Chapter 57

The next day.

Aivert and Rodella headed to the ruins of the Ortin family’s collapsed shop building.

Naturally, Gareth Ortin was with them, since this was a matter concerning his own house—but no one, not even the people from Count Bran’s household lurking nearby, would have expected that the Commander of the Azure Order, Latine Modilac, would also show up.

“……!”

Sensing mortal danger (?), they barely managed a greeting before retreating in haste.

An impressive survival instinct, to say the least.

“I’ve broken a lot of things in my time,”  Aivert, an authority in the field of property destruction and walking disasters, commented as he examined the wreckage.

“This was deliberate. They used magic to collapse the central pillar here.”

He lightly tapped what was once the building’s main support beam.

“Compare this to their incident report—it’s obvious someone snuck in pretending to be a thief and took down the pillar first. The Red Order goons who ‘came to catch them’ then methodically finished the destruction.”

“You saying it makes it sound very convincing.”

“Thank you.”  Aivert replied smoothly to Latine’s remark.

Rodella instinctively nodded… then stopped herself.

‘Don’t thank him for that!’

She shoved aside her pounding headache and examined the ruins herself.

Just as Aivert had said, the building had clearly caved in from where the pillar had been destroyed—but… wait.

“What is that doing here?”

She stepped closer to where Aivert stood.

Right near the tip of his shoe—almost as if he’d placed it there on purpose—was a piece of ceiling debris with a familiar pattern carved into it.

A stylized image of a cloud.

Rodella remembered that same cloud being clutched by the talons of a great eagle—the symbol of the imperial family.

But here, instead of the eagle, a stag was sitting on top of the cloud.

In the upper districts, stags were often used in merchant symbols for their strength and regenerative antlers—but why would the exact same cloud design from a royal building show up here?

Even if it were a coincidence, a design so similar to something from the royal household should have been changed.

“Sir Gareth, do you know anything about this ceiling motif?”

At her question, the eyes of the other three men turned toward her.

Gareth stepped closer and studied it quietly before shaking his head.

“I don’t recall it in detail, but I vaguely remember it being on the ceiling. It was too high and decorated to see clearly.”

“I’ve seen this cloud in the Administration Bureau and the Office of Protocols.”

More precisely, it was a design you’d spot if you looked closely at royal building ceilings.

It wasn’t the imperial symbol, but definitely a motif representing a certain imperial reign.

So why was it in a Baron’s merchant building?

“Oh, that. I’ve seen it too,” Aivert said casually.

“Where?”

Did the Azure Order have it as well?

If so, Latine would’ve recognized it—but he looked utterly confused, as if seeing it for the first time.

“At the Royden estate.”

“……?”

So it was a common design? But the royal family would never use something so generic.

Rodella raised an eyebrow.

Then Aivert dropped the hint that could turn the whole case on its head.

“There’s a building we got early in the monster war. The royal family gave it to us in thanks.”

He held out his hand.

“We’ve been using it as a storage building since no one dares touch it.”

Seeing how casual he looked about it, Rodella briefly considered covering his mouth.

‘Don’t say irreverent things like that out loud!’

“Anyway, that might mean this motif only appears in buildings gifted by the royal family?”

“Maybe?”

Rodella’s eyes sparkled.

“In that case… we might be able to blow this up into something big.”

Scammers and the guilty hated one thing most: attention.

The bigger the stage, the greater the chance they’d get caught and punished.

In this empire, the biggest stage of all was the imperial family.

Rodella smiled.

***

Whether they’d known or not, those bastards had destroyed a building gifted by the royal family.

That was a crime, no doubt. The problem was—

“You mean that was that kind of building!?”

Even Baron Ortin himself hadn’t known.

Turned out it was something gifted during the early, now hazy days of the monster war—and the previous baron who would have remembered it was long dead.

“No wonder he told us to treasure it!”

He thought it just meant “treat your assets with care”!

Leaving the Baron to reflect on his family motto, Rodella fell into thought.

‘How do I crush these people in one blow—without hurting Ortin in the process?’

If it became known that the Ortin family didn’t know their building was a royal gift, they could also be held accountable. She needed a strategy that would block that line of attack while landing a decisive blow on the Red Order.

As she mulled this over—

“If you want a real hit, I can sneak in and smash something,” Aivert offered.

“Wait.”

‘Don’t just go around smashing buildings!’

There were very few people in the empire who could casually demolish a structure!

This building? It took a team of people to destroy!

“Or…”

Aivert started muttering about Count Bran’s house, then suddenly turned to Latine.

“Their eldest son is one of the current candidates for head of the Office of Protocols, isn’t he?”

Latine blinked, dumbfounded.

“Might as well ask me how many eggs my knights will eat tomorrow.”

…Truly the words of a man disinterested in politics.

But Rodella was different.

“Office of Protocols?”

Her eyes lit up.

That position came with appointment authority.

Which also meant—no red flags allowed.

No candidate could afford a hint of scandal.

It was obvious the noble faction had been backing that candidate.

If the Office of Protocols oversaw major imperial events, whoever supplied goods to them would make a fortune.

No wonder the noble faction had been pushing him.

Rodella’s mind raced.

‘What would happen if a candidate for that position were suspected of a crime that could be seen as an insult to the Crown?’

Surely the imperial family would pull him from the running—regardless of how high his internal department scores were.

“That’s it!”

Rodella’s eyes gleamed.

“The head of the Office of Protocols?”

Latine, after a moment of thought, finally caught on.

Rodella pressed her lips into a firm line.

In this empire, there were countless houses at odds.

Some might argue that digging this deep into one was a waste.

But with the Red Order involved—and, indirectly, the noble faction—this was her fight too.

“There’s no reason for you to stay in the Administration Bureau and get glared at when you’re not even supposed to be there. I’m leaving soon too.”

Those were Cecilia’s words, not long ago.

Cecilia had only joined the Administration Bureau for the experience. She had a merchant house waiting for her, so leaving was no big deal.

The problem was—once Rodella returned after finishing her Azure Order work, she’d be alone.

If these people didn’t even bother hiding their destruction of buildings, what would stop them from targeting the Syveric estate next?

Calling it an “accident,” of course.

That’s why they needed to raise the stakes—to show how costly it would be to touch her.

Rodella’s eyes sparkled.

“Let’s head back to the carriage and talk.”

***

“If we don’t retaliate back properly, they’ll just do something worse next time.”

On the way back to the Azure Order’s headquarters—Rodella explained her revenge plan.

It was sharp, calculated—like something she’d been preparing for a long time—and designed to strike without being blocked by the enemy’s hand.