Please Repay Me with Marriage! - Chapter 15

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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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Make it marriage as my reward, please!
Chapter 15
“W-what, that, that fox pup, that..!”
“Calm down. You couldn’t have won anyway.”
Hiss’s attempt at comfort did nothing for her. Michel could barely contain her fury and grumbled under her breath.
“Damn it, if only Mila were here!”
“Stop talking about someone who’s retired. Anyway, that sword Blair Marquis was holding earlier, that’s the Reize Messer, right?”
Bin’s gaze flickered toward Hiss. Knowing the name had come up because of him, Hiss pretended not to hear and nodded.
“It is.”
“Wasn’t the Second Prince the one buying the sword? Why does Blair Marquis have it?”
“Obviously! The Second Prince played Rei for a fool. I knew it from the moment he said there was no contract! This is why you can’t trust those high-and-mighty types!”
“Let’s be fair. Rei didn’t skip the contract. He simply couldn’t draw one up.”
“Damn it, those wretched nobles! Those wretched royals!”
It had been decades since the day his finger was severed through no fault of his own. Yet whenever that day’s rage and injustice came back to him, a phantom ache still clung to the stump and throbbed.
Bin patted Michel’s back in soothing little taps as she seethed over the fresh wave of indignation, his brow furrowing with worry.
“What could Blair Marquis possibly want with that sword?”
“It bears the first emperor’s name, doesn’t it? She must be planning to present it to the Emperor.”
“Well, he is the Emperor’s loyal lapdog, after all.”
“Michel.”
“What’s the harm? It’s just us in here.”
If even one person in this room had read the newspaper published that morning, the conversation they were having would have been entirely different.
But a newspaper cost more than the beer and sausage set this inn served. No one here was willing to spend that kind of money on a sheet of paper they’d read once and throw away.
“So how much did Blair Marquis win the Reize Messer for?”
“Well…”
As far as Bin knew, the most recent relic of the first emperor to go up for auction had sold for nine million Rarc. That was forty-three years ago, though, so I’m not sure how useful it is as a reference.
‘Without any unexpected variables, the expected winning bid would be… roughly ten million Rarc.’
And that was only if things went smoothly. They had to prepare for the worst. For instance, the possibility that Blair Marquis and the Second Prince had struck some secret deal behind the scenes.
“Whatever that woman’s intentions are, you’d better not get your hopes up about the winning bid.”
“Michel, why do you have to rain on everyone’s parade?”
“Don’t you remember? You said earlier that the deal you’d been hoping for was finally sealed. And you were all smiles over two measly Samdonghwa, like some miser somewhere.”
“Ah…”
At Michel’s words, Hiss’s face darkened. Seeing it, Bin flared up and shouted.
“What’s so strange about that? You just sat there breathing and walked away with two whole Samdonghwa. How could anyone not be happy about that? Are you even human?”
Bin was the only one in the room who didn’t think it was strange.
Hiss and Michel’s eyes met, and as if they’d agreed on it beforehand, they both slumped over the table at the same time.
“Our Rei is finished, I’m telling you, finished!”
“How can you say something like that? We don’t know that yet.”
“What do you mean we don’t know? I’ve already seen it. I’ve already seen House of Elpias crash and burn!”
“Want to make a bet, then?”
“A bet? Now of all times?”
“I know. The bigger the gambler, the more stingy they are with Copper Coins. And right in front of you two is living proof of that, isn’t there?”
“More like a lesson in what not to do…”
Even as he grumbled like that, he couldn’t put up much of a fight. It was Bin who had emptied every last coin he had when Leonard first took on the House of Elpias’s debts and decided to help him.
“If Blair Marquis really bought that sword for the Emperor, she wouldn’t have bid some ordinary, mediocre price.”
The value of an item put up for auction is ultimately measured by its winning bid. If a relic bearing the first emperor’s name had been traded for a pittance, the Emperor would hardly be pleased.
“At least ten million. That’s my call.”
“No way!”
Beside Michel, who was shrieking at the top of her lungs, Hiss furrowed his brow and asked back.
“And if it’s lower than that?”
“If it’s lower.”
Bin slapped his own belt with a firm thwack.
“All the money I’ve got in here, you two can have it.”
“Deal! Ten million, my foot! You’re spouting complete nonsense!”
“I’ll take that bet too.”
“Hmph, what idiots. You’d better start practicing begging me to buy you a beer.”
Bin snorted at the two of them, who were already acting as though they’d won.
“We’ll have to wait and see who wins. But if I win, all of your money is mine.”
Bin was confident he wouldn’t come out of this bet at a loss.
No matter how the bet turned out, every coin in this belt would go toward helping Leonard.
‘Or if all else fails, I’ll just give up the title and run away together.’
Even if it’s only half-blooded, they’d have a hard time dragging along the young lady Leonard holds in such horror. And it’s doubtful she’d come quietly. Still, it’s better than being hauled off by some perverted noble.
‘Still, she won’t adjust easily at first… I’d better buy a sturdy carriage first.’
Bin could never have imagined it.
The next morning, while he was at the market early, hoping to haggle a sturdy carriage down to a bargain price, he would hear the rumor that the highest winning bid at the Roelle Auction House had been broken.

