Chapter 96: Entering the Palace

At the royal palace.

A carriage slowly rolled through the palace gates, and a host of nobles had already gathered before the ceremonial avenue to await Lord Gallen’s grand arrival.

Among them were the prince and princess of the Kingdom of Goa, Stelly with his eyes fixed hungrily on the distance, Borgin with his usual unruffled air, and Wallace wearing a strangely complicated expression.

His face grew even stranger when he saw the old king himself walking in front, personally holding the reins and leading Lord Gallen’s horse.

Inside the carriage, Gallen was instructing Nami in the art of playing the part of a noble of the world:

“In the imagination of ordinary people, nobles are elegant, self-disciplined, well-mannered, knowledgeable, and exceptionally capable.

“They understand the workings of society better than commoners do, they are more aware of the responsibility that comes with power, and they are the elite of human society, the leaders who guide their race toward progress.

“That is why nobles are considered to possess a legitimate and reasonable right to rule.

“But once they truly possess absolute power that is unregulated, hereditary, and free of competition...

“Then nobles turn into this sort of thing.”

Gallen slipped an arm around Nami’s slender, supple waist and forcefully pushed open the closed carriage door.

Nami flushed bright red in utter shock.

She instinctively tried to break free, but Gallen’s powerful arm kept her locked firmly in his embrace.

And there, within the majestic palace of the Kingdom of Goa and under the gaze of the gathered nobles, Gallen still kept one hand shamelessly on Nami’s waist, wearing an expression that looked like nothing so much as a lecherous glutton with no trace of decorum.

That vulgar display of lust, entirely indifferent to place or occasion, made Gallen look like a village fool who had just married a beautiful wife.

Without even looking at anyone properly, Gallen merely cast a disdainful glance at the grand palace of the Kingdom of Goa and casually remarked:

“Plain, admittedly, but still easy on the eyes.”

Some young nobles, unused to such behavior, felt rather uncomfortable. But the older nobles who had once taken part in welcoming visiting Celestial Dragons all brightened at once, and their attitudes became noticeably more respectful.

Borgin even leaned toward his nephew and asked in a low voice with a baffled expression:

“Wallace, your Lord Gallen cannot really be a Celestial Dragon, can he?

“He is far too convincing.”

“This...”

Wallace looked slightly dazed.

“Lord Gallen isn’t usually like this...”

Meanwhile, Gallen strode forward with Nami, whose face was fully red, held in his arms.

Ignoring the other nobles entirely, he called out directly to Wallace:

“Wallace!”

Though Gallen used the tone one would use toward a servant, barking the name out with commanding arrogance, the greeting still made Wallace the center of attention.

Stelly’s gaze carried a trace of jealousy, while the king, prince, and princess all looked on with obvious admiration.

“Lord Gallen!”

Wallace snapped to attention and bowed at once in a deep ninety-degree salute he would never normally make.

After the brief exchange of pleasantries, the royal family and high-ranking nobles escorted Lord Gallen and Miss Nami, whom he held in his arms, into the palace like a constellation surrounding the moon.

What followed was another tedious round of noble banquet rituals:

in short, the nobles tried to crowd around Gallen in order to glimpse his august countenance, while Gallen paid them no mind at all and devoted himself to holding Miss Nami, eating, drinking, and enjoying himself.

Yet the less face Gallen gave them, the more enthusiastic the nobles became, as though being able to speak a few words with him were some great honor.

From start to finish, Gallen very deliberately never once admitted his true identity. He only “incidentally” revealed a few details about his “life at home” while chatting with the king.

After hearing all that, the old king, who had had some dealings with Celestial Dragons before, became even more convinced of Gallen’s authenticity. The nobles, meanwhile, looked at Gallen with even greater brilliance in their eyes.

At last Gallen casually dismissed everyone, then under their envious, jealous, and resentful gazes, called over the Michael uncle and nephew who had attended the banquet to chat privately.

“Wallace?”

Once they were away from the others, Gallen’s demeanor immediately returned to normal.

“What is going on here?”

At Gallen’s question, Wallace’s expression turned a little awkward.

“Lord Gallen!”

Borgin, however, remained calm and stepped forward to explain:

“It is like this.”

He recounted the matter in detail.

After listening, Gallen frowned in displeasure and said:

“So you used my name to build momentum for your own family?”

“Yes.”

Borgin admitted it without hesitation and went on:

“But it is a mutually beneficial arrangement.

“If Wallace can successfully marry the princess and gain royal status, our family will be able to offer you even greater support.

“Given the present king’s and prince’s incompetence...”

