“This way, Count Ermeints.”

Count Ermeints grabbed his knees, exhaling rough breaths.

“Huff, huff. Just how many hideouts do you people have?”

“Roughly about 50 places.”

“…Hah, what kind of hardship is this at my age!”

Count Ermeints was thoroughly heated.

This isn’t training a mutt, calling me here and there – what the hell is this!

Of course, he understood that as an underground organization of the underworld, security was important and they needed to be careful in everything. But even up to now, right before signing the contract, they’ve gone too far with blindfolding and moving him around.

Count Ermeints gritted his teeth, thinking these uneducated louts had no basic consideration for an elderly person. With his ailing knees, it was hard enough to support his aging body that had grown plump. This is why they say you shouldn’t associate with the uneducated.

‘Just who is this amazing person that they’re putting me through mutt training… Let’s see.’

“You can go in now.”

As Reynold opened the tightly closed iron door, Count Ermeints walked in huffily. The enraged Count Ermeints had planned to throw the contract in the face of the contractor.

However, his anger melted away like snow as soon as he met eyes with the man waiting inside.

“Welcome, Count Ermeints. It’s been quite a while, hasn’t it?”

Count Ermeints hurriedly dropped to his knees on the floor, despite his ailing joints. Then he greeted the other party with a trembling voice.

“…I am in the presence of Your Highness the Prince.”

The man grinned and flicked his hand.

“Let’s begin our discussion in earnest.”

There’s a saying to turn crisis into opportunity.

Claire decided to accept and acknowledge this shitty situation. No matter how much she denied it or got angry, the situation had already become irreversible, and the more emotional energy she wasted, the more she would lose.

Instead, Claire intended to make the most of ‘Riley’s marriage’.

She had made friends during her time at the academy, but they were all outsiders. Claire desperately wanted to join the Blestage crowd, but they either treated outsiders as if they didn’t exist or like trash on the street.

To mix with their crowd, Riley needed to get married quickly, and she needed to strongly emphasize that she was now in-laws with the ‘Horizon Archmage’.

The honor that the Horizon Archmage held here was on par with the imperial family… If she used this well, she could debut in Blestage high society without any problems.

But.

“…When exactly is the wedding?”

The wedding, which seemed like it would happen right away after even finishing the family meeting, was nowhere in sight. Had they even set a wedding date? It had been over a month since the family meeting, but there was no news from the other side.

Of course, they said the Archmage’s side would take care of all the wedding preparations, but shouldn’t they at least inform us of the progress?

Just how long are we supposed to wait? Even though the Horizon Archmage’s marriage scandal had broken, nothing was known about Riley, the other party. It was obvious that carelessly speaking up would only make her look like a lunatic.

But are we just supposed to wait idly? This is urgent!

“Father, has Riley’s wedding date been set?”

“No, not yet.”

“Just how long are they planning to drag this out?”

“That’s what I’d like to know.”

Ryan was just as frustrated.

He had closed down all his businesses in Rupla, even giving up his position as a minor lord, and hurriedly come up to Blestage. He had made that decision thinking the wedding wouldn’t take long.

Hadn’t everything from the proposal to the family meeting progressed so quickly? He naturally thought the wedding would proceed quickly too.

But what was this? The other side had suddenly started dawdling. Things were fine up to the family meeting, but after that became the problem. What on earth were they doing? Even if the Archmage was in his initial term, this was too much radio silence.

There was so much to do here too, but with the wedding delayed, he was spending his days unable to do anything.

This wasn’t even his home ground, and as an outsider, it was daunting to start new businesses here. He absolutely needed Givnen’s help, the name of Givnen Rianster.

He had planned to start meeting people in earnest for business once he became in-laws with him, but by this point, he was starting to feel anxious.

‘Surely they’re not planning to keep delaying the wedding and leaving me stuck here?’

Givnen seemed to know how harshly Ryan had treated Riley all this time. Hadn’t he thrown pointed remarks several times?

Especially after the recent kidnapping incident, hadn’t he been completely marked? Seeing how he had even spewed harsh curses at Claire before leaving, he was clearly furious.

‘Are they deliberately doing this to mess with me?’

The longer the wedding was delayed, the more Ryan lost out. If there was a reason for the delay, he could have accepted it, but with this continued radio silence, he was getting angry.

At this point, it seemed like they were just ignoring him out of personal feelings. No matter what, they were going to be in-laws, so what kind of manners was this?

“Why don’t you try to gently ask Father if the wedding date has been set?”

“…I’d like to, but I need a way to do that.”

