The Heroines Are After My Fortune

39 – Hiding a Knife in a Smile

“This measure, is it not… excessive, Marquis Este!”

An urgent gathering of the Noble Faction,

One of its members, the head of the Count Johe family, slammed a fist on the table, rebelling.

Truly, bad luck had it, the man whose arm Raphael had severed during the protest in front of his manor was the son of Count Johe, a core member of the same Noble Faction. He was said to have been a promising talent, gifted with exceptional swordsmanship. Marquis Raphael’s head throbbed.

The Count insisted it was but a youthful lapse, an immersion in a character from some moving picture, no reason for an arm to be cut off. Yet, the surface matter was this: due to a lack of personal control, he’d made a cripple out of a Noble Faction heir.

‘…Originally, a beheading wouldn’t be out of place, wouldn’t it?’

The Marquis’s irritation swelled, but he suppressed it hard.

He could not afford to utter words that would fracture the Noble Faction’s bond.

Not until he ascended to the top of the faction and controlled them could he create needless trouble.

“My apologies, I sincerely do.”

“………Kheh.”

With Marquis Raphael, superior in both position and power, having apologized, Count Johe was in an awkward position to further rage, so he conceded, albeit reluctantly. With matters roughly settled, the talk moved on to the next agenda.

“This incident has significantly damaged your image, Raphael. Certain media outlets backed by the Imperial Faction, having seized this as a juicy bit, are running wild.”

“The cause of all this is, after all….”

“Raphael, it’s that Baron of yours, the one who calls himself your son-in-law, and his moving pictures.”

“Perhaps… is that man a pawn of the Imperial Faction?”

“………….”

Raphael pondered.

Was it possible that Aiden Roen had intentionally orchestrated this affair?

A day prior, at the Este family manor.

“Kuh… I didn’t know! I never thought things would blow up like this…!”

Aiden, his face etched with injustice, bowed his head. The Marquis’s expression, as he looked at him, was icily cold.

“You postponed the wedding date, poured in an atrocious sum of money, and yet you claim you didn’t think things would turn out this way? Do you really think that makes any sense?”

Aiden trembled under the Marquis’s fury.

He immediately launched into a desperate explanation, as if it were all a complete misunderstanding.

“Please believe me! From the start, my hands were already full with the running of the trading house, there was no way I could have become deeply involved with the film…! All I instructed was ‘what could make us money’!”

“Make money…? For example?”

“First, to cast Miss Renée as the lead actress. This, aside from the money, was also driven by my personal vanity and desire to show off. It’s a shameful thing to admit.”

An actress, who set the Empire abuzz, becoming my wife?

It was a justification that, more or less, made sense.

“Second, to utilize the new color technology developed at my theater. Third, to feature the Van Gogh paintings I recently purchased in the film! All of them benefit me financially and in terms of reputation. The rest, I gave complete authority to the director, but I never imagined things would escalate like this…”

“Hmm….”

It certainly sounded plausible, on the surface.

But that “complete authority” he gave to the director is what had blown things out of proportion.

The plot, a ‘forbidden love’ painted so beautifully, had caused people to develop an aversion to the norms of reality, and the public’s expectation – that the Este Marquis, a house more powerful than the fictional Count in the film, would surely protect his daughter – being betrayed, was the core of this whole mess.

Just as the Marquis was about to question something, Aiden, looking utterly dejected, continued his lament, as if he wasn’t finished.

“From the start, I myself have been receiving a barrage of criticism. Most of our business is conducted under the name of the Loen family, so the trading house’s income is also suffering. If things continue like this, we may soon be stripped of our status as one of the Empire’s four great trading houses. Why on earth would I knowingly take such a loss and do something like this…!”

“………”

The Marquis, seemingly finding his explanation reasonably sound, silently stroked his chin.

But it was all a lie.

Far from being stripped of the four merchant guilds, he was on the verge of becoming the overwhelming number one.

His newly built theater, the Roen Theater, was booming every day, tickets nearly impossible to come by.

Some were suspicious because the theater itself was named ‘Roen,’ but in the end, the cheapest place to see a movie was Roen Cinema, and the only place to see it in color was also Roen Cinema, so people, despite their own contradictions, ultimately headed for Roen Theater.

It didn’t stop there.

The restaurants of his affiliated companies, featured in the movie, were so popular with people wanting to try the food Luna ate that reservations were hard to get, and the art galleries where his paintings were exhibited were so packed it was difficult just to move through.

In the first place, the rest of his businesses weren’t aimed at the general public, so even if his reputation took a small hit in the newspapers, it didn’t matter much.

But what could be done?

The Marquis couldn’t look at the ledgers to see how all of Aiden’s businesses were operating.

In the end, the Marquis had no choice but to admit to a certain extent,

that Aiden had not intentionally caused the incident.

####

“No, Baron Aiden Roen is not involved in the series of incidents. Everything was just coincidence.”

The aristocratic faction members wore sullen expressions at Marquis Raphael’s words.

“Ahem, well then, that’s fortunate, but wouldn’t we still need to do that?”

“What do you mean?”

