“Please be sure to tell your daughter not to use the Mind-Piercing Eye on me.”

Horentz could not hide his dismay at Yohan’s words. His narrow eyes flew wide, his exposed pupils trembling faintly.

He spoke in a low voice. “... Could you repeat that?”

“Please tell your daughter not to peer into my mind.”

The muscles in Horentz’s face went rigid. He was utterly bewildered. How could Yohan possibly know about the Mind-Piercing Eye? This was truly hard to believe.

Information about the Mind-Piercing Eye was classified at the highest level even within House Marcano. No one but the head of the house could access it. An outsider could not have heard so much as the first syllable of its name.

Yet Yohan was different. He clearly knew both its name and what it did.

The revelation struck Horentz like a blow. Dizzy with shock, he somehow held on to his reason and began thinking furiously.

Where had the information leaked? What measures could he take immediately? What should he say right now? Should he acknowledge the Mind-Piercing Eye? Would denying it be better? These questions and countless others crowded his mind.

Time ticked by. Yohan waited without a word.

After considerable deliberation, Horentz finally spoke. “Did you hear about the Mind-Piercing Eye from His Excellency Count Staviana?”

Horentz had decided how to respond. For now, he would acknowledge the Mind-Piercing Eye. Denying it was pointless when Yohan already knew everything. His first priority was to discover how the information had leaked.

Yohan spoke with a calm expression. “His Excellency? May I ask why you bring him up?”

He had answered a question with another question. It was not his preferred way of conversing, but he had little choice. He wanted to satisfy his curiosity.

Horentz replied, “His Excellency has always avoided me. Until now, I assumed it was because of my background. My origins were too lowly for the noble Count to grant me a meeting. Now I am beginning to think I was somewhat mistaken.”

As the Count had recently told Yohan, he had believed Horentz possessed the Mind-Piercing Eye. That was why he had avoided him. Who would want to speak to someone who could read their mind? For the Count, a politician to his very bones, Horentz was bound to be an uncomfortable presence.

But things had changed somewhat. Yohan had corrected the Count’s information. The Mind-Piercing Eye belonged not to Horentz, but to his daughter, Serena. The Count would no longer avoid him.

Yohan asked, “You suspect he avoided you because of the Mind-Piercing Eye?”

Horentz nodded. “Yes. Frankly, it is more than a suspicion. I am certain.”

A keen gaze shone through his narrow eyes. Yohan let out a small sound of admiration.

“You are exactly right, Viscount. As you surmised, His Excellency knew of the Mind-Piercing Eye.”

Putting together the Count’s usual behavior, his political ties to Yohan, and Yohan’s mention of the Mind-Piercing Eye, Horentz had concluded that the Count had told Yohan about it. He had arrived at the answer in remarkably little time. His reasoning was quite impressive.

Horentz’s face darkened. His expression stiff, he said, “I will not ask you how His Excellency came to know of the Mind-Piercing Eye. I imagine my suspicions are correct.”

“It was because of your father, Horian Marcano.”

At the mention of Horian’s name, Horentz’s face darkened further.

“... So my father was indeed the cause. He hinders me to the very end.”

Horentz’s father, Horian, had been quite close to Wolfgang. Once, while drunk, he had confided in Wolfgang about the Mind-Piercing Eye, telling him he could see into other people’s minds.

After Horian’s death, Wolfgang had passed that information to his son-in-law, Count Staviana. He had divulged House Marcano’s secret.

The moment the Count heard Wolfgang’s story, he began keeping his distance from Horentz. A house’s power usually passed directly from one generation to the next, so Horentz must have been the Mind-Piercing Eye’s next possessor. The Count had had no choice but to stay away.

Yohan spoke with genuine admiration. “Impressive. With one exception, all your deductions are correct, Viscount.”

Horentz stared at him. “... Have I misjudged something?”

“Not exactly. There is one fact that no amount of deduction could have revealed.”

Horentz’s narrow eyes narrowed further. “May I ask what that is?”

Yohan nodded. “I will tell you. In truth, I knew about the Mind-Piercing Eye before I heard of it from His Excellency. So, to answer your first question—whether His Excellency was the one who told me about it—the answer is no.”

At last, he had answered the question.

Horentz looked puzzled. He found Yohan’s claim difficult to believe. Other than the Count, there was no possible channel through which Yohan could have learned of the Mind-Piercing Eye. At least, that was what Horentz believed.

“... How on earth... Frankly, I find that difficult to believe.”

“I understand. I must also ask your understanding, as I cannot disclose my source.”

He could hardly say he had read it in Chronicle of Humans and Demons.

Horentz gave him a curious look. “You do not strike me as a man who makes false claims, but without evidence, I cannot trust your words.”

