Journey to Become the Zenith

A Gamble Worth Taking

’I got no other choice.’

Brinda opened her eyes.

For several long seconds, she simply stared across the table.

Felberta’s expression remained unchanged. The mysterious merchant sat with the same gentle smile she had worn throughout their negotiation, one hand resting near her teacup while the other remained relaxed against the table.

There was no impatience in her posture.

No pressure.

That somehow made Brinda more uneasy.

Her gaze met Felberta’s.

’I hope I can deal with whatever you’ve got planned.’

The thought settled heavily in Brinda’s mind.

She slowly extended her hand toward the pouch of white gold.

The movement looked simple.

It wasn’t.

Every instinct she possessed told her to be cautious. The woman sitting opposite her had already revealed that she knew far more than she should. She had somehow uncovered Brinda’s forgotten identity, understood the weakness of their current situation, and possessed a butler whose strength was frightening enough that even Brinda had been forced to reconsider whether attacking him would be wise.

Yet the pouch was sitting there.

A single pouch.

A ridiculous amount of wealth contained inside something that looked almost ordinary.

Brinda’s fingers hovered above it for a moment before finally closing around the leather.

The weight immediately told her that this wasn’t some symbolic payment.

It was real.

And it was enough to change their situation.

”Alright, Felberta. You got yourself a deal.”

Her voice was steady.

At least, she made certain it sounded steady.

Inside, however, Brinda felt as though she had just stepped onto a bridge without knowing whether the other side existed.

She had made her decision.

There was no turning back now.

Brinda lowered the pouch onto the table rather than immediately putting it away. Her purple eyes remained fixed on Felberta, studying every small movement she could catch.

Felberta simply smiled.

The silence between them lasted only a few heartbeats, but it carried the weight of a much longer conversation.

Brinda finally released a quiet breath.

She had spent enough time thinking about what could go wrong.

Now she needed to think about what came next.

Brinda decided that she needed to take this risk since the whole situation was falling apart.

The realization had not come easily.

For days, she had watched their situation deteriorate little by little. The citizens were growing restless. Rumors were spreading through the streets. The enthusiasm that had followed their victory was slowly being replaced by uncertainty, and uncertainty had a way of becoming fear when people had nothing else to hold onto.

Their ideals had not changed.

Their determination had not changed.

But ideals alone did not fill empty warehouses.

They did not pay soldiers.

They did not repair damaged buildings.

They did not put food on tables.

And they certainly did not keep an independent territory alive when the treasury was beginning to run dry.

Brinda knew that better than most.

She had spent enough years surviving in the shadows to understand a simple truth.

People could endure hardship.

What they could not endure was believing that the hardship had no end.

Without any financial backing, once Victor returns from his trip, he might find that his whole plan failed from the get-go.

Brinda’s fingers tightened slightly around the edge of the table.

She knew Ren.

Victor might appear careless at times, but that did not mean he was actually careless. He had entrusted them with something far greater than simply governing a city.

He had entrusted them with his vision.

And she had no intention of being the person who allowed that vision to collapse while he was away.

Her gaze briefly shifted toward the pouch of white gold.

There was enough money there to keep them alive.

More than enough.

But the source of that money was what bothered her.

Felberta.

A woman who claimed to be a traveling merchant.

A woman who had somehow learned Brinda’s most carefully buried secret.

A woman whose butler could appear beside her with a blade against her throat before she could properly react.

None of that was normal.

Brinda had lived too long around dangerous people to believe in coincidences.

That guy seems like he would be okay with failure, but one cannot be too sure so Brinda decided that this was for the best.

She lowered her eyes.

There was another thought she refused to say aloud.

If she rejected Felberta and their financial situation continued worsening, the consequences would not stop with her.

Eon would be affected.

The citizens would suffer.

The people who had placed their trust in them would suffer.

And Victor would return to find the foundation of his plan already cracking.

Brinda could accept taking a dangerous gamble.

What she could not accept was allowing everyone else to pay the price for her caution.

If anything goes wrong the worse that could happen is death, which will happen either way if she fails to implement Ren’s plan.

A faint, bitter smile touched her lips.

Death.

She had once been far more familiar with it than she cared to admit.

Back when she had been Thelia Renia, death had been something she handed to others.

Targets.

Enemies.

Names written on pieces of paper.

She had never needed to wonder whether she would survive the night.

She had simply made sure someone else wouldn’t.

But that woman was gone.

At least, that was what Brinda wanted to believe.

Now she had people beside her.

People she cared about.

People depending on her.

That made every decision heavier.

Brinda slowly leaned back in her chair.

Felberta noticed the movement but said nothing.

Her black eyes remained calm, almost amused.

”You’ve been quiet for quite some time,” Felberta said softly.

Brinda looked up.

”I was thinking.”

”About whether you made the right decision?”

A faint smile appeared on Brinda’s face.

”Something like that.”

Felberta’s smile deepened.

”Then perhaps you should stop thinking about whether it was right.”

”And think about whether I can survive it?”