TYPV l CH 26

Episode 26. I Said I’ll Pay It Back! (1)

“Hm? Yeshken?”

Giovanni frowned and set his teacup down.
He immediately thought of the recent grain deal with Yeshken—those clueless folks who just took what he offered without even haggling.

Normally, someone would try to get a discount by promising future benefits or ask for the goods first and say they’ll pay more later. That’s how it usually goes.

To be honest, even Giovanni had taken a loss on that deal.
With so much grain left over, what was he supposed to do with the rest? Storing it still cost money.

Maybe they managed to get a loan from somewhere.

He stroked his beard as he thought.
Yeshken couldn’t grow their own food. If they hadn’t gotten enough to survive the winter, it was no surprise they were desperate now.
Still—if they had more money, that made them paying customers.

“Connect the call.”

“Yes, my lord. But…”

The assistant glanced around the room.
He was hinting that it would be better if others left.
The sharp-witted retainers and attendants of Mantova quickly cleared the room.

Aurelio waited until everyone had left and then spoke.

“Father, may I handle this one?”

“You?”

“I think it’s time I gain more experience dealing with other lords.”

Giovanni thought it over.
Aurelio was already twenty-five. He’d been involved in internal affairs since he was fifteen, even if just in a supporting role—so that was ten years of experience.

It’s a good time to give him more practical training.

Some might think he was too old to just now be getting this experience—but actually, this wouldn’t be Aurelio’s first time.
Five years ago, when he was only twenty, he had a very rough start.

“……”

Giovanni frowned at the memory of Aurelio’s first deal.
It had been a disaster that went down in Mantova’s history books.
It took three whole years just to recover from the loss, and Aurelio had even faced serious doubts from vassal families about his fitness as heir.

“If you think I’m not ready, I’ll step back.”

Aurelio’s voice was downcast, assuming his father’s silence meant rejection.

But Giovanni, who deeply loved his son, softened quickly.
I can’t protect him forever. And it’s just Yeshken—we’re not talking about a difficult opponent.

He pictured Avalkin’s face, who was pretty much clueless about trade, and made up his mind.

“No. Go ahead and try. I’ll leave you to it—I need some rest anyway.”

“Thank you, Father!”

Giovanni left the room, wishing his son luck.
Even the smartest children get nervous under their parents’ eyes.

This is the start.

Left alone, Aurelio took a deep breath and picked up the tulip-shaped magic phone, one part for hearing and one for speaking.
When he was ready, he spoke confidently and politely.

“Thank you for waiting. This is Aurelio Desiderio de Mantova, heir to the Desiderio Duchy.”

“…Aurelio?”

But the voice on the other end didn’t belong to Avalkin.

A woman?

And not just any woman—

“Well, look at you, sounding all fine and dandy.”

The voice was sharp and slightly familiar, with that arrogant, condescending tone that acted like most of humanity was beneath her.

“Still holding on to the heir title? Impressive. Though honestly, Lord Giovanni’s soft approach to parenting isn’t anything new.”

She mocked people regardless of the situation—yes, there was only one person in the entire empire who talked like this.

“Belaxina Outbayan de Audiberti?”

Aurelio’s spine went cold.

“Y-You… why…?”

“What, you have turned into a stutterer since I last saw you? Poor thing. Lord Giovanni must be losing sleep over you.”

“Just answer me! How, why are you—weren’t you—!”

“Ruined?”

“Y-Yeah! You were ruined!”

Aurelio shouted, completely forgetting the basic manners expected of high-ranking nobles.
Meanwhile, Belaxina was already feeling triumphant.

This is even better than expected.

She thought she’d be dealing with Giovanni himself—but it was Aurelio?
She instantly changed her negotiation plan from “fair trade” to “take him for all he’s worth.”

“Geez, harsh. Am I not allowed to make a phone call just because I fell from grace?”

“That’s not the point! Why are you in Yeshken?”

“What do you mean, ‘why’? I’m the frontier lord’s wife—it’s natural that I’d help him with his work.”

At that, Belaxina placed her finger on her lips and glanced over at Avalkin with a warning look.

‘Keep your mouth shut.’

She mouthed the words silently. Avalkin, who had just been about to correct her for pretending to be his wife, bit his tongue and kept quiet.
They were on speaker mode so he couldn’t say anything without Aurelio hearing.