“The engagement, of course…! From the start, wasn’t this whole thing caused by the son-in-law causing trouble, leading to absurd attacks saying ‘you were blinded by money’!”

“That’s right! He’s just a nouveau riche family that doesn’t even match your status. Break off the engagement immediately and restore your prestige…”

“That cannot be.”

““……………?!””

A stark refusal, and the room’s occupants startled back.

“What is the reason?”

“…Is it not a noble’s duty to uphold a promise once made?”

Of course, he couldn’t speak of the demon’s contract.

Most in the room knew that ‘Raphael Este’ was far from a paragon of nobility, and their eyes said, ‘It’s about the money, after all…’ For him, that was a preferable assumption.

“If your refusal to break this marriage harms our noble faction…”

“We cannot idly wait for your reputation to return to its normal course.”

Worst case, they were hinting at expulsion from this inner circle of pureblood nobles who held the Empire’s strings.

That was unacceptable. Raphael was to soon claim Grandmaster status via the demon’s power, to seize control of this gathering, to shape it as he pleased.

“Do not fret. In a week, all will be settled.”

Marquis Raphael spoke with finality.

The schedule was a bit hastened, but that was of little consequence.

####

The day after the meeting,

the Marquis summoned Aiden again.

“Have you come to love Renée?”

“……Huh?”

*This* was what he’d been summoned to hear?

Aiden let out a confused sound at the Marquis’s question.

“I asked if you love Renée. Is that not what you professed when demanding one hundred days?”

Aiden pondered.

What answer to give here?

‘First, buy more time.’

Time, the more the better.

Time for Luke to invent his winning move,

Time for me to train with the Egosword,

Time to strengthen the link with Caesar,

Power-up factors littered everywhere.

“Yes, I love her….”

“But?”

“It seems, however, that Miss Renee does not feel the same. Lately, she has been avoiding our meetings. Were you aware of this?”

“………?!”

The Marquis was taken aback by Aiden’s words.

Truth be told, he’d anticipated variables springing from the lad before him, not from his own daughter.

Lately, he’d vaguely heard that his daughter, Renee, had been citing her schedule, rarely coming home, and spending her nights at hotels.

For the current situation, this was no good sign for the Marquis.

Naturally, one suspicion arose.

‘Renee, has she figured something out?’

He considered the possibility that she had discovered something about the demon’s sacrifice, but those in the family who knew the truth of ‘that matter’ were supposed to be dead.

‘No, isn’t that Caesar still alive?’

I often rue the day, in some fit of senseless whim, I only hacked off Caesar’s right arm and let him live. I’ve been digging for information on him ever since, hearing tell he’s scraping by in the outer reaches, taking on jobs under the name of ‘Shadow King’.

‘…But that cur can’t touch me.’

I haven’t fully unmasked him yet, but I know he has a daughter. It’s hard to swallow he’d be hiding in the shadows for the sake of a child, only to come at me now. And it’s just as difficult to believe Rhena, who’s lived her whole life amongst the nobles, would suddenly have dealings with him. Not impossible, but the odds are near zero.

‘Is he scheming something with that Aiden b*stard? Or is it just some shift in public favor?’

As the Marquess followed the path to an answer, a sudden truth struck him.

Truth was, it didn’t matter to the Marquess one way or the other.

The end was the same anyway— they’d all die.

“It’s a settled marriage, what’s there to fret over? In a week, I’ll bring Rhena to your mansion. No matter how she wriggles, she’ll have to obey the head of the house’s order.”

“Oh, then I shall make grand preparations that day…”

“And that night, take Rhena, make her yours.”

“…………!”

Aiden froze.

Is this the sort of thing a father says?

The shock was brief, his mind spinning to the core of those brutal words, and only one conclusion came to mind.

‘…That b*stard intends to kill me before the ceremony even takes place.’

The Marquess, no doubt, figures he’d put the blame on Aiden, saying he was driven to rage by the wedding’s cancellation and tried to rape Rhena, forcing him to cut Aiden down.

This is a mess. His words about ‘her avoiding me’, meant to buy time, had instead shortened it.

“What’s the problem? Weren’t you going to become husband and wife anyway?”

“You’re right. No problem at all. I was just surprised, assuming that it would occur after the ceremony.”

He smiled, teeth grinding on the inside.

Ultimately, the reason things escalated to this extreme was to seize ‘that’. Aiden, having no other choice, produced the bait he’d promised.

“Then I shall prepare the dowry, as we discussed.”

“…Ah, that was it. I shall gratefully receive it.”

The Marquis spoke absentmindedly, as if he’d forgotten.

He couldn’t contain his anticipation for a week from now.

‘Aiden Loen, after I acquire that damned devil contract, I shall personally sever your arrogant neck.’

One plotted to silence his counterpart after obtaining what he desired,

‘That b*stard devil, I’ll see to it that you meet your end, no matter the cost.’

The other harbored the thought of utterly dismantling his rival with a carefully prepared trap.

Amidst this discord of dreams, Marquis Raphael and Aiden,

their story was now hurtling toward its final act.