Why?
Why would Rey do something so careless?
Well, the answer was clear.
Rey had wanted the Special Investigators to make the connection.
He'd needed them to trace those signatures to Elkrim, to begin their investigation, to start shaking up the Dark Commerce District with their presence.
And before that—some time after he'd even arrived in Elkrim—Rey had arranged the ultimate crisis that made everything else possible.
Lady Z's father, the former Red House leader, hadn't died of natural causes or unfortunate circumstance.
Rey had killed him.
Not directly—that would have been too traceable, too obvious.
Instead, he'd arranged for the man to consume a rare alchemical substance that would trigger delayed organ failure. The kind that mimicked natural death closely enough to avoid intensive investigation, especially when the victim was older, and the organization was already facing external pressures.
