SSS Talent: From Trash to Tyrant Chapter 927 - Inside Morgain

Valttair said nothing for a few seconds after Trafalgar finished with Myrrhvale. His attention went to Caelum, who had stood beside the desk through the whole conversation without breaking in once.

"There is something else before we come to the Council. Caelum has been looking into Maeron for me, and what he found is serious enough that I want you to hear it from him."

Trafalgar turned toward Caelum. He already knew most of what was coming, and hearing how Caelum meant to put it in front of Valttair was worth his attention. Darian could appear nowhere in the account, and neither could the arrangement Trafalgar had made with House Thal'zar.

Caelum stepped forward.

"I began following Lord Maeron's movements more closely after you ordered me to look into the family. At first there was nothing unusual enough to raise concern beyond what we already knew. That changed when several of his communications started leaving Morgain territory through channels with no connection to his official duties."

Valttair's eyes narrowed. "Tell me exactly what you mean. I have no use for vague suspicion when we are speaking about my First Heir."

"He has been in contact with people tied to another Great Family while avoiding the ordinary routes that would leave a record inside House Morgain. Intermediaries, private couriers, several indirect contacts."

"And?"

"I cannot prove a formal agreement exists. The conversations have run long enough that I no longer take them for casual."

Trafalgar watched him closely. Valttair's face barely moved, and Trafalgar had spent enough years around him to know when his attention sharpened.

"What has Maeron been asking for?"

Caelum answered without hesitating. "The clearest reading points to political support. There are references suggesting resources and military cooperation have been discussed as well, though I have found nothing showing that soldiers or money have actually changed hands."

Valttair leaned back in his chair. "So he has started looking outside this family for strength."

"That is what the evidence suggests. There is another detail that makes it worse. The negotiations have not gone well for him, and he keeps going back to them."

Trafalgar took it from there.

"That's the part I'd pay the most attention to. Maeron doesn't accept bad terms unless he thinks he's buying something much larger later. Whoever he's talking to has delayed him repeatedly, shifted the terms and refused him outright more than once, and he still keeps the conversation alive."

Valttair looked at him. "You believe he is desperate enough to take conditions he would normally throw back."

"I wouldn't call him desperate yet. He's far more willing to bend than I'd expect. A man as proud as Maeron doesn't keep lowering his position without a reason."

"There is also a change in how quickly he wants answers," Caelum said. "Earlier exchanges could sit unanswered for days without much reaction from him. Lately a delay is followed by another message, a new proposal, or an attempt to arrange the next conversation sooner."

That drew the first visible reaction from Valttair. His fingers stopped against the desk.

"Then whatever he is preparing may be nearer than I believed."

Trafalgar did not answer. It was the same conclusion he had reached in Euclid.

Valttair looked back to Caelum. "You were watching Maeron before this. Did you see anything that shows where this support is meant to be used?"

"Nothing conclusive. His movements inside our territory stay careful, and I have found no unusual concentration of soldiers or resources under his hand. If he is preparing something, he has not reached the point where he can move in the open."

Valttair was quiet a moment before he spoke again, and his voice had gone colder.

"That is more than I knew. I was already unhappy with Maeron. I knew he had been building connections I never approved and that he was pushing himself forward inside the family. I did not know he had gone outside Morgain for political or military backing."

Trafalgar thought of Rivena at once. Valttair did too, and not in the same way.

"My concerns about Rivena are of another kind," Valttair went on. "She entered restricted archives without permission, disappeared for six months, crossed our borders without authority, and came back without giving me a truthful account of where she had been."

He paused.

"Then nearly two thousand people died in territory she was responsible for, because somebody walked onto our land, worked under one of our mines for weeks and made a disaster that should never have been possible."

Trafalgar nodded slowly. "You already think she had a hand in it."

"I think she knows a great deal more than she has admitted. Whether she arranged what happened herself or only helped somebody reach the place is what I intend to prove."

That distinction carried weight. Valttair suspected Rivena heavily, and he still had no idea that she and Maeron were working together. Trafalgar had no intention of changing that without evidence in his hand.

"So what do you do with Maeron now?"

Valttair looked straight at him. "I go on watching him. Confronting him today would achieve nothing except telling him how much we know."

"If Lord Maeron learns his current channels are compromised he will abandon them," Caelum said. "We would lose the easiest way we have of measuring how fast he is moving and what kind of support he is trying to buy."

"Just so," Valttair said. "I want names, messages, money, soldiers, intermediaries, and anything else that can be tied to him directly. When I move against one of my own children, I will not leave them room to hide behind an excuse afterward."

Trafalgar understood what that meant. This had stopped being suspicion. Valttair had already decided he would act against them.

"You intend to wait until after the Council?"

"I do. Until then Maeron can go on believing his movements are hidden, and Rivena stays inside this castle under restriction. Once we are back, I will start dealing with House Morgain properly."

Trafalgar leaned forward a little. "That could turn ugly very fast if Maeron works out what you're doing."

"It may. Letting my own children gather outside support while I pretend not to see it would be worse."

For once, Trafalgar agreed with him without reservation. Whatever stood between the two of them, their interests pointed the same way. Trafalgar needed House Morgain steady, and Valttair needed people around him who were not quietly working to cut his legs out from under him.

Valttair's attention shifted away from the problems inside House Morgain.

"There is one thing I need to deal with before we return here and turn our full attention toward Maeron and Rivena."

Trafalgar already knew which family he meant.

Valttair continued.

"I intend to meet Roderic au Vaelion privately while we are at the Council. I will give him one opportunity to stop whatever he has been doing and pull his people back."

Trafalgar studied him.

"And if he refuses?"

"Then I will stop treating this quietly."

Valttair's voice remained cold.

"I know enough about Aurevane, Esmond, the Dead Meridian and what happened beneath our mine to cause House Vaelion considerable problems if I put everything I have in front of the other Great Families. I would prefer that Roderic understands that before I am forced to do it."

Trafalgar leaned slightly forward.

"So you're giving him a warning first."

"I am giving him a choice. What he does with it is his responsibility."

Valttair rested one hand against the desk.

"If he listens, I will deal with House Vaelion properly later, when I have finished preparing everything I need. If he refuses, then he will learn exactly how much I am willing to reveal."

That made Valttair's plan much clearer.

He did not intend to start an open conflict at the Council unless Roderic forced his hand. The private meeting came first.

After that, whatever happened with Vaelion would no longer demand his immediate attention.

Valttair looked back toward Trafalgar.

"Once that conversation is finished, I can return my attention to the more immediate problem inside my own family."

After all, only one question remained.

"What exactly are you planning to do to Roderic?"