I Became The Male Lead’s Female Friend - Chapter 67

Rumors spread here and there and some said it was false information while some were said to be true.

One thing that is certain in such suspicious rumors is that there are indeed people who have been cured of the epidemic.

Even among the witnesses were soldiers of the Imperial Army.

The commander called him in person to interrogate him, who accidentally stopped by a village and shared the medicine, but he only spoke strange things.

“Uhm… I heard someone gave it from a top.”

The Crown Prince heard only those words and immediately went to search for the unidentified top through an informant.

Now, the Imperial Army was desperate enough to hang on to such rumors, and it was digging up the top like catching straws.

And one day, the Crown Prince summoned Rudrick in the middle of the night.

Rudrick seemed to know why he called him. Even before, the Crown Prince had only one thing why he calls him.

Not long after, the Crown Prince brought up the main topic and said, “I found the top who has the cure.”

When Rudrick first brought in the head’s neck. Although the Crown Prince was outwardly praising him, he began to call him secretly. The majority of the work assigned to him in this capacity was simply caring for the Crown Prince.

What the Crown Prince couldn’t deal with externally. In other words, if there’s a person who needs to be disposed of secretly, he finds it and kills it.

Whether it’s an enemy or a friend.

From the rumor that Bouser became the Prince’s dog, there was a scandal that justice disappeared and he pursued only cowardice, but Rudrick did not care.

It was not because he obeyed the Prince’s orders, but because the method was quite effective.

In short, it can be said that the two interests have met so far.

At first, it seemed that the Crown Prince was trying hard to put him on his limb, but in the end, he seemed to have given up to some extent when he saw him out of control.

But for the Crown Prince, he was also quite convenient. As long as each other’s goals are right, Rudrick will take care of all the difficult tasks for him.

So the Crown Prince summoned him again this time.

Rudrick looked at him and asked back, “Do you mean that top?”

“Yeah, I’ve been digging into the sources of the medicine that have spread all over the villages, and most of them are linked to a top.”

“Which country does that top belong to? If it’s not a member of Rohandel, they have the means to put pressure on the Empire.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought too, and I caught the back of that top. But…”

The Crown Prince sighed lowly, “It’s a ghost top. There’s no country that it belonged to in the first place.”

Rudrick listened to the Crown Prince in silence.

“The person who built the top is unclear, and the businesses run by the top are all spread out in different countries. Also, the person called the CEO doesn’t have a nationality.”

“…”

“It turned out that he was already famous there. A few years ago, he suddenly appeared and started aggressively swallowing up small tops, and then became crazy top who grew in size in a short period of time.” (CP)

After a moment of thought, he received the words of the Crown Prince.

“I think it’s pretty big.”

“It’s hard to say that it belongs to the best tops, but it’s not easy to pressure them. Most of all, there’s a ridiculous amount of information about the top.” (CP)

“…”

“There must be some powerful person involved, but I haven’t been able to find it…” (CP)

Hearing the Prince muttering to himself, Rudrick seemed to understand why he was called. But he did not dare to speak out.

Instead, he chose to ask directly, “So, what should I do?”

At his words, the Prince raised his head. His eyes strangely sunken and he said, “Not long ago, I found a way to get in touch with the top.”

“Then that contact…”

“No, they’re already out of touch.”

Rudrick then looked directly at the Crown Prince.

“It was very suspicious. The fact that an emerging top, which appeared a few years ago, has a cure that could not be found even if we searched all over the continent, and that they immediately offer conditions as if they knew we would contact them.”

“…Then the terms and conditions.”

“If I gave them the mines in the mountains east of Pelitos, they will give the recipe for the cure..”

“Mines?”

The Empire had many mines as the land it occupied was vast, but the mines in the eastern mountains of Pelitos they requested had nothing special to them. Except that it belongs to the Crown Prince.

The mines on the Pelitos had already been mined years ago, so it was like a wasteland with nothing more to take profit for.

