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Frustrated, William vented his anger.
“That wretched woman!”
He audaciously insulted Philomel’s mother.
“Anyway, Catherine has never once been helpful in my life!”
He thought of his younger sister.
Since childhood, she had always meddled in their father’s affairs, trusting only her own cleverness. Their father’s fondness for Catherine was blinding, and it put him in a state of crisis.
If things continued this way, there was a possibility that even the rights of the eldest son, who would inherit the family’s wealth, could be taken away.
The moment William emerged from such worries was when his sister entered the palace as a Lady-in-waiting for the Empress.
“You will bring honor to our family!”
Their father was delighted.
William was also happy. If Catherine married a suitable nobleman through the Empress’s introduction, the Hounds’ family would have a stepping stone to enter high society.
As Lady Catherine, she would be too busy taking care of her husband’s family, so the Hounds Upper-Class establishment  naturally belonged to him.
All he had to do was carry the support of his then-lady sister on his back and find a footing for the Upper-Class establishment in high society!
But William’s hope was shattered in an instant.
“Father! Brother! … I, I can’t stay there anymore.”
Catherine had returned to her hometown, leaving the palace on her own accord.
No matter how hard their father tried to coax her, Catherine remained silent as a rock.
She even met some unknown rascal and became pregnant.
In a fit of rage, the father left his daughter behind and moved to the capital.
In fact, by the time Catherine entered the palace, he had already made plans to raise his status in the capital.
From that day on, Catherine was nonexistent in the Hounds family.
Curious about her whereabouts, he sent someone to inquire and learned that Catherine had disappeared around the time of the Empress’s death.
Since then, there has been no news. William completely forgot about his sister, until he discovered the truth that Princess Philomel was actually Catherine’s daughter.
The news that Catherine had switched her daughter with the Empress’s daughter terrified William.
“She’s deliberately trying to kill us!”
With such a serious crime, the Palace wouldn’t turn a blind eye even to the sinner’s family. He couldn’t be tied to Catherine in any way.
“I’ve worked hard to raise our status!”
He quickly prepared the necessary funds and made arrangements to escape to a foreign country.
If he hadn’t seen the notice correcting the false rumor, he and his family would have been across the sea by now.
“Catherine’s daughter is receiving distinguished treatment in the Palace?”
He smiled with desire.
This was an opportunity. A chance to further elevate the Hounds Upper-Class establishment!
But reality wasn’t as kind to him. He was driven away by Catherine’s daughter without giving him a chance.
And it was a humiliating situation.
“Damn it! Arrogant woman!”
In his anger, William kicked a stone on the roadside, realizing that this was the palace, he looked around.
To calm himself, he straightened his cravat, and a sense of composure came to his face.
“Yeah, your arrogance is just temporary. You will come crawling back to me, begging for help for sure someday!”
If he thought about it for a moment, Philomel would also realize that it would be more advantageous for her to join forces with him in the long run.
Now that he had become one of the influential figures in the capital, the support of the Hounds, which held power in the capital, would be a tempting prey for her.
And if that wretched girl took the bait… well,
“You can enjoy the benefits and be discarded once your usefulness is gone, Philomel.”
William unintentionally revealed his true intentions.
That’s right. He never had any intention of taking responsibility for his disliked sister’s daughter from the beginning.
Rustle.
“W-who’s there?”
Startled by the voice from behind, he shouted. It would be awkward for someone to have overheard what he just said.
“Meow.”
Recognizing the source of the sound, he let out a sigh of relief.
“Oh, it’s just a cat.”
After William left, Le Guin approached Philomel, who was lingering in the reception room.
“Ph-Ph-Phil.”
Philomel, leisurely sipping her remaining tea, responded.
“Yes, Le Guin, I’m here, so you can call me anytime.”
“Some guy was cursing at you just now.”
“William, that guy.”
Le Guin showed a mischievous smile.
“I roughly heard it from Jeremiah. You don’t like that guy either, right?”
“Well, I don’t particularly like him.”
“Should I kill him? It would be good if that guy died, right?”
“… Le Guin, you often say scary things. Just because someone does something unpleasant, it doesn’t mean they deserve to die. Isn’t that right?”
“Huh? Is that so?”
“Even Le Guin just talks like that. You wouldn’t just go around killing people because you slightly dislike them. Right?”
“Uhh, yeah. That’s right… I wouldn’t kill anyone just because I don’t like them . Yeah, it was just a casual remark! Hahaha…”
It bothered Philomel how long Le Guin took to response and how awkward it sounded.
Still, Philomel didn’t doubt him. Because it was something that couldn’t easily happen in her common sense.
Le Guin, who was observing the situation, spoke.
“… So you’re just going to let that guy who insulted you go?”
“Well, it’s not because he insulted me, but I won’t just let him go.”
“What are you going to do then? Hit him?”
“… No, I won’t hit him.”
Philomel calmly informed her confused father.
“We’ll deal with him legally.”
“How?”
