Please Repay Me with Marriage! - Chapter 35

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

Payment comes in the form of marriage, please!
Chapter 35
“Hey, Rodrigo.”
“…What? Hold on, who said you could sit down with us?”
Harry dropped into the empty chair before anyone could stop him, and Rodrigo, his face thick with displeasure, fired off a dismissal.
“We’re busy, so don’t bother us. Get lost.”
“R-right. We’ve got no business with you, so…”
“What am I supposed to do with you two? I’ve got business with you, though. Over here.”
Harry raised a hand, and a waiter hurried over. Harry turned to the nervous-eyed young man and spoke in a breezy tone.
“Do you have Snowl Wine in this establishment?”
“Huh? Ah, yes. But there are only two bottles left. It’s such a rare drink…”
“Bring both bottles. And four glasses to go with them.”
“Yes, please wait just a moment.”
The moment the waiter bowed and walked away, Rodrigo asked in a trembling voice.
“S-Snowl Wine, did you say?”
“Where would you get the money to order that pricey stuff? I heard your purse has been running rather thin lately…”
Harry was well aware that the blunt jab about having no money was meant to drive him away from this table.
So he smiled, broad and deliberate, as if to show it off.
“Ah, I came into a considerable sum recently. Treating old acquaintances to a bottle of Snowl Wine is hardly a challenge.”
At Harry’s swaggering tone, Rodrigo cleared his throat loudly.
“Hmph, hmph. Even so, I doubt you’ve earned as much as I have. Why, I just made three million rarc recently. Three million rarc!”
“Oh? Is that so?”
The waiter returned to the table carrying the two bottles of Snowl Wine. Harry took them from him and, pulling the cork himself, creased his eyes into a smile.
“Three million rarc, you say? I’d love to hear the details.”
This was three hours before he would lose not only the thirty million rarc but every last coin he had brought for travel expenses, and then be caught and arrested by knights who had come out to crack down on an illegal gambling den.