* * *
‘What’s that supposed to mean? A contract? You’re saying I made a contract with you? Then bring out this contract of yours. Surely you’re not claiming I entered into one without any written agreement at all?’
‘One clash of swords and it snaps like that. This shows just how low the standards of the Elpias House are, clinging to such a rotten blade as a family heirloom! One hundred and ten thousand rarc… well, I suppose I’ll consider it charity for a beggar?’
“Count? Coooount!”
“Ah, you startled me.”
He was shouting so loudly that his ears were still ringing.
Leonard pressed both hands over his ears and frowned, and Edward pursed his lips with a sullen expression.
“What on earth were you thinking that you didn’t hear me talking right in front of you? You weren’t sleeping with your eyes open, were you? You look quite tired, though.”
Belatedly, worry spread across Edward’s face. He even went so far as to ask whether something was wrong with him, and Leonard waved a hand lightly to say he was fine.
“I just couldn’t sleep well. I only managed to fall asleep at dawn.”
“Why?”
“No reason… I just had a nightmare.”
“What kind of nightmare?”
Edward answered on reflex, then glanced at Leonard’s face with the look of someone who’d just realized his mistake. Leonard didn’t notice the change in his expression and rubbed a hand down his face.
‘Being humiliated by the Second Prince and mocked by Lloyd Mathias.’
When he protested that the Second Prince had broken their agreement, the prince had played dumb, insisting they had never made any such contract. And Lloyd, who had taken Reize Messer for a mere one hundred and ten thousand rarc, had snapped the blade right in front of Leonard, making a show of it.
The sneers those two had worn were so vivid.
If Marquis Blair hadn’t stepped into the auction, and Reize Messer had truly gone to Lloyd, it felt as though that very thing might have actually happened.
“Ahem, hm, so, Count. Won’t you tell me now?”
“Tell you what?”
“About Reize Messer. …How much did it sell for?”
Leonard studied Edward, who was watching his face a little too carefully.
When their eyes met, Edward flinched and bit down hard on his lower lip.
“I see… So that’s how it is.”
“What is?”
“Well, even if Reize Messer is a relic left by the Great Emperor, I suppose it isn’t enough to clear thirty million rarc in debt…”
As Leonard’s only secretary, Edward knew the exact amount of debt the Elpias House owed.
But he didn’t know about the verbal agreement Leonard had made with the Second Prince. That contract had been made not as Count Elpias, but as the ‘Golden Lion of Weinberg.’
“Phew… Count. You know, I know that you’ve treated me very well.”
“What’s with that farewell-sounding nonsense?”
“If it’s a farewell, then it’s a farewell. The Elpias House is going bankrupt, isn’t it?”
“What?”
Unaware that Leonard had let out a short laugh of disbelief, Edward clenched his fists.
“Still, Count! If I lose my loyalty, I’m as good as dead! At least until the Elpias House goes bankrupt, yes. I’ll work without pay!”
What’s this, then? A pumpkin rolling straight into my lap?
Leonard narrowed his eyes and stared at Edward.
“Can you take responsibility for those words? Do you even know when the Elpias House will go under?”
“The repayment deadline is only a few days away… So it’ll be next month at the latest, won’t it?”
“Ah, so your loyalty is worth all of three hundred thousand rarc, then?”
At that, Edward’s eyes went wide.
“All of it? Count, three hundred thousand rarc could keep you in this inn for a full two months. Of course, there are bugs here, so it’s a bit unpleasant, but three hundred thousand rarc is a tremendous sum!”
Leonard clicked his tongue as Edward spat out words in a passionate rant.
He wasn’t like this originally. Bin had ruined a perfectly decent kid.
Though I suppose it’s a relief he doesn’t obsess over every single coin the way Bin does.
‘They must be worrying about us by now, too.’
Just as he recalled Hiss, who had patted his shoulder with a silent expression, and Michel, who had raged that the man was a swindler and that he must never go to the capital, someone knocked on the door of the room they were staying in.
“Huh, who’s that? Did you send for something?”
“Ah, they must have brought the newspaper. I asked for whichever paper comes out first in the morning.”
“Why the newspaper?”
While Edward asked with a puzzled look, Leonard walked right up to the door himself, tipped the clerk, and took the paper.
Then, still standing in the doorway, he read the newspaper’s headline.
Edward, who had been staring at him blankly, not daring to interrupt, couldn’t contain his curiosity and quietly got to his feet.
“What article are you reading? Is there some interesting news…?”
Marquis Blair’s Confession! She wouldn’t mind giving five hundred million rarc to her fiancé.

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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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