After everything was over, the parents left for a small rural village in the Landgritz territory.
Nergal took Eldena, who came from a count’s family, as his wife.
Strangely, they had no children, but that was something time would resolve.
Everything went smoothly. As if this had been the natural order from the beginning.
However, there was nothing he could do about the lingering anxiety in a corner of his mind.
Especially after Lieselotte’s recent visit, he tossed and turned every night as if holding a blade.
‘What should I do?’
An inexplicable fear appeared in his dreams, choking Nergal’s throat.
‘My elder sister was resenting me.’
Too much time had passed to say it was because she had her title taken away.
And hadn’t she been living happily with her children all this time?
‘Could she be thinking that I turned my back on her?’
Of course, when his elder sister sent a letter asking for help, when she said she lost a child, when she sent a letter saying she had a miscarriage, he did send perfunctory replies.
He had even thought she might be mocking her elder brother who still hadn’t had a child.
But that didn’t mean he had abandoned his elder sister!
Surely he had asked the Duke of Daiern several times to take good care of his elder sister.
Wasn’t that enough? Wouldn’t it be uncouth to confront the Duke even if he used violence?
And yet…
‘My elder sister knew that I was running a gambling den.’
He hastily sold the gambling den.
It was clear that Lieselotte did not approve of the gambling business.
‘My elder sister knew about my affair. I was only trying to get an heir for Landgritz.’
He divorced his wife, Eldena. It was no use trying to hold on. She packed her bags and left, saying she could never forgive adultery.
‘Could my elder sister… possibly be hostile towards me?’
So the anxiety could only rise.
If Nergal had to name one person he never wanted to antagonize in his life, it would undoubtedly be his elder sister.
‘I must restore our relationship.’
The grandfather’s inheritance, no less.
Not even a baron’s title.
Of course, he could hand it over. The inheritance wasn’t important now. This was an opportunity.
An opportunity to keep Lieselotte, who once tried to oppose Landgritz, as an ally again.
Some might think that way.
Now that he had become the head of Landgritz, why was he still so wary of his elder sister?
In fact, that’s what Eldena said when she divorced him.
She told him to stop living in his younger sister’s shadow and show his mettle as the Baron of Landgritz.
No, only someone who doesn’t know Lieselotte could say that.
Anyone who has been on the receiving end of her actions even once would never underestimate her.
The problem was…
‘I’ve already used a portion of that inheritance.’
Moreover, if he were to return it, Landgritz would obviously fall into ruin again.
Nergal was now a person who could accept that he was not a great talent.
And around that time.
A gaunt woman in a nun’s habit came to see him.
“I am Lunawether Elin Baden, Viscountess of Baden.”
“…The Viscountess of Baden?”
“A few days ago, I received formal permission for the title from His Excellency the Regent of Daiern. Please show proper respect.”
“…I beg your pardon.”
The Regent of Daiern. That referred to Lieselotte.
Nergal immediately showed her respect and welcomed her into the reception room.
He couldn’t tell from her short-cropped hair and shabby habit, but upon closer inspection, she was indeed a woman who had inherited Wilhelm York Baden’s eye color.
Why would such a woman…?
The nuns, after entering the Age of Glory, were those who clung to books containing the old doctrines of a god who no longer responded, pleading for him to return to this land.
Living in poverty and cultivating one’s mind was admirable in itself, but it was rare for those who had left to set foot in the secular world again.
He was more than curious about the woman’s circumstances.
However, there was no need to be impatient, as she handed Nergal a thick letter.
“This is the appointment letter and missive sent to me by the Regent.”
A letter from Lieselotte? He wondered if it was alright to read such a thing, but Nergal’s hands hastily skimmed through the letter in the envelope.
That long letter contained news that ‘Wilhelm York Baden has agreed to give up his body in place of an enormous gambling debt,’ and a sentence saying, ‘If you still wish to save your father, I will help.’
It wasn’t important how Lieselotte, who wasn’t even in the Imperial Capital, knew about Wilhelm York Baden’s situation.
What caught Nergal’s eye was the next part.
If the Baron of Landgritz refuses to release Wilhelm York Baden, convey these words to him.
Tell him that this will settle the price for arbitrarily using my inheritance until now.
Then, I will have reason to visit the Baron of Landgritz once again.
