04. The Nature of Trash

Instead of accepting Jade’s invitation to go horseback riding, Izer had a meal outside and came back.

Today he wasn’t in a state to do even his beloved horseback riding. It was natural after drinking so much yesterday.

Jade, who Izer thought would ask about Celian, didn’t mention her name or the governess story even once during the meal. He was an upright young man rare to find in this society.

The man walking towards his desk with a heavy head turned towards the window. He intended to get some fresh air and clear his mind.

He saw Celian crossing the back gate against the backdrop of the setting sky.

The young man who had carried her luggage to the gate seemed reluctant to leave, lingering before finally walking away.

It was the young man he had seen during the day. Izer thought.

‘Doctor Owen.’

A young doctor popular for his kind nature. As the son of Dr. Caleb, his skills and status were guaranteed, and he took care of many patients despite his young age. He must have earned good money accordingly.

Did Doctor Owen have s*x with that woman too? Was the reason Celian refused Izer while crying because she was in a relationship with that man?

……Celian.

The woman’s body he saw after a long time had ripened more. The fully matured female body was enough to grip and shake a man.

Just yesterday, William Winston, bastard number one, and Izer Chesterfield, bastard number two, went crazy over that woman.

The sensation of the br*east he had gripped was still vivid at his fingertips. Her reddened eyes lingered in his mind.

Even while messily having s*x, that woman was beautiful.

What he liked best last night were her tears. It might sound strange to say that the tears created by a mix of all sorts of negative emotions like pain and shock, not just pleasure, were beautiful.

But he knew it himself.

Izer Chesterfield was strange.

He became a high nobleman with commoner blood. The elegance that the gardener’s son maintained now only looked plausible to others on the outside, while inside he was completely rotten.

Others say he doesn’t enjoy women’s company, but he was the one who went crazy over one woman like a beast.

What’s one more peculiar taste added to an already strange identity?

Now it was time for one of his strange identities to do its job.

Izer walked to his desk with a heavy head. Even then, his shoed feet didn’t make a single sound.

The man rummaging through the drawer muttered.

“Found it.”

There were exactly three months left on the contract period with Montes Trading Company. It was time to decide on renewal.

One of Chesterfield’s many businesses was timber distribution. Gathering timber harvested from various parts of Treven at a wholesale level and selling it.

Chesterfield was solely responsible for the Treven mainland.

To export abroad, cargo sailing ships were needed. Cargo sailing ships required not only a larger size and higher stability than regular sailing ships, but also skilled sailors.

Perhaps because of this, instead of directly entering the shipping business, Harris made deals with trading companies that had verified merchant ships.

For nearly ten years since Chesterfield started exporting timber, their contract partner had been Montes.

A new document from the drawer was placed on top of the contract documents with Montes. It was a preliminary contract sent by the Marena Trading Company, with whom Izer wanted to contract instead of Montes this time.

‘The commission is lower than Montes, and above all, they’re clean. Although they’re a new trading company, even the royal family evaluates them positively.’

Precisely, Izer needed reasons not to contract with Montes rather than reasons to contract with Marena.

The Montes family were commoners. Naturally, they were far from politics.

In other words, instead of directly entering politics, they stayed close to the high-ranking people and cleaned up after them.

From small tasks like finding those who couldn’t repay debts and cutting out their tongues, to large ones like assassinating members of families they held grudges against, they carried out everything indiscriminately.

This included making Celian Berienne’s arrogant lover disabled.

The quill pen in his left hand moved to his right. The signature scrawled on the blank paper looked quite unsightly.

The man who had been staring at his fingers awkwardly gripping the pen held it in his left hand again. His right hand, unable to function properly, flipped the paper with a flutter.

Knock knock.

There was a knocking sound. It was the secretary who shadowed Izer.

Izer didn’t open up to the employees, let alone speak to them much. They were all his adoptive father’s people. There was no need to say more than necessary to them, nor to give them affection.

The secretary was no exception. Izer asked without even looking at the secretary.

“Did you tell Montes we have no intention of renewing the contract?”

“Young Duke, about that……”

Izer raised his head at the troubled voice.

“What’s wrong?”

“The Duke is calling for you.”

“……”

There was no sound as the palm-sized quill pen landed on the paper. It was the same while pulling out the chair.

Everything in this mansion was based on hierarchical relationships. When a superior orders a subordinate, they obey. When a higher superior person orders a less superior person, the less superior person listens to the ‘higher’ superior person.

Following this obvious principle, Izer stood before his superior.

His voice as he faced his adoptive father was dry.

“I heard you called for me.”

“I heard you said you wouldn’t renew the contract with Montes.”

Harris’s words towards Izer weren’t particularly cold. The voice itself seemed to contain a hint of warmth at first glance.

But Izer, who had dealt with Harris for years, knew. That one shouldn’t be fooled by a person’s warm words. In the end, this person had merely brought Izer before him to grip him tightly and have his way.

Izer answered calmly. The timber export contract was one of the tasks Harris had entrusted to Izer.

“I judged there was no reason for renewal. The commission isn’t lower compared to other trading companies that have proposed deals……”

Harris cut off his words.

“I just talked with Heinrich. Heinrich said he regretted expressing his intention to renew the contract to you. He said he could have lowered the commission a bit considering the relationship we’ve had over the years.”

“……”

“Montes Trading Company said they would lower the commission from 5% to 4.5% if we renew the contract.”

The commission Marena Trading Company had proposed to Izer was 4.7%. After a moment of silence, Izer responded.

“When choosing a trading partner, not only the commission but also reliability is important. There are many suspicious aspects in Montes Trading Company’s books.”

“……”

“We can’t ignore the stability of ships and navigation skills either. About five of Montes’ cargo ships don’t return each year. On the other hand, Marena hasn’t had a single accident in three years……”

“Izer,”

“……”

“We will renew the contract with Montes. Understand that.”

His adoptive father didn’t deviate from expectations at all. Izer quietly replied.

“I thought you had entrusted the timber export matter to me.”

“It was meant for you to study. I hoped you would reach the same conclusion as me. I’m quite disappointed this time too.”

This was Harris’s specialty. Making Izer work, watching him struggle, and then emphasizing at the last minute that Izer lacked the ability to manage the family.

It was merely a power struggle to break his adopted son. Harris himself didn’t want to look bad by ousting his adopted son from the succession, so he wanted Izer to drop out on his own.

But Izer Chesterfield wasn’t a fool who would kick away the power that was about to roll in. Izer bowed his head indifferently.

“I understand.”

* * *

The man turned his head to the side as he lay on the bed.

Moonlight seeped into the spacious room. In the room used as both a study and bedroom, the solid wood furniture gleamed bluish.

There was no benefit to lying down early. His head, refusing sleep, throbbed. He raised his fingers to press his temples, but the headache didn’t easily subside.

Unable to bear it, Izer staggered to open the drawer. The headache medicine next to the pile of sleeping pills was empty.

He put one pill in his mouth and took a sip of water. Gulp, the pill disappeared down his throat. Izer sighed and returned to the bed, burying his face in the soft pillow.

‘Damn it……”

Until the title of duke became his, he had to bow down flat. He had repeated the same words hundreds of times, but he couldn’t help feeling awful every time his adoptive father looked at him like a beggar he had to charitably help.

Stress rose to the tip of his head. It wasn’t the first or second time, but this time the level of stress was particularly severe. It was probably because Montes was directly involved.