CHAPTER 28: CHAPTER 28: BURN TWO OF THE TEXTILES HOUSES.

For a second, the only sound was the crackle of the fire. Meical leaned back slightly, watching the flames flicker in Min-jae’s eyes.

"I don’t care.." he said finally, a faint smirk tugging at his lips. "The King has no hold over me. Compared to him, I’d say I’m this Kingdom’s tyrant.."

Min-jae chuckled, shaking his head. "Don’t say that. The king is still the king. But I’m sure he’d won’t cause a ruckus on this matter and if he does, it’d be the Amagi’s that suffer from it."

"Maybe," Meical replied. "Or maybe he’ll make an example of me to keep the court quiet."

Min-jae looked at him for a long moment, then reached up, brushing his thumb over Meical’s bandaged hand. "Then I’ll go with you.." he said softly, as if it were the simplest truth in the world. "Wherever you end up, I’ll be there to beat the shit out of them."

Meical froze. "...You’d really do that?"

"I already told you." Min-jae murmured, leaning in until their foreheads touched. "You promised not to disappear again, right? So I won’t either."

Meical leaned against the doorway, his voice softer than usual. "Do you want dinner? Or maybe a stroll? Something to help you unwind?"

Min-jae shook his head, his expression calm but his tone heavy. "No... I have matters to discuss with Saar. I’ll use your study if that’s alright."

Meical studied him for a moment before nodding. "Of course. Don’t stay up too late."

Min-jae gave a short nod. "I won’t."

From the shadowed corner of the hall, Saar stepped forward silently, bowing slightly to Meical before following Min-jae down the corridor.

When they reached the study, Min-jae sat down in Meical’s chair. The room smelled faintly of ink and cedarwood, and for a long while he said nothing, just sat there, staring into the dim light of the lamps.

Saar stood at attention by the desk, waiting patiently.

Finally, Min-jae exhaled, his tone sharp with focus. "Tell me what Seraphine has been up to lately. I want every detail, her dealings, her partners, her locations, and the number of businesses she’s running. I’m going to burn something tonight."

Saar’s voice was low and measured. "Seraphine’s main house is still in the merchant district, it’s well guarded, but her comings are predictable. Her textile holdings have grown, she fronts them through two merchant names in the eastern quarter. One registered as Eira & Sons, the other under a broker named Hala Voss. She’s also invested in a shipyard outside the docks, but she uses proxies for ownership. Nights at the textile houses are thinly watched, mostly hired hands and a single foreman. If you move fast, you get in and out before the city constables notice."

Min-jae’s fingers drummed the desk. "What about funding? Anyone who’ll back her when smoke starts?"

"Several investors.m" Saar said. "A broker on Pine Street handles imports and credits for her. A merchant from the northern quay, Arno Kest moves coin for her through ledgers marked as spice shipments. She’s also bought favor with a small faction of court merchants who profit when trade routes stay unstable."

Min-jae let the names sit like stones. He closed his eyes for a moment and tasted the clean, cold shape of the plan forming. "Burn two of the textile houses tonight.." he said finally. "Make it look like mismanagement. Make her investors freak out and pull their lines. Leave the shipyard alone for now. I want her to lose liquidity before she can move goods."

Saar inclined his head. "And the broker?"

"Cut his lines.." Min-jae replied. "Trace his accounts and freeze them. If he can’t move money for her, she can’t rebuild quickly. Make her frantic enough to beg, but not so frantic she suspects me right away."

Saar’s expression didn’t change; his voice was a blade. "I can have men ready. The foremen at Eira & Sons are night-drinkers, they’ll be gone. The watch is predictable."

Min-jae opened the diary on the desk, the old leather creaking softly. He thumbed to a page Kaizar had filled with small, cramped notes. Names. Dates. Mentions that no one had thought to include in a public ledger. He traced the ink with the pad of his finger and did not flinch when the memory of Kaela rose cold behind his ribs.

"Keep it clean.." he said. "No bodies. No obvious arson marks someone can point to and say..look, Kaizar burned my shop. I want it to look like a collapse. Panic, lost lines of credit, investors who flee. She should watch the ground under her feet give way."

Saar’s eyes flicked to the closed study door as if listening for the estate’s breath. "No open blood.m" he agreed. "No witnesses who can name you. Accidents, failures, scapegoats. The city will call it mismanagement."

Min-jae let out a short, humorless laugh. "Yes. Make sure those scapegoats are expendable and already compromised."

Saar straightened, voice flat. "They will be. I’ll move tonight at moonrise."

Min-jae pushed back from the desk and stood. The room felt smaller, as if the plot itself took up space. "And tell Meical only what he needs to know," he added. "If anyone else asks, say it was a local disturbance. Say nothing of the connection to Seraphine."

Saar’s nod was sharp. "Understood master."

Min-jae folded the diary closed, hiding the pages and the small, brutal satisfaction that came with each crossed name. He slid the book into the desk drawer and set his palm over the wood until it warmed.

"Start now.." he said. "Make them wake to smoke and loss. Make Seraphine see it before she knows who struck."

Saar inclined his head and stepped toward the door. "It will be done, Master Kaizar."

When the door shut, Min-jae stood alone for a moment. Outside, a wind moved across the estate and carried the smell of wet earth and the faint memory of smoke that had not yet been lit.

He breathed in, steadying himself against the hollow that grief had carved, and let the plan sharpen into a cold, economical thing.

"Seraphine..." he murmured under his breath, almost to himself. "You took everything from him once. Let’s see how you like losing everything now."