I’m Just a Counselor Chapter 80

It wasn’t romantic at all, and he didn’t wait patiently for Vanessa… So, in the end, Vanessa ran away.

 

Jeremiah thought of his sister, who was his relationship coach. 

 

‘What would she say if she found out, I’m sure she’d call it a half-baked confession.’

 

“Ha…”

 

“What’s with the sigh?”

 

Shane asked, and Jeremiah turned to look at him.

 

Although he didn’t mean to, Shane had helped Jeremiah recognize his feelings for Vanessa.

 

Whenever Shane was laughing with Vanessa, whenever he was holding her hand, whenever she called his name in a friendly way, Jeremiah knew how he felt about her.

 

Because in those moments, he could tell he thought of him as competition…

 

‘Maybe that’s a good thing.’

 

That he had confessed to liking her before he’d tied her to any line. At least then she wouldn’t think of him as a friend.

 

Jeremiah pushed Shane’s flushed face away and asked bluntly.

 

“What have you been up to since morning?”

 

“I’m here to report to the duke about my hard work during the night.”

 

“Then do it.”

 

“Wow, the Duke is relentless. I’m sorry.”

 

Shane mumbled something under his breath and handed the envelope he was holding to Jeremiah.

 

Jeremiah shook his head, shook off the last of his fatigue, and took the envelope, pulling out the papers.

 

He frowned as he recognized the names that appeared repeatedly on the papers. Marquis Alpen and Earl Huons.

 

The Marquis of Alpen was a nobleman who held a place in the nobility, and Jeremiah knew him well. He was a man who, whenever they met, would often belittle him for his youth.

 

How disgusting it was to hear him drooling over the North on such a subject.

 

It was hardly surprising that such a greedy man would amass wealth illegally through the slave trade.

 

But the bigger problem now was not the Marquis of Alpen, but Earl Huons. Jeremiah did not know him well, but he remembered Vanessa telling him about her meeting with Earl Huons’s eldest son.

 

How fitting that she and Earl Huons should be entangled again at this time. If the Earl was indeed aiding the Marquis in the slave trade, there was no telling what they would do with Vanessa.

 

Jeremiah clicked his tongue slightly.

 

‘And yet she says she’s going to handle this on her own.’

 

No matter how much Vanessa wanted to handle things herself, he couldn’t let this happen. He had to stop pretending to be elegant.

 

He doesn’t know how Vanessa interpreted that, but to Jeremiah, it meant he was going to be as greedy as he wanted to be. He whined.

 

His mind made up, he put the papers down.

 

Shane was staring at his face, his eyes searching. With his usual observant gaze.

 

Jeremiah shrugged off Shane’s stare and pushed himself up from the couch.

 

“We should see the crown prince.”

 

Even if it’s a really ugly face.

 

Jeremiah frowned slightly, remembering the handkerchief tied around Vanessa’s wrist yesterday.

 

…One more reason to not want to see the crown prince.

 

 

* * *

 

 

The next morning, the crown prince’s palace.

 

Kianton fidgeted restlessly as he watched his boss, who had been glaring at him wordlessly since morning. Finally, he mustered up the courage to speak.

 

“Your Majesty, why do you look at me like that?”

 

“When I think of all the shenanigans I’ve been through because you said Vanessa Asell was the duke’s lover…”

 

“Then your highness shouldn’t trust me so much and do some research…”

 

“Does this one dare to talk back?”

 

“I won’t.”

 

He wishes he hadn’t heard about it in the first place.

 

As Kianton swallowed the words he could never say against the crown prince and endured Julian’s temper, there was a knock on the door, and the servant who entered politely announced.

 

“Your Majesty. His Excellency, the Duke of Oppenheim, is waiting for you in the parlor.”

 

“The Duke of Oppenheim?”

 

‘The dragon would come on my say-so, excellent timing.’ Julian raised an eyebrow.

 

Dangling the chianti, he opened the parlor door to see Jeremiah’s still-stiff face.

 

Sitting gracefully cross-legged, sipping tea, Jeremiah spotted Julian and inclined his head in greeting.

 

“Good to see you, Crown Prince. I have come all this way because I have something important to tell you.”

