IWBQ 14

~Chapter 14~

. It’s All True
2023.08.14.

Alice lifted Dubois’s chin with her fan. Dubois’s gaping mouth finally closed. Only then did Alice reveal the real reason she had come to see her.

“The Phone newspaper company will soon be up for sale. At a very cheap price, too. With the money you’ve earned, you’ll be able to buy it. Why don’t you join the bidding?”

“Buy a newspaper company?”

“You’ve always wanted to, haven’t you? Just think of it as happening a little earlier than planned. And besides, you can’t exactly start a newspaper under your own name.”

Seven years later, Dubois did indeed establish a newspaper—with the money she had made from her coffee salon. She had founded it, but it was not hers, because her husband was the official representative.

She had no choice. In the kingdom, women were not allowed to establish businesses.

‘Though acquisitions were possible.’

It was a ridiculous law, yet it had existed in the kingdom for a long time and remained firmly in place.

It was one of the reasons Alice had always hidden behind Chase. While much of it was to make him shine, there was also this.

“That may be true, but… the Phone newspaper is one of the biggest. And you expect me to believe a perfectly fine paper would suddenly go up for sale? You want me to swallow that?”

“Not right this moment. But in half a month, it will. Very urgently. Trust me and prepare the money. You’ve made quite a bit by now.”

Dubois glanced between her teacup and Alice.

It wasn’t hard to guess what she was thinking.

If she didn’t believe her, she might miss a chance to get what she wanted. But if she did believe her, the whole thing sounded far too absurd.

Was it because she was a journalist—that without evidence, she simply couldn’t believe?

If so, then Alice would give her evidence.

“You know the owner of Phone got into gambling, don’t you? A report will soon be filed. Gambling isn’t the only thing he’s involved in.”

“And where exactly are you getting this? What if you’re wrong?”

“There’s no way I’m wrong.”

“You talk as if you’ve seen it yourself. Must be a trustworthy source, then?”

Alice smiled meaningfully at Dubois’s doubtful gaze.

‘The source is me. I orchestrated it.’

In the past, Alice had forced the Phone newspaper out of business.

Because they had run a string of negative articles about Chase.

So Alice had dug into the owner’s life and discovered he was involved not only in gambling but also in illegal drug trafficking.

Naturally, Alice reported him to the judiciary.

As a result, the Phone owner received a massive fine.

‘He didn’t go to prison, of course, because he was a noble.’

The law favored the rich and crushed the poor.

A filthy world, indeed.

At that time, the Phone owner began putting up his properties and businesses for sale at rock-bottom prices. Included among the listings was the Phone newspaper itself.

Back then, Alice had actively pursued acquiring the paper.

‘At the time, I needed to intervene directly in Bedroca’s public opinion. And I had the money for it.’

But things were different now. Alice had to leave for Tetris, and she didn’t have enough cash on hand to buy the paper.

‘But I can’t just leave it alone. Chase would get involved.’

If the news broke that the Phone paper was up for sale, Chase would surely act.

‘That is, if he hadn’t ignored everything I taught him.’

Alice had taught Chase many things. Chief among them: the importance of public opinion.

‘Before Chase realizes and makes a move, I have to act.’

So Alice planned to bring the sale forward.

‘Waiting for the judiciary’s investigation and trial would take far too long.’

Instead, she gave the Phone owner a little tip-off.

‘That the judiciary was about to launch an inspection. He’d liquidate assets to prepare for exile.’

But he would never actually escape. By the time he tried to flee, the judiciary would storm in and arrest him.

Alice had calculated the timing with precision.

“We’ll meet again at the banquet. Whether you buy the Phone or not is your decision, but I hope you won’t be foolish enough to miss this opportunity. And I’d like you to write the article, too.”

Alice ended the conversation and rose.

Dubois would act as Alice intended. Not because she trusted Alice, but because, as Alice had said, she had nothing to lose by doing so.

Alice had no need to check whether Dubois believed her.

For the first time in its three-year history, the Alleycat Times published an extra edition.

*“Shocking True Story.

A Flower Deer Who Spent the Night With the Savage Prince of Tetris—Could It Be…?”*

The fact that Alice had spent the night with Karan was splashed across the paper.

Just as Alice wanted—direct and blatant.

Everyone knew the flower deer was the symbol of House Wharton.

And Dubois, ever so helpful, added the detail that it was a woman with reddish-golden hair, so no one would confuse her with Iris.

Iris had hair like molten gold, while Alice’s golden hair was tinged with amber—

‘The so-called dirty blonde.’

On top of that, the article mentioned she was the royal fiancée. Even without a name, everyone would know the woman in the article was Alice.

‘Thank you for spelling it out so clearly.’

Dubois had even risked some danger by printing it.

‘The royal family might impose sanctions, though they could just dismiss it as gossip.’

Snap—the sound of a newspaper folding echoed lightly.

“Ah, my lady…”

Regina’s voice trembled.

That gentle, innocent young lady of hers—who had looked only to Prince Chase—was now being linked to a barbarian?

