Night weighed heavily on the ducal mansion with an almost oppressive solemnity. Outside, the gardens remained immaculate, the fountains murmured steadily, and the guards patrolled in disciplined silence. Nothing on that facade suggested chaos. Nothing revealed that, behind the tall, illuminated windows, a grave crisis had just crossed the main doors. Inside the Duchess’s private study, however, the air was stiff, dense, as if even the walls awaited her reaction.
The room was spacious and luxurious without vulgar excesses. Every object had been chosen to communicate ancient power: rare tapestries, imported marble, dark, hand-carved wood, and portraits of ancestors that seed to judge anyone who entered. A large map of Arven occupied the central wall, marked with discreet golden pins and almost invisible lines drawn in ink. Seated before it, in a high-backed chair, was the Duchess.
She disliked nightti interruptions.
Her dark wine-colored dress fell in impeccable folds. Discreet jewels glead on her wrists and neck with the naturalness of soone born surrounded by wealth. A wine glass rested untouched on the side table. Her long fingers drumd on the arm of the chair at precise intervals, betraying contained irritation.
Before her knelt three people: a ssenger covered in road dust, an accountant holding scrolls, and a private guard officer. None dared speak without permission. All knew the reputation of the woman seated before them. She rarely shouted. This was worse.
The Duchess raised her gaze slowly, observing each face with surgical coldness. Her voice ca out low, elegant, and sharp. "I was removed from an excellent dinner. I hope soone has died or sothing is on fire."
The ssenger swallowed hard. "My lady... both, taphorically."
She did not smile.
"Explain."
The man leaned forward until his forehead almost touched the floor. "We received news from the east corridor. The mill was destroyed. The secondary warehouses were looted or burned. The Grey House fell."
The silence that followed was absolute.
The Duchess remained motionless for a few seconds. Then she placed her goblet with excessive delicacy on the table, a gesture that everyone there recognized as a sign of imminent danger.
"What?"
The word ca out too softly.
The administrator trembled. "We have partial confirmation, Your Excellency. The shipnts disappeared. Records taken. n scattered or dead. The routes are compromised."
The chair slid back as she suddenly stood up. The noise echoed like a blow in the hall.
"In how many days?"
The ssenger hesitated. "Four... perhaps five, madam."
She stared at him as if she had spoken another language.
"Four days?" she repeated, now louder. "It took years to structure that. Years of bribes, favors, silent purchases, careful appointnts, and costly idiocies." She stepped forward. "And you tell it was all demolished in less than a week?"
The officer tried to intervene. "There are still minor points left, madam."
She turned so quickly that he instinctively recoiled.
"Minor points?" Her voice sharpened. "Minor points don’t sustain influence. Minor points don’t buy magistrates. Minor points don’t feed ard n." She approached him slowly. "Minor points are leftovers."
With a sharp movent, she pushed the side table. The goblet toppled, the wine spilled like blood onto the expensive carpet, and two pieces of porcelain tumbled to the floor, shattering.
The ssenger closed his eyes.
The Duchess began to walk around the room in quick, controlled steps. "The mill was discreet. The warehouses were compartntalized. The Grey House was unknown even to half of those involved." She turned abruptly. "That wasn’t bad luck."
Her eyes narrowed.
"That was thod."
The administrator mustered enough courage to speak. "Perhaps a business rival, Your Excellency. Or a foreign faction trying to seize territory."
She made a short sound of disdain.
"Rivals steal profits. This destroyed infrastructure." She pointed to the map. "Coordinated fires. Capture of records. Sequential attacks. Precise choice of targets." Her fingers tapped on wood. "Soone didn’t want to inherit my network. They wanted to erase it."
The guard officer cleared his throat. "If I may, perhaps we should mobilize troops and conduct public searches."
She laughed.
There was no humor in that sound.
"Ah, yes. Excellent idea. Let’s announce to the whole city that I have a personal interest in clandestine warehouses and hidden laboratories." She approached him and lightly tapped his shoulder. "That’s why you use a sword and don’t think."
The man lowered his head imdiately.
She returned to the center of the room, breathing faster now. Anger was beginning to pierce through her veneer of noble composure. "Who was in charge here?"
The ssenger answered without raising his eyes. "Lady Seraphine Valcor was overseeing part of the operations."
The Duchess’s jaw tightened.
"And where is Seraphine?"
No one answered imdiately.
She spoke again, more quietly. "Where. Is. Seraphine."
