No matter how nicely one put it, he was not a good-natured husband, but he was not someone who would widen his eyes and act threateningly like this.

But at this point, the Viscountess Baden also felt wronged.

Of course, it was true that she had briefly put down her chaperone duties, but she had a proper reason.

“I, I came to report to you! And I’m not feeling well…”

“Report? What report! Reporting after everything has already blown up? What are you going to do with the servants you took with you?”

“The maids are supposed to attend to me, where would I send them? If I send the maids on errands, what about the dignity of a noblewoman?”

“So, you were so concerned about that damned dignity that you let my household come to complete ruin like this?”

“What are you talking about, who has come to ruin…”

“Right now! If we don’t terminate the sponsorship contract with that fellow Ernestine, there are hundreds, hundreds of nobles who have contacted us saying they will cut ties with us!”

What?

Only after hearing those words did the Viscountess Baden close her mouth.

More precisely, she had lost her words in shock.

‘What does this mean?’

If they don’t terminate the contract with Teacher Ernestine, they will cut ties, but why?

Cutting ties implies more than simply not trading with the territory.

It means they don’t want to see each other’s faces in social circles.

In other words, they will no longer send invitations to balls and tea parties, and even if an invitation comes, they will ignore it.

‘My husband, the chairman of the Privy Council, and me…?’

Even as her mind went blank, the seriousness of the situation was still recognized.

A viscount is originally a title appointed as a subordinate to a baron or higher-ranking noble. Therefore, they cannot own territory and have no choice but to live on a salary.

Nobles with only the viscount title, thus, cannot be affluent unless they have other means.

However, in the case of Viscount Baden, they were living quite comfortably. It was because they had other means of accumulating wealth.

Sponsoring unknown artists was one such means.

Making exclusive contracts with those who had some talent but couldn’t get a break, mortgaging their entire lives.

And the greatest source of income for Viscount Baden through this method was Ernestine.

He was truly like a lucky pouch that spewed out gold coins with every breath he took.

The income he brought in during the social season was incomparable to the salary of the chairman of the Privy Council.

With that, Viscount and Viscountess Baden could quite comfortably indulge in luxury for a year.

But now they were told to terminate that sponsorship contract?

If they don’t, hundreds of nobles will cut ties with them?

“Even if it’s hundreds, how could it be easy for them to cut ties with you, the chairman of the Privy Council?”

“Why would it be difficult! Because I’m just a good-for-nothing viscount without territory, it’s even easier!”

In other words, the nobles had nothing to lose even if their relationship with Viscount Baden soured.

Politically, it could be difficult, you say?

No. Rather, the one for whom it would become difficult was Viscount Baden.

It was a foregone conclusion that a chairman of the Privy Council, who was shunned by not one or two, but hundreds, would someday fall out of favor with the emperor.

That’s right. Now that the situation had come to this, there was only one conclusion.

“Th-then what if we tell Teacher Ernestine that we want to change the contract? If we say we’ll raise the script fees to two or three times the current amount…”

“Do you take the nobles for fools? The demand is to stop the sponsorship, not some play on words like renewing the contract!”

“Ernestine! He has a family too. His elderly parents, sick wife, and young children, we can take care of them!”

“Already, even that. The witch of Daiern has taken care of it!”

As complaints from the nobles poured in, Viscount Baden had already sent his doctor to Ernestine’s residence.

But what he encountered there was the Daiern family doctor.

The face of Ernestine’s wife, who was already receiving treatment under Lieselotte’s orders, looked quite bright.

On top of that, they even provided scarce food for the elderly parents who could no longer work!

“I don’t understand what you’re saying? Now, regarding Ernestine, we can no longer do anything about him! We are now beggars!”

“Th-that can’t be…!”

Only then did the seriousness of the situation sink in.

The Viscountess Baden, whose strength had completely drained from her body, could no longer even support herself.

The servants approached her, saying “Madam!” and supported her, but they could not lift her up as her vision had turned completely white.

Viscount Baden raised his voice again, looking at his pathetic wife.

“Get a hold of yourself! This is not the time for you to be like this, you need to go back to the Daiern residence right now! Don’t pretend to be sick and get up immediately! What are you doing? Why aren’t you putting the madam in the carriage and sending her back right away?”

