My Unchosen Ex Chases Reborn Me (Soren and Fiona) novel Chapter 234

Chapter 234 Profit And Instinct

Such was human nature–to chase advantage and shun risk.

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April arrived, and Zachary concluded his exhaustive probe into Huntingdorf, a county under Junbert’s rule.

The evidence was staggering–tens of thousands in gold gone, twenty wagonloads of grain diverted. When the report reached Jexburgh, Emperor Aldric’s wrath shook the marble floors of Grand Harmony Hall.

The Emperor’s fist crashed onto the lacquered map table. Scrolls jumped, candles quivered, and every minister in the chamber felt the blow in his bones.

“One county magistrate alone can gorge himself to this degree–what horrors must be festering in the provinces above him? Now I understand why fertile lands have grown barren. Our nation’s wealth has been eaten alive and now swells the bellies of those swaggering brutes. I want each of those grease–fed scoundrels investigated–every last one!”

His fury left a single, thorny question hanging in the smoky air: who would dare shoulder such an investigation?

Cornelius and Zephyr both hung back, calculating. Whoever led the purge would gain weapons as sharp as they were dangerous–new allies if handled well, new enemies if mishandled.

Cornelius had prepared long ago, planning to strike after the Steppe Nomads invaded Broadmoor. Zephyr, caught flat–footed, had no such groundwork in place, and that single advantage weighed heavily on the silence between them.

“Father, allow me to bear this burden.” Cornelius bowed until his collar brushed his knees. “Send a court minister and he will flinch before each provincial strongman. Send your son, and I will fear no governor’s protective web,”

“Father, my fourth brother may have Mr. James for a future father–in–law, and that connection would speed his work, yes.” Zephyr’s smile was all silk. “Yet I, too, burn only to lighten Father’s load. Command whomever you deem fit; whosoever serves Duflana, I will celebrate his triumph.”

To the casual car Zephyr sounded magnanimous, a prince thinking only of his father’s peace. Yet every word was a calculated retreat meant to lure the Emperor forward.

By praising James, Zephyr pressed a hidden blade on the sore spot he knew best–Emperor Aldric’s hatred of any subject whose merit might eclipse the throne.

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Chapter 234 Profit And Instinct

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The hint worked. A shadow of doubt crossed the Emperor’s eyes, and Zephyr felt the scales tilt ever so slightly in his favor.

Old fox, Cornelius cursed in the privacy of his skull. The Zonfrillo Estate set up this Junbert investigation, and now Zephyr means to bleed me with my own knife.

Straightening, Cornelius spoke before the opening closed. “Father, speed is life. Each day’s delay grants those thieves one more night to spirit their plunder away. The longer we wait, the darker the dream grows.”

“So,” Zephyr purred, “you believe Mr. James‘ name alone can strip the darkness? Has the censor’s face grown higher than Father’s crown?”

In truth, James‘ reputation opened doors the Emperor rarely knocked upon himself. Provincial officials met the censorate far more often than the throne, and fear of the nearer whip always stung deeper than awe of the distant sword.

Emperor Aldric answered with a low, mirthless laugh that curled like smoke around the pillars.

Seeing his window narrowing, Cornelius lunged once more. “Father, Zephyr is on friendly terms with the governors of Danwick and Yewdale. Should he lead the probe, whispers of favoritism would stain the crown itself. Better to dispatch Marcus–he keeps no court faction and owes no debts.”

The Emperor waved the suggestion aside. “Your third brother never meddles in government affairs; do not thrust burdens on him for sport.” Yet distrust tugged at him–Zephyr’s appetite for

power was too naked, and Cornelius‘ web of allies too wide. Balance must be kept while his health still held.

His private fondness for Zephyr was shackled by fear. The Sixth Prince’s venomous brilliance fixed too often on the throne itself, and no father–let alone an emperor–could sleep soundly beneath such a stare.

Still, neither Zephyr nor Cornelius could be safely dismissed; only those two possessed the stature to inherit when the final hour struck.

So the imperial mind circled back to Marcus, the quiet son whose very indifference now glittered like untarnished silver.

Zephyr glimpsed the shift and his pulse stumbled. Any sword in another’s hand felt more dangerous than one in his own–better Marcus than Cornelius, yet best of all himself.

In Zephyr’s reckoning Marcus, though distant, was at least bound to him by blood and childhood memories; surely a brother born of the same mother would not tilt the scales toward Cornelius.

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Chapter 234 Profit And Instinct

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“Father, I agree–Marcus is ideal. With no faction to shield, he cannot shelter the guilty, and his neutrality alone ensures justice.” Zephyr spoke quickly, corralling the moment before it bolted.

“Indeed. Cornelius added, forcing a genial nod. “To cleanse corruption, our third brother need only issue commands. Purity, not strategy, is the first requirement.”

Emperor Aldric saw through both masks with practiced ease. Each son merely sought a steward who would bruise the other but leave his own gardens untouched.

Yet the argument echoed his own sense. Marcus–solitary, unambitious, and unclouded by cunning–might just be the clean blade the empire required.

By the time Marcus crossed the marble threshold of the Imperial Palace, the afternoon sun was already sliding toward its golden decline. Every colonnade threw arrows of light across the floor, and his cane clicked in the hush, the sound small against such vaulted grandeur.

Emperor Aldric waited near a lattice window that overlooked the inner lake. At the sight of his third son, the ruler’s usually frosted gaze thawed by a degree, as though the sovereign layer peeled back to reveal a momentary, ordinary father.

“I have been waiting quite a while,” he said, the words delivered with a smile that only family ever earned from him.

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