Baron Jack’s unrestrained voice rang through the entire main hall. Combined with the fact that he was hosting the banquet, it immediately drew everyone’s attention.

“What’s gotten into Baron Jack? Why would he behave in such a vulgar, discourteous manner?”

“I heard his title was bought. Now that I’ve seen him for myself, I can believe it.”

“Let’s see what happened first…”

People began murmuring among themselves. Some looked down on Baron Jack for his rude behavior, others shook their heads at his lack of noble bearing, and quite a few were ready to enjoy the spectacle.

Most of them, though, looked on his behavior with disdain. In their eyes, a noble should always maintain their composure, even when angry.

Baron Jack’s standing in everyone’s eyes had clearly fallen a notch. Some had even decided to distance themselves from him.

After all, associating with someone so lacking in dignity would only lower their own status and taste.

Even Viscount Bailu, watching coldly from the second floor, looked deeply uncomfortable.

In short, everyone’s attention immediately focused on Baron Jack.

“Hathaway!”

Baron Jack stood before Hathaway, his face flushed red with anger, frustration, and confusion. He’d even called her by her name without any title or honorific—a clear sign that he was ready to make a clean break with her.

“What did you do to make them all end their deals with me and go back to doing business with you?!”

Now that he’d said it aloud, everyone in the hall understood why Baron Jack had lost control.

If Hathaway had used some shameless trick against Baron Jack, exposing it here might have turned the crowd against her. But the truth was far simpler than anyone there had imagined: Hathaway had simply taken Baron Jack’s business.

…Though, on closer inspection of Baron Jack’s words, it wasn’t so clear who’d taken whose business.

No one there was a fool. They quickly understood what had happened, and their disdain for Baron Jack grew. He was a noble, yet he’d thrown a loud fit in front of a rival over one small defeat, without even caring about his image. Was that really how a proper noble should behave?

Best to keep your distance from nouveau riche like him!

Baron Jack had held this banquet to improve his ties with the merchant nobles of Rulvis City. Instead, he’d turned himself into a walking disaster. This was a textbook case of shooting himself in the foot.

“Baron Jack, don’t you think shouting like that is beneath you?” Hathaway reminded him coolly. “There are quite a few distinguished guests here…”

Hathaway’s words doused the erupting volcano that was Baron Jack, plunging him straight into an ice age. He came to his senses a little.

But once he’d come to his senses, Baron Jack felt even more desperate. He’d become a joke.

“Baron Jack, let’s talk somewhere private—unless you want to stay here.” Hathaway chose just the right moment to suggest they speak alone, giving him a graceful way to leave.

“All right… Fine.” Baron Jack seemed to wilt. He looked utterly lost now, the exact opposite of how he’d strutted around in front of Hathaway earlier.

After speaking, Hathaway headed for the balcony. The crisp click of her heels against the floor sounded like a death knell ringing in Baron Jack’s heart. Each beat left him struggling to breathe.

He didn’t dare turn around and face the others’ gazes. Baron Jack finally understood what it meant to feel eyes at his back—every stare was a knife, stabbing deep into him.

He left the main hall and followed Hathaway out to the balcony. Bathed in the silvery glow of the night, Baron Jack felt a rush of relief, as if the banquet inside weren’t a grand, elegant affair but a dreary prison holding convicts.

“What did you offer them? Why would they turn down the money I was offering and go back to doing business with you?”

The moment they were out of sight, Baron Jack could no longer hold back. He ground his teeth as he demanded an answer from Hathaway.

He wanted to know what she’d done!

Hathaway only smiled faintly. She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she took a small step back and turned to the side, leaning her graceful waist against the balcony’s white jade railing as she looked at him with the playful gaze of a cat toying with a mouse.

When Baron Jack could barely stand that mocking gaze any longer, Hathaway finally spoke.

“I didn’t offer them anything. I really did only go over to greet them—that’s all.”

“That’s impossible!” Baron Jack didn’t believe her for a second. He looked at her as if to say, You’ve got to be kidding me. “You just went over and said hello, and they willingly turned down a chance to make money?”

“Then why don’t you just give me a look and make me, the host of this banquet, leave?” Baron Jack actually laughed in anger as he mocked Hathaway, venting his frustration as if that could help him regain some dignity.

Hathaway only smiled faintly. She didn’t bother to keep arguing the point.

“There’s something I’ve wanted to discuss with you for a while, Baron Jack. This seems like the perfect opportunity.”

“…Go on.” Hathaway had changed the subject. Baron Jack still looked unhappy, but he answered anyway.

Then Hathaway said something startling:

“I’d like to discuss your future, Baron Jack.”

“My future? …Hmph!”

Baron Jack had expected her to bring up something else. He paused, then gave a cold snort.

“You should know better than anyone how my future will turn out, Hathaway.”

