It was too much for Rachel to move the unconscious Gerrard on her own.
Since I’d have to carry him anyway, it would be more efficient for to do it in one go rather than have her waste ti going back and forth.
However, even after I explained that, Rachel didn’t share the address.
[It’s just… there are many people in my building who know Gerrard. If they see him being carried in by a stranger…]
I understood imdiately.
In a world where successors are pushed aside for trivial reasons, being carried ho drunk by an unknown person?
That would instantly disqualify him from being an heir.
[I-I’ll head over right now!]
With no other choice, I gave her my ho address and hung up the call, then let out a sigh and looked around.
Scattered glasses, a half-full bottle of whiskey, cushions tossed everywhere…
Looking at Gerrard sprawled out on the sofa started to irritate .
‘Well… I should at least tidy up for the guest.'
I straightened the ss and lit a scented candle to cover the sll of alcohol.
But then, barely any ti had passed when—
Ding-dong—
[You have a visitor.]
Rachel had arrived.
In just 15 minutes.
She stepped out of the elevator looking completely different than usual.
Wearing only a coat over pajamas and carrying a heavy-looking eco bag, it was clear she had rushed over.
Even her hair was still wet.
“Where’s Gerrard?”
“Over there…”
When I pointed to the living room, Rachel dashed over without hesitation.
A subtle fragrance lingered where she passed.
A sophisticated scent where the freshness of citrus and the depth of amber blended in perfect harmony.
A vaguely familiar, exotic shampoo scent scrambled my thoughts.
While I was montarily distracted, Rachel sat beside Gerrard and began rummaging through her eco bag like a paradic.
But what she pulled out was…
“Orange juice?”
“It’s just… Gerrard sobers up pretty well with this…”
‘Is this like an antidote?’
Alcohol as a truth serum, juice as the antidote—what a strange constitution.
“Gerrard?”
Rachel opened the juice bottle and tried to get him to drink, but he was unconscious, so it didn’t work.
A look of increasing concern spread across her face.
“If we wait a bit longer, he should wake up. Would it be okay to wait here until then?”
I answered with a calm smile.
“Of course. Would you like a drink while you wait?”
“Huh? Oh, yes, then…”
It was the perfect opportunity.
‘Might as well gather so intel on the succession structure while I can.’
The Marquis family’s power transition wouldn’t be like that of a typical corporation.
As a family-run private company, there would surely be secretive internal rules.
Yet even in his drunken state, Gerrard had firmly kept his mouth shut on this matter.
Probably because leaking it would an losing his right to succession.
However, Rachel might hand over a vital clue.
She was quite close to and, since she wasn’t a successor, didn’t need to be as cautious with her words as Gerrard did.
“Let’s move Gerrard to the guest room for now.”
Bringing up internal family matters in his presence could be problematic if he suddenly woke up.
So I intended to move him to the guest room, but Rachel looked apologetic.
“Huh? But that would be too much trouble…”
“I don’t really like having soone passed out in my living room. If anything, this is more troubleso for .”
“…”
So I tried to move that bastard Gerrard quickly…
But it wasn’t as easy as I thought.
The weight of an unconscious person feels even heavier, and I was already quite tipsy.
“I-I’ll help!”
“That’s alright.”
It really wasn’t alright.
I eventually gave up on carrying him on my back and ended up dragging him with his arm slung over my shoulder—and the guest room felt unexpectedly far.
‘Did I buy too big a house?’
Still, I sohow made it.
Just as I was about to toss the deadweight onto the bed—
“Wait!”
Rachel hurried over and pulled back the blanket.
For what felt like an eternity of a few seconds, I had to bear that weight even longer.
“All done.”
Suppressing the urge to drop him, I gently laid him down, matching the care Rachel had just shown.
As Rachel covered him with the blanket, I helped as well…
“…!”
Her eyes widened when they brushed against my wrist.
Letters slightly revealed under my rolled-up sleeve.
The nas Dylan and Alia.
I quickly pulled the sleeve down and offered a clumsy excuse.
“Sotis when I don’t have a notepad, I have this habit of jotting things down on my hand.”
“Oh, okay…”
Back in the living room, I handed Rachel a cocktail I had made.
