Please Repay Me with Marriage! - Chapter 13

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Please repay me with marriage!
Chapter 13
“Of course, my darling said there was no need for a dowry… But Blair has its pride, you see. I couldn’t very well marry for some ordinary dowry, so we made a wager.”
Irene’s eyes, curved with obvious delight, turned toward the Second Prince.
“No matter what happens, I’ll be the one to win that sword. And whatever the final winning bid turns out to be, I’ll send that exact amount over as my dowry.”
“What…?”
“And good heavens, 120,000 rarc.”
Irene gave a little shiver of her shoulders, as though nothing could be more dreadful.
Then she turned around, toward Lloyd, who stood there half-dazed.
“In that sense, I’m truly grateful to you, young lord.”
“Wh-what… what do you mean?”
“Thanks to you, I was able to swell my dowry by a full 200 million rarc.”
“Gah…”
Lloyd, realizing he had just done a favor for Leonard, the man he loathed above all others, let out a strangled gasp, looking as if he might faint where he stood.
Irene watched him and laughed out loud, sweetly, as though she’d enjoyed a fine show.
“As a little reward, let me tell you in advance. Before long, a complaint will arrive at the Count’s Residence.”
“What? A complaint? What on earth is that supposed to mean?”
“There was a rather amusing article in the Lotus Press newspaper published today.”
Something seemed to register on Lloyd’s face, and his expression changed.
But he quickly looked puzzled, as if nothing had happened, and asked Irene in return.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Which article are you referring to?”
“The one claiming my fiancé had some sort of relationship with the late mother-in-law-to-be.”
“Hurk…!”
“Good heavens, what on earth!”
The content was so shocking that everyone who had been pretending not to listen could not hide their astonished faces.
Lloyd, who had never expected Irene to say it so openly, stammered with a flustered look on his face.
“I-I’ve never heard of this before. But if it was printed in a newspaper, surely there must have been some actual circumstances behind it? Smoke doesn’t rise from a chimney that has no fire, does it?”
“Yes. The Lotus Press will have to prove in court that these ‘circumstances’ didn’t come from someone’s filthy speculation or slander, but from solid evidence. Blair will do everything in its power to restore the honor of my fiancé and the late Countess Elpias.”
Irene’s smile vanished entirely, and her icy gaze fell upon Lloyd.
“There are things a person does and doesn’t do… How could you dare to speak of the dead like that.”
Even a beggar in the street wouldn’t look at someone with such contempt.
That utterly merciless stare, which seemed to crush a person’s very dignity as a human being, made Lloyd’s face flush red as he shouted.
“I-I didn’t do it!”
“Yes, of course. So it must have been your father who was so reckless as to publish an article without even confirming the facts.”
Of course, this had been Lloyd’s own doing alone.
Having been sound asleep until he learned that Blair’s marquis was engaged to Leonard, he had stormed into the press office, erased every word of the article that was already more than half written, and ordered them to write one that tore Leonard down.
His father still did not know any of this. Just imagining how furious he would be upon reading the complaint sent from Blair made the color drain from Lloyd’s face.
“In any case, there’s no law saying this sort of thing can’t happen twice. From now on, I won’t permit Blair’s name to appear in any newspaper published by the Lotus Press.”
“What? That’s far too hasty a decision!”
It was safe to say that there was no major event of any scale, in the Capital or anywhere across the Empire, that did not bear Blair’s name.
Of course, it wasn’t impossible to write an article without mentioning Blair, but it was obvious that it would leave them far less competitive than the other press outlets.
“I’ll track down the reporter who published the piece anonymously and send them to apologize to Count Elpias. So, please…”
“Oh my. You said you’d never heard of it, so how did you know the article was written anonymously?”
“W-well, that’s because you, Marquis Blair, just…”
“I never said that.”
Irene glanced around as if to ask whether it wasn’t so. The people nearby nodded in agreement, saying, Yes, that’s right.
“The word ‘anonymous’ first came out of the young lord’s mouth.”
“Good heavens, then it really was the young lord…”
“Why on earth would Lloyd Mathias do such a thing? What grudge could he possibly hold against Count Elpias?”
“Don’t you know about the duel?”
“Oh, the one where he was knocked flat with a single punch…”
“You mean the duel where Count Elpias went easy on him for fear that swinging a sword would kill him?”
It sounded like an explanation given to strangers, but in truth it was a mockery meant for Lloyd’s ears.
Seeing his face turn red, Irene burst into a clear laugh, then abruptly straightened her face as if she had never laughed at all.
“And after all that, you’re calling me hasty?”
“No, that’s not, I mean…”
“From now on, I don’t intend to believe anything the Lotus Press says. I might as well read a gossip rag.”
At the mocking tone, Lloyd flared up and shouted. How dare she treat our press outlet like some cheap rag!
“Marquis Blair, isn’t that going a bit too far?”
“And you keep going on and on about ‘Marquis Blair, Marquis Blair’ since earlier.”
Irene’s eyes flashed as she stepped toward Lloyd. Cowed by her aura, he flinched and stumbled back.
