Please Repay Me with Marriage! - Chapter 29

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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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“Pay me back by marrying me!”
Chapter 29
Leonard’s eyes snapped wide.
Count Miles waved a hand at him, as if to say he shouldn’t be so hasty.
“Well, since it’s come to this, let’s go over the dowry and trousseau again… Hey! Count Elpias! We aren’t finished talking yet…!”
Leonard had not a shred of patience left for such nonsense.
He couldn’t spare even the time it would take a footman to fetch his horse. He went straight to the Count’s Residence stables, pulled out his own mount, and rode.
“Hyah!”
“Pheeeew!”
‘Brother, I’ll just marry young Lord Miles. If he’ll cover the thirty million rarc in debt as my dowry, it’s a fair bargain, isn’t it?’
‘Absolutely not. Zenis, listen carefully. Do you know how many lives that scoundrel who wants to make you his wife has ruined? And on top of that, the bastard has two illegitimate children.’
‘T-two illegitimate children…?’
‘If you marry that bastard, those illegitimate children will become your children, whether you like it or not. Zenis, I made a deal with the Countess to make you Countess of Elpias. I will never stand by and watch you marry a man like that.’
Blair and Michel had looked into just how wretched the Count’s second son really was.
Thanks to that, Leonard knew only too well how filthy that damned man’s hands were.
If that bastard had been certain Leonard couldn’t pay the debt and had gone to Elpias County, he might already have laid his hands on Zenis…
“Damn it!”
The journey from Miles County to Elpias County took a full week.
‘I’ll get there in four days.’
Gritting his molars, Leonard dug his heels into a horse already running at full speed.
He forgot all about Edward, who had collapsed into sleep like a man who’d been struck down.

* * *
A journey that should have taken a week, Leonard covered in a mere four days.
He lived on dried meat and snatched only an hour or two of sleep at a time. Each time, he dreamed nightmares.
‘It’s too late, Brother. Too late, too late…’
‘Still, thank you for doing everything you could for me. I was never lonely, because you were there. …Now, live your life for yourself.’
‘Have you heard? Lady Failton is dead.’
‘Lady Failton? Who’s that?’
‘Count Miles’ second son. That wretch who ruined the lives of every girl in the county who was said to be pretty.’
‘Ah… So that scoundrel went and beat his own wife to death?’
‘They say she took her own life, but who knows. Even if it was suicide, can you really call it that? Her husband choked the life out of her.’
On the first day, I dreamed of Zenis with her face drenched in tears. On the second day, I dreamed of people gossiping about her death.
And then, on the third night, Leonard dreamed of avenging Zenis. By his own reckoning, in a manner that was quite cruel.
Yet the anger that had not been resolved in the dream carried over, in full, to Leonard once he woke. He rode with his eyes gone wild.
At last he reached the Lord’s Manor, tumbled off his horse, and kicked the door open as he burst inside.
“Zenis! Zenis!”
As Leonard looked around for his sister, his eyes fell on a sight he could hardly believe.
Everything of value had been sold to pay down whatever debt they could, but the vases and furniture they had left behind, since it was still the Lord’s Manor and could not be left completely bare, had all vanished without a trace.
In their place stood damage. Proof that everything here had been smashed and broken.
At the sight of the clear signs that someone had run riot in this place, the color drained from Leonard’s face.
Just then, movement stirred from deeper within. Shaking water from his wet hands, the Chief Butler Thomson came hurrying outside.
“Oh my, my Lord!”
“Thomson! What has happened to the house? What on earth went on here?”
He had always kept his brown hair, streaked here and there with gray, neatly combed back. Today, though, as if he had no time to spare for such things, Thomson looked untidy not only in his hair but in the clothes he wore.
Leonard rushed to the visibly exhausted Thomson, grabbed his shoulders, and demanded at once.
“Where’s Zenis? Where is she now? She’s upstairs, isn’t she? Hm?”
“No, my Lady is not here at present.”
Over Thomson’s voice rose the echo of Zenis sobbing that it was too late.
Just as the world went dark before Leonard’s eyes and his grip began to fail,
“My Lady was taken away by a knight from the House of Blair.”
Leonard doubted his own ears.
“Taken away by whom? A knight from the House of Blair? Not that scoundrel from Miles?”
“How did you know that man had come here?”
At Thomson’s startled voice, Leonard’s heart sank with a jolt.
“He actually came here?”
“Yes. That madman… ahem, that man came claiming it was payment for the debt and tried to drag my Lady off by force. If Sir Hawk had not been here, we could never have stopped him.”
After four full days of riding like a madman, Leonard was a sorry sight to behold.
First, Thomson led him to the drawing room, gave him a warm cup of tea to settle his nerves, and told him what had happened here.