“You can go visit directly or contact them, right?”

“For some reason, they haven’t been taking anyone’s calls recently. I went to the mansion a while ago but was turned away at the door. They said neither Riley nor Givnen could meet due to circumstances and to make an appointment and come back another time.”

“So we just have to keep waiting? No, isn’t this too much? Even if they said they’d prepare everything themselves, shouldn’t they at least let us know the progress and discuss things together as it moves forward… This feels like they’re deliberately excluding just us. No matter how different our families are, isn’t this just throwing manners out the window?”

At Claire’s words, Ryan pressed his throbbing forehead.

Having to tiptoe around a green boy, watching Riley’s moods. He felt like he had aged ten years just from stress without even doing anything.

His anxiety grew with each passing day. He even started to think they might be using the wedding as a smokescreen while plotting something else behind the scenes.

He had hastily obtained a contract from Riley to proceed with the wedding, but the chances of Riley having completely let go of the past were close to zero.

She probably can’t stand to see me, our family, doing well.

If she were my real daughter, I wouldn’t even have these worries.

A legal family relationship can be legally invalidated. Probably… sooner or later, Riley’s side would definitely want to remove this legal family relationship tag.

Ryan anxiously bit his nails.

‘I need to establish myself here as quickly as possible somehow.’

He never thought he could be with Riley forever anyway. Ryan thought Riley would take revenge using the past incidents as an excuse in some way.

After getting married and gaining power, she’d probably first file a lawsuit to sever family ties. She might even use Givnen’s power to torment us with all sorts of nasty things.

But that was fine. He was the one who married her off knowing this. And anyway, that was far in the future.

There was nothing good for Riley in pointlessly picking at old wounds now. But someday, she would surely seek revenge. Until then, Ryan planned to make ‘his own people’ and build a sufficient foundation to prepare for the future.

But wasting such precious time like this naturally set his insides on fire. He was frustrated, needing to do something but having nothing he could do right away, when-

“Master.”

“What is it?”

“Um… a letter has arrived for you, master. Here…”

Ryan received the letter and frowned as he checked the sender’s name.

‘Why would Count Ermeints write to me…’

His relationship with Count Ermeints had completely soured after the reception. From the moment Riley married Givnen, Count Ermeints had long since become someone with no reason or value to contact privately.

So Ryan was about to tear up the letter without reading it, but he paused. He became curious why the old man who had been quiet for so long suddenly sent a personal letter. In the end, unable to contain his curiosity, Ryan opened the letter and examined its contents.

Ryan’s eyes grew wider and wider as he read the letter. After finishing it, he looked around and quickly tucked the letter into his breast pocket.

“Father? What kind of letter is it that you’re so surprised? Who sent it…?”

“You don’t need to know.”

At Ryan’s curt reply, Claire’s eyebrows drooped dejectedly. Regardless, Ryan had no time to consider his daughter’s hurt feelings as he hurriedly gathered his coat.

Then he rushed out of the mansion like someone being chased.

·

·

·

“You came quickly. I like that you’re fast with everything.”

Ryan bent over, huffing and puffing rough breaths.

It felt like his breath was rising up to his throat, his chest cracking like parched earth in a drought. Enduring the pain of his lungs shriveling, he caught his breath for a while before finally facing Count Ermeints.

“Why did you leave me such a letter?”

“Just as it was written there.”

“…Is it true?”

“Of course. By the way, you came so quickly. Judging by how you rushed here right after receiving the letter, it seems that fellow is mistreating you as I expected.”

Ryan groaned and gritted his teeth. It was quite the mistreatment indeed.

“So what do you think? Do you feel like joining my side now?”

“If what’s written in the letter is true, please let me meet that person. If it’s their will, I’ll gladly join.”

“Of course it’s that person’s will. Even if I’ve grown old and my wits have dulled, would I dare use their name?”

“Then please let me meet them.”

“That’s difficult right away. It’s not something I can do either. For now, I’ll convey your intentions. They’ll arrange a meeting soon.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

“But is it alright to decide so quickly?”

“…”

“No, honestly, I thought you’d hesitate a bit. Weren’t you attached to that Rianster boy?”

At Count Ermeints’ question, Ryan smiled bitterly.

“Even if I’m an ill-bred fellow, I have some sense. He and I cannot be together. Rather, he’s probably the enemy I should be most wary of.”

“A father-in-law whose enemy is his son-in-law? How novel.”

