Which meant they had an opening.
"Didn't you say you wanted to make a fortune and get out of the Slums?"
"Listen to me on this. I guarantee you'll have more money than you know what to do with."
"Yeah, right. Every time you say something like that, it ends badly." Felt eyed him with open suspicion. She'd been burned by this man one too many times. The past couple of days especially had been a rollercoaster, her nerves jerked up and down at his whims.
"Relax, would you?"
"You won't have to say a word. Leave everything to me."
"What about me?" Subaru pointed at himself.
"You?" Gojo barely glanced at him. "Sit there and look pretty."
"You'll get your share too."
"That easy? Now I feel like I'm freeloading."
Subaru scratched the back of his head. "Isn't there anything I should be doing?"
"That's a great attitude. Let's hope you can keep it up after tonight."
Gojo smiled, cryptic and strange. Something about that smile made Subaru's skin crawl.
"Oh, and once tonight's business is wrapped up, we can finally start your Jujutsu training."
"Seriously?!"
"Seriously."
"Jujutsu?" Felt's ears perked up. "What's that? Those magic-looking powers you use?"
"That's the one!"
"I asked Gojo to teach me a while back." Subaru nodded, barely containing his excitement.
Felt blinked. She glanced at Gojo, and something eager flickered behind her eyes. She fidgeted, just a little.
"Could... could I learn too?"
"Not impossible, but I'd need to check your attribute first. It's an ability only people with Yin Attribute Mana can learn."
Before he'd crossed over, there had been Jujutsu Sorcerers who lacked Cursed Energy entirely, but only under the condition of a Heavenly Restriction. That mechanism didn't exist in this world. Without Cursed Energy, the path of the Jujutsu Sorcerer was a dead end.
"Anyway, save that for later. Let's go. Roswaal's waiting."
He led them out the door and nearly walked straight into Betty, who stood in the corridor with her arms folded.
"Betty?"
"What are you doing out here?"
"Were you waiting for us?" Subaru asked.
"A Spirit has every right to know whether her Spirit Arts User is about to do something foolish." She planted her hands on her hips and tilted her chin up at Subaru, perfectly serious.
The bond between a Spirit and their contractor wasn't quite life-and-death, but it came close. Betty wanting to keep tabs wasn't surprising in the least.
Gojo considered it. Bringing her along wouldn't hurt. She'd find out everything afterward anyway. No reason to leave her in the dark.
"Almost forgot about you. Come on, then."
He held out his hand.
Betty pursed her lips and, with visible reluctance, placed her small hand in his.
"This is an exception..."
Gojo ignored the caveat entirely, closed his fingers around hers, and pulled her along toward the parlor.
"Sure, sure."
"Next time I'll take the initiative."
"That is not what I meant!"
"Holding hands isn't enough? If you want me to carry you, I might get embarrassed."
"What is wrong with your brain..."
The parlor doors were already open. Roswaal sat waiting, composed as ever. Ram finished serving tea to the group and took her place at his side.
"I assumed you'd be coming alone, Gojo."
He surveyed the small crowd trailing behind with mild surprise.
"These are people I trust. No reason to keep them out of the loop."
"Though, about what we're going to discuss..." Gojo's gaze slid toward Ram, the implication clear.
"Same as your companions, Ram is someone I trust completely."
Gojo nodded. If that was how the man wanted to play it, fine.
"Then I'll cut straight to it." He turned. "Felt, give me your hand."
Confusion written all over her face, Felt extended her hand. Gojo took it, then reached into his pocket and produced the insignia he'd borrowed from Emilia.
Roswaal's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly, something clicking behind them.
Under his gaze, Gojo placed the insignia in Felt's palm.
The moment the ornate crest touched her skin, the dragon jewel at its center pulsed with a faint red glow.
"Gojo, what are you doing?" Felt stared at the thing in her hand, bewildered.
She'd never followed the Royal Selection. The whole reason she'd ended up stealing Emilia's insignia in the first place was because she hadn't known what it was. She certainly didn't understand what the glow meant. Even the fact that it served as proof of candidacy was something she'd only pieced together from Emilia's explanations after the fact.
Gojo shook his head at her, then turned to Roswaal.
"I'm sure you understand what this means."
"Naturally."
Roswaal's expression had gone grave. His eyes fixed on Felt with an intensity that made her instinctively edge closer to Gojo.
"To think the final candidate was right in front of me this entire time."
"But I suspect you didn't bring this up merely to inform me."
"You'd be right."
Gojo tucked the insignia back into his pocket and settled into his chair, slouching with practiced indifference.
"I'll be blunt." He let the words hang for a beat. "I want you to back us."
Silence crashed through the room. Confusion surfaced on every face, Roswaal's and Ram's alike.
"Did I mishear, or have I misunderstood your meaning?"
Roswaal's brow furrowed. "You're well aware that I support Lady Emilia. It would be impossible for me to also support..."
"Roswaal."
Gojo cut him off.
"If someone else were sitting here saying this, I'd agree with you. It's no small matter, and nobody would joke about it."
"But."
He tugged his sunglasses down a fraction. Ice-blue eyes locked onto Roswaal.
"I'm not joking either."
"And I'd imagine there are certain things you'd prefer Emilia never found out about."
Roswaal's lids lowered. His smile stayed in place, but something behind it shifted. "I'm not sure I follow."
Gojo shook his head. "Then let me spell it out."
