Chapter 57: Repaying a Debt (2)

 “Do you really intend to fight the Hersher ducal family?”

 “If you’ve received a favor, isn’t it human to repay it?”

 After leaving the temple, he answered his subordinate’s question as if it were obvious.

 However, the expression of the subordinate who heard Bawin’s words wasn’t very good.

 Their opponent was the Hersher ducal family.

 Even though imperial power had strengthened and the nobility’s voice had weakened, they were still the strongest family after the emperor and the grand ducal family.

 It was completely different from when he had recently brought down Count Andrew’s family.

 “Still, this doesn’t seem right. Rather, wouldn’t it be better to betray Clea Odoi and side with the Hersher ducal family?”

 His subordinate’s suggestion was a good choice in terms of navigating the current situation.

 After all, the one with the bad reputation among people right now was Clea.

 But Bawin paid no attention to his subordinate’s words.

 “Are you telling me to serve someone who once aimed for my back?”

“That’s true, but…”

 When Bawin’s family was considerably shaken, he had already suspected there was a traitor inside.

 He became certain when he realized that confidential family matters that should never have been leaked were circulating outside.

 However, he couldn’t easily pinpoint who the traitor might be.

 Time was pressing, and if he couldn’t identify them quickly, his family would surely be ruined due to lost trust.

 It was in this desperate crisis that Clea’s one statement made all the difference.

 Her tip both pulled Bawin back from the edge of the cliff and simultaneously pushed him toward it.

 ‘She warned me to be careful of my fiancée, didn’t she.’

 At the time, it was such an unexpected warning that he dismissed it as nonsense.

 She had been his fiancée since childhood.

 They laughed, cried, and rejoiced together as they grew up, so he never thought she would betray the family.

 But once planted, the seed of doubt continued to grow. Eventually, concerned, he began following his fiancée.

 Even as he followed her, he thought it couldn’t be true, but the outcome was devastating.

 “After that incident, I stopped trusting anyone.”

 “Viscount.”

 “I don’t even trust you who stands beside me now.”

 His fiancée had been colluding with Count Andrew’s family, diverting vast amounts of wealth and confidential information.

 It was already too late to rectify the situation.

 Because of the betrayal by the person he trusted most, Bawin was mentally very shaken.

 He could have completely fallen into the abyss, but he didn’t give up.

 Instead, turning crisis into opportunity, he ultimately brought down the complacent Andrew family and reclaimed everything.

 Though he could have easily been promoted to count, he deliberately avoided it.

 Bawin was convinced that there must have been someone behind Count Andrew’s family.

 It seemed far-fetched that a mere count’s family, not particularly powerful, could have driven them to the edge of crisis.

 So he decided to lay low until he knew exactly who was behind it all.

 Throughout the process, he developed a distrust of people.

 Unable to trust anything, the smile completely disappeared from his lips.

 “But there’s one person I can trust.”

 “Is that the person you just met?”

 The person who saved him from crisis.

 Facing a desperate situation, Bawin had almost lost everything.

 In fact, toward the end, he had half given up, but everything changed with that one statement from Clea.

 He transformed from loser to winner and successfully protected everything he needed to protect.

 He intended to fully support Clea this time, starting with not being able to help her when she was in trouble.

 “And I had something to avenge against the Hersher family from the beginning.”

 “It could just be the desperate flailing of a dying man.”

 “He said it with his own mouth, so it’s somewhat believable, isn’t it?”

 He had faced Count Andrew one last time just before his death.

 After losing all his family’s wealth and everything else, the count had become very weak.

 Bawin thought he would have completely given up and begged for his life, but an unexpected name came from Count Andrew’s mouth.

 He said that Duke Hersher was behind him.

 Since then, the Lockin family had been secretly focused on uncovering everything about Duke Hersher.

 “If we’re discovered, it’s all over.”

 “If our family had merely been involved in money games, we would have been finished already.”

 Grit had disparaged the Lockin family as merely involved in money games, but they were secretly operating an enormous guild in the information sector.

 “So what do you intend to do? No matter how hard you try, bringing down a ducal family isn’t easy.”

 The subordinate still wanted him to give up.

 Fighting with a family of duke’s status could potentially cause great harm if things went wrong.

 But Bawin didn’t back down at all.

 Instead, he revealed his own method to his subordinate.

 “I’ll target the weakest and most incompetent part of the duke’s family.”