* * *
That gang of thugs barged in first thing in the morning, without a single word of notice beforehand.
If I had known they were coming, I would have spirited the young lady off somewhere else long ago… Come to think of it, they must have expected as much, which is why they stormed in without a word. Wretched scoundrels.
Whether they came from the Count Miles household or not, they’re uninvited guests, aren’t they? We never invited them, and they never said they were coming.
So it’s only natural the guards tried to stop them, but do you know what they did? They beat the guards senseless for daring to block their path.
Oh, you needn’t worry about them. They’re being treated and resting at home now. Sir Hawk paid for the treatment. Or rather, I was told Marquis Blair would be covering it.
Where was I? Ah, yes. Anyway, that young rascal behaved as though he’d made up his mind to be unreasonable.
Anyone who didn’t know the situation would have taken them for a band of ruffians. No, ruffians is exactly what they were. They barged in without a word and smashed a vase right away.
Crash! When the noise startled me into the first-floor lobby, the guards were lying sprawled across the floor. They had drawn their swords and were threatening our guards with them.
Yes, they had brought four brawny knights with them. No doubt they did it on purpose to frighten us.
In any case, I realized we were in serious trouble, so I told Lady Sara to go upstairs and get the young lady to safety right away. In the meantime, I meant to deal with them myself.
But, oh dear… At the sound of the vase shattering, the young lady came out to see what was happening.
Just thinking of that scene again brings tears to this old man’s eyes.
Even though those thugs must have frightened her, the young lady held herself with remarkable composure…

* * *
“What on earth is all this commotion?”
“Young lady!”
Seeing Zenis standing on the stairs with one hand gripping the railing, Thomson let out a low groan.
Harry, the young master of Count Miles, had been cackling over a sprig of lavender, asking where on earth such a flower had been plucked from. He raised his head and caught sight of Zenis.
“Hoo… So the rumors about her beauty were true.”
Harry tossed the lavender to the floor like so much trash and looked Zenis up and down from where she stood on the stairs.
“Though she’s wearing a shabby dress… she’s not half bad. Pleasant enough to look at, I suppose.”
It was a leer so unpleasant that the word “rude” seemed far too gentle to describe it.
The knights sniggered as Zenis’s face hardened.
“For a countess’s daughter, isn’t that dress rather threadbare? Tug it the wrong way and it’ll tear right off, I’d wager.”
“All the better! Or did she dress in that rag on purpose, expecting exactly that?”
Thomson clenched his fists as the thugs burst into laughter in unison, as though they’d rehearsed it.
Even Thomson, a mere servant, was trembling with humiliation at such insults. How must Zenis, the one being mocked, be feeling?
Yet Zenis pressed her lips together and held her ground.
“I wasn’t told that any guests were coming today. Thomson, have you been negligent in your reports?”
“N-no, my lady. Had any guest announced a visit today, we would have prepared a proper welcome.”
“Hmph! Does a creditor need to send word to his debtor before every visit? Surely you aren’t going to tell me the money isn’t ready!”
“Surely not? Even a five-year-old knows that borrowing money and failing to repay it is theft.”
At that, Thomson could no longer hold his tongue and stepped forward.
“My lord is currently away. If you would kindly announce your visit again at a later time…”
“Away? The repayment is due today, and he’s gone out? Has he fled because he has no way to pay?”
“Because today is the day it’s due. My brother has gone to Miles County to repay the debt. Had you sent word ahead, he would have received you here. Do you have some reason for sneaking in like thieves?”
“What? Thieves?”
While Thomson took grim satisfaction in Zenis’s blunt retort, the two knights, outraged at being called thieves, glared and stepped toward the staircase.
Thomson and Lady Sara lunged to block the stairs, just as Harry let out a snort meant to be heard.
“He went to Miles County to repay a debt? This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“Of course you haven’t! You must have left that place at least a week ago!”
“Speaking as though you saw it with your own eyes, are you? Well, for someone who looks as naive as you do, you’ve got a certain charm.”
Harry chuckled with his knights, his eyes brimming with spite.
“Where did your brother get the money to go repay it, then? Did thirty million rarc fall from the sky?”
For a moment, Zenis was at a loss for words.
“…That’s none of your concern.”
“None of my concern? Is that any way to speak to your creditor? I have every right to know where my money is!”
“The money belongs to your father, not to you!”
“What a pity. I’ve come here as my father’s proxy, you see. As a creditor, I am entitled to exercise every reasonable right against a debtor who refuses to repay. Now then. Hey.”
Harry jerked his chin toward Zenis, and the four knights advanced toward the staircase.
Thomson and Lady Sara flung their arms wide in alarm, blocking the stairs.

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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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