“I’ll hold you back and keep you stuck in Rulvis, where you won’t accomplish a thing. Once my young master takes the position of chairman, my future will be wide open.”

“And by then, who knows where you’ll end up after you lose.”

As Baron Jack spoke, he seemed to picture the scene in his mind. His haggard expression brightened at once.

That was the sort of person he was: an unabashed villain who preferred to be direct rather than beat around the bush.

He wasn’t any good at underhanded tricks. Facing his opponent head-on and winning with sheer strength—that was the way to go!

“Oh—is that so?” Hathaway’s beautiful sapphire-blue eyes narrowed slightly, and a hint of mockery crossed her delicate face. “I’m not so sure.”

“What did you—”

Before Baron Jack could finish, Hathaway cut him off at an unhurried pace.

“I think you’ve overlooked the difference in our positions, Baron Jack.”

“You seem to have forgotten that I’m still a candidate for chairman of the Hainerna Chamber of Commerce.”

“I have enough resources to threaten your young master Joyce’s position. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been afraid of me and sent you here to try to slow me down…”

“Isn’t that right?”

At that, Baron Jack’s pupils contracted. His heart seemed to skip a beat, and an unfamiliar feeling slowly welled up inside him.

That feeling was called fear.

Hathaway was right. If Joyce truly wasn’t worried about her, he wouldn’t have sent Baron Jack to deal with her. That meant Hathaway was strong enough to compete with Joyce.

But blinded by the grand promises dangled in front of him, Baron Jack had never seen the truth of the matter. He’d thought it would be an easy task. What a fool!

Did Baron Jack really think he’d come out ahead by going head-to-head with someone who could challenge his own young master?

Of course not.

If Hathaway and Joyce so much as squeezed a little, Baron Jack, stuck between them, would be as fragile as an ADC—one hit and he’d shatter. Then they’d toss him aside like a pawn, and all those bright promises for his future would amount to nothing.

Baron Jack wasn’t stupid. In just a few blinks, he’d figured out where the danger lay.

At last, he began to fear the future—and the alluring woman before him.

And at last, Hathaway saw what she’d been looking for in his eyes.

“All this time, it wasn’t that I lacked the means to get rid of you, Baron Jack. I simply didn’t want to. I hope you understand that.” Hathaway’s voice was calm, with a queenly hauteur. That very calm only made the panic in Baron Jack’s eyes worse.

“Joyce has plenty of pawns like you. But surely you know what kind of person he is?”

Hathaway’s voice suddenly softened. The full force of her proud, icy queenly presence bore down on Baron Jack’s defenses with every word.

“Even if I broke you and left you on the ground for my high heels to trample all over, he wouldn’t feel sorry for you. He’d be delighted that you’d served your purpose and bought him time.”

“But is that what you want?”

Crack. Craaack—CRASH!

By the time Hathaway finished, Baron Jack’s mental defenses had collapsed like an avalanche.

Her words were blunt, but effective.

Someone as selfish as him was bound to put himself first.

Even if Joyce had promised him a bright and prosperous future, he’d need to be alive to claim it!

Besides, Joyce would be the one deciding whether to honor that promise. Baron Jack wouldn’t dare tell him what to do.

Cold sweat soaked Baron Jack’s back again, and his legs began to feel unsteady. It was as if the sky might come crashing down at any moment.

“Baron Jack, you understand your situation now, don’t you?” Hathaway’s blue eyes examined him coldly. He didn’t dare meet the queen’s gaze.

He’d lost completely. He was Hathaway’s captive now.

“Then you know what you need to do.”

A shadow suddenly flickered across Hathaway’s eyes. The Witch’s special power quietly took effect, making Baron Jack shudder.

When he raised his head again, there was no courage left in his eyes—only the most primal fear of Hathaway.

That fear would remain etched in his heart, leaving him unable to face Hathaway ever again.

“Now…”

Hathaway parted her red lips and gave Baron Jack an order he couldn’t refuse:

“Get out.”

In the next moment, the distinguished guests Baron Jack had invited witnessed something they’d never forget:

—The host of the banquet, Baron Jack himself, really did roll all the way from the balcony out of the main hall, his face filled with genuine fear.

There was no doubt about it: Baron Jack had done it willingly.

Once they realized that, everyone was stunned. They all knew what it meant:

Baron Jack was finished!

He was completely finished—the sort of finished that meant he’d never be able to get by in Rulvis City again. No circle would accept someone like him.

Everyone instinctively turned their attention to the one responsible—Hathaway. They all wanted to know how she’d managed to humiliate a merchant noble of Baron Jack’s standing.

But Hathaway paid no attention to their stares. She turned toward the lounge and murmured regretfully:

“What? I thought this toy would keep me entertained a little longer…”