* * *
Weighed down by exhaustion, Leonard slept for an entire day. Thomson could not bring himself to wake the man who slept as if dead.
As a result, Leonard, who had slept crumpled on a sofa smaller than his own height, had to pound his stiff back and finish a belated meal and bath.
“Speaking of which, my lord, did you go and repay Count Miles?”
“Yes. I paid it all off. You needn’t worry about debts anymore.”
“That’s a relief… Then what about the thirty million rarc Sir Hawk handed over?”
“You said it was in a cheque, didn’t you? He’ll have to return it, since it’s money he can’t spend.”
Had it been in cash, that might have been another matter, but a cheque for thirty million rarc had no choice but to pass through a bank. That meant a record of the transaction would be left behind.
And Leonard had brought back a Debt Repayment Certificate. As long as there was clear proof that he had settled the debt with Count Miles, if Harry Miles spent that money, we would have grounds to bring charges against him.
No matter how much of a good-for-nothing wastrel Harry Miles was, surely he could see that much.
A million or two million rarc, perhaps, but thirty million rarc was too large a sum for even him to dare spend.
Unaware that at this very moment he had squandered his last stake at the gambling den, Leonard packed his belongings and mounted his horse.
“Then I’m leaving the manor in your hands.”
“Yes, my lord. Rest assured. …Though, if it’s no trouble, may this old servant ask you one question?”
“What question?”
Leonard had a fair idea of what he was going to ask, but he pretended not to know and rolled his eyes. Thomson smiled, as though he had already received an answer from that reaction.
“Congratulations on your marriage.”
“…That’s not a question.”
Leonard grumbled for no good reason, let out a long sigh, and rubbed the back of his neck. Then, as if he had only just remembered, he pulled out a money pouch and held it out to him.
“Put this toward repairs on the manor… And use whatever’s left to rehire the footmen and maids. You’re not young anymore, so don’t try to shoulder everything alone.”
“Are you truly sure that’s all right?”
At present, there were exactly two servants caring for the Lord’s Manor: Thomson, who had once been the head butler, and Lady Sara, who had been the head maid.
Everyone else had been dismissed. It was because there was no money to pay their wages.
Now that there were only two of them left, the titles of head butler and head maid had become meaningless, but back when the late Countess was alive, the staff who looked after this manor had easily numbered more than twenty.
It was only thanks to the mercenaries who lingered here like houseguests and pitched in with odd jobs that Thomson hadn’t long since been laid up with lumbago; without them, he would have collapsed from it ages ago.
“Oh, and this sword.”
He nearly forgot. Leonard unbuckled the sword at his waist and held it out to Thomson.
“Keep it safe for me again.”
“No, that sword has always been the symbol of the Count of Elpias. Unless it’s so worn that it’s no longer usable, my lord, please carry it yourself.”
“But…”
“The only reason I kept it stored apart all this time was that the late… ahem, the late Count never knew how to wield a sword. Besides.”
Thomson clasped Leonard’s hand, the one gripping the sword, tightly between both of his own.
“You were forced to sell the blade you used to favor just to pay off those debts. Please, at least use this one comfortably until you can have a new sword made.”
Leonard knew well enough what it was that Thomson truly wanted to say.
“I acknowledge you as the Count of Elpias.”
Only Zenis, Thomson, and Lady Sara knew about the contract between Leonard and the late Countess. As it happened, only those who knew the secret had remained in the Lord’s Manor.
Fearing that Leonard might change his mind and seize the Count Title, Thomson and Lady Sara had kept a wary eye on him all along.
Of course, Leonard knew this too. He had never bothered to insist on his sincerity, because in the end, he was the one who would leave this place.
A contract was a contract, after all. He had thought it made no difference whether they trusted him or not, but…
The way his chest stirred at the mere suggestion of Reize Messer suggested that he had, in truth, a longing to be recognized by the people here.
“Outside, you should call me Mother.”
“What? But…”
“I am the Countess of Elpias, and you are the Young Count of Elpias. Everyone in the world knows that. If you don’t call me that, what will people say?”
Yet Leonard had never once dared to address her that way.
Absentmindedly fiddling with the hilt of his old sword, Leonard nodded belatedly.
“Fine. If Thomson says so.”
“I’m certain Lady Zenis will be delighted as well.”
Leaving Thomson smiling warmly behind, Leonard set out from Elpias County.
It was only when he passed through the capital’s city gates that his face stiffened. He let out a low groan, wondering how on earth he could have forgotten this.
“Where is Edward… right now?”
They had gone together as far as Miles County, but he had rushed out the moment he heard that Harry Miles had gone to fetch Zenis, and in his haste he had forgotten to bring Edward along.
Even if he had been aware of Edward’s presence, he likely would have been too impatient to take him along. Still, he could at least have told him to go back to the capital first.
‘He must have come to the capital, right? Surely he’s not still in Miles County…’
Ha, no way.
…No way.
To Leonard’s considerable relief, after he had swallowed hard and braced himself, he spotted Edward bawling among the servants who had come out to meet them at the Marquis Residence’s front gate.
“How could you just leave me behind like that!”
“Sorry. I was in such a hurry I didn’t know what I was doing.”
“Do you have any idea what I went through, coming to the capital all by myself? You couldn’t even imagine it, Count!”
His voice dripped with grievance as he sniffled and made a show of weeping, as though to insist he wasn’t exaggerating.
Glancing at the dozens of servants lined up right beside them, Leonard patted Edward on the back.
“I’d have no excuse even if I had ten mouths, but… what on earth did you go through to get this plump?”
“Well, that’s…”
“I honestly can’t imagine it, so go on and explain.”
Dodging Leonard’s narrowed gaze, Edward looked up at the sky and began to whistle.
“Th-the sleeping arrangements suddenly changed, you see.”
“We prepared a plush bed for you to sleep soundly, with a goose-feather pillow, a soft quilt that wraps you up completely, a rich wine, and fragrant candles to help calm the mind and body.”
“And, uh, I’d lost my appetite from all the hardship.”
“We had specialty dishes flown in from various countries so you could find something to your taste.”
“Wh-when I’d been on horseback too long, my back and backside ached.”
“A professional masseur was at your service. Come to think of it, it’s almost time for your next massage, thirty minutes from now.”
Taking a small pocket watch from his jacket and checking it, Damond smiled faintly and spoke.
“…So he says.”
As if to ask whether he had anything else to say, Leonard stood askew with his arms folded.
Under the sharp prick of his stare on his cheek, Edward could only glare helplessly at Damond.
Damond, seemingly oblivious to that look, wore only an expression of quiet satisfaction, proud of how well he had looked after their guests.
“The Marquis instructed me most earnestly to see that the Consort-to-be’s guests lacked for nothing. The other guests have been treated with the utmost care as well, so you need not worry.”
“Y-yeah! It’s not just me who’s been living in the lap of luxury!”
Edward balled his fists and said it, and Leonard let out a bewildered laugh.
“Right, I suppose I’ve been living in a luxury I couldn’t even imagine.”
“No, honestly, it’s nothing for me! Compared to the bar tab Aunt Michel ran up while drinking-”
“Michel?”
The name was familiar, yet hearing it here was the last thing he expected, and one of Leonard’s eyebrows shot up.
“Michel is here? Surely the others are too?”
They say bad luck comes when you least expect it, and not only Michel but Hiss and Vin were all staying in this mansion.
And they were enjoying even greater luxury than Edward had.

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