For Sale: Male Lead, Obsession Included - Chapter 138

Just as Feyden was about to turn back with Truu, the rough voices of merchants who’d been drinking since broad daylight drifted over.

“No, so who the hell bought that haunted house?”

“Right? That’s what I want to know. Wasn’t that the one some greedy, potbellied count or something bought once, got burned, and immediately sold off?”

“Did you hear they couldn’t even find workers for the interior renovations, so the price got jacked up like crazy?”

“I really want to see the face of the person who bought that thing.”

Feyden was surprised.

It was because the strange news that the three-story building in front of the bridge, which had already been abandoned when he was born, had finally fallen into someone’s hands.

“You heard about that nameless rich person too, right? Apparently, except for that haunted house, someone’s been buying up all the buildings and land around here. That’s why land prices around here have skyrocketed! But the person who bought that haunted house won’t put it up for sale. They bought it for cheap, so why aren’t they selling it? If they put it up now, that nameless rich person would probably pay five times the price.”

“I heard the lady who owned that flower shop over there hit the jackpot because of it. Makes my stomach hurt.”

Hearing that all the land under Feyden’s feet and the surrounding shops were being bought up by a single anonymous rich person made his ears perk up.

This wasn’t some backwater village, it was the capital, Raptero. Even if it wasn’t an area where nobles lived, the prices wouldn’t be negligible.

One person buying up this many streets and shops?

Feyden had a hunch. Some high-ranking nobles, or people even higher up, were plotting something.

Whether it was a war breaking out, or a change in regime. It felt like the uneasy swell before a storm.

For the first time in a while, he thought he should go visit the information guild and shake down an informant for details.

An unnecessary sense of unease crept over him.

* * *

“Ah! Come on! Stop buying things so recklessly! This is really going to cause a huge problem!”

Watching Declan buy up land and buildings on the outskirts of the capital indiscriminately after putting up some nameless foreign noble as a proxy, Clovin felt murderous intent bubbling up inside him.

‘No, I told you to stop spoiling the brat by giving him so much allowance! Duke, seriously!’

Clovin wanted to grab that sly black cat by the scruff of the neck and dangle him up in the air. That cunning creature who didn’t spend a single coin of his allowance, saved it all obsessively, and then dumped it all in one go on buildings.

Interest from nobles who owned nearby land and from the Imperial Palace itself was pouring toward the proxy. Even though this was clearly a bad sign, that stubborn Declan didn’t care at all.

Clovin had asked the Duke to put a stop to his son’s behavior, but since it wasn’t a war and it wasn’t speculation, what was there to stop about using his saved allowance to buy a few buildings in the capital, so the Duke was simply standing by.

Don’t you realize the son you indulged is running wild right now?!

If real estate prices become unstable because of this, who do you expect to take responsibility!

It felt like Clovin was the only one going mad with frustration, while the two men with black hair and red eyes remained perfectly at ease.

Dezereth even laughed heartily and spouted nonsense like, does that land have a good view or something. He’s not buying it because of the view, he’s pressuring everything just to get that one haunted house, Duke.

And do you know this?

When Estira comes up to the capital later, it looks like he’s planning to transfer all the buildings and land he’s aggressively buying right now straight into Estira’s name, that’s how serious he is!

Clovin couldn’t bring up Estira to Dezereth.

If he knew that his son still remembered such a common woman and was going astray because of her, he would be deeply hurt.

With his health having worsened lately, the Duke had reduced his workload to less than half, and these days his only comfort was recuperating while watching his son grow so well. Clovin couldn’t bring himself to mention Estira.

Even if the one he served was Declan, the one Clovin truly pledged loyalty to was Dezereth.

“You saw it. Ribolto and Estira have absolutely no intention of selling that haunted house. Since they didn’t buy it to make money in the first place, they’re not going to put it up for sale.”

“Looks like it.”

Declan’s neat, simple reply.

Clovin grabbed the back of his neck and groaned as his blood pressure spiked.

“Find out quickly what’s planned to go into that building. If it’s shops, then we’ll wipe out all the surrounding shops. If it’s an inn, we’ll get rid of all the nearby inns. And if it’s a house for Estira to live in…”

“A house for her to live in…?”

“Then let’s turn everything into a garden.”

Clovin wanted to give up on hearing altogether.

Declan, who looked like he’d be driven mad with happiness planning every detail by hand for a grand and perfect first meeting with Estira, had lately been charging straight ahead like a racehorse that didn’t know how to stop.

Now… Really, now even I don’t know anymore.

With a heart that had reached enlightenment, Clovin nodded and stared blankly at the ‘Estira Welcome Plan’ list in his hands.