Chapter 34

Translator and Editor: Effe and Nabi

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Chapter 34

Just as Alexei was feeling dazed by the unexpected competence of his wife, the carriage gently stopped.

“We’ve arrived, duke.”

“Oh, thank you.”

Having been engrossed with the documents for a long time, he didn’t even realize he had arrived at the Imperial Palace. Alexei, with his documents in hand, got off the wagon.

At the same time, an unwelcome voice was heard.

“Isn’t this, the Duke of Valois?!”

Hearing the voice, Alexei’s expression sank coldly.

That person is…

“Marquis of Saxony.”

It was Anriche’s younger brother, Marquis of Saxony.

He didn’t look much like his sister. At the impression of being a little mean, his eyes are shimmering with visible greed.

“Why did the Marquis come to attend the nobleman’s meeting?” Alexei asked the question in a rather sharp voice.

It would be so, because the Marquis of Saxony had rarely attended a House of Lords meeting so far. Of course, unless the emperor attends the conference in person, he leaves it to the nobility to attend the House of Lords meeting themselves.

‘No matter how, it wouldn’t be too much to say that I haven’t even seen the tip of his nose for nearly a year.’

The Marquis of Saxony was among the high-ranking nobles in the Empire. That means, it is a position that comes with the responsibility to set an example in front of others as well.

However, the Marquis of Saxony was always negligent, and there is not even a single strain of his hair that contained a sense of responsibility for his position.

Since Alexei valued principles, he had no choice but to hate the Marquis of Saxony even more.

“That’s why I came to see the duke.”

Still, despite Alexei’s blatantly disgusted face, the Marquis of Saxony was just sticking with a nice face.

“Why are you coming to me?”

“Oh, that’s…”

After saying so, he gently rubbed his hand and slowly opened his mouth. To be honest, the man looked like a fly rubbing his legs.

“I… It’s because the money that my sister sent me was recently cut out.”

‘What?’

At those words, Alexei was a little surprised. Even though Anriche was arrogant and disrespectful to everyone, she took her family seriously.

But now, she suddenly decided to cut her indemnity money…?

The Marquis of Saxony smiled with a blank face. He continued, “When it comes to the Duchy of Valois family, are you not the richest family in the empire?”

“What are you trying to say right now?”

“Honestly, the money my sister sends, from the viewpoint of Valois, would be less than a drop in the bucket, right?”

Saying so, he looked back at Alexei.

The small rolling pupils were reminiscent of a rat.

“Can you coax my sister and tell her to send the money again?”

‘…Is he seriously saying this right now?’ Stunned, Alexei silently stared at him. The Marquis of Saxony, however, arbitrarily interpreted his silence as positive.

“You know, I have invested a little in business.”

“So?”

“Trust me, duke! It’s going to be a huge profit!”

The Marquis of Saxony exclaimed in a confident voice.

Hearing the overly confident voice, Alexei honestly wondered where it came from. Because, to what he knows, the Marquis of Saxony had failed investments more than five times already.

“Well, if my business goes well, wouldn’t it be good for you and my sister?”

At that shameless attitude, the duke’s eyes went cold.

The reason why the Marquis was able to carry his neck so high was all thanks to Anriche. Since she has been sending money steadily so far, he is able to hang around like that even after failing to invest many times.

Still, he never thanked her and yet kept talking nonsense like this.

“Aren’t we a family? Doesn’t family help each other in difficult times?”

“Now, you say we’re family…?”

“Yes, family. Wahaha!”

The Marquis of Saxony burst into laughter.

‘Is this the only time he talks about family?’

With that thought in mind, Alexei suddenly recalled his attitude toward his sister. Every time the Marquis of Saxony dealt with Anriche, he always gave strength to his shoulders as if he was superior.

‘You’re a woman, so you have to live for me, a man and the Lord.’

…It was as if he was saying that. And Anriche, who was arrogant to everyone, was always embarrassed by her younger brother.

The duke opened his mouth and spoke in a wry tone.

“Well, I don’t think the Marquis ever helped your sister before, don’t you?”

“…What?”

“Isn’t that right? My wife used to give the marquis everything all the way up until now, even the indemnity money given to her.”

His words were blatantly sharp.

