Top-Tier Arranged Marriage, but the Dom-Husband Has Amnesia - Chapter 10

Thanks to the long-standing alliance between the Orwell and Veroria families, the personal relationship between Igris and Lucian Veroria was actually quite decent.

They were old friends.

Or rather, old frenemies.

However, that was all before the two families were united by marriage.

Ever since the Orwell and Veroria families successfully married, out of a sense of etiquette and demeanor expected of a high-privilege species, the young Council Chairman would smilingly call this former friend “little uncle” every time they met. This would infuriate Lucian Veroria to the point of breaking down on the spot and unilaterally declaring their friendship over.

In the following years, Lucian even claimed that seeing Igris made him feel physically ill and nauseous, and he would purposefully take a detour whenever they were likely to cross paths.

Was today a day where the sun rose in the west?

Igris was somewhat surprised, but he did not overthink it.

With drones coming and going outside the conference hall and the relationship between their two families already established, he felt he had nothing to hide. He simply had his assistant open an empty, temporary office in the north wing of the Capitol and signaled for Lucian Veroria to come in and talk. In case things turned sour, they would not become the laughingstock of outsiders.

The assistant opened the office door. Once the two prominent figures entered, the assistant retreated tactfully, leaving the room to these two old friends.

Igris asked, “Something on your mind?”

“Noah called me uncle!” Lucian replied, beaming and looking extremely proud.

… ?

To stop the busy Council Chairman in public outside the conference hall just to say something like this, if it were any other drone, they probably would have walked away by now. But Igris was clearly no ordinary drone. He chuckled. “It is just a form of address. If you like, I can call you that too.” He paused slightly, then read it out slowly and clearly, “Little uncle.”

Lucian: Breathing_difficulties.jpg

It was over.

The title that he had finally managed to get Noah to clear up had become “dirty” again.

“Shut your mouth! Do not call me uncle! I am not your uncle!” The young Mr. Veroria exploded, completely breaking down on the spot. “I am your father!”

“Is that all you came to me for?” Igris asked. “You are so happy just because I called you uncle? When the offspring of my master and I are born, won’t you be so excited that you will faint, little uncle?”

Lucian Veroria looked like he was about to faint from rage right then and there.

Being the only one to receive insults was never the style of the younger Mr. Veroria. Igris pulled over a chair, sat down, and tapped his arm with his fingertips, leisurely waiting for his counterattack.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

After waiting for quite a while without receiving any verbal abuse, Igris raised an eyebrow and glanced at him.

The latter frowned almost imperceptibly, his face full of disgust, but it seemed he was wary of something. He neither retorted out loud nor did he turn around and walk away.

The Council Chairman paused, suddenly realizing something.

… No.

He understood his master.

Noah was always cold, introverted, and proud. He looked good but had a bad temper; he was a standard, high-privilege individual who was difficult to please. If there were no definite benefits or if he did not need something from someone, let alone letting his master obediently call someone “uncle,” it would be a miracle if Noah did not twist Lucian Veroria’s head off for making such a request.

The eighteen-year-old Excellency might not be that murderous, but he was not that easy-going, either.

Igris stared at the drone in front of him for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed, his tone firm. “He was the one who told you to come here.”

Lucian’s eyelid twitched.

It went without saying who “he” referred to.

“His goal is me, and this ‘uncle’ must have been the ‘consultation fee’ he gave you, right?” The Council Chairman asked unhurriedly, as if asking a question or talking to himself.

“What did he send you here to do? Let me think. That day during the guest reception, did someone tell him that I was secretly pushing for Bill 43 behind his back? This conversation with you is part of his plan, and this plan allows him to get what he wants.”

What did he want?

Without any reminder, almost at the same moment this question arose, Igris intuitively deduced the most likely answer.

He wanted him to gain nothing.

He wanted to use him to kill the chicken to scare the monkey.

… ?

Realizing this, Igris supported his face with his hand and could not help but laugh.

It was unexpected, but it also did not seem that surprising. Besides the rarity of the situation, it also carried a sigh of “as I expected.”

Should he say he deserved to be his master?

Come to think of it, it made sense.

Memory loss could take away a drone’s experience and history, but it could not strip away innate keenness and wisdom, nor could it fundamentally change a drone’s nature. For Noah Veroria, dealing with a few novices would at most dissuade a group of losers; but using him as a target could genuinely intimidate the high-privilege individuals across the entire Federation.

Which one had a better cost-benefit ratio was obvious.

Seeing that the Council Chairman had deduced most of the situation in just a few moments, Lucian felt his scalp go numb.

Why did he oppose the marriage between the two families so strongly back then? It was because this guy was too insidious and cunning, and his schemes were terrifyingly numerous. An average drone would truly be no match for him.

What? Noah wasn’t a pushover either?

Then it didn’t matter.

