticking up at funny angles, and one of his eyebrows was standing upright.
“Yes!” Jeong sniffed while straightening his coat and ignoring the incredulous look Luca was giving him while Eli tried to fix his hair.
“We make him paranoid—he’ll wonder if he’s losing his mind. We make him act so outlandishly that either his wife leaves him and divides his assets, or his businesses fall to pieces and no one is willing to work with him.”
“I have several follow-up questions,” Jeong declared, his skepticism obvious.
“How would you make him paranoid?” Eli wondered.
“You expect to do that in just a few months?” Luca was the one who asked the last question, and Tam had the decency to look a mite guilty about saying such things in front of a child.
“I’d aim to create three incidents with his behavior that are beyond explanation or excuse. Eli, you mentioned earlier that his wife lives in the capital, right?”
“Yes…?”
“We make him have an incident in front of a party or two filled with nobles. Word will spread to the capital. Lady Guk gets humiliated, and Soo Hebin gets concerned that she is sinking her efforts into the wrong person. She’ll refocus on winning over one of the other two men to her cause, but ideally by then we’ll have warded them off. To help deter people from helping, we can even add into the rumor mill that whatever is wrong with Guk is contagious.” Tam paused thoughtfully. “If we succeed, Soo Hebin will be forced to continue dabbling in the risky business of human trafficking. Her son won’t gain any more supporters in his fight for the throne, and she’ll waste resources in the meantime. I’ll make contact with Lord Kim and ensure he isn’t interested in supporting Soo Hebin, just to be sure there isn’t an overwhelming number of people interested in cozying up to the concubine.”
The inhabitants of the carriage remained silent for a time as they pondered this new plan.
“Can’t you just try baking cookies? At least once?” Jeong pleaded after wading through the information with a headache-induced frown.
“You want me to bake cookies to… solve all of this?” Tam stared flatly at Jeong.
“What about poison cookies?” Luca wondered while looking up at his father.
Tam proceeded to avoid everyone’s eyes, which had pointedly moved to him.
“Not to kill them!” Luca clarified bashfully. “Just make them sick…”
Tam started nodding. “Entirely possible! Other than dosing some moonshine and wine, I’ve never really tried food tampering—my father gets really sensitive about it.”
“ I wonder why! ” Jeong exclaimed, his tone a near squeak by that point.
“Eli, with you posing as my wife, we could induce his incidents with laced baked goods you bring him. Or you give them to me, and I’ll get him to eat them.”
“How would you make Lord Guk eat the cookies…?” Bong questioned while idly patting his younger brother’s back.
“I’d observe his behavior for a few days and figure it out, but I have a few options.”
“The initial obstacle will be getting close to Lord Guk and Lord Kim. You can do it in three ways—” Eli started.
Tam held up his hand. “I won’t have any problem with it. If he’s a follower of Acker, he’s going to want to talk about the Gods at great length, and I can get close to him with my studies of the stars.”
“How are you getting close to Lord Guk then? Are you going to kidnap him? Throw him down in a deep hole?” Jeong cast out dramatically while flopping back in his seat.
Tam cleared his throat, then very carefully reached over and covered Luca’s ears again.
“My family owns a few brothels and taverns with your father in Zinfera. Did you honestly forget?”
Jeong’s face fell. He looked at Bong. “Right. We do own those, don’t we…?”
Bong laughed, and Tam let his hands fall away from Luca’s ears.
“What if they don’t go to brothels?” Luca asked, revealing that there had been no point to covering his ears at all.
Tam dropped his head and hands, feeling a fresh wave of parental shame.
“Then that means they most likely are part of the other social groups that play chess, sample fine teas, or gamble,” Eli answered. “Those should be relatively easy to access with my knowledge of tea and chess. My lord, do you gamble at all…?” Eli regarded Tam, her previous unease over the state of royal affairs evolving into focused determination.
“I have. I’m terrible.”
