Chapter 200: Viscount Scassia
The "Grey Dove" sat on top of a desk in some office, swinging her legs back and forth in her favorite relaxed posture. She held a sketchbook and a pencil, casually doodling and drawing.
The office belonged to Viscount Scassia, who was nervously sitting in the corner of the sofa. To calm himself, he held a cup of flower tea tightly in his hands and took small sips from time to time.
“How’s business going for you lately?”
The hooded girl, the “Grey Dove,” gently blew some pencil shavings off her sketchbook. Even that soft “whoosh” sound made the old man, his gray hair combed neatly, tremble slightly.
“B-Business? Haha, same as always… You know, I was planning to invest in a winery, but the Moer family has taken over most of the food industry. Who could compete with them? I ended up losing money… So right now I’m kind of broke…”
He rubbed the teacup nervously, his pale green eyes shifting side to side, clearly hiding something.
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
The Grey Dove looked up and gave him a sharp glance. Even though he couldn’t see her face under the hood, just feeling her gaze on him was enough to make Viscount Scassia tense up.
“Y-You mean… You took a few big jobs while I was away, didn’t you?”
“B-Big jobs…?”
This old guy was still trying to play dumb in front of the Grey Dove.
“I was just sent away for a while on orders from the master, and you already got brave enough to ‘move goods’ on your own?”
Snap.
She casually broke her pencil in half with a few fingers.
Viscount Scassia’s hands trembled as he set down his cup of tea. Facing this young girl, this old schemer who had been playing dirty his whole life, actually got so scared he couldn’t breathe properly.
“When you work for our master, you better watch your head. We’re not here for nothing. Everything you do, our eyes are watching you.”
“Y-Yes… You’re right, Lady Grey Dove… I was just trying to earn a little extra for my family…”
“You take help from the Moer family with one hand and badmouth them for being monopolists with the other. You businessmen are truly shameless.”
Her mood shifted quickly. After venting her anger at Viscount Scassia, she suddenly smiled and joked with him like nothing happened.
“Well, as businessmen, we have to find ways to make money somehow…”
“Yeah, and human trafficking makes the most money. Even we sometimes ‘buy stock’ from you~”
Viscount Scassia gave an awkward, crooked smile.
Just like she said, the Scassia family was involved in human trafficking. Their small, humble appearance was just a cover to avoid suspicion. In truth, they were dirtier than most people knew.
Because of the old king’s earlier actions, the House of Nightingales had always been in an awkward political position. There was no solid evidence that it was created by or served the second prince, but in politics, people didn’t always need proof to make assumptions.
The second prince wasn’t too worried about the political side. He knew the first prince’s supporters would never believe the Nightingales were innocent, so he shifted his focus to gaining the public’s support.
During that time, to distract people from the Nightingale rumors, he founded the St. Fleurs Church, which helped improve his image as a kind and godly man. To the public, it became the second prince’s version of a “playground”. A peaceful, holy place. With the Knights watching over it, the monastery seemed totally clean.
He never used the monastery for anything shady. He didn’t kidnap children from there to train as assassins or anything like that. He knew it was directly tied to him, if anything was found out, it would become the perfect evidence his enemies were looking for.
Still, the second prince wasn’t completely staying clean behind the scenes. He still needed “fresh blood,” so he worked with merchants who were tight-lipped and already had dirt on their hands.
Like Viscount Scassia.
That old man’s first human trafficking deal was actually selling his own grandson.
When he heard his son had gotten injured on the battlefield, his first thought wasn’t to help him, but to figure out how to take over his son’s title and wealth. He didn’t care about his widowed daughter-in-law either. Instead of helping her and the child, he had the mother killed and sold the child to the House of Nightingales.
The second prince once said,
“A man like that living to old age, hair white and still healthy, is proof that so-called ‘just gods’ are just a made-up comfort for the poor and weak.”
Of course, only the second prince and his closest circle knew the full story of the Scassia family. He’d first heard about this case back when he was still a child. His mother, the second queen, had told him everything when she was still alive.
