The next morning, by a path near the guest house...
Stewart had made a promise to meet up with Duke Gregory between his patrol shifts. His right foot was tapping against the stone path restlessly.
I wanted more time to think...
In the end, he had spent the whole night thinking. While he wanted nothing more than to skip their meeting, he couldn’t bear having Duke Gregory prying into his secrets behind his back.
He had considered consulting his father, but there was no guarantee he would protect him. Thus, Stewart chose to meet Duke Gregory of his own accord.
Damn it! Why do I have to go through this? Stewart thought to himself bitterly.
“Looks like someone didn’t have a good night’s sleep,” a voice said. Duke Gregory had appeared.
It seems I might be able to hear something interesting today.
He expressed concern for Stewart’s well-being, but his mouth was curled into a smile.
“I couldn’t sleep well...” Stewart replied sullenly. Although he was in front of another kingdom’s duke, he didn’t have the composure to control his own emotions.
“Now, what do you have to tell me?”
“I’m guessing you won’t be satisfied if I said it was nothing.”
“Of course not.”
“I have no proof of this...and it would be dangerous to make a fuss without any evidence. Are you willing to accept that?” Stewart asked as a last resort.
“Hearing that makes me even more curious,” Duke Gregory said with a dismissive laugh.
Stewart began to speak in resignation. “I don’t want to call him an acquaintance...but there was a guy I once knew who committed a crime and went on the run.”
“Oh?” Duke Gregory’s reaction was calm. In fact, he was intently focused on keeping his emotions off his face to avoid giving the other party any advantage.
“His name was Rio. That’s why I was so surprised when I heard that name from you yesterday.”
“But if you were familiar with his face, wouldn’t you have noticed him earlier?”
“Yes. That’s why I said I don’t have proof. Rio vanished nearly five years ago. He’s grown older now, and his facial structure has changed. His hair color was also different back then. I can’t say for sure if they’re the same person.”
“Indeed, puberty can change people dramatically...” Duke Gregory murmured. However, even if facial structures changed, hair color didn’t. Strange.
But it was at this point that Stewart gave him his daring conclusion.
“However, I think there’s a high chance they’re the same person,” he said.
“What?”
“Like I said, I don’t have proof. But he’s lying about his background.”
“Hmm. If what you say is true, he should be tried for his crimes...”
At present, this was all Stewart’s assumption. Duke Gregory could only take the information as any other rumor.
“Yes, he should be tried—but there’s no proof. He’s secured his current position as a noble. Defaming the Honorary Knight with no evidence would only lead to my own arrest,” Stewart said.
“If he truly has a dirty past, it will affect our kingdom as well... But why do you think they’re the same person when you don’t have any proof?”
“The same people he was close to back then are situated around Haruto Amakawa now. That’s too much to be dismissed as a coincidence, don’t you think?”
“Oh?”
If what he says is true, we may be able to expose Amakawa’s murky past... But it’s too weak. There needs to be more proof to censure him.
If Stewart’s testimony was true, it could be enough to shake Rio up even now. But one wrong move, and it could be considered defamation. Duke Gregory wasn’t willing to risk that without evidence, especially if he was to be the source of the information.
Whatever move is made next needs to be initiated by this boy.
And so, Duke Gregory immediately decided to make Stewart act advantageously for himself. But first, in order to check whether there was any value in using him, Duke Gregory questioned his next move.
“Do you plan on censuring Amakawa, Stewart?” he asked.
“It depends on what proof I can find. I know I won’t have any chance if I just bring it up now.”
“No doubt about that. So what will you do?”
“There’s nothing I can do but search for something to drag him down with. Though I doubt it’ll be easy to find such a thing.”
“In that case, why don’t you try explaining things in more detail? I may be able to assist.”
“Are you sure?”
Stewart was wide-eyed with surprise. He seemed grateful for the offer of help, but there was a look of caution in his reaction as well.
“Like I said, if Amakawa has a dark past, it will be our kingdom’s problem too.”
“I see...”
“But it all depends on what kind of past he’s hiding. You said he had committed a crime, but what exactly was that crime?”
“I don’t mind telling you, but only if you agree to my conditions.”
Oh? How interesting.
Duke Gregory grinned. For a pawn in his plan to censure Rio, that was an appropriate response.
“Very well. State your demands.”
“First, I want you to leave the confrontation to me. That means you won’t dig into his past without my permission. I want you to keep silent about his past until I’m ready to censure him. In exchange, I’ll share whatever information you want.”
Stewart listed his conditions, hoping to seize the initiative for himself.
“Hmm. Is that all?”
“If you agree that the past I’m about to tell you is evil, then I’d like you to promise you’ll help me bring him down. That’s all.”
“Got it. In that case, that won’t be a problem. Let’s relocate—we can get your conditions written down on paper.”
Duke Gregory readily agreed with Stewart’s conditions. If Stewart himself was offering to stand in the line of fire, he had no reason to refuse. In fact, it suited his intentions perfectly.
“Is it okay to leave a trail like that?” Stewart asked.
“Of course. You wouldn’t feel assured with a mere verbal promise either, no?”
“I appreciate it.”
Stewart also seemed to feel more trust towards Duke Gregory for being willing to put their agreement to paper. He was smiling for the first time today, exhaling in relief.
However, Duke Gregory hadn’t offered to leave a paper trail of the conditions out of goodwill. As a noble with experience in the way of the world, he would never suggest something for another person’s benefit. He was only doing it because a paper trail was in his own interest.
Hmph. Verbally promising to help leaves me open to bearing responsibility for anything. It’d be better to have my involvement objectively written down.
He planned to assist enough to get a say in the discussions if Rio was successfully censured and would have the ability to shift all the responsibility onto Stewart if everything failed.