Antonio turned around. Everybody who was there bowed respectfully at the same time. Cale bowed as well.

Sonata Gyerre. The current Duchess approached Cale.

Cale was thinking about what she had just said as she approached.

�We are planning on locking the gates for a while.�

The crown prince and Duchess Gyerre had decided to hide the fact that the slaves were bought by a merchant guild from the Empire. Things would spread as soon as they caught that merchant guild, but they were still trying to prevent the news from spreading right now.

A total of three times.

That was how many times the Chryshi household had sold slaves to this merchant guild. The time frame of these transactions corresponded with Alberu solidifying his position as the future king.

With Alberu gaining power instead of the prince that the Gyerre household supported, Baron Chryshi decided that it would be best to gain power through money.

Alberu was furious after finding out about all of this, although he did not show his emotions to Cale.

He was currently stealthily investigating whether there were any other slave trades happening in the kingdom. That was why he decided to hide the information about the Empire�s merchant guild.

However, this did not erase the Gyerre household�s sin of not taking care of the border to the point that citizens of the kingdom were being sold off as slaves.

Duchess Sonata Gyerre made up her mind after making a deal with the crown prince. This was the first time she was talking about it to anyone other than her grandson.

To lock the gates.

That had been Cale�s condition. There was more to it than just firmly locking the gates as the gatekeeper.

Duchess Gyerre discussed the other part as well.

�The Gyerre household will also temporarily pause all international activities, as well as call back all of our family members and vassals.�

Cease all international activities.

Call back the family.

Those words made Billos and the others� expression stiffen up.

They had realized what the Duchess had meant.

Although she called it, �international activities,� their so-called, �international activities,� involved gaining more power. The people who were responsible for this were the family members involved in the central region�s politics.

She was announcing that they would pause these activities.

This pretty much meant that the Gyerre household was letting go of any power in the central region. Although she did add the word, �temporarily,� it was still a big deal.

A slave trade. JrNovels.com