"If Emilia learned that you were the one who sent Elsa to steal the insignia in the first place... if she found out that you arranged the attack on her and Subaru when they visited the village... how do you think she'd react?"
The room went still.
Every person present felt the impact at once. Until this moment, the conversations with Elsa, the secret meeting Gojo had witnessed between her and Roswaal, all of it had been locked inside his head alone. No one else had known.
Subaru processed the revelation a beat behind the others. When it landed, he shot to his feet, staring at Roswaal with something between horror and fury.
"Roswaal, that was all you?!"
Betty's eyes went wide. She looked at Roswaal with utter incomprehension.
"Mr. Gojo, while what you've presented is certainly... surprising." Roswaal's voice remained measured. "Slandering a nobleman is a serious offense."
"Offense?" Gojo's smile didn't falter. "I'll trust my own eyes over etiquette, thanks."
"The night before Emilia and Subaru went to the village, you met with Elsa in the forest near there. Or did I imagine that too?"
"What are you trying to do?" Subaru's voice cracked with anger. "You're supposed to be Emilia's supporter! Why would you do any of this? Do you have any idea how desperate she was over the insignia? Do you know how dangerous that night in the Royal Capital would have been if Gojo hadn't been there?!"
He'd seen Elsa's strength firsthand. That phantom-like speed, that monstrous regeneration. She was the first true powerhouse he'd encountered in this world, and every detail of their fight was seared into his memory.
Roswaal said nothing in response to Subaru's outburst. He only watched Gojo, steady and unreadable.
From his perspective, the exposure was genuinely unexpected. He hadn't accounted for it, and certainly not through this avenue. Who could have predicted that Gojo, of all people, would be wandering around outside in the dead of night, and that his aimless stroll would carry him to the exact stretch of forest where he and Elsa had met?
More than coincidence, Roswaal suspected he'd been noticed leaving the mansion and followed from the start.
Gojo let the silence stretch. He wasn't in a hurry. Instead, he studied master and servant.
Compared to Subaru, who wore every emotion on his face like a billboard, reading anything useful from Roswaal was a lost cause. The man's composure was seamless.
Ram, though, was a different story. When the accusation landed, Gojo caught it: a flash of shock, there and gone in an instant, smoothed over so quickly most people would have missed it entirely.
That reaction could mean one of two things. Either she was suppressing genuine surprise, or she'd already suspected something like this might happen.
If it was the latter, then Roswaal's behavior became even more interesting. A servant who wasn't blindsided by her master's schemes suggested she'd been kept in the loop, at least partially. Which meant Roswaal had someone he confided in, and that person still chose to stand beside him.
"Well then, Margrave Mathers? Nothing to say?"
"Or would you prefer to keep denying it?"
Gojo's tone stayed unhurried, the cadence of a man holding all the cards and knowing it.
"While you speak with great conviction, Mr. Gojo, all matters require evidence." Roswaal's reply came smooth and unruffled. "I trust Lady Emilia is not someone who would act on hearsay."
"Whether it's hearsay or not, that's beside the point, isn't it?"
"Puck's protectiveness over Emilia is well documented. And anything that's been done leaves traces eventually."
Gojo lifted his teacup and took a slow sip.
"Even the slightest seed of doubt would create problems you can't afford. Not with what you're working toward."
"And what I'm asking for is nothing more than financial support."
"We don't need you pulling strings for us the way you do for Emilia. No introductions to nobility, no managing political relationships, no courting alliances."
"For someone in your position, Count, it's a trivial ask."
"Two horses in the race beats one, doesn't it? As long as either wins, you reap the rewards."
"Whatever Emilia can offer you, we can match."
"Less investment. Greater return."
"And friends are so much more pleasant than enemies."
He delivered the pitch like a salesman who'd rehearsed every line, each point landing with easy precision.
Roswaal listened to all of it. Then, unexpectedly, he laughed.
"Quite the silver tongue."
"Gojo."
"Only because you're worth the effort, Roswaal."
Trading flattery? Child's play.
"So. What's your answer?"
Roswaal regarded him for a long moment, then spoke.
"Your requirements are purely financial?"
"Purely financial."
Gojo adjusted his phrasing just slightly.
Roswaal caught the shift. His gaze lingered a beat longer than necessary. But he didn't press.
"As an honored guest of the Mathers household, such a modest request is hardly one I could refuse."
"Consider it a step toward deepening the friendship between us."
Honored guest. Gojo nearly laughed. First it was "Gojo," then "Mr. Gojo," and now "honored guest." The man changed registers like he was flipping through a phrasebook.
"Becoming our supporter. A wise decision."
With that, Gojo pulled Felt to her feet. She stood there looking completely lost, still processing what had just happened around her.
Roswaal wasted no time. He crossed the room with elegant, measured steps, stopped before Felt, and gently took her hand. Then he bowed low and pressed his lips to her knuckles.
"It is my honor to offer you my support, Lady Felt."
Felt's brain crashed.
Everything else that had been said in the room evaporated. The politics, the threats, the negotiations. None of it mattered compared to those last two words.
Lady Felt.
The bet. She remembered the bet she'd made with Gojo. Her head whipped around to find him standing right beside her, wearing the most insufferably smug grin she'd ever seen.
It hit her all at once. While she'd been sitting there not understanding a single thing, she'd somehow been maneuvered into something she couldn't even begin to comprehend.
The realization that she might have been sold out without even knowing what was happening made her teeth grind together. She glared at Gojo.
"What the hell just happened?"
...
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