Try Begging

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Chapter 91

“I will ask you straightforwardly. Is the reason you want to meddle with the Winston family is because the military needs a puppet?”

“You’re asking something so obvious.”

“Then, if rumors spread that my mistress was a rebel, and I am kicked out of the military and my social reputation suffers, you will be killing the hunting dog you paid a high price for. I wonder why you don’t know something so obvious.”

“Then, you should have played the role of a puppet properly!”

The Grand Duke slammed the hand holding the cup on the table. As the alcohol overflowed, the foul stench of the strong wine reverberated.

“Well. If this engagement is canceled, my mother will regret it, but I have nothing to regret. Even considering what the Grand Duke asked me to do even before the engagement, it would be beneficial for me to pretend it didn’t happen.”

The tables turned in an instant.

In his relationship with the Winston family, the Grand Duke always believed that he stood above them. Even though Winston’s mother pretended to be noble on the outside, she was anxious on the inside. However, the expectation that his son would do the same was shattered.

“Captain, it is irresponsible as the head of the family to think only of yourself. Your mother was very happy when I said that I would speak well to His Majesty so that you could get your title back. Of course, your father in heaven will feel the same way.”

Since the Grand Duke tried to threaten Winston and ended up getting beaten up, he seemed to have changed his strategy to conciliation.

“You must be mistaken that I am only trying to use you. I want our two families to prosper together.”

Our.

Leon laughed.

“Isn’t that why I’m trying to brighten up your future path as the person who will become my family? If you finish this job well, the esteemed guest will be greatly impressed by you.”

The Grand Lady as well as the Grand Duke. Did this sermon run in the family? As the incoherent words continued, Leon checked his watch.

“Don’t push me when I’m trying hard to give you a chance to regain your title.”

A chance to regain his title. Leon brushed off the lump of ashes from the Grand Duke’s presumptuous gift with a wry look.

“You are a brilliant person, so I don’t think you did not understood the guest’s intentions. Besides, you’re not inflexible. That’s why the esteemed guests think of you even more.”

Oh, being bright was a sin.

“Isn’t it true that the captain’s investigation was dishonest?”

It was not an investigation, it must have been dishonest manipulation.

“I can’t agree with that part.”

“….”

“From the report I gave you, you carefully selected only what you needed and put it together well. Am I useless?”

From the top, the proposition. “The Sinclair family is behind the rebels,” was set in advance, and only the appropriate information was selected and distorted from Leon’s report.

‘To make it look like I was a participant and then criticize me for not participating.’

It was a secret threat to scare him who was placed in the gray area between black and white and to completely immerse his feet in black. Nonetheless, that only worked for the little ones and it stood no chance against Leon.

“You can do better, can you? Don’t disappoint the esteemed guest this time.”

“I heard you. Lunchtime is over, so I’ll have to return to headquarters.”

The Grand Duke reached out to block Leon as he stood up.

“All we need is a confession. And his signature, your signature. That’s all. Easy.”

“Easiest would be a warning to get out of the bidding.”

“Threats are undignified.”

Leon laughed. So, is it dignified for the king to frame civilians?

“The bidding will start soon, so you better hurry up and finish it. And the first article will be published tomorrow morning.”

Geoffrey Sinclair’s arrest was still a military secret, so it was forbidden to leak it, let alone report it. The royal family resorts to all sorts of dirty tricks because of the resentment of losing a few bids.

‘You’re serving a thug.’

He felt like a lowly person fist-fighting in the back alley.

At times like this, even the eldest son of the Winston family, who had been a royalist since his birth, hoped that the old-fashioned monarchy would collapse and a world where money was king would arrive. Then, he would stand on top of them.

Looking at the global trend, his grandfather’s idea that a new world would come where the capital, not status, becomes power was actually not wrong. It was only far ahead of its time and the cause of defeat for partnering with the disorderly and incompetent first revolutionary government.

“To frame a civilian whom the public looks up to.”

Leon decided to ask directly.

“Did you know that on the day it was discovered, the second revolution could lead to the collapse of the monarchy that was restored with difficulty?”

“You’re more scared than I thought.”

The Grand Duke provoked him with a sneer. Leon also responded with the same sneer.

“I’m not the one who’s going to be decapitated on the guillotine, so why should I be scared….”

He picked up the swan’s neck stuck in the gray custard.

Pop.

The head was cut in two and was thrown into the middle of the table.

“There are other people who will end up like this.”

“It’s your job to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Instead of answering, Leon stuck a smoking cigar into the swan’s back like a knife. The Grand Duke shouted at him as he turned around and left.

“I will believe in your abilities.”

Everyone was crazy.

Crazy for only one woman, he was crazy as well.

º º º

[ Sinclair, the two faces of the philanthropist. ]

As soon as Leon’s eyes landed on the front page of the morning newspaper on the breakfast table, he gestured at the butler. With the instruction to put away the newspaper, the butler asked in bewilderment.

“Should I bring another newspaper?”

Leon shook his head.

It was obvious that all the other newspapers would be plastered with articles accusing Sinclair of being a rebel. As he cast his gaze on Jerome on the other side of the table, the newspaper the butler took was the Winsford Herald, owned by Jerome.

“Has the Grand Duke contacted you?”

“What nonsense are you talking about? Why would the Grand Duke?”

Jerome stopped eating and frowned at him. That guy has a habit of blinking his eyes quickly when he was lying. However, this time, Leon was relieved because he was being loud.

‘It’s not an article published through him.’

Still, he didn’t know what stupid things he might do once he fell in love with a woman, so Leon decided to warn him in advance.

“If the Grand Duke asks you anything, don’t listen.”

“Leon, is there something about the Grand Duke that I don’t know about?”

Her mother, seated at the head of the table, intervened with a puzzled face. That woman was a short-sighted person who would easily sell the fate of her family and the future of her children for the sake of a title.

“It is a military secret.”

The moment he changed the subject and took up a glass of sparkling water, Jerome brought up the same topic again.

“There was a rumor that Captain Winston was in charge of Geoffrey Sinclair’s interrogation….”

“Military secret.”

Leon spent time in the basement of the annex, avoiding Jerome, who continued to try to cover the story. It was right after the lunch break when he went to headquarters. He walked reluctantly to the investigation room in the basement of the headquarters but stopped, seeing the door to one of the investigation rooms was opened.

“Your father might go to jail if you don’t help us.”

“How, how can I help you?”

It was a young voice.

As the soldier who opened the door saluted the moment he saw him, Leon waved his hand to send the soldier away and peered through the open door. In the interrogation room, one of his men sat across from a frightened boy.

He was the eldest son of Jeffrey Sinclair, seen in the Sinclair family photo.

‘Only a ten-year-old…’

To use a young son to frame his father… it was something that even the devil would condemn.

When Leon entered the interrogation room, the second lieutenant who was in the middle of the interrogation, jumped up from his seat and saluted.

“Hey, children’s interrogation is not done this way.”

“I’m sorry, Captain.”

Although he pretended to criticize his subordinate’s method of interrogation, Leon had never interrogated a child… because even the devil has a philosophy.

“Go out and buy some ice cream.”

Taking out a bill, he threw it at the lieutenant.

The boy, who had been following the man with his eyes as he picked up the bill and disappeared outside, turned his gaze to Leon the moment the door closed. While he made eye contact with the boy trembling in fear, he whispered quietly.

“Listen to me. Though if my words leak, I can’t help you.”

With the word help, hope flashed in the boy’s eyes.

As the boy nodded resolutely, Leon let out a sigh. This was suicidal. It was foolish to expect a child to keep a secret.

Stupid.

He blamed himself for doing something reckless and asked the boy.