However, it was not a secret, so it was a fact that anyone with connections to the Empire could know.

“Isn’t he an Imperial?”

Instead of answering, Rudrick asked, “Are you going to negotiate?”

In fact, the answer was the same as what was said. If it wasn’t for that, the Crown Prince wouldn’t have told him this much in detail.

“Originally, I was going to entrust it to the Duke of Averine, because there wouldn’t be enough experts there. But this happened…”

“…”

“I’m thinking of giving it to you as a surprise.”

Rudrick stared at the Crown Prince with a cold, stiff face.

Bouser wasn’t as shrewd as Averine, nor was he particularly good at negotiating. Still, the reason he dared to secretly call him and entrust the negotiation.

“In a few days, I’ll go to the negotiating table with the upper management to check the situation. And as soon as suspicious circumstances are found on the other.”

There was only one thing to do.

‘To kill.’

✿

‘You’re suspicious.’

Rudrick thought secretly as he left the barracks.

In the first place, the Crown Prince had a suspicious personality. He may even doubt that his superior, who does not trust others easily, has a cure.

In a way, however, the doubt was also a valid one.

Even in the eyes of ordinary people, there were so many suspicious aspects of the ghost top.

If it weren’t for this situation, Rudrick would have been suspicious. No, he must have been implicitly convinced that it was an enemy trap.

Like the Crown Prince. He must have thought that the cure was a trick to attract the leaders of the Imperial Army as bait.

That’s why the Crown Prince wants to send Rudrick, who has the same mindset as him, to the negotiating table.

First, take the documents from the mine, which is the condition of the negotiation, and have them go out and check the situation, and if he spots a trap, he will annihilate the enemy.

And as the Crown Prince thought, he would have been thinking about how to reverse the trap rather than how to negotiate.

But this time it was different.

‘It’s not a trap.’

He knew that this negotiation is not with such a suspicious intention.

‘Cause, there’s medicine involved.’

Have you not seen it with your own two eyes? The process by which an infected person is cured.

That’s what happened to the Duke of Averine. Rudrick recalled when he found the Duke lying on the floor.

The Duke’s complexion didn’t good these days, so Rudrick visited his barracks to examine the Duke’s condition and share his views on what is to come.

But as soon as he entered the barracks, he froze.

Until yesterday, the Duke, who had been distant, was laying on the floor vomiting blood.

Rudrick felt the floor collapse for a moment when he saw his face resemble the person he remembered.

But he didn’t know why he felt that way, and he just looked at the Duke’s condition in a hurry.

Fortunately, the Duke was breathing. His body unbearably burning, and the odd rant didn’t seem like a typical ailment.

Still, he thought he could just bring him to a doctor and Rudrick tried to leave the barracks right away.

If only a little bottle hadn’t rolled to his foot by accident.

“Cure?”

When Rudrick first discovered the disease, he thought it was poison. Thinking that the Duke, who fell into someone’s trap, accidentally swallowed poison and collapsed like that.

However, it was only after he found a letter on his desk that he knew he was wrong.

With dry and neat handwriting and an unfamiliar feeling, Rudrick unwittingly tore through the letter and had no choice but to bite his lip…

It was only after he found the sender written at the very end.

‘Dahlia Averine.’

It was then that Rudrick was able to make a guess. Maybe, if she really sent this medicine, the Duke now might not be just sick.

And it didn’t take long before the speculation was confirmed.

Just in case, the doctor he brought also said he didn’t know why the Duke was so sick.

While standing by the Duke with such a strange sense of nervousness, Rudrick could see clearly.

A Duke whose fever subsides overnight and his breath relaxes. It’s as if he survived a battle with a disease.

Seeing that, Rudrick suddenly remembered a rumor he had only heard about.

‘Have you ever had a cough and a rash on your neck?’

The symptoms clearly resembled the Duke’s appearance a few days ago.

Lately, his body has been getting weaker and he has been coughing a lot. His neck didn’t even get a rash, but he often says that it was itchy.

“No way.”