The Marquis of Saxony, who had a stupid look on his face for a while, tried to overcome the situation with laughter. “Well, what are you talking about? It’s a family, it’s natural for my sister to take care of her younger brother…”

“And the public calls it ‘exploitation’.”

“Wha—what do you say?” He said with his face bright red.

However, Alexei’s words aren’t over yet.

“What has the Marquis done for my wife so far?”

As he was caught off guard, The Marquis of Saxony blinked his eyes blankly.

Alexei continued in a harsh voice.

“A little trinket, a book… No, have you ever given her a handkerchief?”

It has been eight years since he has been married to Anriche. During that amount of time, Alexei had never seen her receive a single thing from her family.

“It’s a little funny that the Marquis would call that a family.”

“Du, Duke!”

“The indemnity money given to the Duchess of Valois is entirely my wife’s.”

Saying firmly, he concluded his words.

“So, my wife can decide how to use those funds.”

“But the duke is my sister’s husband! So…!”

“I don’t think you understand my words.”

By now, Alexei was frustrated. He stared at the Marquis at an angle. The bright blue eyes were colder than the winter sky.

“Rather than hanging on to me like this, shouldn’t you beg and hold on to the hem of my wife’s skirt instead?”

A smile stood over Alexei’s lips.

It was a clear ridicule.

“Even beasts that do not speak will show appreciation for you, if you do that.”

“What, what?! How do you say that to me?!”

The Marquis of Saxony opened his eyes wide unknowingly because Alexei is now pointing out that he is worse than a beast itself.

“If the favor continued, it became a right, but I didn’t expect that you would see it in reality.”

“Duke, wait a minute…!”

“If you have nothing more to say, I’ll go first.”

Alexei, who had said so, passed by the Marquis of Saxony.

“At this meeting, by all means, it would be nice if you showed attention to it. Don’t fall asleep.”

After a faint ridiculing voice, he finally disappeared far away.

The Marquis of Saxony, staring at the back, clenched his teeth. ‘Damn, it’s not even a lot of money… How dare he behave like that?!’ He chewed swear words into his little mouth.

‘No, I can’t let this slide. I’ll have to tell mother to get the money.’

His eyes shone meanly.

The older sister he knew was always thirsty for the affection of their family. In order to become a ‘useful person,’ she does not hesitate to borrow money from the Duke of Valois.

So, if his mother would come out… It will definitely be paid off.

Suddenly, the Marquis was humming.

***

To get a little distance from the disgusting Marquis of Saxony, Alexei moved busily.

Though suddenly, he stopped abruptly in his spot. It was because his paper was flapping and bumping could be heard.

‘Oh, God.’

Since he got out of the carriage in a hurry, he took the papers with him as well.

Alexei glanced down at the papers.

The memos carefully left all over the documents, and the underlines drawn in red and blue ink caught his eyes.

‘…Madam.’

He thought back to Anriche.

Though she was indifferent to the Valois’s work, she was doing her job as a daughter to her parents.

At the expense of such a sacrifice for her family, even so, the younger brother still does not see his sister as anything more than someone to pay for his things…

Her love was never repaid by them.

“…”

Alexei clenched his lips tightly.

For the first time… he felt bad for Anriche.

***

Liliana and Elliot sat side by side in the garden in the warm sunlight. In the spring breeze, the red and yellow pansy flowers in full bloom shook gently.

But, unfortunately, the boy wasn’t interested in cute pansy flowers at all.

It was because there was a girl who was much cuter and prettier than those pansy flowers sitting by his side.

‘…How is she so pretty?’

Elliot was constantly glancing at Liliana sitting next to him.

Her golden hair was fluttering softly, as if twirling through the wind. Under the long downed lashes, pretty green eyes sparkle like jewels.

However, just then,

“Ah, I want to see mother.”

“…”

At those words that popped out, Elliot made a gloomy expression without realizing. Of course, he would be…

“Liliana, do you know you’re saying that twentieth time already?”

…Because the whole time Liliana and he came to the garden, he had only been hearing her saying ‘I want to see mother,’ those words got nailed to his ears by now.

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Advanced Chapters!

Rate the novel on Novel Updates.

Join our discord to receive the latest updates as soon as possible!