The atmosphere was getting moodier as they picked up their respective glasses and took another shot.
Jayden leaned back, his eyes unfocused.
"Look, I’m not saying he wasn’t useful. He knew how to please his backers. He knew how to play council and church politics, but..."
"But?" Raven leaned forward, his eyes occasionally darting to Pevon, who was uncharacteristically silent.
Pevon was watching all this unfold.
He had stopped taking the shots a while ago.
At last, he finally stared back at Raven and gave him a knowing smile.
"I think I am going to head out." He cut off Jayden before he could speak and stood up.
Jayden and Randy frowned, their expressions begging for an answer.
"Upset bowels."
Basically, nature’s call.
They didn’t probe him further, and Pevon left the scene.
Raven also chuckled, his intrigue growing for Pevon.
"You were saying something, Jayden?" Raven tried to get the conversation back on track. "He was competent, but?"
"But holy shit, the man strangled half the city with his ’donations’." He said in a frustrated tone.
"You mean the tithes?" Raven asked curiously.
"Ugh. Call them whatever that helps you sleep better." He drowned another shot glass. "Thanks to that, the city blamed us for extorting them."
"But those are necessary for warding off the threat of the cult and the uccurseds, are they not?" Raven asked, his expression that of the oblivious.
Randy also nodded at Raven’s words.
Aren’t they necessary?
"Oh, you naive fools." He shook his head, his eyes heavy due to the alcohol influence, "Go visit one of their mansions, and you’d see the ’tithes’ being used in ’fighting uccurseds’."
"I think he was trying to protect the faithful, was he not?" Randy spoke, his voice also signifying he was clearly drunk.
Raven nodded absentmindedly. "I don’t understand. Are you saying his interests weren’t aligned with the church?"
"God, how can one be so naive? This is why peasants are so..." He groaned, almost in disbelief.
Raven was one thing, since he was a peasant, but even Randy?
"He clearly extorted the peasants, gobbled up the funds, and set up a public notion that it was us who were at fault."
His voice was loud, and his tongue was no longer in his control due to the influence.
An uncontrollable smile crept up Raven’s face.
’Nice going, Jayden.’
He controlled his smile somehow.
Now wasn’t the time yet.
Just one more push.
He frowned slightly, "So you believe he abused his authority?"
"What? That’s not what I said."
"Then clarify," Raven questioned, shifting his posture.
Jayden misunderstood his posture and also leaned forward with a smile, followed by Randy.
"He hid behind the books, used faith to scare people, like always. That’s all."
Randy was taken aback. "Jayden?"
In this narrow-minded world full of fanatics, sentences like these were shocking to hear, to say the least.
Raven’s voice stayed even, "So, you are saying he exploited the belief itself?"
Jayden chortled.
"Faith, fear... It’s all the same for people like him."
The next shot was poured, even more potent, despite them being dead drunk.
They were higher than the birds right now.
Everyone but Raven.
Which was weird because wasn’t he also drinking with them?
Randy frowned for a second.
"So," Raven stood up, with the glass of ’whiskey’ in his hand, "You believe Cardinal David deceived the faithful and deserved his fate?"
Jayden smirked, his eyelids barely hanging for their dear life, "That parasite in the white robe? Haha, Maybe."
"Take it back." Raven picked up one of the wine bottles on their table.
"What? Haha!" Jayden just laughed, oblivious.
Smash! Shatter!
...
The next morning.
Knock! Knock!
"Come in." A masculine voice spoke from inside, the tone uncharacteristically toned down.
Eve turned the knob and entered the opulent office with posh wooden furniture contributing to the charm of the office.
The room was lavish without being over-the-top.
But the most attention-grabbing part of the room was definitely the person behind the table.
A middle-aged man with black hair combed back neatly, with some white streaks running across.
He was clean-shaven, which clearly showcased his sharp facial features.
His hazel eyes were sharp and calculating, with no clear intent visible.
Even for her, he was very hard to read.
But the thing that stood out most about him was his presence in the room he had.
She was stronger than him, but his presence, holding decades of experience in handling people, outshone her.
This man was not only one of the largest private money lenders in the Ivory Kingdom, but also one of the wealthiest individuals in the entire kingdom.
The Orca of the financial market and the head of the Marlowe family.
Morris Marlowe.
"You called, Father?" She called out to him in a polite tone.
"Mhm!" He nodded as he started writing something on the paper immediately.
A few seconds later, he tore the paper off, stamped it, and finally looked towards her.
"Go fetch your brother." He said, his calm tone somewhat unsettling.
Eve frowned.
"You could’ve asked a maid to do this."
Morris’s eyes pointed towards the piece of paper he had given to her.
Eve complied and read.
"Arrested?" She yelled subconsciously, making Morris sigh.
"Hmm... Apparently, he beat up the second child of Pittman."
"Viscount Pittman?"
"Yeah, to a pulp. And you know how it is with harming a noble."
"But why?" She was confused.
Her brother might be a troublemaker, but never someone who beats people to a pulp.
"Wasn’t he friends with him, too?"
"Go ask him himself, before Viscount Pittman does something to him."
Instantly, a suffocating aura flared up from her, which made even Morris break a sweat.
"I’d like to see him try." An ominous expression replaced her otherwise stoic face.
She stormed out of the office without saying another word, leaving Morris alone in the room, using his handkerchief to wipe off his forehead.
"That unfilial son of mine again." He pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. "I just hope the other storm passes without much hassle."
...
In front of the city lord’s Manor, a black carriage with gold etchings screeched to a halt.
The moment it stopped, Eve stepped out with her detached yet dignified steps.
But before anything, her eyes immediately wandered off to another man, also exiting a luxurious carriage, but with a family crest etched on it.
"Greetings, Cardinal Eve."
"Greetings, Viscount Pittman."