Chapter 92: A Man’s Troubles

Although I kept my guard, I still followed the woman’s steps.

“…. Tanya.”

Suddenly, she called a name into the empty air in front of her.

There’s no one….? Just as that thought appeared in my head, another woman seemingly materialized to her side.

“You called, missus?”

“Mm, please arrange for a doctor immediately.”

“That’s already been done. We are waiting for missus’ orders.”

“Ah, atta girl, Tanya…. Then, what do you want to do?”

The conversation was suddenly thrown at me. My only response was confusion.

“What I want to do, that means….”

“We’ve already made preparations, so the doctor may go to your little brother promptly. Now, you have two choices- either trust me and have Tanya bring the doctor to your brother’s side right now, or first come to my estate?”

My heart throbbed with a moment’s notice. To be honest, I didn’t want anything more than to have the doctor treat my brother.

…. But.

“…. Let’s go to your estate first.”

I picked the latter. Hearing my reply, the woman named Iris narrowed her eyes.

“Well, why is that?”

“I told you, I’m not naive enough to trust someone who popped out of nowhere. I’ll go to where you live, and properly discuss what you said. I’m not just going to give up my brother so easily.”

After I stated my thoughts boldly, she started to smile for some reason.

“That type of thinking isn’t bad…. If you change your mind, just tell me on the spot. Oh, and don’t worry about fees. It’s all on me.”

“…. I understand.”

Then, we started walking again. In a while, we arrived at the main street. She boarded a horse carriage parked on the side.

The carriage didn’t look like something for public use or for-rent, but rather her own property. And although it was furnished in a simple manner, anyone with a good eye would immediately see that its quality was high-class.

…. So maybe she wasn’t lying when she said she was the head of the Azuta Conglomerate.

As I brooded, she called my name, and I returned to my senses.

Mm, then…!

I steeled my will, and stepped on the carriage.

As we kept silence between us, the carriage traveled for around half an hour. I felt that we were at somewhere far away, and saw that we were already in the thickets of the aristocrats’ area.

Our cart entered a place that looked extravagant even in comparison to other high-class estates.

…. Ha? The horse carriage kept driving forward.

“Welcome to the Ducal House of the Armelia family.”

“…. Duke, sama?”

With her words, he felt another shock.

Back then, I thought that I would never even come close to someone like a Duke. I never anticipated such a situation.

“Well, come along in.”

I was ushered into the manor by the woman.

I believe it’s safe to say that if I were to walk back by myself, I wouldn’t even be able to find the gate. I would definitely get lost.

Before having everything taken away by “that person”, my past life was fairly well-off. But even so, I’ve never seen such a chateau like this.

At last, we walked into something that resembled a guest room.

Well, at least I wasn’t about to be shocked again anytime soon. I sat down in a chair.

“…. Have you calmed down?”

“Do you think that I have…. No, does the madam think that I have?”

Now that I’ve think about it, I’ve never really used any etiquette while speaking. If this were any other situation, I will probably be demanded an apology…. Well, if it does come to that, I’ll just deal with it.

This person probably still wants me to do something for her, so I probably won’t have to do anything now.

“You don’t have to forcibly change your tone and speaking, just learn slowly in the future.”

Although I did have that idea, I didn’t expect that not only did I not have to apologize, I was fine speaking the way I did.

Aristocrats typically don’t even see us civilians as people…. Rather more like ants.

Because of that, I thought that she couldn’t tolerate how I spoke with her.

“Ha….”

The evidence was that even though she said herself that it didn’t matter, the female servant behind her shot daggers at me from her eyes.

“…. Right, Tanya?”

But, she seemed to notice that, and directly spoke to her servant.

Because the master specifically says so, there’s no other way? The servant sighed.

“…. Yes, just as the miss says.”

“Then, let’s be generous of our words. The things I want you to do right now…. Aren’t much. To put bluntly, how about you learn the correct etiquette for your future job first?”

“… Ha?”

“From today on, you will work for my conglomerate as my hand. In return, we’ll help you get your revenge, and take care of your brother. That’s an exceptional deal, isn’t it?”

“Ah. This is too good to be true, so good that I’m getting really skeptical about any hidden fine print.”

“Hehehe…. What I wish is that you make good use of yourself after joining the Azuta Conglomerate. When that time comes, I will have instructions for you.”

“I have a hunch that those instructions will be quite daunting.”

Bread that falls out of the sky definitely has something hidden behind it…. I wonder what kind of instructions they will be.

“…. I am the leader of the Azuta Conglomerate, the daughter of the Ducal House of Armelia, as well as the Feudal Lord Representative of the Dukedom.”

Hearing her suddenly officially introducing herself made me shudder unwittingly. Before, I thought that nothing on this world will surprise me anymore. But listening to what she said, I really received a good shock.

Thinking again, it’s fairly clear already. Since she lives in this estate, she possesses Armelia Ducal blood.

But I never imagined that she would be in such a direct bloodline, and much less have the same authority as the Duke himself over this land.

Furthermore, the daughter of the Duke Armelia is the woman who was excommunicated by the Church a while ago, causing massive disturbances throughout the whole region.

“As for any future repercussions, I won’t be able to do anything strange or out-of-place. A part of that reason is because of my father, who is the Prime Minister. More importantly, I won’t be able to face the citizens of my fief…. And, if I’m planning anything in secret, I would rather hire someone more used to that field than you.”

Although I had questions about the first part of her explanation, I could accept the last part.

Indeed, she could easily find someone else more qualified to do those things.

“…. You’ve noticed, right? I was the one who was excommunicated back then.”

I found it hard to respond to that question. Seeing my silent expression, she started to laugh.

“I can tell the cat’s out of the bag from your reaction…. Any moves that I make, will be followed closely by everyone else. My status as an aristocrat makes it hard to get matters done. Because of that, I need you.”

After that, she roughly explained what the conglomerate wanted me to do upon recruitment.

So that’s what she meant by using my prestige and power. Strangely, I could accept her terms.

“…. Then, do you accept our offer? If you do, I’ll have the doctor properly treat your little brother.”

Just like that, I struck the deal with her.