An awkward silence lingered.
Even if the tattoo looked like hastily scribbled handwriting, would she really believe such a weak excuse?
Still, I didn’t think it wise to bring it up myself.
As I hesitated, the subtle scent of her shampoo once again drifted to my nose, clouding my thoughts.
Then Rachel broke the silence first.
“Um… can I ask what Gerrard said?”
That question snapped my hazy mind back into focus.
I quickly forced a wry smile and opened my mouth.
“He confided a bit. He talked about his uncles…”
“What? Don’t tell …!”
Rachel’s face instantly turned pale.
She looked worried that Gerrard might have blurted out sensitive information about the Marquis family while drunk.
“Of course, I won’t tell anyone.”
“No, it’s not that I don’t trust you… I was just worried soone else might have overheard…”
“You don’t need to worry. Nothing much was said outside.”
“That’s a relief, but…”
Even after hearing that, unease lingered on her face, and I couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of disappointnt.
I thought we had built a strong enough bond of trust, but even I got that kind of reaction?
It just proved how strict the family's rules really were.
‘So she’s not going to open up just because I ask.’
Not that it was a big problem.
I already had a good grasp of Rachel’s tendencies.
‘If I fra it as helping Gerrard, she’ll talk.’
In other words, I had to make it so she’d have no choice but to speak up herself.
It wasn’t a difficult task, but…
“What exactly did Gerrard say?”
Her clear green eyes gazed at .
Filled with worry, but completely free of suspicion—pure eyes.
I’m not exactly a righteous person, but trying to deceive soone like this left feeling a bit uncomfortable.
But.
‘Well, it can’t be helped.’
It would be much faster and more certain to go through Rachel than to interrogate Gerrard again.
I pushed aside the discomfort and continued with a serious expression.
“In truth… I believe sothing serious has happened to Gerrard.”
#
“A while ago, Gerrard ca to asking for help. He said he wanted to borrow my algorithm’s power for sothing involving the Marquis.”
“Gerrard did?”
Rachel’s eyes widened.
Gerrard, who always warned her to keep her distance from Ha Si-heon, had personally sought him out.
That could only an he was truly desperate.
“I owe you a lot, Rachel, so I don’t mind helping Gerrard… but I do want to ask you sothing first.”
Ha Si-heon’s voice held a sincere note of concern.
“It doesn’t feel like just ambition to lead a massive company like the Marquis. There’s a certain desperation, like he’s being chased. Why is Gerrard so cornered?”
Rachel was left speechless by Ha Si-heon’s sharp insight.
Because he had hit the nail on the head.
‘It’s probably not just about wanting the position…’
He likely just wanted to be recognized as a true mber of the family.
Rachel’s family had always felt like outsiders within the Marquis household.
In fact, the uncles currently leading the Marquis and her mother, Judy, were half-siblings.
Judy was the youngest daughter born from their grandfather’s remarriage.
He had doted on her in life, but he had drawn a clear line.
He left her inheritance, but never gave her any say in managent.
Even so, Rachel hesitated to speak of this.
‘I trust Sean, but…’
She was afraid that her confession might beco a burden on Gerrard.
She couldn’t bear to block his future now, after only ever receiving help from him.
Just then, Ha Si-heon spoke again with a gentle tone.
“I understand that it’s a sensitive family issue. So if it’s uncomfortable, I won’t press further.”
Ha Si-heon stopped his questioning.
Instead, he added cautiously.
“I would just like you to decide, Rachel. Should I help Gerrard or not?”
“…?”
“As I said, helping him isn’t difficult. But I did overhear so things about his uncles… and even if this goes well, it doesn’t seem like Gerrard’s problems will be resolved.”
Rachel’s face clouded as she heard those words.
Because Ha Si-heon’s point was valid.
“Gerrard has achieved quite a bit, and yet he’s never been properly acknowledged. They keep promising him next ti, but it feels more like a cruel kind of hope.”
“……”
“That thod doesn’t suit Gerrard. The way they shake a carrot in front of him as if they’ll reward him any second—it's just conditioning him to the stick.”
It was an apt taphor.
All these years, Gerrard had been like a donkey whipped endlessly in front of the elusive carrot of hope within the Marquis family.