“Who do you think you are, talking to me as an equal? A brat without a title? Am I your friend or something?”
“W-what, you think you can treat someone this way just because they don’t have a title? Don’t you dare speak to me casually, Marquis!”
“Look at this guy, still a marquis to the very end. Aren’t you going to add ‘Lady’ to my name?”
At that, Lloyd’s temper seemed to snap, and his face twisted in fury.
He looked ready to strike Irene outright if left unchecked. Leonard, who had been silently watching from a distance, startled and glared at Lloyd as if he could kill him on the spot.
‘That bastard!’
At the same moment, Lloyd was smothered by an inexplicable dread. His throat constricted, as though someone had their hands around it, and his breath caught.
All the senses he possessed seemed to freeze at once, and every nerve in his body narrowed onto a single thought that had surfaced in his mind.
‘I’m going to die.’
Lloyd had felt something similar once, long ago.
It was when he had followed his father to the hunting grounds and came face to face with a massive brown bear. At the tender age of eight, he had seen his life flash before his eyes, and it had felt exactly like this.
“So you won’t even call me ‘Lady,’ not even if it kills you? Suit yourself.”
Irene, unaware of what Lloyd was going through, turned on her heel and walked away from him.
The fear that had bound not only his body but his very mind now drifted away from him, slowly and silently, like mist.
Only then did Lloyd finally come to his senses. He drew in a deep breath, like a man who had nearly drowned and finally dragged himself onto solid ground.
People around him stared at him strangely, but Lloyd was so thrown into panic that he didn’t even notice their gazes.
“Kiri, hire someone and have them start checking the Lotus Newspaper from tomorrow morning. Every time they find the word ‘Blair,’ pay them a special bonus right away.”
“Yes, Marquis.”
After the Marquis of Blair left the spot, the crowd turned over the scene they had witnessed and chattered busily.
“Did you hear that clearly? He’s saying he doesn’t trust what the Lotus Press reports.”
Interpreting those words a bit childishly, it amounted to this: If you want to keep playing with me, don’t play with that one anymore!
Childish or not, what could be done about it? If you wanted to stay on good terms with the Marquis of Blair, you had to keep your distance from Mathias.
The newspapers rivaling the Lotus Press were surely going to jump on this and print it in tomorrow’s edition.
Already eager for tomorrow’s paper, the people babbled noisily among themselves.
“That’s a bit surprising. I thought the Marquis of Blair was the type to draw a strict line between public and private matters.”
“That just shows how completely he’s smitten with his fiancée. Didn’t you see it just now? He paid five hundred million as her dowry gold.”
“Those who were badmouthing Count Elpias earlier had better start feeling uneasy.”
“Ah, now I see why the Marquis came wearing a mask. Wasn’t it so he could check the faces of everyone who dared to badmouth his darling?”
The auction had ended long ago, yet the crowd showed no sign of leaving, too busy chatting away.
“Ha! Haa!”
Leonard watched from a distance as the Second Prince let out a dumbfounded, breathless laugh.
If not for the sound of someone clearing their throat nearby, he might have kept gawking at that dazed expression for a good while longer.
“Seller number twenty. The winning bid for your auction item has been settled. Allow me to guide you through receiving the sale proceeds.”
Despite the late hour, the cheque was processed in the blink of an eye.
And so, an absurd sum of 450 million Rarc appeared in the account that had landed in Leonard’s hands.
450 million.
“…Is this a dream?”
His heart pounded so violently that Leonard couldn’t even manage to swallow his dry throat.
At the same time, he realized something.
He hadn’t even had the chance to voice a refusal, and in just one night, he had been firmly led by the nose.

* * *
“Are you that fond of her, Marquis?”
“Of course I am. And now that man can’t run away from me.”
Irene nuzzled her cheek against the hilt of the sword she held close and smiled brightly.
Had Emily been here, she would have thrown a fit, worried that her delicate cheek might be scratched. But Kiri, who was far less sensitive, simply smiled along, agreeing that as long as it pleased their Marquis, everything was fine.
“What became of the thing I asked you about earlier?”
“I understand it’s nearly finished. The moment it’s completed, it will be sent to the mansion… Hm?”
Kiri, who had been answering in a calm voice, suddenly wore a puzzled expression because the carriage had slowed down.
They hadn’t yet made it off the Auction House grounds, so the pace wasn’t very fast to begin with.
Before long, the carriage came to a complete stop, and Kiri opened the shutter set into the carriage wall and asked the driver.
“What’s happening?”
“It seems there’s some sort of commotion at the front gate.”
“Commotion?”
“Please wait a moment. I’ll go and resolve it quickly.”
The voice, addressed not to Kiri but to Irene, belonged to Hawk.
I don’t know what on earth is going on, but since my brother has gone to look into it, it’ll be settled in no time.
Kiri let out a short sigh and closed the carriage shutter. At the same moment, Irene opened the window in the carriage door.
“Marquis?”
“Doesn’t it sound a bit noisy out there?”
At that, I leaned toward the window and listened. Sure enough, the conversation drifting in was decidedly suspicious.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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