Yohan nodded. “Then allow me to offer some evidence. First, the Mind-Piercing Eye is not a power passed directly from parent to child. Its inheritance skips a generation. His Excellency did not know this.”

The Mind-Piercing Eye awakened every other generation. It manifested not in its possessor’s child, but in their grandchild. Indeed, it had skipped Horentz and awakened in his daughter Serena.

Horentz considered Yohan’s words. Certainly, Count Staviana had been wary only of Horentz. He had refused to meet him even when Serena was absent. Just as Yohan said, the Count might truly have been unaware that the inheritance skipped a generation.

Horentz spoke. “... What is your second piece of evidence?”

Yohan replied evenly, “I know all the conditions required to activate the Mind-Piercing Eye, the signs that precede its activation, and its side effects.”

The Mind-Piercing Eye was a power whose many restrictions matched its potency. Its side effects were so devastating that almost no one could use it properly, even after awakening it.

Horentz said, “That is weak evidence. My father may well have divulged every one of those details as well.”

Yohan nodded. “You are quite right. But what if it concerns your daughter? Lady Marcano possesses a trait that lets her avoid all those side effects. A trait she was born with.”

Horentz went rigid. He could scarcely believe his ears. The Mind-Piercing Eye was one thing, but information about his daughter was something no outsider could possibly know. In the entire world, only Horentz knew of her trait.

His voice shook. “W-where on earth did you hear such a thing...?”

Yohan cut him short. “As I have already said, I cannot disclose that.”

Horentz’s narrow eyes fixed on Yohan’s as though trying to pierce them. He was weighing everything about Yohan.

Only after quite some time did he speak. “Why are you telling me all this? Do you intend to shroud yourself in mystery and make me fear you?”

Yohan replied evenly, “Close, but not quite. I am merely offering you and your daughter some advice. Please do not use the Mind-Piercing Eye on me. As I said, I know everything about it.”

If Serena used the Mind-Piercing Eye on him, Yohan could detect it. And the moment he did, he would not let it pass. He intended to exact a price, one way or another. Their entire conversation thus far had been a warning to that effect.

Horentz let out a hollow laugh. “Now I understand. You intend to acquire my daughter’s power.”

Yohan had just proposed a betrothal to House Marcano. Their ensuing conversation had made his intentions clear. He had come to House Marcano for the Mind-Piercing Eye.

Yohan answered immediately. “I will not deny it. I need the Mind-Piercing Eye.”

An eye that saw through to a person’s true intentions. However he used it, it would be an enormous help in what lay ahead.

Horentz’s expression grew cold. It might have looked as though he had taken offense, but the truth was different. He was calculating.

He was a merchant through and through. He pursued profit, not emotion. Gold flowed inside his skull in place of brain matter.

He said calmly, “... The price will be very high. More than you can afford as you are now.”

Even a vast fortune in gold was worthless beside the Mind-Piercing Eye.

Yohan nodded. “I know. For now, you will consider Serena too good for me. But that will soon change.”

He was confident he could make Horentz ask for the betrothal himself.

Horentz smiled. “I shall look forward to that day.”

Countless emotions were probably surging behind that smile. Today’s conversation could only have come as an immense shock to him.

Yohan said, “Very well. On a separate matter, Sir Horentz, may I ask a favor?”

A favor? Horentz wondered what Yohan would say next.

“Please, go ahead.”

Yohan gave an uncharacteristically awkward smile. “This may sound a little strange... but could you lend me your daughter for just two hours?”

It was a decidedly awkward request. Horentz could not readily answer.

“That is rather disconcerting.”

“I will make certain you are compensated.”

He spoke as though he were paying to rent an object. Horentz felt a strange kinship with him. Perhaps gold flowed inside Yohan’s skull in place of brain matter, too.

Horentz said, “Compensation, you say. I will hear you out.”

“I will secure permission for the Marcano Trading Company to establish a branch in Veldana, in Count Staviana’s domain.”

Apart from the royal capital, Veldana was the kingdom’s most prosperous city. Yet House Marcano had been unable to conduct even a single copper coin’s worth of trade with it, because the Count had always refused them. If that relationship alone could be changed, the Marcano family would prosper far more than it did now.

Horentz’s eyes narrowed further, concealing pupils that shimmered with desire.

“... Is that possible?”

“Of course. You have some idea of my relationship with His Excellency, Sir Horentz.”

After a moment’s thought, Horentz spoke. “One final question. What do you intend to use Serena’s Mind-Piercing Eye for?”

Yohan’s expression grew sober. He answered in a low voice.

“Nothing much. There is simply something I would like to confirm.”

Yohan intended to invite Serena to his dinner with Haman, his butler.