At the time, the second prince didn’t really understand what his mother meant when she told him these things. She only said one last thing, “Someday, this will be useful to you.”
And now, he was indeed using it.
As for the “Grey Dove,” her role here was that of a “goods inspector.”
When it came to business involving the House of Nightingales, the second prince would never personally get involved. Instead, he left this kind of work to the odd and crazy-seeming Grey Dove, because he believed that her unusually sharp eyes made her perfect for choosing future assassins.
If she could help train another person like “Red Crow,” it would make many things easier.
“Yes, ma’am… you’re right…”
“Alright, alright~~ I won’t keep circling around the point,” Grey Dove said with a light laugh. “You know how I am, I like being direct. Old man, you went behind our backs and worked with traffickers we didn’t approve of. The high-ups in the Knights have already started to get suspicious. They haven’t found anything concrete yet, but it’s only a matter of time. If our master finds out before then… well, you know what happens next.”
When she was out in the field, the Grey Dove never referred to the second prince as “Your Highness.” She always just said “our master,” to avoid anyone who might be eavesdropping and causing trouble.
Viscount Scassia also understood that this “master” she spoke of was the second prince. And if he found out what he had done, Scassia knew his head would probably be split into three pieces.
As he wiped his sweat, Scassia’s eyes darted slightly. He realized something, if the Grey Dove had come in person, she definitely needed something from him. Otherwise, she would’ve just killed him already instead of chatting like this.
“So… Lady Grey Dove, what do you need me to do?”
“Heh, it’s simple.”
The girl chuckled. She liked doing business with people who got to the point.
Then, she jumped down from the desk and handed him the sketchbook she’d been drawing in.
“This is…”
Looking at the drawing of a short-haired little girl, drawn in a very detailed and refined style, Viscount Scassia had a rough idea of what she meant. But just to be sure, he asked the much shorter girl in front of him to clarify.
“That’s the target I’ve got my eye on,” Grey Dove said, pointing at the picture.
Even though she had only seen the girl once, she had clearly remembered the child’s appearance and captured it in perfect detail with just pencil lines.
The girl in the picture didn’t look like the average clueless child. She had a certain maturity that didn’t match her age, and that made Grey Dove believe she was someone with great potential.
“As for her name—” Grey Dove gave a soft hum. “—I don’t know yet.”
But she remembered that day clearly. The person who showed up with the girl was the captain of the knights, so there was probably some connection there.
Still, Grey Dove didn’t tell that part to Viscount Scassia. Hidden under her cloak, she let out a quiet laugh.
She didn’t think Scassia was the type of guy to charge into a lion’s den if he knew there was danger waiting, so she simply didn’t tell him there was a lion at all.
Even if the worst happened and the “lion” did eat him, Grey Dove was confident she could still track down the child herself. And if possible, she would prefer to bring the child back to the House of Nightingales alive.
If she got lucky, maybe even the knight captain could be roped in too.
After all, aside from her idol “Red Crow,” Grey Dove didn’t choose people based on emotion. She picked them based on usefulness.
If the knight captain could be turned to their side, it would open up many opportunities. His position as the Royal Knight Commander was one that many powerful figures had their eyes on. If they couldn’t get the title itself, getting the person holding it would be the next best thing.
Of course, if the knight captain ended up becoming an obstacle to Red Crow, then she would definitely kill him.
No one was allowed to stand in Red Crow’s way. Everything she did was for the sake of giving him a better “home.”
“Hehehe…”
Thinking about all this, Grey Dove giggled again in a kind of lovestruck, obsessed way.
She couldn’t wait to meet her idol again and tell him how much she’d improved lately. To tell him that no matter who tried to stop him, she would rip out their guts and offer them as a gift.
“My Red Crow… must never be touched by others. He must never be stopped, never be tainted. Not even by me. I must not let my own flaws stain him. I won’t allow it.”
“……”
Hearing that creepy laugh from Grey Dove again, Viscount Scassia, who already thought she was completely insane, didn’t dare say a word.
He even lowered the sound of his breathing.
He simply looked down at the very detailed picture in his hands, his fingers tightly gripping the sketchpad.