Chapter 204 - Chapter 204: Erasing the Evidence
That night, a criminal organization vanished from the Royal Capital.
It was a mafia group to which the men who had attacked Natalia belonged. By nightfall, Arthur and Isabella, along with Bella and Steve, had broken into the boss's house. After a fierce struggle, they forced the boss to reveal the client who had hired them for the attack and to order the dissolution of the organization.
Leaving the boss's house, Isabella cast a quick glance at Steve.
"Even Papa came. That's overprotective."
"There is no parent who would send children alone to storm the private residence of a mafia boss."
Steve sighed at Isabella's blunt-mindedness. He wondered where he had gone wrong in raising her, but when Nancy had said she would raise her strongly, perhaps this fate had already been decided.
"I didn't think Arthur would volunteer to break in himself."
Steve felt surprise that even the model student Arthur had done such dangerous things on his own. He had painfully realized that children do not always grow up according to their parents' wishes.
"Since I started this and got my classmates involved, I judged that I should handle the aftermath myself. Even so, by consulting with Father, I believe I have maintained a sense of propriety."
"Propriety... huh..."
Steve sighed again, realizing that this too had strayed far from common sense in the world.
However, from there, he put on the face of a noble and began questioning the children.
"So, what are your plans from here on?"
"We have determined that the mastermind behind it is Marquess Cavendish. According to the investigation department's report, there was a possibility that he had not given up on Helena, Natalia's mother, but this attack has made that clear. We intend to strip him of his status so that he can do nothing further."
"That isn't just about seizing control of Cavendish Construction, is it? Can you actually do that?"
"Yes. As long as the conditions are met. Right now, we are considering how to meet those conditions."
Arthur answered thus, but Steve had a premonition that if this child said so, it would almost certainly happen. It was not parental bias; Arthur had a habit of only speaking of something as certain when it was practically guaranteed. If the win rate was fifty percent, he would not say it could be done. Only when the win rate reached ninety-nine percent would he say, "It might be possible." As a parent, Steve understood well that Arthur would not say it could be done unless the possibility of failure dropped to one percent.
However, there was also a worry for the future: if Arthur became a lord, his vassals would have a hard time. A subordinate who is a perfectionist is fine if they have the same ability as the lord, but if they are inferior to the lord, they will be shunned in various ways. Yet, capable people are not that common in the world. Steve felt he must teach them this while there was still time.
On the other hand, Isabella's thinking was simple-minded.
"In the end, you just have to punch them."
Steve was worried about this as well. He did not know if she would really do it, but if she were to punch the Marquess, she would have to handle the preparations and aftermath skillfully.
Steve once again felt the difficulty of raising children.
Meanwhile, the mafia boss was heading to the Cavendish Marquess's mansion to report.
Naturally, the Marquess would not deal with him personally; the butler would handle the matter.
"You were supposed to just attack one little girl with your work, yet the Archibalt family got involved. Thanks to that, I am forced to disband the whole family. Do you know what the Archibalt Lord said when he broke in? 'If you do this any further, you will suffer eternal pain that cannot kill you.' Even a kid from the slums knows that isn't a lie."
"And so you came to our house. It would be troubling if the Lord mistook your relationship with our family."
The butler looked at the former mafia boss as if looking at something dirty. The former boss understood that contemptuous gaze but did not get angry. He had given up on everything.
"Heh, a misunderstanding? I spoke everything because I valued my life. I even mentioned that the reward was coming from here."
"If we deny that, it ends there. If we say you only told lies out of fear for your life, there will be no evidence left."
"Well, if you think that, then fine. I already said it!"
The former boss said that and tried to leave.
The butler rang the bell on the desk twice. Then, two burly men entered the room. Without hesitation, they stabbed the former boss with the knives they held.
The former boss, stabbed before he could resist, glared at the butler with a hateful look, but soon fell to the floor and stopped moving.
The men then lifted the fallen former boss's body and walked out of the room. Noticing not even a spider watching them...
Steve, who had been observing the exchange through the spider, informed the children that the former boss had been killed.
"A fitting end for someone who has done so many bad things."
Isabella showed no sign of sympathy. If this had been someone who had never committed a crime, Steve would have intervened at the last moment. However, the mafia boss was not such a clean person; he was a figure who deserved death for his remaining crimes, so he had simply been used and discarded as a messenger.
"Wouldn't it have been better not to tell them we noticed? It will make things difficult for us afterward?"
At Steve's question, Arthur shook his head.
"No. If that organization fails, they will likely request another group to do it. Therefore, I wanted to convey that we are aware, so that they do not touch the Granville family. Besides, even if they become on guard, they cannot prevent the takeover of their management rights."
"If you have that much confidence, let us see your skills."
Steve said that and signaled Bella with his eyes to return home.