Reversing the result for an item that had been traded once was a very troublesome process.

From the point of trying to cancel the transaction once made, the creditworthiness of the person who made the remark was questioned.

Even if you take that risk and ask to withdraw from the deal, if the other party tells you that it is not already in your hands, you will not be able to speak anymore.

If the contents of the contract were formally retained in the contract, in fact, the process was more complicated than signing a new transaction contract.

Fortunately, the transaction contract that the other party presented to us was not directly signed by Lulu, but a counterfeit contract.

And was it that I could prove that the transaction was made by a third party and not through me or my agent Lulu?

And the problem was that the other party who led the transaction belonged to the Marquis family.

Atier Chenwerner, the second son of the Marquis of Chenwerner.

As nobles, there was a difference between the eldest son and the second son, but the difference between the Marquis Prince and the Viscount Prince, of course, was more than that.

At least, even if he had only attained the status of a count.

If that was the case, they could have reached an agreement somehow by paying a little more than the market price by asking Stella, the eldest daughter of Count Arwen, to sit with them at the negotiating table.

It was difficult to expect the effect of Stella, the daughter of the count, as the opponent was the Marquis of Chenwerner, whose power was still strong.

So, if there is anyone else to ask for help, there must be Lady Hilla, the third daughter of the Margrave of Warburg.

Not too long ago, I received a letter from the Marquis directly thanking me. That was enough reason to ask her at least once.

However, I stopped using this card this time.

First of all, in terms of personal acquaintance, the relationship between me and Lady Hilla wasn’t so close as to make me ask for a favor like this.

More than anything, it was because of the concern that since he was one of Delphina’s closest acquaintances, he might affect his younger sister’s relationships.

In addition to that, even if it wasn’t Lady Hilla who had to cross a bridge, there was a better candidate among the powers that could be borrowed.

The VIP room of the royal residence that occupies one part of the academy.

At the negotiating table with Atier Chenwerner prepared there, Prince Attiere and I sat face to face.

With a guest accompanying me to help with negotiations next to me.

“That, that, that is… .”

Perhaps because of the unexpected call from the guest, Prince Athier kept averting his eyes.

I waited for my trusty ally, who had been quietly talking to him, to speak again.

“I will ask again properly, Prince Attiere.

As it was originally, I heard that you stole the material of the coil mouse that I was supposed to hand over to Prince Conrad, but is that true?”

“That, that’s not it, Prince Antonio… .”

Although he called himself a person who withdrew from the competition for imperial power, it seemed that he could not lie about the bloodline of the imperial family that had been flowing since he was born.

The weight of the intimidation of Prince Antonio, who was resolutely swearing at the Marquis Confucius, was even reaching me.

Athier looked quite taken aback by the prince’s reaction and began to think of an excuse by desperately rolling his eyes.

“You seem to be misunderstanding something, Prince… .”

“Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding are you trying to say?”

“I just bought it without hesitation because a rare material came out on the market by chance. I didn’t even imagine that it belonged to Prince Antonio.”

“is it? But Prince Conrad claims he never said he would sell this material.”

“Well, that is very strange. Perhaps Prince Conrad is mistaken… ?”

Seeing Atiere break out in a cold sweat and make excuses, I could imagine his efforts to evade responsibility and escape somehow.

“Well, even this contract has the signature of his agent, Lulu.”

“Yes, yes! Maybe the subcontractor led the deal without consulting Prince Conrad… .”

“So I guess I’ll have to look into this contract. At this rate, we are only making parallel claims that do not fit each other.”

“Joe, are you investigating? The contract?”

“Yes, maybe this contract is a forged contract.”

He took a sip of the tea on the table as he watched Attiere’s expression change even further.

In order to investigate whether or not the contract is a counterfeit contract, you will naturally have to go through magic verification.

If you go into magic verification, you can even find out who wrote the fake contract.

Usually, in this case, even if the forgery is discovered, it is normal to have someone else write a contract over several legs in order to hide the fact that they forged it.

At most, it seemed that he hadn’t gone through such a cumbersome process against commoners and viscount families.

If an investigation is conducted, it will be revealed that it was forged by Atier Chenwerner himself, or at least by Chenwerner’s associates.

If that happened, not only would the contract be undone, but it would be openly revealed that he had lied to the imperial family.

Perhaps, from Athier’s point of view, checking for forgery on contracts is one of the things he absolutely wants to avoid.

“Well, I am really embarrassed. Obviously, I only traded according to the contents of the contract, but I am very surprised to hear that it is a fake contract.

That, that contract, the Chenwerner family will be responsible for investigating it and catching the forger! And severely punish those who dared to trouble the prince… .”

“No, there is no need for that.”

Prince Antonio, who took the contract in the opposite direction of Atière, who reached out for the contract, continued with a stern expression on his face.

“We have already identified the culprit who forged the contract.”

“… … Yeah?”

Athier’s expression hardened at Prince Antonio’s words.

And seeing that expression slowly change to despair, he hurriedly spat out an apology similar to an excuse from his mouth.

“I’m sorry, Prince! I didn’t know how to look cool and made mistakes… !”

“It looks like one of the money-blinded seniors in the engineering department forged the contract. We haven’t officially examined it yet, but the rough situation has already been figured out.”

“Yes Yes? Are you saying that the engineering student tampered with the contract… ?”

“Hmm, it looks like you don’t like the results of the investigation. Could it be that the real culprit you think is different?”

“… Oh no! no! It was the work of some naughty tech students! Uh, somehow I knew it!”

Athier’s expression, which had been flustered just before, fearing that his corruption would be exposed, quickly widened.

“Since you can’t memorize the names of students from different departments, you must have just traded with the highest graded student as the representative, right? You’re only guilty of being deceived by the student’s flattery, right?”

