As the four women looked ready to pounce on him at any moment, the color drained from his face.
“N-no, wait! I mean, that’s...!”
What am I supposed to do? I can’t afford to lose them now! If I do, I’m doomed! Which one of them had the most money again? If I could just convince even one of them...
“Ardo!”
“You!”
“W-wait, that’s...! Aaaaargh!”
Even in this situation, Viscount Micro was still trying to calculate his way out. But he could only let out a scream as the four women grabbed him by the hair and attacked him.
“A-argh! No... cough! Why are you all here... Aaargh!”
“Why do you think? You sent us letters!”
“You sent one to me too! You said we should live together from now on!”
“Sniff! You sent one to me as well!”
“Die, you b*stard!”
“N-no! I didn’t send anything like that! Aaaaargh!”
He never sent those letters! What idiot sends the same thing to all his lovers at once?
Well, I did.
Ceres, who had been watching the chaos unfold from the side, smiled faintly.
She had sent the exact same message to all four of them, telling them to come here today. The letter said that he would marry them and they should start living together from now on.
“Aaaaargh!”
There goes the face he spent a fortune restoring...
After watching Viscount Micro’s face get ruined, Ceres quietly left the scene.
.
.
.
Chapter 43: To the Duchy
“What is this, child?”
“A bank check.”
“Why are you giving this to me...?”
The three dukes gathered in one place. Ceres was the one who called them there.
“This is the money you lent to my aunt.”
The reason she summoned them was to return the money she had gotten from Viscount Micro. Well, “gotten” was a generous way to put it. She had taken it back.
“I’ve included plenty of interest as well.”
Of course, that was only fair. The three dukes had given Aunt Agne exactly 850,000 gold. Ceres also took an additional 50,000 gold as interest.
Micro should be grateful that she didn’t take the compensation money Agne owed Julia and her family.
Well, it’s not like there was anything left to take.
After selling not only everything in his bank account, but also his business and even his house, Micro became penniless. She also recently heard that those four women had abandoned him in the most humiliating way possible.
Apparently, he tried to linger around them, hoping to somehow repair their relationships, only to be reported and dragged away by the guards.
The rumors spread exactly as expected.
High society had been in an uproar for quite some time after discovering his true nature, which was very different from the kind and respectable image he had maintained. There was no chance he would be able to make a comeback now, was there?
“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.”
“What?”
Ceres blinked in surprise at Duke Schweiss’s words.
“Agne? Who is that?”
“That’s the first time I’ve heard that name.”
“You’re saying we gave money to someone like that? We’ve never done such a thing.”
“......”
...Are they serious? Ceres stared at the three of them in disbelief. How could they lie so shamelessly?
And Uncle Gino, of all people, shouldn’t be doing this.
He was the one who told her he had given money to Aunt Agne. But now he’s pretending he doesn’t know who she is?
Ceres sighed as she looked at the three of them, who were acting as if they had no idea what the check in front of them was.
“If you don’t take this, I won’t see any of you again.”
Ceres crossed her arms and gave them a sharp look.
“Ah, now I remember.”
“Right. That woman was Agne.”
“Hmm.”
Only after Ceres’s not-so-subtle threat did they reluctantly take the checks. Ceres chuckled.
Even while resolving this matter, she was surprised all over again when she found out how much money Aunt Agne had taken from them.
850,000 gold...
Considering that an ordinary knight earned 200 gold a month, it was an unbelievable amount of money. Aunt Agne was certainly impressive. But what surprised Ceres the most was that the three of them had given her that much money without any conditions.
“Thank you.”
Ceres knew that they had done it for her and her two younger siblings. She bowed with genuine gratitude.
Seeing that, the three dukes stared at her with wide eyes before smiling faintly.
She’s grown up well.
Indeed.
Their smiles soon turned wistful. Seeing Ceres grow so well despite everything she had endured reminded them of the friends they had lost long ago.
“By the way, Beibei. Is there anything we can do to help?”
Trying to ease the heavy atmosphere, Duke Nora changed the subject with the brightest voice he could manage.
“I told you. You two didn’t need to get involved.”
Duke Schweis sighed. He already knew what Duke Nora and Duchess Elkein had been doing recently.
After discovering that Marquis Merial was the true culprit behind his younger brother’s death, Duke Schweis had been stepping in to block every business connected to him.
But not long ago, he found out that these two had been doing the same thing. Even though he had told them he didn’t need their help.
“Ren was my younger brother too.”
“Unlike you, he was a lovable child.”
“That’s right. He was so adorable.”
Hearing them insist that they weren’t helping him, but rather avenging Ren, Duke Schweis could no longer argue.
“If that child had lived, you wouldn’t have become the head of the family. I would have done everything I could to make him the heir.”
“If our Ren had become the family head, he would’ve been loved by everyone.”
Duke Schweis listened to their half-joking, half-serious words before nodding. He couldn’t disagree. If anything, he might have been the first to push for Ren to become the family head.
“Come to think of it, Ceres.”
At Duchess Elkein’s call, Ceres turned to her.
“When do you plan to take over as the head of the family?”
“The head of the family?”
“Yes.”
Ceres’s eyes widened at the unexpected question. It was something she never really thought about before.
“It’s about time.”
“Exactly.”
The other two dukes agreed as if they had been thinking about this for a long time. After all, it had been years since the former Baron Drow had passed away. The title should’ve been inherited long ago.
I heard that woman stopped Ceres from becoming the family head.
They discovered the truth through their investigation. That vicious Agne used the excuse that the three children were still too young because she wanted to take control of the family herself.
“Wouldn’t it be better to hurry?”
In the Empire, there was no problem with a woman becoming the head of a family. Besides, Ceres recently became the owner of a Tamer Relic. She was more than qualified to inherit the position.
“Antonian is still young.”
“Huh?”
...Antonian?
“What do you mean?”
“You’re not the one taking over?”
“Me?”
Seeing their surprised expressions, Ceres tilted her head. Was this really something to be so shocked about?
“Antonian will become the family head.”
The three dukes were caught off guard by her firm answer.
***
“The family head?”
“Yeah.”
“Wasn’t it obviously supposed to be you?”
“No.”
Sitting by the window, which had become her designated spot, Ceres looked at Kainel as though he had said something ridiculous.
What did he mean, “obviously”? There was nothing obvious about it.
“Antonian will become the family head.”
“Why?”
“Why else? Because I don’t want to.”
“So why?”
Ceres paused at Kainel’s question. If he wanted an answer, it was simple.
“Because I’m tired of it?”
Yeah. That was probably it.
Compared to Ellesia, the Drow family was a small household that barely needed attention. Still, she had no desire to take responsibility for leading it.
“Antonian will do well.”
He had a sense of responsibility and a desire to excel at things he put his mind to.
For example...
Despite having no talent for swordsmanship at all, he managed to improve so much through his own effort. That alone was proof enough.
[That’s because you trained him like you were trying to kill him, Grace. At that point, even a stray puppy could hold a sword in its mouth and defeat a monster.]
No, absolutely not. Arti, just be quiet.
She could hear Artia’s horrified voice, but Ceres ignored him and gave her brother high marks for both his ability and his effort.
“If you don’t want to do it, then don’t.”
“Exactly.”
Ceres nodded firmly at Kainel’s agreement.
Watching her, Kainel smiled to himself. He knew that despite what she said, if anything happened to her brother or the family, she would be the first one to step forward and fix it.
“Take this.”
“.....?”
A moment later, Ceres pulled something from her pocket and handed it to Kainel. It was a check from the Imperial Bank.
“Bring all the contracts and debt papers.”
She was going to clear all the debt she owed today.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter