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Chapter : 3
“……”
Enoch silently buried his face in the towel the butler handed him. Conrad was mistaken right now.
No matter how close the house was to collapse, Enoch was still the head of a marquisate and the triumphant general of this war.
Would a master truly be ignorant of what his vassal knew?
“Ben. The thing I ordered last time.”
“It’s prepared, my lord.”
The butler respectfully presented a bundle of documents.
〈Agatha Nobilis〉
Conrad’s eyes nearly popped out when he read the title.
“What? You mean you knew all this and still stayed quiet until now? How could you! You knew I was tearing my hair out over our finances…!”
“Please calm yourself, Sir Conrad.”
While the butler tried to soothe the agitated Conrad, Enoch, with the towel draped around his neck, skimmed through the report. In truth, he already knew a fair bit about Agatha Nobilis.
She was a woman who had already been married twice for political reasons even before he lost his parents and was driven to the battlefield.
She was thirteen back then, wasn’t she?
She was three years older than him, so she should be about twenty-three now. He had just heard at the victory ball that she had recently gone through her sixth divorce.
After successfully quieting Conrad, the butler added,
“I’ve heard that after coming of age, she secured independence from His Majesty regarding marriage. Since then she’s married three more times, and all of them—including the most recent—ended in divorce.”
“That’s impressive. As expected of a Nobilis. Even with inheritance rights, divorcing that easily wouldn’t be simple. Doesn’t that prove just how much power Lady Nobilis holds?”
Conrad marveled. In noble houses, direct-line daughters could not inherit titles, but they did have inheritance rights.
In Agatha’s case, she was the sole remaining member of the direct line, so all the family’s wealth was hers.
A history and bloodline second only to the imperial family, and immense wealth to match.
Of course her power would be tremendous. On top of that, wasn’t the emperor her godfather, and the crown prince her childhood friend?
“Assassination or kidnapping attempts?”
“They’re frequent. She’s the only one left in the direct line. After each divorce she goes into seclusion, and when she needs to go out again, she seems to seek escorts. But most old noble houses are reluctant. It’s paid guard work, so there are issues of honor…”
“The next heir would be a foreigner, then.”
“Yes. That’s why His Majesty the Emperor is said to be taking great interest in Lady Nobilis’s future offspring.”
If all direct heirs died, succession would pass to the collateral line. But if a woman of the direct line remained alive, her children born through marriage would inherit.
Here, relatives’ reactions diverged.
Some preferred to pledge loyalty to the next successor rather than an uncertain heir, while some distant branches attempted kidnapping marriages.
They knew that only the family head had the authority to summon the knights and enforce discipline within the house, and used that as justification, aware that Agatha couldn’t move freely.
Thus, assassination and kidnapping attempts were bound to be frequent.
Enoch let out a bitter smile, recalling how, upon returning to the capital, he had stripped his relatives of their privileges as family head and driven them all outside the city.
“Let’s go to the study.”
In the study, he sat at the desk and continued reviewing the documents.
While the butler prepared tea, Conrad, standing before the desk, swallowed nervously.
What conclusion will my lord reach?
From the moment he heard the news, Enoch had clearly understood the danger of this matter.
A deadly struggle over astronomical wealth.
In all of this, the military strength of the Nobilis house could not be relied upon at all.
When Agatha became the sole heir at age five, the Nobilis knight order had been disbanded. Even after she came of age, she was not the family head, so she could not command them to be reassembled.
All she had was an army that couldn’t even enter the castle.
And with no commander, it was questionable what state it would be in after eighteen years.
“My lord…”
“……?”
Enoch stared at the document Conrad had set down with dazed eyes.
〈Report on the Family’s Financial Situation〉
“……”
It made him press his temples without thinking.
Right. Nothing was ever easy to begin with.
Ever since he’d been driven to the battlefield at ten years old under the pretext of his younger sister’s forced marriage, nothing in his life had been easy.
Sweet rewards always came with a fitting price.
And he had no prejudice against making escort contracts for money.
When had honor ever put food on the table?
“Alright.”
“Hurrah! At last, at last we can escape this financial pressure!”
