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Chapter 7: “What Do You Mean My Ex-Boyfriend Had My Child?”
“Does the royal family really care about such a small amount of money?”
“Technically, it was the second prince who planned the whole thing. He was put in charge of this operation, and he needed some extra spending money.”
“…You’re talking about our Second Prince, right?”
“Yes. The Second Prince who has recently been in conflict with the Crown Prince. And remember, it’s a secret. Don’t tell anyone.”
I couldn’t help screaming.
“Don’t tell me secret things!”
“We’re going to be husband and wife soon.”
“You haven’t even sent me a marriage proposal!”
“I even gave birth to your child.”
I wanted to slap myself.
The more I talked to this man, the worse things became.
Why did I keep talking to him?
Leon Voltane watched me pulling at my hair while still half-paralyzed, as if I were some strange creature.
Then he casually asked,
“What are you going to do?”
“…That’s a very broad question.”
“You made quite a bit of money today.”
Money.
That’s right.
Money!
I shakily sat up and pulled the check out of my clothes.
I wanted to see exactly how much I had won because I hadn’t been able to check it properly earlier.
My heart was pounding.
There were enough zeros.
For wealthy families like the Oker, Bestin, and Voltane families, it wasn’t an enormous amount.
But for me, it was more than enough to completely change my life.
“You’re not thinking of using all that money to pay off your family’s debts, are you?”
“Do I look crazy? Even if I paid everything, Schle would just get excited and borrow more money. I’d rather use this check as pig feed than waste it on that.”
I had already decided how I would use the money.
And if I could get Leon Voltane’s help, even better.
“Ah… honestly, yes.”
The moneylender standing in front of us calmly nodded.
“The Otreha family’s debts are basically impossible to recover. They’re extremely bad debts.”
Leon Voltane was sitting on the sofa.
He lifted his chin arrogantly and said,
“You should have checked whether they could repay the money before lending it to them.”
The luxurious sofa made his already impressive appearance look even more dazzling.
And me?
I was sitting beside him like a quiet little squid.
Even though this was probably one of the lowest-level reception rooms in the Duke’s residence, it was still so luxurious that it made me feel intimidated.
The moneylender looked even more nervous than I was.
He cleared his throat and continued.
“Well… at the time, Baroness Otreha’s husband was still alive. Sorry, I mean her second husband. He was a commoner merchant.”
“So you expected to collect the money from the Baroness’s husband if her son couldn’t repay it?”
“Well, isn’t that normal? Mothers often repay their sons’ debts.”
And it had actually happened before.
Schle borrowed money nonstop, and Mother kept paying it back.
That was one of the reasons our family had nearly collapsed.
“So how much do you think you can recover?”
The moneylender cleared his throat.
“To be completely honest, our superiors believe we can recover about eighty percent.”
“Eighty percent? That’s quite confident.”
“Well, the Otreha family has a daughter of marriageable age. There are still several ways we can recover the money.”
“Oh.”
Everyone sees me as money.
To hide my identity, I was wearing a black lace veil that covered my hair and part of my face.
Thanks to my experience in my previous life, I could maintain a graceful posture even while listening to irritating things.
“Still, eighty percent seems too optimistic.”
I spoke calmly.
“The Otreha family’s debts aren’t all held by you. Some creditors have powerful nobles backing them. If even a few of them decide to push hard, I’m afraid you might only get a little bit of what’s left.”
“We still have ways to collect our money.”
“Debt collection takes money, manpower, and most importantly, time. The Otreha family’s debts aren’t valuable enough to justify spending that much.”
The moneylender raised one eyebrow and looked toward Leon.
“And this person is…?”
“How dare you.”
Leon dramatically rested his head against my shoulder.
His beautiful face smiled gently as he spoke slowly.
“Are you saying my guarantee isn’t enough?”
“No! Of course not!”
Wow.
He was using his status perfectly.
Since he was acting as the threat, it was now my turn to guide the conversation.
“I’m not asking you to sell the debts at a loss. Take the remaining amount, including the principal and interest. I’ll give you sixty percent of it.”
