Chapter 2.7

“Miguel Dante! I heard you went to the gambling den again? You reckless child! When will you ever grow up? If you keep acting like this, you’ll be the first to be disowned from the Dante family as a disgrace!”

The office of Earl Dante, the Lord of the southern territory, was never quiet. His office was more a place for scolding his only son, the Young Earl, than for conducting business.

“Why is gambling a problem? It would be a problem if I went bankrupt, but I always come back with more wealth.”

“What?”

Unfazed by Earl Dante’s furious reprimand, Miguel sat on the sofa, crossed his legs, and casually tossed a heavy velvet pouch in front of him.

“They’re all diamonds. There was a wealthy man from the capital in the game this time.”

Earl Dante’s expression, which was ready to unleash another wave of anger regardless of what his son said, was greatly shaken. The fact that the heavy sound was all diamonds, no matter how much he was his son, showed that the boy was quite a skilled gambler.

Earl Dante, who was as shrewd in matters of greed and avarice as any seasoned merchant, pretended to be dignified, picked up the pouch, weighed it in his hand, and discreetly tucked it into his coat.

Miguel’s lazy smile widened, allowing his father’s shameless behavior. This further solidified his reputation as a scoundrel and allowed him to avoid the annoying nagging.

“If you step into a gambling den one more time, I’ll really throw you out.”

“Yes, Father.”

Up to this point, it was just the usual nagging he heard every time. But the words that followed were quite different from what he usually heard.

“To make you a proper man, there’s only one way.”

The Young Earl, who was about to leave the nagging and time-wasting room and seek out the next entertainment, froze at those words.

“You, get married.”

“…I must have misheard you.”

Earl Dante, who had always been at the mercy of his son, smiled with satisfaction as he looked at his son’s terrifyingly distorted face. He finally got him. Even between father and son, there was a winner in a battle of wills.

“What do you mean you misheard? You’re asking because you heard it clearly. The wedding will be rushed for next month. Any objections will be met with expulsion.”

The Earl, who usually succumbed to the Young Earl, was uncharacteristically firm, causing cracks to appear on Miguel’s smooth, sculpted face. It was a rare sight to see him, who usually toyed with anyone with ease, in such a state.

It was surprising enough to be told to get engaged suddenly, but to be told to marry without going through the proper procedures that nobles should follow was incomprehensible, even for the relatively new Dante family.

“Who am I supposed to marry?”

Since it was a hastily arranged marriage announcement, the person his father would mention was unlikely to be a suitable match. Miguel held his throbbing head and swept his red hair back to prepare for the next bombshell.

As his charming curly hair was brushed back, his straight and handsome forehead was briefly revealed. Even the Earl, a fool for his son, was momentarily captivated by his beauty. It made him regret that he was too easily handing his son over to the marriage market.

“Someone you know very well. Lisael Cherlin, the daughter of the former village chief Cherlin.”

At least on this day, the battle of nerves between father and son would be recorded as Earl Dante’s complete victory. The Earl’s mustache twitched happily, having delivered a consecutive and decisive blow.

Even though he had prepared himself mentally, Miguel couldn’t completely absorb the impact of the direct hit and staggered slightly. 

Was it not just my ears that had gone wrong but my mind as well?

Perhaps the nouveau riche from the capital, who had bragged about a new method of whiskey distillation the day before, had belatedly intoxicated him.

“Father.”

“Why? Why are you calling me?”

“With all due respect… have you gone mad?”

“You insolent brat! How dare you speak to your father like that!”

Earl Dante hurled curses at his son, but his expression and gestures were more refined than when he scolded him for gambling. It was proof that even the Earl himself understood his son’s reaction to some extent.

Until recently, even he hadn’t imagined he would say such things.

“Calm down and sit down again.”

After Earl Dante sat down first, he motioned for Miguel to take a seat. Already half out of his mind, Miguel plopped down without much resistance.

“What is your intention in doing this?”

Miguel knew it too. His father, Earl Dante, was far more interested in wealth than in power. Typically, there are two considerations in noble marriage discussions: wealth and power.

And the Dante family’s path had long been a one-way street focused solely on ‘wealth.’ The unofficial family motto was that if you have wealth, power will naturally follow. It was a motto already realized.

Anyway, Miguel, quick-witted, hastily organized his dizzy thoughts. The former village chief Cherlin had overwhelming prestige and reputation in the village, but that was it.

Now ousted from the position of chief, what business did an Earl have with a commoner family with only honor, to marry off his only heir and form an alliance?

“I’ve thought about it.”

Earl Dante, who was dragging his words and acting pompously, made Miguel lean forward and sharpen his eyes as if urging him to speak.

That cheeky brat, Miguel’s sharp gaze was enough to make even his father, Earl Dante, tense up.

“Unless we advance to the central political scene in the capital, your marriage prospects are, at best, a baron’s family in the capital.”

The Dante family, having chosen early on to withdraw from the troublesome central political scene and move south to amass wealth, did not have many options for marriage prospects despite its influence. Miguel blinked as if asking why his father was stating the obvious.

“As I’ve told you countless times, for us, marriage is a transaction. What benefit could our family, with no intention of entering the central political scene, gain from marrying into a mere baron’s family?”

It was true. Miguel agreed, and that was why his parents had been lukewarm about finding a marriage partner for him, even at the age of twenty-two. Miguel himself vaguely guessed that his spouse would be decided when a wealthy fool caught the Earl’s hawk-like eye.

“It’s nothing new. So what does it have to do with tying us to the toothless tiger that is the Cherlin family?”

“Listen carefully.”

There was indeed something he didn’t know. Earl Dante leaned towards his son in the empty office and lowered his voice significantly.

“The land that the Cherlin fellow has in the village, we must get it as a dowry.”

“…You mean the land so overgrown with forest that even a factory couldn’t be built on it?”

‘What use is that….’

Earl Dante frowned at Miguel, who leaned his angular shoulders against the chair back as if deflated, and whispered in an even lower voice.

“This is top-secret information that no one knows. Even the village chief himself doesn’t know. It’s said that the Royal Family plans to purchase that seemingly hopeless land.”

“…The Royal Family?”

At the Earl’s astonishing statement, Miguel shouted unconsciously, and the Earl quickly brought his finger to his lips to shush him.

“Yes. You’re savvy enough to understand without me explaining, right? They plan to turn that useless forest, which gives a headache just thinking about developing it, into the largest royal park!”

The Earl, who was whispering excitedly, clenched his fist and trembled as if the mere thought thrilled him.

Among all the clients and customers in the world, the Royal Family was the best. The scale of their wealth was equivalent to the scale of the nation itself, and because of its public nature, they always received the best treatment in transactions.

Especially land. It was an established fact that even barren plains skyrocketed in value if the country decided to develop them. The Royal Family likely planned to create a park in the South, a hub of trade and tourism, to attract more people.

Earl Dante, who had somehow obtained this top-secret information, had made a crazy decision, blinded by the prospect of a windfall.

Miguel finally understood. The land the Royal Family intended to purchase was more than enough to blind his father.

“I understand very well. Your decision, Father…. But did the village chief Cherlin accept the proposal?”

The Dante family was the very enemy that had driven the Cherlin family, who were respected and trusted by the villagers, from the position of village chief and severed all their ties in one day.