Chapter 51: More Important Than Money

‘You want me to promise you?’

Ian stared at the Duke and felt strange for a moment.

Of course, apart from the kind smile he had never seen before…

‘This is unlike Duke Garcia. If he comes out like this, did he know I would rather take Lavaltor’s hand?’

But despite Ian’s stare, the Duke smiled.

“If you won’t, I can’t help you, Your Highness.”

“Why? It wouldn’t be too difficult for Garcia.”

“Indeed, but it’s hard for you now, Prince.”

A smirk rose on Ian’s face as he figured out the meaning behind the friendly smile was to throw away Lavaltor quickly.

Hence, Ian nodded coolly.

“All right. I understand the intent of what the Duke is saying.”

Now that it had come to this, he would proceed with what he first thought.

As Ian turned around.

Garcia smiled as if he had predicted where Ian would go.

“I don’t recommend visiting Lavaltor. He is currently busy dealing with the barbarians in the North. And since he is a man of integrity, he spends his money on his soldiers, so he can’t afford to help the prince.”

Ian snorted.

Looks like the Duke was trying to stop him from going to Lavaltor.

‘He is the almighty duke. Even if his wealth is inferior to Garcia’s, there’s no way he can’t manage his annual capital.’

As Ian ignored him and was about to go back, Duke Garcia asked.

“Aren’t you going to visit Lavaltor?”

“No, I wasn’t going to visit Lavaltor from the beginning.”

“Yes? But…”

Ian looked at the Duke’s expression and raised the corners of his mouth.

“Who said that I can’t do anything without the help of the two dukes in the first place?”

“Hmm?”

Duke Garcia looked puzzled, but Ian only smiled.

It was natural.

‘It’s not hard to get money using my future knowledge. I just wanted to hide the use of that information.’

And from the beginning, Ian had no intention of borrowing money from Garcia.

He was just trying to get a noble to negotiate with the merchants to manage the funds. So, if even Garcia couldn’t, he wouldn’t try using the dukes.

However, it was unthinkable to get help from the Third Prince using connections.

‘As soon as I ask my brother for help, Father will take the Crystal Palace away.’

He would use him as the last resort.

In the first place, this test of wealth must have been intended to be conducted without the help of any existing guardian.

For that reason…

“Thank you for your hospitality, Duke Garcia. I will not forget the treatment I have received.”

“Prince?”

Ian added a word to Duke Garcia, who had a bewildered expression on his face.

“I have always wanted to do something significant for the Garcia family, but I guess it’s too bad for me.”

“!”

Duke Garcia raised his eyebrows as if asking him to elaborate, but Ian ignored him and soon returned to the castle.

Karan seemed to be taking in Ian’s countenance from behind.

“My father must have had a reason. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have dismissed it so coldly…”

“Yes, I figured that much.”

“!”

In fact, Ian knew about the Duke more than Karan.

Karan immediately said to Ian.

“Then, shall I go out and get some money first? We don’t have enough time, but if I stay up all night at the gambling house…”

“Good. Collect that money well and save it little by little. I will buy you some candy.”

“?!”

Ian immediately took out a list of nobles and a map.

And there was only one thing caught in Ian’s eyes.

‘What I need is people with resources or big merchants.’

There were some rising big names, but Ian couldn’t think of anyone to negotiate with in this situation.

The most important thing in a fight between nobles was force and wealth.

Due to that fact, his brothers had already taken all the cream of the crop that would be helpful for their financial power.

‘I am still trying to find evidence for the scented candle.’

Because of this, it was impossible to bail out the nobles. At least Ian had to choose the person who would betray him the least…

As Ian looked at the list and pondered about it.

Knock, knock, knock.

Galon entered with the knock.

“Your Highness, you have a guest. Someone wants to see you.”

“What? A guest but not a teacher?”

“Yes, it’s Countess Aria.”

The Aria family?

Ian immediately flipped a few pages of the list of nobles he had read.

‘As expected, there it is.’

The Aria family was one of the most wealthy factions after Garcia, a rich family who owned a huge merchant group and commodities.

But in Ian’s past, they used to fund the Third Prince.

As soon as he wondered why she would come to see him.

Woong!

Ian’s Faith began to hum.

***

Meanwhile, after Ian left. Duke Garcia was lost in thought inside his mansion’s study.

And toward him, Garcia’s eldest son Ulrich approached him.