“That amount is a little…”
“Hmm. Then how about this?”
I smiled.
“If you refuse these terms, I’ll immediately collect the Otreha family’s debts that I currently own. Then how much money will you be able to recover?”
I deliberately let out a small laugh.
“Well… even if you sell Baron Otreha himself, I’m not sure you’ll recover thirty percent.”
Over the next few days, I went around buying up the Otreha family’s debt with Leon.
I provided the money.
Leon provided the status and reputation.
Most creditors were happy to sell their claims for almost half their original value.
After all, these were terrible debts.
If selling them could help them gain favor with the Duke of Voltane, it was still a good deal.
After several negotiations and some pressure from Leon, the owner listed on the debt documents became “Lady Voltane.”
In other words, a fictional person.
Leon called it a “gift for his future wife,” so everyone assumed that I was the woman he was talking about.
They probably thought I hated the Otreha family so much that I had bought all their debts.
Well…
That wasn’t completely wrong.
I looked through the debt documents that now belonged to me.
Part of me felt frustrated.
Another part felt relieved.
They really borrowed an insane amount of money.
But at least all of it belonged to me now.
These debts weren’t meant to be repaid.
They were a weapon I could use to take control of Schle’s finances.
I probably wouldn’t be able to collect much money directly from my family.
But at least the debts could no longer be used against me under the name of the Otreha family.
“How many of these debts are connected to the Oker family?”
Thinking back, I suspected some of our family’s debts had been created because of Pascal’s schemes.
He probably wanted to make our marriage happen quickly.
Of course, even if Pascal had manipulated things, Schle was still the idiot who actually decided to borrow the money.
“Hard to say. There are probably some.”
“Urgh. I wanted to keep this hidden. They’ll notice very quickly that someone is collecting the debts.”
“He’s a clever raccoon. He probably has several backup plans. It won’t be easy for him to prepare for everything in such a short time.”
Leon added with a yawn,
“Actually, he doesn’t even need to prepare.”
For some reason, those words stayed in my mind.
Leon immediately stretched.
He looked like someone who had finished an important task.
“So, what will you do now?”
“What else? I’ll find another way to collect the money.”
“How? Even the moneylenders couldn’t do it.”
“First, I’m going to kick Schle out of the capital mansion. He’s been staying in the capital for so long because he’s obsessed with his investments.”
I sighed softly before continuing.
“I feel sorry for my sister-in-law. She’s managing the territory while raising the children by herself.”
Honestly, if it weren’t for my sister-in-law and my nieces and nephews, I would have escaped this horrible family and never looked back.
But I knew something.
No matter how much I hated Mother and Schle, the reputation of the Otreha family was also connected to me.
That was simply how high society worked.
The world saw me as an Otreha.
So there was only one solution.
I would have to ignore Mother and Schle and put my hope in the children.
In my previous life, the Otreha family had survived despite being close to collapse.
That had been entirely because of my sister-in-law’s ability.
So in this life, she needed to have control over the family’s actual affairs.
I gathered the debt documents and put them into an envelope.
Then I handed them to Leon.
“Please keep these for me.”
“You trust me this much?”
“What choice do I have? You even lent me your name. After receiving this much help from you, I suppose I can at least pretend to die if you tell me to.”
“You don’t need to pretend to die.”
He smiled.
“Something else, maybe.”
“Something else… what?”
“Well…”
Leon raised the corners of his beautiful mouth.
Then suddenly—
Grrrrrrr.
A loud sound came from my stomach.
My face immediately became bright red.
My stomach growled.
It actually growled!
I quickly looked out the window.
I had arrived early in the morning, but after meeting people and negotiating all day, I hadn’t realized that it was already evening.
I was about to stand up when Leon’s soft voice tickled the back of my head.
“Eat before you go.”
“It’s already late…”
“Lu has been looking forward to having dinner with you.”
“Urgh.”
I immediately thought of that adorable child with his big round eyes.
I couldn’t find another answer.
I didn’t know much about maternal or paternal love.
But if someone could look into those adorable eyes and coldly refuse them without feeling anything…
That person couldn’t possibly be human.