 

“I am very curious to hear what the duke has to say.”

 

Julian replied in a pointed tone and took a seat at the head of the table. Kianton came and stood behind him, and behind the duke stood the man he had apparently brought as an escort.

 

A wizard with dark skin and black hair.

 

He smirked at Julian and tilted his head. Julian’s eyes narrowed.

 

“Enough of the preamble, let’s get right to the point.”

 

“If you wish.”

 

Jeremiah took the envelope from the man behind him and held it out to Julian.

 

“There’s an illegal slave trade going on in the Isles, and the slave masters have nested in the north as well, which is how I ended up here, because I found the ledgers.”

 

“I’m assuming you didn’t come all the way here for the New Year’s festivities. It’s your custom to defy the imperial family.”

 

“Disrespecting the Crown is a privilege granted to me by the Crown Prince.”

 

A chill passed between Jeremiah and Julian. Julian grimaced, not hiding his discomfort, and opened the envelope.

 

His golden eyes scanned the papers quickly.

 

“As it says there, the owner of the slave above is the Marquis of Alpen. He is, as you know, openly opposed to the emperor in the noble circle, and I know you find him distasteful.”

 

“So, you’re saying you’ll take care of the Marquis for me?”

 

“I’m sure I will, if I see him in the midst of a slave sweep. It’s up to you to keep him out of the system, but even so, I can’t bear for him to cross over into the north. It’s my land.”

 

“…….”

 

Jeremiah’s eyebrows twitched at Julian’s words; he was sarcastically mocking Julian to his heart’s content.

 

That he had no idea that something so illegal was going on on his land, and that he, unlike him, had his eye on the ball.

 

Julian was genuinely annoyed.

 

‘Damn it. This is why I didn’t want to talk to the duke.’

 

“This is why I didn’t want to talk to the duke,” Julian said, somewhat hastily, not knowing what else Jeremiah would say.

 

“You want something from me, which is why you’re bringing this up. I will allow you to speak.”

 

“I want you to allow the Duke’s Knights, not the Imperial Knights, to take part in the extermination of the Slave Tops, and if you do, I will give you all the credit after the extermination of the Slave Tops.”

 

“The use of non-Imperial private soldiers on the islands? That’s not something I can easily grant.”

 

Despite Julian’s harsh reaction, Jeremiah replied as if he had expected it.

 

“Of course, after this, I will give you the ledgers. There are quite a few names I recognize besides the Marquis of Alpen, and with that, you’ll be able to strike a nuisance.”

 

Turning the terms of Jeremiah’s offer over in his mind, Julian soon concluded that it was not a bad deal.

 

Jeremiah would do the dirty work of rounding up the top slaves, and he would keep the profits.

 

But now that he thought about it, his suspicions turned the other way.

 

‘He is not the kind of man who would do me such a favor.’

 

Julian, who had been eyeing Jeremiah suspiciously, spoke first.

 

“Perhaps the Duke wants something more.”

 

“Yes.”

 

Jeremiah replied coldly, as if he’d been waiting for it, and it was Julian’s turn to be embarrassed.

 

Julian blinked a few times, then gestured for Jeremiah to speak.

 

Jeremiah looked him straight in the eye and opened his mouth.

 

“I understand that the crown prince can rewrite the names that have been erased from the noble rolls.”

 

“You mean the lottery? Unless the family has committed a crime and has been punished for it, yes, but there would have to be a good reason.”

 

“Simple bankruptcy, so I don’t think you need to worry about that. If I succeed in taking down the slave top, I’ll have plenty of justification.”

 

“Which family do you want to restore, the Dukes of Oppenheim… ah.”

 

Julian paused, as if something had dawned on him, and soon a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

 

“You want to restore the name of Viscount Asell, so that Vanessa Asell can become a noblewoman again.”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

“Duke, what is your relationship with her?”

 

Julian’s jaw clenched as he grinned triumphantly.

 

He’d been wondering what to do with Vanessa if she wasn’t the duke’s lover, and now he was wondering if he shouldn’t have bothered.

 

‘No, it just makes it more interesting.’

 

Because Vanessa’s attitude is different from the duke’s.