“It is as you said, Prince Antonio!”

“So it is. There is no way the royal family could steal the item that the royal family won a bid for from the family of the Marquis Chenwerner, who has been loyal to the imperial family for a long time.”

“You are right, Prince Antonio!”

By the way, the reason why he was putting the blame on another wrong student in front of the obvious culprit was because of the plan he had previously shared with Prince Antonio.

“Since the transaction was made based on a forged contract, the material of the coil mouse you previously traded must go back to the original owner. Isn’t it?”

“Oh, that’s right! You are right!”

“If possible, I don’t want to hear that it’s already been used.

Because I made a reservation more than a month in advance to receive the materials.”

“Mu, of course I haven’t even touched it yet, Prince! Ah, that’s a relief!”

Athier, who hurriedly took out the material for the coil mouse from the bag he was carrying, took out the outer skin of the coil mouse and showed it in front of the prince.

Eventually, this will come back like this.

“Even though Prince Conrad is present here, it would be better for you and me to make a deal than to deal with him in the middle.

Oh, of course, I’ll pay you the price you paid for the purchase from Prince Conrad. Would the two of you be okay with that?”

“Mu, of course, Prince!”

“I have no objection either.”

“Yeah, that’s good.”

After saying that, Prince Antonio took the materials from Atière and then looked around.

“Hmm, the material of the monster I met in the demon forest is definitely correct.”

“Yes, yes!”

“You worked hard to get here, Prince Atier.”

The bag of coins from the prince’s pocket was passed to Atier.

“Make sure the amount is right.”

“Everything, of course, isn’t it right! I know without checking!”

“Still, other words may come out later, so you’d better check it once.”

“Ah, I see. You say so… .”

Prince Atière is relieved at the thought that even though the materials were stolen, the money he paid will be refunded.

It didn’t take long for his expression to change to bewilderment for a different reason.

“As written in the contract, 50 copper coins were paid for sure.”

The expression of Prince Atière when the material he paid for 30 gold coins changed to half a silver coin was so good that he wanted to show it to Lulu.

“Hmm? Do you happen to like something? I understand that you have definitely paid the amount as written in the contract.”

Prince Antonio pointed out the contents of the contract he was holding and clearly pointed to the part where the amount of 50 copper coins was written.

“It clearly says 50 fairy tales here. Is there anything different from the terms of the contract?”

“Oh, no. There is not… .”

Athiere’s chaos as he left the VIP room with a pocket full of 50 fairy tales could be felt even from the back.

* * *

After hearing the report from the servant that Attiere had definitely gone out of the imperial residence. Finally, he thanked Prince Antonio for completing the task.

“I’ve caused trouble with troublesome things, Prince Antonio.”

As if he had already expected this kind of reaction from me, he shook his hand lightly and summed up his achievements.

“It’s not even worth saying that you did a good job with this. It wasn’t too bad, as I also gained something of my own.”

Holding Attiere’s counterfeit contract in his hand, Prince Antonio smiled in his own way, as if he was also satisfied.

Thanks to Artier Chenwerner, who was frightened by the review of the counterfeit contract, without hesitation, returned the material of the coil mouse at a bargain price.

I also recovered the once-lost rare material, and Prince Antonio became a form that still held Attiere’s weakness in his hand.

Since each got what they wanted from each other, this negotiating table was truly a successful cooperative operation.

Of course, as much as I gained a little more, I should express my gratitude to Prince Antonio.

“If it wasn’t for Prince Antonio, it would have been difficult to get my things back. So thank you again from the bottom of my heart, Prince Antonio.”

“You bowed your head that far, so I will accept your thanks.

It’s really insignificant compared to how you saved my life anyway.”

“It is.”

“It’s nice that you’re honest, unlike other people.”

The material for the coil mouse returned from Atière was handed over from Prince Antonio’s hand.

After experiencing the surprisingly light weight compared to the volume, I definitely felt that this rare material had returned to my hands.

“Next time you need my help, tell me at least once.

Of course, I was only able to help this time because I had the time, and I can’t promise that I will be able to do the same next time.”

“I have already had enough help. Thank you for your words, Prince Antonio.”

If the 2nd Prince Berman or the 1st Princess of Malicia had the personality of Prince Antonio, the competition for the next imperial power would not have been as fierce as it is now.

Seeing Prince Antonio carefully organizing the counterfeit contracts, the thought that he would enter the competition for imperial authority again flashed through his mind.

… Maybe, because it wasn’t too late.

“Prince, I don’t know if this will be rude. Can I just post one word through the eyes of a single citizen?”

“Tell me.”

“Since you have already expressed your intention to step down from the imperial competition, I fully agree with the prince’s opinion.

If the time comes when you say that you want to challenge for the position of the next emperor again, then I and the Perdalos family promise to fully support Prince Antonio.”

Hearing my words, Prince Antonio’s expression hardened a little for an instant.

After all, it was a bit premature to talk about it with such a shallow relationship.

“When I heard the same story from Vincent before, it sounded like an absurd story.”

“Yeah?”

“For some reason, hearing the same words from your mouth makes me think that maybe this time it might be possible.”

“… That word.”

“But, I’ll take it anyway. I still have no particular interest in the position of the next emperor.”

The feeling of being tempted by something was transmitted in its own way, but Prince Antonio’s words continued that he would still maintain a neutral attitude.

“All right. If that’s what Prince Antonio wants, then I won’t have anything to say either.”

That’s why I also ended today’s conversation in an appropriate line without forcing my opinion on him.

First of all, it wasn’t so bad that Prince Antonio was aware of the visible possibility.

Even if it wasn’t today, opportunities to convince him would arise in the future.