Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage Chapter 916: Choice For Cradle I

CH916 Choice For Cradle

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"Dark Water is now arguably the best intelligence organisation on the continent—perhaps only the intelligence organisations belonging to the Royal Families and Grand Duchies can compare, or possibly surpass us due to their longstanding history," Alpha opened.

"We are now poised to receive intelligence from every official settlement on the Plane. And with the information we have been able to acquire, we’ve achieved certain objectives."

She swiped on the board, bringing up a person’s profile.

"Aside from the previously mentioned use of the intelligence we’ve acquired to aid the Palace in its endeavours, Dark Water has also been able to use C.I.N. to achieve some of the goals you left behind for us, Master," Alpha said as she pulled up the profile.

Alex looked at the profile.

"Elayne Kroft? Headmaster of Cradle and Echelon?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Out of all the candidates we found, Lady Elayne Kroft was the most qualified according to your requirements—particularly her youth," Alpha said.

"Elayne Kroft is an illegitimate scion of House Salvatorre. At just twenty-five, she had risen through the ranks to become the head administrator of House Salvatorre’s training camps."

"House Salvatorre? The Grand Duchy—the Sword, Spear and Shield of the Empire? She was able to become the head administrator for such a House at such a young age?" Alex asked, surprised.

"Yes," Alpha confirmed with a nod.

Alex looked at the woman intently.

"How were you able to convince such a person to leave the Grand Duchy and join our comparatively smaller organisation?" he asked.

"I attribute it to luck and the right timing, Master," Alpha said with a smile. "Despite her talents, Lady Kroft didn’t have the best of times amongst the Salvatorres due to being an illegitimate child.

"The Grand Duchy is rigid in a lot of ways, and the mere identity of being an illegitimate child was a stain Lady Kroft couldn’t wash off, no matter how hard she tried or how talented she was. In fact, the identity ensured that no matter what she achieved, she would always be despised within the House.

"Eventually, some people within the Salvatorres schemed against her, pushing for her to become a sacrifice sent to the Flower-Plucking Gentleman, using her brother as leverage."

Alex’s eyes flashed coldly.

"I have heard that the Chancellor prefers teenage girls. He wouldn’t accept someone as ’old’ as Lady Kroft," he said. "Wouldn’t he be displeased with the Salvatorres instead?"

"The Flower-Plucking Gentleman prefers virgins, not necessarily teenage girls, Master. It is just that there is a greater guarantee that teenage or pubescent girls would be virgins than those who are older," Alpha replied dispassionately.

"As long as they deliver a virgin, the Flower-Plucking Gentleman wouldn’t mind. Those who deliver to him earn his grace."

"Why does such a man still stand at the top of the Empire?" Udara inquired seemingly dispassionately—almost as if inquiring about a plain matter like the weather.

However, the fist she clenched and released behind her back revealed her true emotions to Alex.

"Well, it is because the Flower-Plucking Gentleman doesn’t force anyone to do anything. He is a Chancellor, so receiving tributes from people is the norm. He doesn’t need to request or force anyone to deliver. Different Houses deliver to him willingly, and most women who go to him were trained for this particular purpose or had accepted their lot," Alpha replied.

"What happens to the women afterwards?" Alex asked.

"They are free to go," Alpha answered.

"Really?" Alex raised an eyebrow.

"While they are free to leave his estate, it doesn’t mean they are truly free, Master," Alpha revealed. "Once a woman has been with the Flower-Plucking Gentleman, she is essentially marked. She would never be able to legally marry anywhere else within the Empire. It is also often said that the husbands of such women eventually meet a bad end."

"Is it him?" Alex’s eyes flashed.

"By all accounts, no," Alpha revealed with a strange look.

"The Houses the women belong to?" Alex caught the look.

"Most likely," Alpha confirmed.

"I see..." Alex muttered.

’So the Flower-Plucking Gentleman still keeps his seat because he hasn’t forced anyone into his bed, and although it is somewhat frowned upon, sleeping with an underage girl isn’t unlawful since there isn’t a concept of an age of consent here.

’Receiving the virginity of a willing girl isn’t bad enough for it to be considered bribery. At least, bribery significant enough to affect his standing.

’Such is the result of wielding immense power—both literally and figuratively.’

The situation of the Flower-Plucking Gentleman reminded Alex of Emperors of old in his previous life who kept large harems. These women were materially set for life in most cases, as long as they could get into the Emperor’s bed once.

They weren’t the only ones who benefited. Even the women’s families benefited immensely.

However, the lives of these women often did not end blissfully.

The Emperor would most likely only sleep with the women once in their lifetime. This meant if they stayed in the Imperial Harem, they would remain intimately lonely for the rest of their lives.

On the other hand, having slept with the Emperor, it would difficult for them to find another man in the domain who would dare to bed them even after they left the Emperor’s rear palace or harem.

Like the Flower-Plucking Gentleman, the Emperor didn’t even have to move against the outlier men who stubbornly married them. There were hardliners within the nobility, or greedy people within the woman’s family who would gladly deal with the man.

The former group mostly moved as part of sycophantic act. While the latter moved mostly out of spite. They had likely benefited from the woman’s position in the harem, which had now been lost with her leaving it.

This created a feedback loop wherein no one dared marry, or even get together with, a woman who had been with the Emperor—or the Flower-Plucking Gentleman.

Alex shook his head and turned his attention back to the main matter.

"I take it you kid—no, rescued the Kroft brother from the Salvatorres to convince Lady Kroft to join our cause?" he said.

"Exactly," Alpha confirmed. "We had been monitoring communications from all the members of the Duchies and Grand Duchies we could spy on with the C.I.N., monitoring specific phrases as part of the chatter protocol.

"When C.I.N. picked up chatter about the Flower-Plucking Gentleman from one of the lower-high-level members of the Salvatorres, I investigated and found out about the plot. Fortunately, this was only a private, unofficial move from a relatively minor important member of the House. It wasn’t an official move from the House."

"Let me guess. The member of the House had something against Elayne Kroft and intended to use the move to send her away. The higher-ups of the House turned a blind eye to it since she was only an illegitimate child—plus, if the move succeeded, the House gained nothing but benefits, and if it failed, the member would take the fall," Alex mused.

"Essentially." Alpha nodded. "Since the House wanted to maintain anonymity, most of the moves were done unofficially and sloppily, allowing us to intercept things.

"We intercepted communications between the member and the Flower-Plucking Gentleman’s people. Pretending to be the latter, we set up a delivery date and venue for the Lady while also using it to obtain intelligence that we used to rescue her brother beforehand."

"With her brother in hand, Lady Kroft, who had already given in to the situation, readily accompanied our operatives."

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