The administrator almost stamred. "Missing, madam. So reports indicate a confrontation. Others say capture. We have no confirmation."
The Duchess grabbed a silver candlestick from the table and threw it against the wall. The tal bent on impact, knocking down a smaller portrait that shattered on the floor.
"Idiots."
The word echoed through the hall.
"She knew nas. Routes. Paynts. Mariti contacts. Passwords. Safe houses." Her eyes glead with fury. "If she was captured, half this city could wake up in panic by the end of the week."
The administrator began to sweat visibly. "Perhaps she’ll resist, Your Excellency."
The Duchess stared at him with almost admiring disdain.
"You clearly have never encountered competent torture."
She walked to the window and drew back the curtain. Outside, the gardens remained perfect, insultingly calm. This seed to irritate her even more.
"Whoever did this knows criminal compartntalization, urban logistics, and response ti. It’s not your average criminal." Her fingers tightened on the heavy fabric. "Nor is it an official guard. They would be too slow, bureaucratic, and proud to get this right."
She turned again.
"So we have soone intelligent. Organized. Violent. And invisible."
The officer ventured: "It could be more than one person."
"Of course it’s more than one person." She crossed her arms. "No one takes down three points, makes records disappear, and neutralizes security alone." She paused briefly. "But there is a central mastermind." She approached the map and plucked several golden pins at once. They ricocheted off the marble floor.
"I want all routes closed by dawn. Safe houses abandoned. ssengers switched. Codes altered. Any compromised na disappears."
The administrator nodded with excessive vigor. "Yes, Your Excellency."
"If you fail, you’ll lose your hands."
He paled.
The Duchess pointed to the ssenger. "Go to the north port. I want ships prepared to depart with false cargo and clean docuntation."
"Yes, Your Excellency."
"If followed, throw yourself into the river."
"...Yes, Your Excellency."
She then turned to the guard officer. "Gather discreet n. No official uniforms. I want eyes on taverns, markets, healers, and blacksmiths. Whoever destroyed my points has hurt soone, bought sothing, or celebrated too much."
The man breathed a sigh of relief at still being alive. "Imdiately."
"And if you ntion my na in any investigation, I’ll strangle you myself."
He paled again.
The Duchess sat down again, but now there was sothing different about her posture. The initial outburst had passed. What remained was the most dangerous kind of anger: the kind that had beco strategy.
She rested her chin on her fingers and spoke almost casually. "I also want a complete list of everyone who knew about the Grey House."
The administrator hesitated. "It’s a short list."
"Even better. It ans fewer people to interrogate."
Outside, servants rushed down the corridor carrying newly transmitted orders. Inside the room, no one dared move without permission.
The Duchess watched the spilled wine on the carpet for a few seconds. "Years of work," she murmured. "Years buying silence, fear, and need." Her gaze slowly rose. "Destroyed by soone who still believes they are winning." The ssenger frowned, too confused to hide it.
She noticed.
"Those who do this think small," she explained. "Burn deposits, kill interdiaries, steal papers... and imagine they’ve struck at the heart." A thin smile appeared. "The heart never lies where the money sleeps."
She stood one last ti and went to the fireplace. She took one of the reports, read two lines, and threw it into the fire.
"If I can’t profit this week, I’ll profit from the chaos next week."
She turned to them.
"Tomorrow I’ll receive advisors. We’ll talk about urban insecurity, growing gangs, and the need for ergency powers." Her cold eyes scanned the three kneeling figures. "If the city fears monsters in the shadows, it will give authority to whoever promises to hunt them down."
The officer understood first. "He’ll turn this into political capital."
She smiled genuinely this ti, and the man wished he hadn’t understood.
"Finally, soone useful." Another report was thrown into the fire.
"And when I find out who did this..." Her voice beca soft as silk on a knife. "I won’t just destroy that person."
She walked slowly to the map and touched the eastern region with the tip of her fingernail.
"I will destroy everything she loves, protects, hides, or deems untouchable."
No one answered.
No one took a deep breath.
No one dared to move a muscle.
The Duchess raised her hand, dismissing them. The three left in haste, almost tripping over shards of porcelain and torn papers.
Alone again, she poured another glass of wine with perfectly steady hands.
Outside, the night remained beautiful and silent.
Inside the mansion, orders crisscrossed the corridors like blades in flight.
The distribution network was ruined.
But the woman who commanded it had just beco sothing far worse than a wealthy criminal.
Now she was personally offended.
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