“…”
It was as if she had seen through everything Nergal wanted and feared.
He didn’t know how a person could be like this, but well, Lieselotte was always a being beyond the understanding of ordinary people like himself.
Nergal immediately sent someone to bring Wilhelm York Baden, while rummaging through his drawers to gather all documents related to Wilhelm’s debts.
Then he called Landgritz’s lawyer and drafted a payment confirmation stating that all his debts were paid with Lieselotte Karin Daiern’s ‘inheritance.’
He carefully included a clause specifying that the ‘inheritance’ here was limited to the Landgritz inheritance that Nergal had ‘used so far.’
He didn’t know what price he might have to pay if he touched the remaining inheritance.
“Wilhelm York Baden is a gambling addict. If you just take him away, he’s sure to go back to the gambling dens.”
Nergal, unable to treat the woman who brought Lieselotte’s letter carelessly, showed kindness. Lunawether, now the Viscountess of Baden, smiled bitterly and said,
“That’s a problem that will be solved if my father and I switch places now.”
The Viscount of Baden to the monastery.
And his daughter as the new Viscountess of Baden.
That’s how it would be. Nergal nodded, then suddenly stopped Lunawether as she was gathering her documents to leave.
“Ah, Viscountess Baden. You probably don’t have a place to stay in the Imperial Capital right now…”
Come to think of it, the mansion where the Viscount of Baden used to live was already owned by someone else.
He heard that Count Alperon had purchased it. The Daiern mansion had burned down completely and was currently being rebuilt.
If it wasn’t convenient, he thought of letting her stay at the Landgritz mansion.
He wanted to give a favorable signal to Lieselotte even with such a small gesture.
But contrary to his friendly intentions, Lunawether’s response was rather cold.
“The Regent of Daiern has already prepared a place for me to stay. You need not concern yourself, Baron.”
With that, she strode away on her own feet, disappearing into the streets of the Imperial Capital.
Nergal felt awkward but soon erased her existence from his mind.
Because not long after, a letter arrived from Lieselotte.
That letter stated that she would soon visit the Landgritz territory.
[This is the timeline separator]“It seems quite easy.”
“Easy, you say?”
“Yes, it’s easy.”
“Hmm…”
Around the middle of February.
I could see what effect the two letters I had written had brought about.
The first letter was the one I sent to Nergal. It was a request to give me ‘the inheritance of Landgritz.’
Emphasizing that it was inheritance, not a title, I had added these words:
Let me say, this much is persuasion, not blackmail. The blackmail was actually in stage 2.
To be honest, I thought Nergal would ignore my letter.
That’s why I had prepared material for blackmail…
‘Now these are no longer needed.’
I felt oddly regretful about the pile of documents in front of me.
It’s fortunate that they won’t be used, but it took quite a while to prepare them.
I already knew that Nergal had sold the gambling den. But that doesn’t mean the evidence I had disappeared.
Is that all? I had also found materials to prove that Nergal had some kind of relationship with the underworld through Dorothea.
Oh, and there’s also evidence of him lending money at high interest rates to Wilhelm York Baden. For reference, usury is illegal.
More precisely, imperial law stipulates that interest rates above a certain percentage cannot be charged. If woven together well, this too is tax evasion and treason.
“Just in case, it would be good to put those materials away somewhere safe.”
I neatly reorganized Nergal’s corruption materials into a large chest.
Joseph, who was helping me, let out a soft chuckle.
“I don’t think you’ll need to use them anymore.”
“You never know. Nergal is a cunning person. Just look at how he took away my title.”
“He’s probably more foolish than you think, madam. In my opinion, he’s likely desperate to get in your good graces with this opportunity.”
“…It seems you know Nergal better than I do, Sir Joseph.”
My eyes narrowed.
It’s actually me who had my life’s goal taken away, so what does Sir Joseph know to speak up?
However, Sir Joseph continued speaking, smiling as if my jab was of no consequence.
“In some ways, perhaps I do. The time I spent breathing the same air as that man is no less than…”
“Wait, if you’re going to give a specific number, just keep your mouth shut. I might suddenly feel like you and Nergal are close friends or something.”
“Ah, absolutely not. I’m an ill-mannered person who despises incompetent individuals.”
Sir Joseph, who had suddenly turned serious, closed his mouth.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
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