CH 10.1

If he answered the Grand Duke’s question honestly, the Marquis of Milrose would have to admit he was a piece of garbage deserving of the man’s wrath.

He couldn’t admit that he had treated his daughter like an object he was planning to sell to a savage man in exchange for money.

“My daughter, Cherryl, is in the middle of this deal. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I want to suggest that carefully—-”

“I can’t understand you very well. Speak clearly.” Cade urged in a cool, subdued voice.

How could he tell the Grand Duke that if he bought this building from him,  he would hand his daughter for him to marry?

Noblemen who dabbled in business didn’t use direct communication because they value decency and pretension.

For example, a typical merchant might shout, “Buy this!” without any persuasion tactics.

However, a noble businessman would prefer to play with words, “There is a product that you may like, so why don’t you look at it if you don’t mind?”

Would the Duke prefer that he tell him that he would sell this building and his daughter for five million gold ingots?

In addition to that, the present empire had a system in which the bride-to-be had to pay the bridegroom for dowry.

The Marquis only saw his child as a means to make money, so he planned to separate her from any potential groom to avoid paying her dowry.

Then, he would pretend to talk about business and hide his true intention by sneaking Cherryl into the agreement.

‘If the Duke was a businessman of noble birth similar to him, he would have pretended to understand, but from the way he had troubled the Marquis, made it clear that he was a man of obscure background!’

The Marquis avoided Cade’s gaze when he stared him down.

As Natasha had said, was Count Maxon a better candidate to marry Cherryl at a bargain price?

Cade’s subordinate, who appeared out of nowhere in a cold sweat, shouted something “Hey! There’s a crack at a column on the second floor!”

The Marquis of Milose jumped.

“Impossible! The Eastern Kingdom-inspired interior design had cost me a fortune!”

“I hit it with my fist a few times and it collapsed. I’m not joking. The stone had fallen off!”

“The post itself is already weak. Why did you even hit the crack with your fist? Yikes! No. Which pillar are you talking about?”

“Come up and see for yourself.”

Axel pointed upstairs with a playful smile on his face.

“It wouldn’t go well if you hand Cherryl this way but it’s big trouble if your poorly constructed building get caught.”

The Marquis of Millrose went upstairs in a fuss.

Axel smiled in silent amusement at the sight.

Cade’s golden gaze might look calm from the outside but the cold glint in them told everyone that he was ready to tear  the Marquis piece by piece.

“Should I kill him?” Axel, who quickly figured out his master’s terrible mood, asked so.

“This gold-digging aristocrat is trying to sell a dilapidated building to a powerful man with a higher status than him. Just give me an order, and I’ll do it.”

It was a tempting offer.

Cade’s hand smoothed the sword hanging at the side of his waist.

“I wanted to see his dead body in front of this messy structure.”

“Shall we do it now?”

“We’ll see.”

The beautiful image of Cherryl’s face imprinted on his mind like a dark cloud.

She was a lovely and brilliant woman that resembled silver moonbeams.

Just thinking about her made the corner of his lips curl of their own accord.

“If this went according to plan, there is no need to shed blood in this building. It’s not too late to pick up the pieces after everything had gone wrong.”

Axel tilted his head innocently.

“Why don’t we just cut her father and his stepmother’s neck off and give them as gifts? Our boss’ grand gesture might move the woman that she would want to marry you right away.”

It wasn’t that Cade hadn’t thought about that.

He didn’t want his future relationship with Cherryl to go to the extremes.

If he killed the Marquis and her stepmother, would Cherryl be happy about it?

He couldn’t forget the way she looked at him in suspicion.

His heart had been closed off for a long time, so he couldn’t give two bloody heads if he locked the door to his heart forever.

The Marquis’ plan about tying Cherryl up next to Cade through marriage,according to a rumor he heard behind the scenes, might be in vain.

If things went wrong, it might turn out a little different, but…

Cade’s hand patted Axel’s head as he looked up at him.

“She said she needed time to think. We just have to wait until then.”

Couldn’t she simply choose the easy way out?

But if it weren’t for her, he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to care so much for the Balkans like his own family.

“What will happen if you refuse the Marquis’ offer then?”

“The result remains the same. No matter what happens, Cherryl  and I will leave for the North.”

Whether he would acquire Cherryl peacefully or he would have to make his hands dirty with her parents’ blood,the results he hoped for were consistent.

Cade would have Cherryl next to him no matter what.

She was the only woman who recognized her existence.

The woman who allowed him to take back what he deserved.

She was the only woman who showed Cade, who had seen the world in black and white, how to feel but had never known it possible.

***

The sun had set, and it was already evening.

“When on earth are these men coming back?”

Cherryl, who had been waiting for Cade’s return since early morning, murmured impatiently.

“I’m dying of anxiety over here. I have made life-changing plans, after all.”

When she asked the butler secretly of their whereabouts, he told her that the group would probably return home today.

Few days had already passed but the Marquis and the Balkans hadn’t shown up yet.

Thinking it couldn’t be done, Cherryl leaped to her feet.

“Lucy, let’s go for a drink.”

Wide-eyed, Lucy stopped embroidering a fabric.

“What? Do you mean black tea, My Lady?”

“No black tea. Let’s go for a drink. I heard there’s a nice bar outside the compound.”

General taverns sold cheap beer mixed with water and rough, swear words often scattered the streets, even among new customers.

But they were exclusive properties of men.

It was a difficult place for ordinary women as well as noble women to come and go.

On the other hand, the village at the end of Marquis Milose’s rulership was at the border with the other territories, so a commercial district for tourists was developed in its way.

A newly opened bar had sold luxurious fragrant liquor over there.

The interior designs of the shop were neat.