Borgin spoke bluntly of his ambitions to seize the kingdom:

“If handled properly, the entire Kingdom of Goa could become the private garden of you, the overlord of the East Blue.”

Before Gallen could respond, Borgin continued:

“To show our sincerity, our family has already decided to transfer the shipping division under our name to you without conditions.

“We will also do everything we can to assist you with the recruitment work at the Gray Terminal.

“Once everything is done, the talent our family has cultivated can also become support for the companies under your command.”

After hearing Borgin lay out that elaborate promise, Gallen asked in some puzzlement:

“Just to borrow some influence, you’re willing to put up so many chips?”

Borgin’s answer was as direct as ever:

“What you have is not merely influence. You also possess the strongest military power in the East Blue.

“And being involved in the rise of an emerging power is itself the greatest profit and reward.”

After a moment’s thought, Gallen gave a slight nod, which was enough to show that he accepted Borgin’s proposal.

After all, these conditions were beneficial to him and harmful to him in no way whatsoever.

Once the two sides had decided they were on the same page, Gallen immediately began considering matters from another angle.

“In that case, how confident is your family of success?”

“Of course.”

Borgin nodded with confidence and explained:

“Our Michael family is an established noble house in the Kingdom of Goa already. Now that we have borrowed the supposed power of a Celestial Dragon, our standing in the old king’s eyes is all the more extraordinary.

“But our opponent is not to be underestimated either.”

His expression turned serious, and he glanced toward the royal family in the distance.

Following Borgin’s gaze, Gallen saw only a young noble with a bowl-cut and a flat nose fawning incessantly around the king and prince, showering them with flattering words.

“That is Stelly, heir to the Otterluke family,” Borgin explained to Gallen.

“That young man is no ordinary opponent. He is highly skilled at manipulating power and seducing minds, and he is a favorite in the eyes of the royal family.

“Because of his performance, the Otterluke family has become one of the most influential families in the country in recent years.

“More than that, Stelly is ruthless in his methods.”

Borgin’s tone grew even heavier.

“Before Wallace, he had already sent people to assassinate two competing candidates in succession.”

Gallen was not interested in the power struggles of these nobles, but he precisely caught a few key words: Otterluke family, assassination, and Stelly.

The Otterluke family was the employer Miss Doublefinger had named before her death, the one who had hired the top-tier assassin Mr. 1.

From this, it seemed certain that Stelly, who had assassinated his rivals, was connected to that bald assassin.

And the name Stelly itself gave Gallen a faint sense of familiarity.

“The Otterluke family...”

Gallen carefully searched his memory and asked, “Is Stelly the adopted son of the Otterluke family, with an elder brother in the past?”

“You know even that?”

For the first time, Borgin’s usually calm expression shifted slightly.

“That child named Sabo has long since vanished from the memories of those nobles.”

“So it really is him.”

Gallen finally remembered who Stelly was:

the foster son adopted by Sabo’s parents, a repulsive scoundrel who had despised people at the bottom from childhood and treated them as less than human, cold-blooded, selfish, deceitful, and merciless.

Just as the group was discussing this grand scheme to seize a kingdom, a figure quietly approached and interrupted their meeting.

Gallen immediately put the vile expression back onto his face, then once again drew the Miss Nami who had been serving as scenery for so long into his arms, and a lifelike Celestial Dragon emerged anew.

Gallen looked more closely.

The newcomer was none other than the woman they had all planned to win for Wallace:

Princess Sally Nandekanet of the Kingdom of Goa.

Unlike most of the nobles, who had rather bizarre looks, this princess was not a top-tier beauty like Nami or Vivi, but she was a classic beauty built from the same fine mold.

Added to that were her luxurious garments and the inexplicable blush on her face, and she had something rather easy on the eyes.

Seeing the princess up close, Wallace, the protagonist of the plan, could not help but appear a little restrained as well.

But Princess Nandekanet did not pay attention to Wallace’s expression. Instead, she addressed Gallen with obvious caution:

“Lord Gallen?”

“What is it?”

Gallen’s attitude remained as infuriating as ever.

And Nami, still held in his arms as an acting prop, sensed that something was not quite right.

Princess Nandekanet’s face was faintly red as she lightly brushed a strand of hair back from her ear and then asked in a soft voice:

“Lord Gallen, are you married?”

The Miss Nami in Gallen’s arms had also appeared in the East Blue Daily.

So in The Story of Gallen’s Incognito Visit, Nami’s role was set like this:

the East Blue version of the woman who waits by the lake in the capital.

Then Princess Nandekanet gave Nami a provocative look and added seriously:

“Officially, I mean.”

Nami’s face darkened.

Borgin’s expression darkened.

Wallace’s face turned green.