‘…It all started three years ago.’
Originally, Judy and Gerrard had been excluded from all managent.
But three years ago, everything changed.
The eldest uncle’s son lost his right to succession due to embezzlent, and Judy and Gerrard were nad as successors.
However, that decision was only a backup plan.
It was rely a lesser evil compared to letting the younger uncle’s children inherit the role.
Even after being designated as successor, Gerrard never gained full trust.
Endless trials, and a constantly dangled, never-secured promise of succession.
It was what bound him and turned his life into a slow torture of false hope.
“If this kind of thing is going to keep happening, shouldn’t we address the root problem?”
Ha Si-heon’s words were sound.
However…
‘But is that even possible?’
Rachel’s maternal family was not made up of normal people.
They were the type who would sacrifice anyone to protect their insular world.
No one had ever been able to change them.
‘But…’
If there was soone who could do it, it would be Ha Si-heon.
He was soone who turned the impossible into possible.
“Can… you really help him?”
Rachel asked with a trembling voice, and Ha Si-heon responded firmly.
“Of course. Though it won’t be in the way Gerrard is expecting. I’m sure there’s a better path.”
“A better path.”
Those words struck a chord in Rachel’s heart.
Ever since she had t Ha Si-heon, her life had changed.
She had always felt unstable and insufficient… but now she had found direction.
The ground beneath her feet felt solid.
She had the confidence to overco any obstacle.
And it was all thanks to the path Ha Si-heon had shown her.
‘Maybe… that’s what Gerrard needs too.’
She sincerely hoped so.
That the transformation she experienced could happen for Gerrard as well.
“But to find that path, we need information. If Gerrard’s goal is the CEO position, then we at least need to know how that position is decided and what the process is.”
Ha Si-heon drilled into the core of the matter with cold logic.
It was as if Gerrard’s personal life didn’t concern him at all.
But Rachel knew better.
That coldness was just a mask he wore.
‘Just like back then…’
Ha Si-heon hadn’t shed a single tear in front of Dylan’s death.
But in the hotel room afterward, what kind of face had he shown?
‘And just now, when I brushed his wrist…’
Ha Si-heon was the most genuine person Rachel knew.
His thods might be rough, but his heart was kinder than anyone’s.
And so, Rachel finally opened her heavy mouth.
“There’s sothing called the Family Council in the Marquis.”
#
Rachel’s explanation was quite interesting.
‘The Family Council.’
Family Council.
It was the highest decision-making body that determined the major policies and direction of the Marquis corporation, similar in structure to a corporate board of directors.
However—
Their decisions weren’t limited to business managent alone.
While corporate boards represented shareholders’ interests, the Family Council prioritized the family’s prestige, tradition, and influence.
It was also where delicate and secretive decisions like political lobbying or strategic judgnts were made.
In any case—
Voting rights in the Family Council were distributed among direct and collateral family mbers, and trustees of the family trust.
And that—was the potential breakthrough.
“So, that ans there are people besides the uncles who hold voting rights.”
“Yes. But the uncles still hold the most influence.”
Even so, it was best not to count on their votes.
According to Gerrard, they were power-drunk paranoiacs.
No way would such people step down from the throne on their own.
‘In tis like this, a coup is the answer.’
The only choice was to mobilize the other voters and forcibly seize power.
“What kind of people are the collateral relatives and trustees?”
“Well, they’re kind of unique… hard to explain with words. You might have to et them yourself…”
‘Unique,’ huh.
Her word choice hinted at a deliberate attempt to avoid bad-mouthing.
In other words, they weren’t normal either.
Well, no matter.
The key was persuading them to confirm Gerrard’s succession.
‘I’m confident in persuasion itself…’
But the real problem was creating the opportunity for that persuasion.
Even if I requested etings, it was unlikely they would agree easily.
They would surely refuse or stall to test —and I couldn’t waste ti repeating that process with dozens of people.
“Is there any ti when all of them gather in one place?”
“There’s the quarterly council eting, but as far as I know, outsiders are never allowed in.”
That was a place I could never enter.
Then Rachel hesitantly added sothing.
“There’s a fox hunt in the spring, actually…”
Fox hunt?
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