"Are you saying my brother and that wine merchant?" Shilai asked, her expression cold.
"Yes." Tales nodded and calmly explained, "Dagori Morse was a merchant secretly working for your brother. Of course, while doing so, he took advantage of that convenience to embezzle and line his own pockets. Until the Secret Section approached him and used that to recruit Morse."
"I'm not surprised."
"What I know is that Morse returned to Emerald City next. He found your brother and proposed approaching me as a double agent. But then..."
"As a result, my brother unexpectedly arrested Morse in public on his very first day." Shilai bit down on her cigarette holder, exhaled a cloud of smoke, and said indistinctly from the corner of her mouth, "He used Morse to splash you with mud and accuse you of shielding a corrupt merchant?"
"Thanks for reminding me again." Tales frowned. "But that's precisely the problem."
"What problem?"
"Morse had only just found me. He hadn't had time to do anything before he was arrested," Tales said. "In theory, wouldn't it have dealt a greater blow to my reputation to wait until Morse had known me longer and grown closer to me before arresting him and listing his crimes? Why was Jann in such a hurry to act?"
Shilai's eyes shifted. "Perhaps my brother was worried that he knew too much about Emerald City, so he struck first?"
"Perhaps."
Tales wore a thoughtful expression.
"In any case, this caught me completely off guard. In order to stay in Emerald City in peace, I had no choice but to reveal a little secret to Jann."
"A little secret?"
Tales nodded.
"I told your brother that Morse was a spy recruited by the Secret Section and used to drive a wedge between the two of us.