 “The weakest and most incompetent part?”

 Bawin brushed back his hair and smiled.

 It was better than when he had completely frozen because of his fiancée, but the subordinate who saw that smile somehow felt a chill.

 “You know how even that clever duke becomes completely emotional when it comes to matters related to his daughter.”

 “Surely not.”

 He checked his appearance in a portable mirror.

 “How do I look? Still presentable enough?”

 “Viscount, is what I’m thinking correct?”

 He was satisfied with his appearance, which, though somewhat neglected, was still presentable.

 The subordinate swallowed hard at the sight of Bawin with his blonde hair and sparkling purple eyes.

 Bawin said nothing after that.

 ‘This will be a good opportunity to see how desperately she likes the crown prince.’

 Bawin was in a very good mood at the thought of ruining the duke’s family through the lady who had grown up as the apple of her father’s eye and knew little of the world.

 “But how will you deal with the Odoi family?”

 “Is there any need to think about that?”

 In response to the question that followed after boarding the carriage, Bawin’s expression, which had been smiling until just now, turned cold.

 He couldn’t forget the appearance of the man who had recently visited his mansion.

 “They already seem to be pushed completely to the edge of the cliff, desperate.”

 “Indeed, from what I’ve learned, they haven’t been given funds from any place they’ve visited.”

 At his subordinate’s words, Bawin snorted.

 “Who would give them any? There are rumors circulating that they foolishly expanded their business by scraping together every penny they had and didn’t have, only to be abandoned by the grand ducal family.”

 Since what happened was within the Odoi ducal residence, Grit had been relieved.

 He thought he could somehow prevent news from leaking out under his control.

 In reality, the people in the Odoi mansion had been quietly silenced under Grit and Steve’s control.

 They didn’t want to lose their jobs either.

 But there was something Duke Odoi hadn’t anticipated at all.

 That people planted by Bawin were openly walking around in his mansion.

 “They’re the desperate ones now, so they’ll agree to whatever demands we make.”

 He said with a calm expression.

 “Approach them under a different family name and lend them money with this interest rate.”

 “Even though there’s a high probability we won’t get it back?”

 That was one of the most decisive reasons why Grit couldn’t borrow money. But Bawin appeared relaxed.

 “That much is fine, we’ll just write it off as a loss. And we can always gather more from elsewhere.”

 * * *

 “His Highness the Crown Prince is quite late.”

 “We’ll proceed with the penance regardless.”

 “If that’s what you wish, we should do so.”

 After exchanging glances with Hayden, Clea sighed.

 In truth, she too was curious about Edmund’s whereabouts.

 But with even Oberon absent, there was no way to find out his location.

 Still, at least she wasn’t completely alone.

 “I had a bad impression because of the nasty rumors circulating, but this is the worst. That young grand duke.”

 With Edmund absent, Ruphia was by her side.

 Having arrived late due to something happening on the way, she had been frowning ever since hearing about the situation from Hayden.

 “He’s your former fiancé, but is it alright if I criticize him?”

 “I don’t mind.”

 “He’s trash that can’t even be reused.”

 Hayden, listening to Ruphia’s words from the side, laughed out loud.

 Who would have thought that the marquis’s daughter from the Philip family would so openly criticize the young grand duke in front of the diocesan bishop?

 “I’ll soon need to find a marriage partner too, and if that person were to be matched with me, it would be truly dreadful.”

 In an era where it was considered natural for families of matching status to exchange marriage proposals, Ruphia’s concern was somewhat understandable.

 But Clea smiled at her and said,

 “You don’t need to worry about that. Anyway, Lloyd only has eyes for one person right now.”

 “That person doesn’t catch my eye either.”

 “Of course. Compared to Lloyd, you’re far too good for him.”

 “I’m honored that you would say so.”

 Clea wasn’t just saying empty words.

 In her view, Ruphia was much more valuable than Lloyd.

 It would be too wasteful for her, who would become an excellent talent in the future, to have someone like Lloyd as a husband.

 “Will you continue with the penance as planned even though His Highness the Crown Prince isn’t here?”

 In response to Ruphia’s question that changed the topic, Clea took a moment before answering.

 While Clea would prefer having Edmund by her side, his absence wasn’t a reason to postpone the penance.

 “He’ll be back by then.”

 Not knowing where he had gone, she decided to wait for Edmund until the start, thinking he would return soon.

 But Edmund didn’t appear by the time the penance began.