Lucian let his mind wander for a moment. It was at this moment that the Council Chairman’s gaze fell on him again. The look was idle and casual, but it carried a certain penetration, as if he wanted to look through his eyes to see the Excellency who was still sitting in his hospital room, never having taken a step out, yet looking at him from afar.

“Our conversation allows him to indirectly achieve his goal, but why?”

They say that when gods fight, the bystanders suffer.

Lucian pondered for a few seconds and decided to take his leave. “Who knows? You can guess slowly. I am leaving.”

Igris raised an eyebrow.

The fact that Lucian did not stay meant Noah’s objective had been achieved.

In other words, the content of the conversation was not important. The key points were the timing, the location, and the fact that “Igris Orwell and Lucian Veroria” had had a private exchange.

Why?

The office door opened silently.

The moment Lucian Veroria walked out the door, the Council Chairman keenly noticed several probing gazes flash by. The Veroria drone, who had been quite infuriated just moments ago, now wore a relaxed and casual smile, looking as if they had had a very pleasant conversation.

Pleasant conversation?

Igris was lost in thought.

So that was it.

The missing puzzle piece was filled at this moment.

No wonder Noah needed him to have a private conversation with Lucian Veroria, even though the content of the conversation was trivial. Because what Noah wanted to create was the illusion that “Orwell and Veroria are chatting happily and have joined forces to betray His Excellency.”

That is right.

Their prenuptial agreement clearly stated: Regarding decisions where both sides had different opinions, they could use their own abilities and adopt all legal or illegal means.

But the agreement also mentioned two major premises.

First: Neither party shall harm the other’s core political capital.

Second: Acting in unison against outsiders also meant it was forbidden to join forces with any external drones to deal with each other. When they stood on opposite sides of a decision, there could only be two players on this black-and-white chessboard from beginning to end, and neither was allowed to bring in a third party.

For them, stabbing each other in the back was not considered betrayal, but colluding with outsiders and violating the “act in unison” clause was.

This was an open scheme.

Noah knew he had not joined forces with Lucian Veroria, and he also knew that Noah knew.

But to the outside world, the fact presented to the high-privilege individuals of the Federation was this: One day before the vote on Bill 43, the Council Chairman privately contacted Lucian Veroria, and when they emerged, they were talking and laughing, seemingly having reached a consensus on how Bill 43 would swallow His Excellency’s interests.

Lucian only needed to stand on his side during tomorrow’s parliamentary vote and cast a vote in favor to confirm this non-existent betrayal.

Now, the Council Chairman faced only two choices.

Either take the initiative to back down and let Bill 43 be shelved;

Or maintain the original proposal, but this would undoubtedly place the betrayal of the Orwell and Veroria families against His Excellency into the light. The latter’s political standing would hit rock bottom, and those who believed His Excellency had lost his control and voice over the two great families would swarm in like sharks smelling blood.

Once Noah recovered his memory, whether he wanted a divorce or intended to settle the score, he would have every right to do so. As long as Igris wanted to preserve this political marriage, he would inevitably suffer a massive loss.

As for whether Noah’s behavior counted as joining forces with outsiders to deal with him, the Council Chairman curved the corner of his mouth. His eyes held a hint of what seemed like helplessness, but also an indefinable smile.

The next second, his optical computer automatically popped up a holographic communication video.

On the other side of the screen, the head of the Veroria family, who remained at the hospital to perform his duties of watching over his son, sighed with relief and apologized sincerely, “Mr. Orwell, I am truly sorry. This brat got carried away as soon as he heard His Excellency call him uncle and started showing off everywhere. He did not bother you, did he?”

Igris understood what the other party meant.

He was not angry, nor did he feel threatened.

The Council Chairman calmly took a sip of water and watched with genuine interest as, not far behind the Veroria family head, the figure who had been hidden behind the scenes from the start, simply sitting in the hospital room while using only two drones as chess pieces to effortlessly destroy all his arrangements, appeared.

Using his own strength to defeat him?

Remarkable.

He smiled very faintly and said naturally, “His Excellency is, after all, the only bloodline left by his blood brother. It is understandable.” This was both an excuse for Lucian and an indication that he accepted the explanation from the head of the Veroria family.

Both sides exchanged a few more polite remarks to finalize the nature of the whole incident and bring it to an end.

The communication ended.

The light of the holographic projection faded layer by layer like the sunset. As the Veroria family head stood up, Igris finally saw that lazy and cold figure clearly. The faint blue light brushed across his side profile, his long and dense eyelashes hanging down slightly, casting a shadow. Between the flickering light and shadow, it was as if a butterfly was resting.

With just a distant flap of its wings, it had effortlessly triggered a storm.

He seemed to notice Igris’s gaze.

The young Excellency lifted his eyes slightly, the coldness around him melting like ice and snow. He smiled at Igris, intimately and cunningly.

The dominoes collapsed with a crash.

It was like the last chess piece, falling into place with a gentle click.

Checkmate.

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