Chapter 25

"You dare… Duke Lauchen!”

He stopped by the Duke of Hollis to borrow money, but he was being turned away at the door before he could even bring it up.

“I will never have any dealings with your family again, so get out now!”

‘You are that vigilant?’

Come to think of it, he only interacted with the Duke of Hollis a few times for his business, but since they knew each other, it was not unreasonable to be wary of him.

'You bastard, I'll have to get rid of you someday.'

Vowing revenge, Duke Lauchen said to the coachman.

“Go to the Marquis Camellia.”

A native of a small native land after Camellia, she amassed an enormous fortune through her business, but she was ostracized by the nobility.

However, her following Duke Lauchen allowed her to establish herself in her small institutional aristocratic circle after her.

'Tsk, to think I'm going to open my hands to the marquis.'

He honestly didn't want to reach out to her, who was his subordinate, but he didn't have much of a choice.

‘Yeah, at least the Marquis owes me a lot, so she won’t turn away from me.’

Indeed, unlike Duke Hollis, he brought the marquis into the house.

However, unlike usual, the Marquis had a cold expression from beginning to end.

“I will be leaving soon, so I don’t need tea.”

Duke Lauchen was honestly offended that no tea was served no matter how late he was.

‘Renting money is our first priority.’

“Don’t ask why, but I want you to lend me some money.”

“I can’t give you money unless you tell me why.”

She was a marquis who would have readily lent money with a smile, but now her expression was the very opposite.

“Look, Marquis, isn’t it just a little bit of money? If I start mining the gold mine, I can pay it off quickly.”

“Even if it’s a penny, you don’t really need my money.”

“It’s really urgent. If you don't help, it's going to be hard from now on! Is it okay if my ties with you are cut off like this?”

He even said that while begging, but the Marquis' reaction was cold.

“No it doesn’t matter. So, go back now.”

The Marquis always stood by his side.

But at the sudden change of appearance, Duke Lauchen hardened his face.

“I thought I had some kind of acquaintance with you. But what is the reason for coming to such a conclusion?”

As the marquis told him, she explained her circumstances without even a slight movement.

Soon the duke's face turned to contemplation.

* * *

Louisa was crying while pondering what had happened in the Imperial Palace.

‘What should I do now? I offended the Duchess of Hollis, so rumors would spread... Wait a minute.'

Soon after, Louisa realized something and opened her eyes.

‘By the way, I was welcome to come to the Imperial Palace, but there was no mention of the ladies in the letter.’

Izaya was always someone who stood still when Louisa and her brother bullied her.

But this time it was almost as if Louisa was forced to make a mistake.

‘Yeah, come to think of it, it’s clear that you were trying to corner me. If you’ve had actively stopped me, I wouldn't have made such a mistake!'

So, Louisa's anger shifted towards Izaya.

‘It’s all because of Izaya. I'm going to tell my mother that she's going to have to scold that damn girl.'

It was when Louisa made her decision.

Bang!

The door swung open and someone walked in.

As soon as Louisa saw him, she cried and ran toward him.

“Father, today I…!”

Originally, she was going to tell Duke Lauchen about Izaya.

But Louisa couldn't keep up.

Slap!

Louisa, who was suddenly slapped in the face, stared at Duke Lauchen in surprise.

“Father?”

Soon, anger erupted from him.

“Stupid! Do you dare tarnish your father’s face?”

The Duchess, hearing the commotion, rushed to her daughter's room.

“What are you doing! She was having a good time with the young master of Hollis these days, and you slapped her in the face, are you crazy?"

“Do you know what that kid did?”

Soon after, the duke glared at Louisa and grinded his teeth.

"You dared to fight the Duchess of Hollis without fear, and that wasn't enough, you spoke down to Marquis Camellia, who I was close with!"

The Duchess of Lauchen looked at her daughter with astonished eyes.

“Is that true?”

Then, Louisa burst into tears and said as if it was unfair.

“Hey, it’s all because of Izaya!”

Hearing this, the duke raised his voice, shaking his hand.

“Shut up!”

"Father! Really. If Izaya had stopped me...!”

Then Louisa stared at the Duchess as if pleading.

‘Mother will be on my side.’

But the words from the Duchess did not meet the expectations of Louisa.

“Come on, beg your father for forgiveness that you were wrong!”

“But mother…”

"Hurry!"

Her mother always forced her to obey the duke.

She was upset. But if she rebelled...

“You useless thing! I didn't give birth to something like you!"

She may also hear her mother say that.

"I’m…sorry."

When Louisa apologized, the Duchess hurriedly turned to the Duke.

“Honey, she is still immature. Please forgive her just once. She's your daughter."

The duke then looked into the blue eyes of Louisa who resembled the duchess, and then let out a sigh.

“Fine. However, please be careful not to cause an accident.”

Duke Lauchen, who left Louisa's room, wrinkled his brow.

'I'll have to borrow money from other people first.'

Then, the assistant came.

“Your Excellency, you must dispose of the ship…”

Duke Lauchen shook his head.

“No, I will hold out longer.”

He couldn't sell the ship right away because the market price had fallen.

It was because the civil war broke out in Eetar, a trading country, and even if he had a ship, he had no use for it.

‘Let’s hold on a little bit. Then we can sell the ship at a fair price.’

* * *

The next day, Izaya read the letter and smiled.

‘Seeking me for help, I’m almost there.’

The letter, sealed under the seal of Duke Lauchen, contained a complaint that he had scolded Louisa for her rudeness, and that it was difficult for him to borrow money from other aristocrats.

Soon, a cold arsenic appeared on Izaya's face.

‘Even if I have money, I will never lend it to you in my name. I'm sure you won't pay it back.'

In her last life, Izaya lived with the budget given to the empress. Even though she inherited a large fortune as Lauchen's legitimate successor.

And that was precisely because she had spent her successor's fortune lending money to the Duke Lauchen.

‘Besides, even my budget was embezzled and stolen by Melanie.’

After a brief moment of laughter, Izaya looked at the newspaper and smiled deeply.

‘Besides, have you turned people you shouldn’t have turned into enemies?’

[The largest gold mine in the empire collapsed in vain.]

The article estimated the amount of astronomical damage in the gold mine and was fiercely criticizing the Duke of Lauchen for causing damage to the surrounding area through excessive mining.

‘Because of his personality, he will spend wasted money trying to restore it somehow. And…'

Soon Izaya saw another article.

[Etar, a trading powerhouse’s export route blocked by civil war?]

In the article, it was written that many merchants were selling their ships in preparation for a contraction in trade.

‘But if the future goes on, trade will not decrease for the next 10 years.’

Although a civil war broke out, the rebels did not touch the people and merchants. And again, they protected them and encouraged them to trade safely.

It was also intended to win the civil war with the support of the people.

However, the problem was the decrease in the number of ships.

At that time, Duke Lauchen was able to build wealth by using the large ships he had.

'But that can’t happen this time. Because there is an urgent need to sell those ships.’

Soon Izaya called Melanie.

“Tell the jeweler. Now that the time has come, please bring me my trinkets.”

Then Melanie's face brightened.

“Yes, I will follow your orders.”

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