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Edward g his teeth, his fury barely contained. "Take a seat, th. Now, what is it that you want to offer me?"

"Since you seem eager," Vyan said, crossing one leg over the other with infuriating nonchalance, "I will get straight to the point."

He paused for dramatic effect before delivering his bombshell, "I will help you pay off your debts to Count Clipton."

Edward\'s eyes blazed with rage. "I knew you were behind it all," he spat.

Vyan chuckled, the sound of it dark and mocking. "Yes, but how will you prove it? Ev your daughter has failed to gather any evidce against me. It\'s just your word against mine."

Edward took a deep breath, struggling to rein in his anger. "What do you want in exchange for clearing up the mess you created for me?"

"Glad you realize I am not doing this out of the goodness of my heart," Vyan praised mockingly.

"As if you have any goodness in that black heart of yours," Edward muttered.

"Be honest, Marquess, neither do you," Vyan chortled. "Anyway, can you guess what I want from you?"

"What? Do you want me to sell my soul to you, you devil?"

"Now, now, why would I want such a useless thing as your soul?"

"Just get to the point!" Edward shouted, slamming his palm on the table so hard that the teacups rattled.

Vyan didn\'t ev flinch. Instead, he tilted his head, a lethal smile spreading across his face. "What I want is simple: break off your daughter\'s gagemt to the crown prince."

Edward\'s face turned crimson with fury. "How dare you ask me such a thing?!"

"You act as if you have any chance of getting Iyana married to Prince Easton after this scandal of yours gets out," Vyan pointed out, his tone dripping with condescsion. "Isn\'t it better to accept my offer and keep your dignity intact?"

"Do you have any idea what His Majesty will do to me if I break off this gagemt wh the wedding is only one and a half months away?"

Vyan leaned back, feigning ignorance. "I don\'t have any idea, Marquess. Why don\'t you light me?"

Edward heaved, his breath heavy with anger. "He will drag me to the guillotine for humiliating the imperial family like this."

Vyan gasped lightly, mocking concern in his eyes. "We can\'t have that, now can we?"

"No, so I won\'t be complying with that." Edward clched his fist, barely restraining himself from launching at Vyan. "But it seems you already knew that. So tell me. What do you truly want?"

"Well, if you ask that," Vyan said, a sinister gleam in his eyes, "the answer would be to make you and your tire family beg on your knees in front of the tire nobility for all the atrocities you have made me dure over the years."

Edward swallowed nervously, Vyan\'s words sinking in.

"But don\'t worry, I won\'t ask that of you. Because it\'s cheap and lame," Vyan shrugged, his indifferce chilling. "Besides, I prefer something that will last much longer."

The room seemed to grow colder, the tsion suffocating. Edward knew he was standing on the precipice of a disaster—one that Vyan had meticulously crafted.

"So how about you give me your son and youngest daughter as slaves?"

Edward\'s fury erupted as he grabbed the nearest vase and smashed it to the g. "Do you know what you are asking? How can I give away my heir as a slave to you?"

Vyan arched an eyebrow. "Uh-huh, so you have no problem giving away Sina?"

"Take her. Marry her off. Sell her to a brothel. I don\'t care! She\'s not ev my daughter anyway!"

Vyan\'s eyes wided for a fraction of a second at the revelation, but he quickly masked it with a mocking smile. "Too bad; I have lost interest in Sina. I only want Lyon as a slave now."

"No way in hell!"

"But what will you do with an heir if you have nothing to pass down? Do you think he will stay with you if you have nothing left?" Vyan taunted.

Edward\'s resolve wavered, the cruel logic sinking in.

"Your son would abandon you in a heartbeat if I asked him to give you away as a slave. So why can\'t you do it?" Vyan pressed.

"I…" Edward\'s voice faltered because he knew Lyon\'s nature all too well.

"Besides, let\'s be frank. It\'s not like you are brimming with fatherly affection, either. All you care about is keeping an heir for a namesake."

Edward flinched at the brutal truth.

"Look, what I am asking is simple. Save your dignity with all those gold coins in exchange for a worthless heir. Isn\'t it a great offer?"

Edward was silt for a long momt, his mind racing. Finally, he asked, his voice trembling, "Will you treat him really badly?"

"I will only treat him like how he always treated me," Vyan smiled, his voice full of unreluctant malice.

Edward shut his eyes, the weight of his decision crushing him. I am sorry, son, but I have no choice but to shake hands with the devil.

"Alright, deal th."

———

"Damn, it\'s really pouring down," Iyana muttered, her eyes fixed on the storm raging outside the hallway window. Lightning cracked across the sky, illuminating her face.

"Where on earth did His Grace go in this weather? He wasn\'t ev in his office."

She strode down the hallway, her thoughts a storm of their own. Her gaze landed on the recorder artifact, abandoned on top of a cabinet. She picked it up, the cold metal pressing against her palm.

"How did this get here?" she murmured, th shrugged. She must have left it there in her haste after dueling Vyan.

Turning the artifact on in her hands, she ed a corner and froze. Ahead, Bedict and a maid were deep in conversation, their voices carrying over the sound of the rain.

"Master is out again at this time?" the maid sighed.

"Yes," Bedict replied.

"It\'s just like that night wh he came home drched like a stray cat," the maid chuckled softly. "What did he say happed again?"

"He claimed he fell into the Trycone Sea," Bedict laughed, the sound tinged with disbelief. "I bet he will come back drched again tonight, though this time because of the rain."

"He took Adam with him, didn\'t he?"

"Yes, and for some reason, he is insisting on doing everything manually these days," Bedict frowned.

"I wish I could say Master was strange, but Lord Clyde is ev stranger. He made Master wear that ridiculous red cloak that night, remember? It looked absolutely atrocious on him."

"And Master must have hated it too. He ditched it somewhere along the way and returned without it," Bedict sighed. "My poor master."

Iyana grinned, her heart pounding with triumph.

Stepping back into the shadows, she clutched the recorder artifact tighter. She had overheard everything she needed.

Now, she had all the proof she needed against Vyan. After all, the red cloak, her key piece of evidce, was safely tucked away in her office.

With a final glance at the rain-soaked world outside, Iyana happily skipped away, while Bedict and the maid fell silt. Their expressions grew dark, shadows creeping into their eyes.

"Do you think she heard all that?" the maid whispered, her voice barely audible over the pattering rain.

"Yes, she did," Bedict answered, his tone clipped and resigned.

The maid ran a hand over her face, a mixture of frustration and dread clouding her features. "The things that Master makes us do. What was ev the point of doing this?"

Bedict sighed deeply, recalling Vyan\'s chilling words.

\'I want to see her be hopeful, full of dreams that she will bring me down, protect her family, and all that stimtal crap. And th, I want to see those hopes crushed—crushed so badly that it breaks her spirit.\'