“…The frontier lord’s wife?”

Aurelio sounded completely baffled on the other end.

Belaxina gave a smug little laugh and said mockingly:

“Still making people repeat themselves? I told you not to do that—it makes you sound stupid. Remember? Five years ago, on Pearl Oyster Island.”

“Ghh!”

Aurelio let out a pained groan—like an old wound had been freshly reopened.

“You tricked me with that fake pearl oyster farm!”

Five years ago, Belaxina had spread a rumor that she bought a small uninhabited island as a vacation retreat. Then she leaked secret info to a few people—saying that the island was full of pearl oysters.

She even acted like she had no idea about it herself.
And young, inexperienced 20-year-old Aurelio had taken the bait.

He offered to buy the island at several times the price, thinking he was outsmarting her.

“Oh please. Who tricked who?”

Belaxina laughed.

He’d tried to secretly outwit her to steal a pearl oyster island, while she had planted glass beads underwater to look like pearls. Neither of them was innocent.

“It’s a misunderstanding, darling. I just thought glass beads would look pretty in the sea.”

“Misunderstanding?! You designed it to look like a pearl farm—how’s that a misunderstanding?! Grrr…!”

Aurelio’s chest burned with fury. His blood pressure spiked, and his neck stiffened.

But he had to hold it in.

I can’t blow this. I can’t disappoint Father again.

He had spent five long years quietly enduring it all to make up for that failure.
If he let Belaxina ruin this too, he might really lose his place as heir. He forced himself to stay calm, thinking of his clever younger sibling waiting in the wings.

“…I think we’ve reminisced enough.”

He finally managed a more composed tone.

“Before we begin negotiations, I’d like to confirm if you’re authorized to represent Yeshken.”

“I told you—I’m the frontier lord’s wife. Are you going deaf already? Poor Desiderio family—what a bleak future.”

“Thanks for the concern, but neither my hearing nor our family’s future is the problem here, Belaxina Outbayan. What’s in doubt is your credibility.”

Aurelio smiled coldly and threw his verbal dagger.

“Let’s be honest. What would a high noble like the frontier lord possibly gain from marrying a woman like you? All you’ve got is a foul temper, a bad reputation, and a worn-out engagement that you clung to until your youth passed you by.”

“Wha—what did you just say?!”

Now it was Belaxina who took the hit.
Everything else she could shrug off—but “a woman who clung to an old engagement and missed her prime”? That cut deep. Because it was true.

“Heh. Maybe you’re the one with hearing problems. Want me to repeat it?”

“Shut your mouth! Say one more word and I’ll kill you!”

Aurelio’s soft laughter echoed through the phone.
Belaxina trembled with rage, her fists clenched tight.

This is all Rudiger’s fault!

If that stupid, weak-willed prince hadn’t been seduced by that sly Irisril, if he hadn’t thrown away his noble fiancée like trash…
Belaxina would never have had to suffer this kind of insult from someone like Aurelio.

She made up her mind: she would earn mountains of gold and bring the imperial family to ruin.

But meanwhile, someone else in the room was having a very different kind of inner turmoil.

Aren’t they a little too familiar for two unmarried nobles?

Avalkin didn’t like it. Not one bit.
The way they shared private memories and traded insults like they’d known each other for years—it didn’t seem like a simple connection.

It can’t be… but they sound like bitter ex-lovers who still know each other too well.

No. That’s impossible.

Belaxina was once the crown prince’s fiancée. If she had been involved with another man, the scandal would’ve rocked the entire aristocracy.
Even Avalkin, who wasn’t exactly social, would’ve heard about something like that.

That made sense logically.

But still—

“Our tangled history…”

Tangled. Our. History.
There was nothing casual about those words. That’s not something you say to someone you barely know.

I don’t like this.

Avalkin frowned, unsure how to deal with this strange, unfamiliar feeling.
Why was he so irritated by Aurelio’s words?

“So if you really expect me to believe you’re the frontier lord’s wife, you’ll need to prove it.”

“Prove it? How dare you! Just the fact we’re calling from Yeshken’s line—!”

“Give me the receiver.”

Avalkin stepped in at last.

“My lady.”

Now was the time to interrupt.