Jeremiah asked curious about what his sister was planning.
Philomel smiled mischievously.
“You already said it yourself. He engages in illegal activities.”
He even showed evidence of the fairy-wing fabric.
William thought of stupid excuses when confronted with her argument.
“Establishing a cooperation with fairies to obtain fairy wings? What a laughable idea.”
To do so, he would have to receive the wings of fairies that had already died or the discarded old wings that naturally fell off when fairies grew new ones.
How much would those wings cost?
Those wings alone would be far from enough to meet the demand for fairy-wing fabric.
William definitely had a lot of weak spots.
Philomel stood up from her seat.
“Where are you going?”
Le Guin asked, and she confidently replied.
“I’m going to report the illegal activities as a righteous citizen.”
Administer the iron rod of the law.
The production and distribution of fairy-wing fabric were crimes punishable by the death penalty.
[Capital City, Central Security Bureau.]
There was a special guest at the department responsible for commercial crimes.
Philomel slammed the desk.
“I saw it clearly! William Hounds possesses fairy-wing fabric.”
The investigator in charge of illegal goods responded indifferently.
“I’m sorry, but we can’t investigate Hounds based solely on such allegations.”
“Why not? The production and distribution of fairy-wing fabric are crimes.”
“We can’t assert that the fabric he had was specifically fairy wing fabric. There’s also the possibility that Miss Philomel has mistook-”
“You’re treating me like a fool.”
The investigator nervously stroked his mustache.
“That, that’s not it… Just having fairy wing fabric is not evidence of committing a crime.”
“Why?”
“Only the production and distribution of fairy wing fabric are illegal, mere possession is not.”
“He openly admitted to being involved in distribution in front of me. There’s a high probability he was involved in production as well.”
“Just because he admitted to being involved in distribution doesn’t mean he’s actually engaging in it, and production is an unknown area. We could end up arresting innocent people.”
It was a clear fallacy.
The fairy-wing fabric was still being traded secretly. It hadn’t been well detected if there were routes exclusive to the criminals.
And amidst all this, the owner of a prominent upper-class household was requesting a change in the law and seeking favor from the Emperor’s confidant by admitting to being involved in distribution?
It was undoubtedly William’s misconduct.
A responsible investigator would not display such irresponsible behavior.
Philomel had a gut feeling.
‘This bastard took a bribe.’
When you think about it, isn’t it strange not to bribe those involved in the regulation of illegal activities directly?
She had overestimated herself.
Instead, the investigator began to gently pacify her.
“Please don’t think that way. Isn’t William Hounds related to Lady Philomel by blood? Is there any need for family members to embarrass each other?”
Philomel spoke in a low voice.
“You have no intention of at least investigating, do you?”
“I’m sorry. We are short-staffed, so it seems difficult.”
The investigator said that, but he had been playing cards with his colleagues before Philomel arrived.
“Understood. I will come again later.”
Philomel left the department responsible for commercial crimes.
The investigator who confirmed that wiped his chest. He let out a sigh of relief.
“What’s the point of coming again later? It’s not like it’ll make any difference.”
Even though he muttered to himself, the investigator’s expression remained grim.
She may be a commoner, but that woman receives preferential treatment from the royal family.
“There’s no harm in being cautious.”
He wanted to quickly go to William and inform him of the situation.
Just in case, he wanted him to dispose of any relevant evidence and move the hidden fairy wing fabric to another place.
And in return, he would obtain more valuable goods and go to the casino. Hehe, the investigator who laughed was about to leave the office.
As the door opened, Philomel revealed herself again.
“Oh, why are you back…?”
She smiled cheerfully in front of the bewildered investigator.
“I said I would come back.”
And then, the Chief of the Central Security Department appeared from behind, wearing a contemplative expression.
“I heard Miss Philomel’s words. What… exactly are you up to?”
“What? What did I do to make you say that…?”
“Weren’t you withholding information about a prime suspect? And there’s even evidence that you received a bribe!”
“T-That’s… a misunderstanding!”
Philomel thoroughly enjoyed watching the trembling investigator’s attempts to explain himself to the Chief.
‘I didn’t know I could throw him under the bus like that.’
Philomel played a significant role in moving the Chief of the Central Security Department, thanks to the influence of Count Polan.
Initially, even he was lukewarm to Philomel’s opinion.
“I don’t think my friend would do something like that…”
It was a typical way of protecting one’s own family.
However, when Philomel borrowed his communication device to contact the Emperor’s secretary, his attitude completely changed.
Indeed, networking was something to be reckoned with. Although personal connections shouldn’t have influenced official duties… Philomel quietly spoke, as if justifying herself.
“I tried to follow the procedure, but I had no choice.”
In the end, the investigator confessed, under intense interrogation, that he had received bribes from William and turned a blind eye to the distribution of fairy-wing fabric.
Immediately, police officers stormed the buildings owned by the Hounds Upper Class establishment throughout the capital.
Everything unfolded within the day Philomel met William for the first time.