“That would make you popular with the lords, then,” she pointed out.
“I may be of assistance there,” Bong volunteered.
“You’re good at gambling?” Tam’s assistant looked at the eldest Ryu brother with interest.
Bong merely laughed in response.
Tam and Eli regarded Jeong, who at least was smiling again, as he giggled to himself. “We’re known for being a lot of fun. Please leave the frivolous activities to us.”
Luca, Tam, and Eli glanced at one another then back at the Ryu brothers, who continued twittering mysteriously.
“Right…” Tam trailed off. “Do you two know which brothels we could visit to find some drugs then?”
The two Zinferan men did cease laughing at this question, though surprisingly they still smiled.
“Of course. We don’t go to them often for that very reason, but we know about them.”
Tam nodded. “Alright. Then we have a plan.”
Bong stretched his arms above his head then cradled his head in his hands. “Excellent. No one dies, and we rescue Zinfera from corruption. I like this new venture, as opposed to simply gathering information. I have a good feeling about our time together this coming year!”
◆◆◆
Tam stared down the sword whose tip was touching the bobble in his throat. The hot midday sun bore down on him as the rush of the Ho River surged beneath the stone bridge he stood on.
“Didn’t you hear me? I said give me your valuables!”
Glancing down at the bandit’s torn light-brown pants, then his thin dirty face and frantic eyes, Tam leaned over slightly to his right where Jeong stood with his pudgy hands in the air, breathing rapidly. “Remind me to explain to your brother what a jinx is when this is over.”
Jeong whimpered.
“You should look more fearful,” Eli whispered from his other side, Luca safely hidden behind her.
In a bored fashion, Tam spared a brief look at the other three men standing in front of their carriage. “Why exactly?”
“Because your son and wife are in danger right now, my lord,” Eli informed her employer through gritted teeth.
Tam stared at the man who held him at sword point, who was also trembling ferociously. “Eli… you know I will panic if I need to—”
“Do I, though?” She turned on him angrily.
Tam regarded the bandit’s twitchy state again, as the man licked his lips and looked at his friends, who stood in front of the carriage.
“Pardon me, sir,” Tam began.
The man cowered at Tam’s voice, making the future duke’s suspicions grow… However, there’d be more time to figure out what that was about later.
“I said, give me your valuables!” the bandit shouted up at Tam’s face, though he had backed up enough that Tam no longer could feel the tip of the sword.
“I understand what you asked me, but I was wondering if you recall that we had another person in the carriage with us.”
Alarm and distress at this news snapped the bandit’s attention to the opposite side of Jeong, where Bong had been standing when he’d been first forced out.
And that was all the opening Tam needed to kick the man in the groin and send him to his knees, his sword clattering down beside him.
“See? Perfectly fine,” Tam pointed out to Eli, who still looked irritated.
“What about the other three men?” she snapped back.
A commotion behind Tam prompted Jeong and Eli to peer around the horses, but Tam merely beckoned Luca to himself as he opened the carriage door and ushered him back inside. “Did Bong finish up, Jeong?” he called over his shoulder.
“Not quite! He… Oh, yes. There he is. All finished!” Jeong turned around, looking his usual cherub self.
Which was a stark contrast with Eli’s less-than-impressed expression.
Tam closed the door behind Luca and smiled pleasantly down at her, making her roll her eyes.
“Luca, stay in the carriage. We need to ask these men a few questions.”
“Okay!”
Jeong whirled around as Tam ambled over to the bandit he had kicked, and picked up his sword. “You aren’t going to kill them, are you?” Jeong asked, panic tinging his voice.
Tam held his arms out and shot Jeong a seriously? expression before jerking his chin in Luca’s direction. The carriage curtain windows were open.
Jeong let out a groan of annoyance, shaking his head while wrenching open the carriage door for himself. But before he climbed in, he leaned over to Eli and said, “I understand that he’s handsome, but you have a very strange taste in men.”