“You didn’t support the Seventh Prince at your will, Father.”

Duke Garcia looked disapprovingly at his favorite child.

“Do you know why I have no choice but to do that?”

“Why do you have to ask, Father?”

The Garcia family was affluent, befitting the name Garcia of Gold.

But they had only one weakness.

“If we take action this time, the royal family will give us a hard time.”

“Exactly.”

The cost of the royal banquet was nothing to Garcia. They were also able to brush aside scandals by solving them with money.

But the problem was their relationship with the royal family.

In fact, Garcia had never provided financial resources to the royal family.

But what if Garcia’s money was to be used for royal events due to Ian’s work?

“I don’t know how that cunning King Eloin will come out of this. That wild beast has been targeting our family until now.”

In the future, Ian could have taken tests that needed wealth.

That way, no matter how much money Duke Garcia had, he would not be able to block the leak.

Of course, it would not falter the Garcia family that much, but there was no nobleman who liked unnecessary spending.

“It may have been aimed at our family’s wealth in the first place.”

He hadn’t given them any chance so far. If he supported Ian in earnest, the atmosphere would surely change.

Thus, Duke Garcia fell into thought.

‘But if the prince takes our hand, I would have given it away.’

And as if reading those eyes, Ulrich tilted his head.

“Wasn’t he a disposable card?”

Duke Garcia fell silent.

Ulrich chuckled at the rare response.

“Do you like him that much?”

“It’s because he is more valuable than I thought.”

Well, the Duke felt a little bit taken advantage of, and he was pissed off being on the same line as Lavaltor, but it wasn’t that bad.

There were benefits too.

“But… it’s not like us to just be treated like this.”

“You’re right, Father.”

He didn’t know what Ian was scheming, but Garcia was going to leave Ian alone this time.

‘It may be different for the prince, but Crystal Palace is an inconvenient palace that doesn’t even help our family.’

For a place that held the honor of being the king’s palace, Garcia’s loss was greater than the gain.

Therefore, he went straight to the palace with his eldest son.

It was to have an audience with King Eloin.

He already got a letter asking why Garcia didn’t help Ian.

And now they would declare that they would not help at all this time.

It was when they arrived at the main palace.

“Well well, isn’t that Duke Garcia?”

Someone stopped Garcia.

It was none other than Count Bondas. He was one of the people that usually followed Marquis Adelas. However, he seemed to look slightly excited.

“It seems that the Duke has also heard the news. What would you do? The Seventh Prince has chosen Lavaltor over Garcia, right?”

“…”

Duke Garcia’s eyes chilled at the count’s laugh.

‘You’re not even the almighty Lavaltor. How dare a mere count say such a thing to me like that?’

Regardless, the count believed that the throne of the First Princess he served was getting closer, and he was excitedly chatting with the Duke, whom he would not normally be able to.

“Besides, I think Crystal Palace will belong to our First Princess. It will be a big deal.”

At first, the Duke was just going to listen.

“After all, it seems that things without a root are a no-no. I never thought he would scurry to the Duke and beg him. But don’t worry. We knew that would happen, so we told you in advance. I wonder if the honorable Garcia family will help the Seventh Prince, who chose Lavaltor, who is like a thorn in their eyes.”

Judging from the situation, it seemed that the conversation with the king was already over.

But it didn’t matter.

“Is that so? A fool’s errand… I really like doing a fool’s errand.”

“Pardon me, Duke?”

“I’m talking about someone else’s fool’s errand.”

“Ha ha! You’ve got a good sense of humor.”

The count felt something uneasy, and his fingertips became cold. This feeling came from Duke Garcia who was obviously smiling, yet a bloody aura exuded from him.

Sure enough. At that moment, the Duke turned and spoke lightly.

“I changed my mind.”

Count Bondas shuddered in horror.

Perhaps… Did he pluck the tiger’s whiskers?

But when he turned around, Duke Garcia had a vicious smile.

“This time, I will help the prince and make him realize that he can’t do anything without Garcia.”

He’d better let the prince know that there was no room for independence.

***

But around the same time.

“Prince? What’s the matter?”

Ian paused the moment the guest arrived and hummed.

It was inevitable.

‘There’s only a limited number of people to which it reacts.’

Moreover, this sensation was definitely an aura he had felt a while ago.

For that reason, Ian immediately let the guest that Galon spoke of in.

But soon, Ian had no choice but to frown.

