Chapter 36
Viern clicked his tongue internally, downgrading his youngest brother’s evaluation yet again. The point was, until now, she had maintained an impenetrable wall against every man except him.
But now… seeing Diana laugh so openly and defenselessly with a man who was clearly showing romantic interest made him uneasy for no good reason. Watching Diana laugh and whisper into the Argel heir’s ear, he even regretted not just keeping that pathetic pervert Aisen by her side.
“Your Grace?”
The voice calling him snapped Viern back to attention.
“What were you thinking about?”
The man asking had a dignified presence. It was the Marquis of Silberk, Sophia’s father. A war hero who had led the vanguard in King Axion’s conquest wars, a pillar of the western region, and reportedly the wealthiest man in the kingdom, he rarely left his domain. He had come to the capital specifically to prepare for the upcoming engagement.
Viern found himself sitting at a table on the banquet hall’s second floor, mid-conversation with the Marquis.
“My apologies. I was just collecting my thoughts for a moment.”
Viern answered in a composed voice and tilted the glass in his hand. The sharp scent of alcohol burned down his throat.
“Ahem. Anyway, if the negotiations for the Aloa mine ownership aren’t settled properly, I’ll have no choice but to call off this marriage arrangement.”
“That would be most unfortunate. To bring that matter up again at this juncture leaves me with little room to act.”
Their engagement, from the very beginning, was not a union born of affection but a contractual alliance between houses, each pursuing its own gain. The fierce, behind-the-scenes struggle to extract the most from the other was set to continue right up until the wedding day.
“Little room to act?”
The Marquis scoffed.
“Living as long as I have, I’ve heard everything now. Even the great Duke of Erkman runs into things he can’t handle.”
“Father…”
Sophia, caught between them, looked at her father with an anxious face. Unlike him, she was more interested in securing her place as the mistress of the Ducal House than in her family’s gains. She had been on edge for a while, worried this arrangement might fall apart. In Laurelai society, breaking an engagement after the ceremony was difficult, but before that, it could be called off at any time.
“Now, now, Marquis Silberk.”
Viern let out a low chuckle as he refilled his empty glass.
“Just consider which side would lose more if the alliance between Erkman and Silberk were to dissolve.”
“Are you threatening me now?!”
The Marquis raised his voice sharply, feeling disrespected by a man young enough to be his son.
“Father…!”
Sophia, startled, grabbed his arm to dissuade him, but the furious Marquis shook her off, standing abruptly to glare at Viern.
“It seems this engagement is best forgotten. Get up, Sophia.”
“I have stated the Ducal House’s position. I trust you will make a wise judgment, Marquis.”
Viern raised his glass with a composed smile. The Marquis, glaring with icy eyes, finally huffed and left, taking Sophia with him.
‘What a troublesome nuisance, that greedy old man.’
While the Silberk house would lose more if the engagement were broken, the Erkman side would also forfeit something valuable. Particularly the western mines he had demanded from the Marquis… that place was…
‘So, Your Grace, if you ever gain power in the future, please, in my stead…’
The voice that suddenly surfaced in his mind made Viern’s expression turn placid as he became lost in thought.
‘I had hoped to secure it by peaceful means, if possible.’
The Marquis would likely back down and come crawling back soon enough. Still, for the sake of future dealings, it was necessary to establish a clear position of dominance from now on.
‘At dawn, I must order Eldman to set the tax office into motion first.’
Having finished mentally plotting how to pressure the Marquis’s house, he clicked his tongue lightly and downed the remaining liquor. As he felt the bitter alcohol burn down his throat, he glanced around absently—and froze.
Swish.
His expression, which had remained unflappable even while the red-faced Marquis raised his voice, hardened rigidly.
Diana was gone. And so was the man who should have been beside her. In the brief moment he had looked away, she and that man had vanished without a trace.
He shot to his feet and set out to find her. The argument with Marquis Silberk and the broken engagement were already forgotten.
“Have you seen Her Highness?”
“Um, wh-what? I, I haven’t…”
As he abruptly stopped a passing servant to ask, someone who knew her whereabouts fortunately appeared.
“Her Highness? She went towards the lounge area a short while ago with the heir of Marquis Argel.”
“The lounge…?”
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