Chapter 3
Gretta shot a glance at the bottle. It was a classic wine bottle used to trick others. It was a notorious trick from the streets, used by all sorts of shady folks.
Once you twist the cover, you could pour out fine wine from one side and deadly poison from the other.
Seriously, Percy hasn't learned a damn thing, still pulling the same tired stunts.
"A chat? Sure," Gretta said with a bright laugh. It was so lively it seemed to shake the whole room as she sauntered over and dropped herself into the seat across from Percy.
"Perfect timing. I've got a few old scores to settle with you too, Your Highness," she added.
Percy's gaze flickered as he poured Gretta a glass of wine.
"What's done is done. Gretta, I'd always remembered your kindness to me," he said.
"Let me toast you. May you find eternal peace soon, oh, wait, I mean, may you enjoy wealth and glory." Percy almost blurted out what he really thought, but quickly caught himself.
Gretta lifted the glass, held it under her nose, and gave it a sniff.
It was deadly poison, yet it smelled surprisingly like pure wine.
"Your Highness, this wine smells pretty good. But I've got this quirk. Before I drink, I always need to go over the accounts first. Otherwise, it makes me uneasy," Gretta said.
With that, Gretta set her glass down and called out toward the bar, "Felix! Bring out the crown jewel!"
Percy blinked, baffled. "Crown jewel? What's that supposed to be?"
Felix and another worker came huffing and puffing, lugging a huge chest across the room.
When they cracked open the chest, there wasn't a single gold coin or sparkling jewel, just rolls of aged parchment.
Gretta snatched one up and, with a flick of her wrist, snapped it open.
With a whoosh, the scroll unfurled, rolling all the way to the doorway. It was nearly ten feet long. Every inch of it was covered in writing, each line listing every debt Percy owed from back in the day.
"May 8th, Year Three. Percy scarfed down half a slab of pork ribs and owed three silver coins, swearing he'd pay back tenfold someday," Gretta read.
"June 12th, same year. Percy snuck a whole jug of Bordeaux wine, racked up a debt of two silver coins, and promised to return it a hundred times over," she continued.
"January 15th, Year Four. Percy borrowed fifty silver coins from Gretta's secret stash to take the exams, vowing that if he made it, he'd offer the whole empire as a dowry and marry Gretta," Gretta recited.
With every debt Gretta read, Percy's face got gloomier by the second. By the time she finished the last one, his face had turned black in anger.
"Enough!" he roared and slammed his hand down on the table so hard that the poisoned wine sloshed over the rim.
"Gretta, what the hell do you think you're doing? Are you trying to humiliate me with all this ancient history?" He snapped.
Gretta's smile disappeared, her gaze sharper than a knife.
"Humiliate you? That's cold, Your Highness. These are debts written in black and white. Do you think you can skip out on what you owe now that you're the crown prince? Why don't you see if my knife agrees with you?" Gretta shot back.
Percy took a deep breath, trying hard to keep his temper in check.
He knew that there was no way this was going to end without a fight. After all, Gretta was not one to fall for flattery or threats. Keeping her around would only bring more trouble.
"Well, well, well," Percy spat, his voice thick with mockery as his gaze turned sharp.
He sneered, "You want to settle the debts? Fine. Here is three hundred silver. Is that enough for you?"
He whipped a bill from his sleeve and flicked it onto the table like he was tossing scraps to a beggar.
Gretta didn't even bother to look at the note. "Three hundred? Do you take me for a beggar?"
"According to our deal back then, with compound interest, snowballing debt, inflation, mental anguish, wasted youth, and emotional fraud fees, even if I round it down, the total is ten million silver!" She snapped.
"How much?" Percy's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
"Ten million silver? Why don't you rob the treasury? That's more than the imperial treasury collects in a whole year!" He yelled.
"Robbing? Please, that's nothing compared to lending at sky-high interest. Oh, wait, investing in the crown prince is even faster money," Gretta scoffed.
Gretta grabbed her calculator, her fingers flying as she rattled out the numbers.
"Look at this clause: If I break my promise, may lightning strike me and my whole fortune get confiscated." Gretta pointed at a line in the ledger.
"Now that you're the crown prince, the whole empire's yours. Ten million silvers is already cutting you a massive deal," she said.
Percy was shaking with rage.
This was not a ledger. It was a death warrant.
"Gretta, don't go too far! I'm letting you off the hook because of our history. But if you insist on being stubborn, don't blame me for what happens next." Percy sprang up and slammed his glass onto the floor.
The glass shattered with a loud crash.
That was the signal.
The guards outside heard the crash and instantly drew their swords, storming in and surrounding the entire hall so tightly that not even a fly could get through.
Dozens of gleaming steel blades were now aimed right at Gretta.
The tension in the room shot through the roof.
Instead of panicking, Gretta calmly lifted the poisoned wine and swirled it around like she had all the time in the world.