“Nice to meet you, Your Highness. I’m Countess Reese Aria.”

Unexpectedly, the guest who came in was a middle-aged lady Ian saw for the first time.

However, certainly responded to that Countess Aria. And above all else, Ian had felt the strange aura of that woman not long ago.

Thus, Ian drove out people around him first.

“Galon, I’d like to talk to her alone for a moment.”

“I can’t do that. In any case…”

“This is the royal castle. I will call you as soon as anything happens.”

Galon retreated immediately without a word as if he could not help it.

“Why doesn’t Young Master Karan go out?”

“What? Of course, I’m your servant.”

“Get out.”

“Yes…”

It seemed that Karan wanted to spy on why a noblewoman with wealth comparable to Garcia came to visit Ian. But it was out of the question.

Thud.

After the door closed.

Ian looked at Countess Aria and raised the corner of his mouth.

“Why don’t you show your face now?”

“What do you mean? I…”

“If you don’t like it, there is nothing I can do. I will just take this power instead of the scented candle.”

Right then.

Bang!

The gentle-looking countess sprang to her feet.

At the same time, she looked at Ian with furious eyes.

“Give me back my power! Who the hell are you?”

“Who do you mean, I’m the prince of this country. Why don’t you change back to your original appearance? Or I will call Sir Galon back.”

At that, Galon might have reminded her of what her henchmen had suffered.

Countess Aria peeled off her face skin in disconcertment.

Tuk!

Then, the middle-aged lady disappeared, and in an instant, the face of a beautiful woman Ian had recently seen in the slum showed up.

A young woman in her early 20s, she was the same merchant that Karan had introduced.

However, unlike then, she had no makeup on.

It must have been because she was wearing the skin on top of her real face.

The woman bit her lip and asked.

“How did you know it was me?”

“Before that, what happened to that face? How did you get through the royal guards?”

“Please answer my question first.”

“If you speak to a prince of a kingdom like that, you will be arrested. You won’t find your power anymore.”

Flinched at Ian’s words, the woman managed to suppress her anger and bowed her head calmly.

“It is made of human skin. If you wear magic tools and enter the royal castle, you will soon be found out.”

Ian’s expression changed drastically.

“We have a murderer here, so I will tell them to take you.”

“…W, what? No, wait, don’t get me wrong! I didn’t kill anyone, I just borrowed the skin of a dead man!”

Ian was immediately intrigued by the unexpected information as if he had never done so.

“Then with that, you can go into the royal castle as much as you want?”

Ian’s twinkling eyes made the woman dumbfounded.

“Is that important now?”

“For me…?”

“Sigh. Yes. With this alone, you can get through to some extent. Of course, the top-notch knights will find out sooner or later, but please return my power first! That’s mine!”

Apparently, she believed the lie to come to him if she wanted to regain her power.

‘Even so, I don’t know how to return it.’

But there was no reason to say it himself.

‘I called her because I was curious where she got that power from.’

And that wasn’t what mattered to Ian now in the first place.

“So, how are you related to the Aria family? Is it just a disguise?” n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“I have no obligation to answer.”

“Ha, I will just use this power well.”

“…I am the head of the Aria family.”

“!”

Ian was taken aback.

‘Was the head of the Aria family that kind of woman?’

Ian never recalled it.

And according to the information on the list of nobles and his memory, Countess Aria was a middle-aged woman.

Ian’s eyes darkened a bit.

“It’s not a lie, is it?”

“I don’t have the guts to tell lies in the royal castle.”

Ian smiled thinly.

‘If that’s true…’

Now, without the help of Duke Garcia, she could have been an excellent solution.

In the first place, if such a noblewoman became his power, Ian didn’t have to rely on Garcia.

And…

‘At that time, I didn’t realize it because of the makeup and dark underground lighting…’

Ian’s eyes became sharper when he saw the woman’s face without makeup.

She was quite a beauty, but now her appearance wasn’t important.

‘It is a familiar face no matter how I look at it.’

Someone’s face came to mind. It even looked like someone Ian met recently.

‘What’s she got to do with Line?’

The tactician Line who was with Mercenary King Gerard.

But it wasn’t him that mattered now.

“Are you listening? My power…”

“Oh, sure, Countess Aria. Then, in return for giving it back, could you lend me some money? Indefinitely, interest-free. No, for free.”

“???”

The woman’s expression was worth seeing.