As she watched Alice calmly read the article, Regina’s eyes brimmed with worry.

How wounded Alice must feel. How she must be fretting inside.

But to Regina’s astonishment, Alice was perfectly calm, even after finishing the article. The only one trembling was Regina.

“The flower deer in the article—that’s you, isn’t it, my lady?”

Regina pointed to the Alleycat Times on the table.

“Yes.”

Alice nodded serenely.

“With… with that savage… that man from Tetris… you… spent the night with him?”

“That’s right, Regina. I spent the night with the savage prince of Tetris.”

“Gasp!”

Regina collapsed onto the floor.

“And Prince Chase—what will become of you two?”

“What else? We’ll break up. Completely over.”

“The engagement will be annulled too… A-are you all right, my lady?”

Regina’s face was on the verge of tears, but Alice, the very subject of the scandal, smiled brightly.

“Of course. This is exactly what I wanted.”

Breaking off her parasitic engagement with Chase and marrying Karan—

It was all Alice’s will.

“M-my lady… did you really read the article properly? It says not Prince Chase but the barbarian…”

“Regina. From now on, call him Prince Karan. Don’t you dare say ‘barbarian’ in front of him again.”

Regina froze solid.

Had her lady eaten something spoiled? Was she so shaken she was confusing reality with the scandal?

“I’m perfectly sane. Now, I need to send a letter. May I take this newspaper, Regina? Regina?”

Alice had to call her twice before Regina snapped out of it.

“Ah, yes! Yes, my lady, please take it.”

She had a mountain of questions to ask Alice, but as a mere maid, she couldn’t pry into her mistress’s private affairs.

Unless Alice volunteered to share, that was.

“But… what are you going to do with the paper, my lady?”

That much she could ask.

“I’ll be sending it to Prince Chase.”

Regina was horrified.

Alice paid her no mind and neatly folded the paper.

Like a sudden downpour, Viscount Wharton’s thunderous roar struck without warning.

“Alice! Come down here this instant!”

As Alice sipped her tea leisurely that afternoon, her father’s voice boomed all the way to her third-floor room, making her frown.

“Quick, aren’t we? Father is still vigorous, I see.”

With that idle musing, Alice rose to go, but Regina blocked her path.

Alice raised an eyebrow.

“My lady, if you go down now, you’ll be punished harshly. Why don’t you pretend you’re unwell and meet him tomorrow?”

“You mean to wait out the storm to avoid the rain? Regina, it’s better to take the beating quickly.”

“No, that’s not it! I know from experience… the later it is, the weaker they are. When they’ve worn themselves out.”

“You’ve been beaten?”

“Ah… well… that’s not important right now. The point is, you mustn’t go down, my lady.”

Alice was stunned. Regina had been beaten? Judging from her reaction, it must have been recent. And Alice had never known.

She knew that sometimes butlers or head maids would discipline the younger servants with corporal punishment.

But Regina wasn’t a child, nor was she clumsy at her work.

She served only Alice, so she could hardly have offended anyone else.

As Alice thought it over, a flash of realization struck her.

‘They couldn’t touch me, so they beat Regina instead.’

Some people mistook their master’s authority for their own and lorded it over others.

It was well known that they built little hierarchies and claimed power from their masters’ prestige.

‘Regina must have suffered a lot.’

In the Wharton household, Alice’s position was lower than even the butler’s or head maid’s.

Her engagement to Chase was only a verbal promise, and until recently, Chase’s position had been shaky too.

‘I see. No wonder it makes me sick.’

Alice clenched her fist.

‘I won’t just let this go, even if I leave.’

Her eyes gleamed coldly.

“My lady…”

Regina’s eyes welled up. Not knowing what Alice was thinking, she could only worry for her.

“Regina, I’ll be back. Stay here.”

“No, let me come with you—”

“I don’t want you to see this.”

Regina pressed her hands tightly together at her chest.

Of course—what refined lady would want her servant to see her disheveled?

But then Regina’s plan—to take the punishment in Alice’s place—would fail.

She wanted to insist on following, but—

“Stay here.”

At Alice’s firm command, Regina froze, as if rooted to the ground.

She had no one to ask for help, no power to protect Alice. She felt painfully useless.

“You sluggish good-for-nothing! I told you to stay quiet in this house, and you couldn’t even do that? Look at the disgrace you’ve caused!”

The moment Alice entered the hall, a crumpled copy of the Alleycat Times was hurled at her face.

It struck her shoulder and fell to the floor.

Her eyes briefly rested on the open paper before lifting away.

“I’ve come, Father, Mother. And sister.”

“So you have! Still got the gall to greet us? Is the filth written there true? What on earth have you been doing?”

Viscount Wharton—Fraser—jabbed a finger at Alice. His neck veins bulged, his face red with rage.

“It’s exactly as the article says. I slept with him—Prince Karan of Tetris.”

“W-what did you say?”

“I thought you were curious.”

At Alice’s calm reply, Fraser seized her by the scruff of the neck.