“To be honest, it seems truly insane. Why on earth would such a man get tangled up with Riley…”

“I understand your position. Well, would a father-in-law who mistreated his wife all her life look good? He’d be a constant thorn in your side if kept close. If it were me, I’d have dealt with him long ago.”

At Count Ermeints’ words, Ryan flinched, feeling chills run down his spine. Count Ermeints burst into hearty laughter.

“I’m joking, why are you so tense? Besides, I have no resentment towards you anymore.”

“…Really?”

“Of course. If I still held a grudge against you, would I have made such a proposal?”

“…”

“Anyway, I’m glad you accepted without hesitation. Go and wait quietly. I’ll try to arrange a secret meeting.”

As Ryan left Count Ermeints’ mansion, he thought:

‘Is this right…’

Although he didn’t like it since he already had bad blood with the old man, his proposal in the letter was very tempting from Ryan’s perspective.

Count Ermeints was a sinking ship and quite the madman, so it was hard to know what schemes he might be plotting behind the scenes, but Ryan didn’t particularly care.

He didn’t think the count had enough resources to personally take revenge on a mere low-ranking rural nobleman, and above all, what he needed was information.

Bit by bit of information about Givnen Rianster and Riley Eadalin.

Count Ermeints was probably seeking personal revenge. If so, Ryan was willing to be used for that personal revenge.

Moreover, the ‘prince’ he mentioned in the letter. Wouldn’t this be grabbing an incredible connection! If he could catch that person’s eye by achieving great merit through this, it was obvious that only a smooth future lay ahead.

Yes, this was an opportunity that must be seized.

‘Right, they’re people who will stab me in the back someday anyway. It’s not like they’re going to do anything right away… I just need to take whatever benefits I can in the meantime.’

Ryan hurriedly slipped out of the mansion, wary of being seen.

“Baron Ryan met with Count Ermeints?”

“Yes, I just received a report from the shadows.”

Givnen snorted.

“He’s quite impatient.”

“I wonder what they talked about?”

“Whatever it was, it probably wasn’t anything good.”

“What should we do?”

“Leave it for now. There’s nothing to gain by letting on that we’ve noticed from our side. Tell them to keep watching and report his every move while pretending not to know.”

“Understood.”

There’s still quite a while until the wedding, but he couldn’t hold out for even a moment before getting his tail stepped on. He must be quite the fool.

Of course, it was the same for Count Ermeints. I thought he was behaving quietly like he was dead after that day, but seeing him pull another foolish act, I became convinced that people can’t be reformed.

It was then, as I was lost in thought after Sack left.

“I’m back.”

Riley, who had gone to the academy, returned.

As soon as Givnen saw Riley, he spread his arms. When Riley tilted her head, Givnen grumbled.

“Come here.”

Seeming to understand now, Riley approached with quick steps and nestled into his embrace.

“You’re late today.”

“I went to visit a patient.”

“Senior Van was badly injured. Because it was my fault…”

At Riley’s words, Givnen frowned.

“That fellow is still hospitalized? At this point, it seems like he’s exaggerating.”

“They say he can be discharged next week. He looked in good condition.”

“Next week? He’s holding out three more days? Definitely exaggerating.”

“The nurse said… his recovery rate is incredibly fast?”

“That’s all exaggeration. In terms of injuries, elder sister’s were much more severe.”

Of course, Riley received ultra-luxurious medical services. A mage doctor stayed by her side constantly casting recovery magic, and she even ate all sorts of herbs said to be good for energy restoration.

In terms of cost, it would have been a staggering amount, but since this had long been erased from Givnen’s memory, Van ended up remaining an exaggerator.

“Are you going again tomorrow?”

“Huh? No… I think he might dislike it if I go too often.”

“Good idea. Don’t even go near him at all.”

“…Do you dislike Van?”

“I do.”

“But he’s a good person. He helped me several times. Not as much as you, but…”

“That’s why I dislike him.”

“?”

“One good person is enough for me.”

Riley looked at him as if she couldn’t understand, but she didn’t particularly ask ‘why?’ and just accepted it. Come to think of it, his dislike for Van wasn’t something to discuss from the sidelines. People have their likes and dislikes after all.

Well, he had been hostile towards Van since their first meeting. Of course, it was a situation where he could have hostility.

Riley, feeling oddly guilty, said:

“I, I didn’t hold his hand.”

“?”

“In case you misunderstood. I really just went for a hospital visit.”

Staring at Riley, he chuckled and caressed her cheek.

“Well done.”

“…”

“Oh right, I have something to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“It seems Baron Ryan Eadalin and Count Ermeints are secretly communicating.”

“!”