The servants lifted the Viscountess Baden up according to the order.

Her body, which was forcibly lifted up like a puppet hanging from strings, swayed unsteadily.

“It’s not over yet. Anyway, if we can secure the ducal family, everything will be solved. Compared to the enormous income from the duchy, the income from that measly theater is like a rat’s tail!”

Viscount Baden’s thick hand roughly gripped her shoulder.

“So go back. It may be difficult right now, but keep in mind that our plan is still in progress. As long as you and that fellow Gepetto remain, there is still a chance.”

“Gepetto…!”

It was then that the Viscountess Baden remembered the matter she had wanted to discuss with her husband today.

She suddenly straightened her body and spoke.

“That’s right, Teacher Gepetto. There is a problem related to him.”

“A problem? What problem again? Why are you only telling me this now?”

“Isn’t this why I barely made an excuse and returned to your residence, to tell you about it now? You’re yelling at me without even knowing?”

“Ah, enough. So what’s the problem?”

“To be precise, it’s about Kardiel. The problem with the young duke. Teacher Gepetto evaluated the young duke and said he has enough knowledge to directly enter the college program at the Academy next year…”

“What? Do you think that makes sense now?”

“It doesn’t make sense. That’s why I confirmed it several times too! Moreover, the young duke also said he would go to the Academy.”

It was an unbelievable story for Viscount Baden, but he was not given any more room to question it. The viscountess continued.

“So Teacher Gepetto demanded that I immediately return the thesis, promising to guarantee the young duke’s acceptance next year.”

“What is that! It’s not even certain yet.”

“He said from the beginning to make him reach a level where he can be admitted to the Academy, not to actually admit him!”

“……”

“What should we do? You, in order to maintain the position of chairman of the Privy Council, you need Teacher Gepetto’s thesis, at least until next year’s submission.”

Viscount Baden felt like his soul would leave his body.

In fact, that was the case.

Gepetto, a scholar of the Tower of Honor, was a person who had been sponsored by the Baden family, just like Ernestine.

However, a slightly different point was that he was sponsored by the previous generation, not the current viscount, so no special sponsorship contract was written.

Gepetto, who was exceptionally talented, eventually entered the Tower of Honor, known as the Library of Sages, after graduating from the Academy.

Here, the “Sabbatical Year (Shevi’it)” system of the Tower of Honor must be explained.

The sabbatical year, which refers to the last year of a seven-year cycle, is a rule established by the tower to warn the sages who build walls with the world while only researching in the tower.

‘The knowledge found in the tower of letters accumulated over time is already dead, so if you want to find living truth, breathe with the moving world now.’

This tower instruction prevented scholars from stagnating only in the tower.

Gepetto also came out into the world to take a sabbatical year. And he went to find the noble who had sponsored him for a long time.

It was Viscount Baden’s father.

However, during the six years that passed, he had already passed away, and the one who greeted Gepetto was his son, Wilhelm York Baden.

Wilhelm was in a state where he had not been able to graduate from the Academy for more than a decade because he could not pass his thesis.

It would have been easier if he had given up on graduating long ago.

However, his ambition was far too large compared to what he had.

The meeting between him and Gepetto was the beginning of luck for someone and misfortune for another.

Wilhelm Baden gave Gepetto a guest room and then stole research materials and papers from his luggage.

As expected of the work of a Tower of Honor scholar, those materials instantly granted Wilhelm Baden the honor of being the top graduate.

With the backing of Duke Daiern, it was only a matter of course that he would become the chairman of the Privy Council and gain the title of viscount.

The problem started from here.

As Wilhelm Baden, who had been an old student at the Academy, suddenly graduated at the top of his class, people began to doubt his abilities.

Therefore, in order to end the controversy surrounding Wilhelm Baden, the emperor imposed the following condition:

He was required to submit an academic research paper at the level of a graduation thesis every year for the next three years.

Meanwhile, Gepetto, who had his research materials and papers stolen, could not return to the tower even after his sabbatical year ended.

This was because an academic paper proving the knowledge gained from the outside was needed to return to the tower.

But having lost that, it was enough to drive Gepetto mad.

And when he lost the third paper, Gepetto discovered that the person who had tampered with his papers was Viscount Baden.