Chapter 31 —
“Harry Miles ran away with the knights. In the end, he didn’t even say sorry, but the young lady looked very satisfied. That’s because Sir Hawk beat him up like shaking dust out of a blanket.”
“So… Jenny is safe?”
“Of course, of course! Madam Sarah went with her, so don’t worry. But Count, is it true that your wedding is in a month?”
“Ah… yeah, it turned out that way.”
Leonard nodded awkwardly. Thompson let out a relieved sigh.
“Hearing that makes me feel better. Even though the mercenaries guaranteed Sir Hawk’s identity, I still couldn’t believe it… But weren’t you supposed to go sell the Raise Messer? How did you end up proposing to the Marquess Blair?”
“I didn’t propose. I was the one who received the proposal.”
“What?”
Leonard added as if talking in his sleep.
“She gave me a dowry of 500 million Larc.”
“F-Five hundred million?!”
Thompson was so shocked it looked like his jaw might fall off. Leonard sighed. Honestly, he himself still couldn’t believe whether this was a dream or real.
“For now… I need to sleep. I’m too tired to think straight.”
“Oh, right. You do look really tired. Will you be okay without eating?”
“Forget food. I just need to sleep. Maybe I can think clearly afterward.”
Anyway, Janice was safe. That was enough. Now that he had confirmed that, maybe he could stop having nightmares.
Leonard didn’t even have the strength to reach his bed. He simply collapsed onto the sofa and closed his eyes.
He had slept less than 10 hours total over the last four days, so he quickly sank into a deep sleep.
As expected, he no longer dreamed about Janice dying. But instead, a new dream began.
In the Dream
In the past, many clients had confidently promised 100,000 or even a million Larc in contracts, but later pretended they never said it.
That’s likely why, centuries ago, Mercenary King Khan helped the first emperor build the empire. Thanks to that, even lowborn mercenaries could now accuse nobles—but corrupt judges usually sided with the ones who paid them under the table. So reporting them was often useless.
After seeing and experiencing all sorts of dirty, unfair situations, Leonard learned something:
“Fists are closer than the law.”
‘Boss, we caught Baron Schultz’s messenger. He was carrying a complaint against our mercenary group.’
‘What an idiot. If you’re going to bribe a judge, at least check who you’re dealing with… Just let him go. Give him our own complaint saying Schultz didn’t pay us either.’
‘Yes, boss!’
‘And stop calling me boss already.’
Sometimes Leonard wondered if he was leading a mercenary group or a gang of street thugs. Over half of the new recruits were former back-alley fighters.
Leonard walked down the hallway of Castle Schultz, brushing aside his messy silver hair.
‘Where’s the baron?’
‘Locked up in the bedroom. Along with the baroness.’
‘The baroness? I thought she was dead?’
‘That was the first wife. This new one was really pretty, so he paid a huge dowry to marry her. But he didn’t like that she wasn’t submissive, so he cast her aside after a year. Now she’s stuck in the back room.’
The servants’ story was tragic. She was stripped of all her rights as baroness and locked away, barely seeing daylight. Sometimes, the baron would go in with a whip to vent his anger.
‘Then why did you tie her up too?’
‘You told us to capture everyone in the castle, boss.’
‘You guys have no flexibility at all.’
What crime did this poor woman commit to be treated like this by her husband?
Leonard took a deep breath, suddenly reminded of his sister.
Janice.
With that name in his heart, Leonard kicked open the bedroom door.
He locked eyes with a woman tied to a chair. She weakly lifted her head. Her blue eyes looked completely empty, as if her soul had left her body.
Even though they were looking straight at each other, it didn’t feel like she was really seeing him.
And that’s when a strange thought crossed his mind:
“I want to be the one to fill those eyes.”
Meanwhile…
<From the capital to Shearer in one day—The Gretchen train opening in one month!>
<People gather at Gretchen Street—Blair Beauty Salon at the center!>
<The Marquess’ bold new launch—A whitening cream to brighten your face, coming soon!>
Most articles about Blair were of two kinds: about the railway project, or her beauty brand.
Irenea flipped through the last newspaper and frowned.
“Huh. It’s quieter than I expected. I thought I’d see headlines like ‘Marquess Blair Falls from Grace with Emperor.’”
Marquess Blair’s power came not from her wealth, but the emperor’s favor. Now that she’d fallen out of favor, it was the perfect chance for her enemies to attack her.
Surely the political vultures wouldn’t miss this chance?
Irenea lazily tossed the newspaper onto her cluttered desk. Cleaning up that mess was Kirie’s job.
“Well, being grounded for just one month before the wedding isn’t much of a punishment. It even gives me more time to prepare.”
“That’s true. You even canceled all your appointments using that as an excuse.”
“People probably wanted to use this chance to go after me, but I bet His Majesty blocked those articles. After all, the second prince was involved.”
“And the train opening is soon too.”
The railway was one of the emperor’s biggest national projects. Choosing the right place to build train stations took years.
Once trains run, travel time from far regions to the capital would shrink to just days—or even a single day.
It was both a blessing and a curse. Nobles would be easier for the emperor to monitor.
Of course, that made the emperor nervous too. What if someone filled a train with armed knights?
That’s why the emperor chose only nobles he trusted to host train stations.
But sadly, most nobles saw this not as an honor—but a threat.
They all politely declined, saying:
“Perhaps it’s better to prioritize poorer regions for such a large-scale project.”
The emperor wasn’t fooled. He knew they just didn’t want to give him an advantage.
That’s when Irenea stepped in and made a suggestion:
“Why not build the railway starting from our southern lands?”
“Yes. The emperor still wants the railway to start with Blair territory.”
Because once the station is built, the emperor can’t just abandon Blair. That would look suspicious.
People might say:
“See? The railway is just a way to spy on nobles!”
‘But give it a year, and they’ll all beg for train stations in their lands.’
Some nobles feared the emperor’s inspectors might suddenly show up in their estates.
But when the first train station opened in Wayndale, the area boomed like a second capital. Businesses, traders, and settlers rushed in.
‘If Duke Baldwin had just agreed, we’d have the railway by now. Foolish man!’
–Thud!
“Marquess?”
“Huh? Oh, I just had a bad thought.”
She had slammed her fist on the desk without realizing.
She quickly relaxed her hand and smiled at Kirie.
“That reminds me. We should be hearing from the Cleio branch soon.”
“Right. They’re not usually this quiet.”
From the moment she asked Sellen to set up the meeting with Leonard, preparations for the wedding had already begun.
And once Leonard accepted the proposal, Irenea sent out all the invitations—including one to her uncle, Count Calleo.
He was still pretending to be a kind uncle, and he would have no choice but to clap and smile at her wedding.
“Do you think he has a way to ruin my wedding?”
“He’ll probably try something with the groom.”
“Right. There’s nothing else left to do now that the wedding’s so close.”
But Irenea wasn’t worried at all about what her uncle might try.
‘Leonard would never break a promise. As long as I don’t betray him first, he won’t betray me.’
Still…
‘I hope he doesn’t stay loyal just because of duty. I hope it’s because he loves me.’
When she didn’t see him, it was easier to stay calm. But now that she had talked to him, her hidden desires grew stronger.
“I miss him…”
Kirie looked over as Irenea let out a deep sigh.
Just as she was about to ask something—
Knock knock.
Someone knocked on the door.
So now we have an idea of how they first met in the og timeline