While Conrad jumped around like a madman, the butler Ben deftly set a cup of well-brewed tea before the family head.
“I will sound out Lady Nobilis’s side.”
“Good. I’ll leave it to you.”
A few days later.
Rumors spread through high society that the Marquis of Aratus had responded positively to Lady Nobilis’s proposal.
Unlike the Aratus family, so poor they could barely afford social activities, Agatha, who had built her own influence in society, heard the news at home right away.
“…Lady Iris. I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear such good news…”
Agatha immediately sent a letter of joy to Iris Domunia, who had brought her the news, and hastened to prepare to enter the palace.
Though they had confirmed mutual interest, nothing was yet certain.
Before any contract, it was essential to assess the level of force and the character of the house.
In that sense, how valuable it was to have the crown prince, who could naturally send invitations to all nobles without formal introductions.
Even if his personality was trash, his status alone was reliable.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Escorted by the city guard, Agatha entered the imperial palace.
She arrived at the crown prince’s residence, but the one who welcomed her was not the crown prince himself, but his chief attendant.
“Welcome, my lady.”
“Where is His Highness?”
“He is still in his bedchamber.”
As expected—her idle childhood friend was still rolling around in bed even in broad daylight. The chief attendant naturally opened the bedchamber doors.
“Get up!”
Marching right in, Agatha kicked the crown prince, whose face alone looked presentable. Groping about, a pale naked body felt around the bed.
“Mmm… who…? Agatha?”
“Get up! I need your help, Your Highness.”
“……”
It was hardly the attitude of someone asking for help, but whether crown prince, Agatha, or even the chief attendant, no one seemed to care.
“I told you not to come in when I’m sleeping. Do you have to wake me even when I’m asleep?”
“Then stay awake. You spend half your day in and out of your bedroom—if I don’t wake you, when am I supposed to say what I came for? I’ll be waiting in the garden, so wash up and come out.”
“…Ah, seriously.”
Grumbling, Crown Prince Antoni Roxiva finally dragged himself out of bed.
His half-naked, muscular body was impressive, but it was so familiar now that it stirred nothing in Agatha.
Agatha immediately gave orders to the chief attendant.
“Wash His Highness and bring him to the garden. He’ll eat there too, so prepare the meal.”
“Yes, my lady.”
She could hear someone mutter, You might as well be the crown prince yourself, but of course, no one paid it any mind.
About twenty minutes after Agatha began her tea time alone in the garden,
the crown prince came staggering over with wet hair and loosely thrown-on clothes, and sat across from her. His eyes were still hazy, but he seemed more awake.
“So, what is it this time?”
“Would you consider holding a hunting party?”
“Why? Who do you want me to invite? Ah—right, you said you made an escort offer to the Marquis of Aratus. Did he respond positively?”
“Yes. I want to see his skills. Please mediate for me, Your Highness.”
“And your payment?”
Though they were the godfather’s son and goddaughter who shared hardship—closer still as distant cousins and childhood friends—free things didn’t exist for Antoni Roxiva.
“The horse you had your eye on before.”
“Deal! I’ll send the invitation at once, Lady Agatha.”
Suddenly dignified, Antoni called for stationery immediately. The letter, written on the spot and stamped with the crown prince’s seal, was sent straight to the Aratus marquisate.
It had been almost a week since Agatha had revealed her intentions.
The crown prince’s luncheon was soon laid out on the table. While stealing sweet desserts from it, Agatha frowned at his sudden attack.
“Just how many times are you planning to get married? Trying to rewrite the empire’s marriage history?”
“What did I ever do? Look around you, Your Highness. Is there even a single proper husband candidate?”
“So you divorced Lady Neuta, the dowager, and the young lady because you couldn’t stand them?”
“That was partly the man’s fault for neglecting things.”
A man who worked sharply in public affairs but was indecisive about his own household.
That was Theodore Neuta, her sixth ex-husband. Antoni tapped the report on Enoch Aratus that had just arrived and said,
“So. Is this guy your seventh husband candidate?”
“Who knows? For now, I just need an escort. Ah, I’m sure there’ll be an attack when I head back today. Lend me some guards, Your Highness.”
