I Snatched The Duke

Chapter 6. Meeting The Baron Couple(2)

“How can I help my brother?”

Eliana tried to feign composure but her expression hardened.

“To help Elbaut’s business, I would like you to speak well about him to the Duke.”

“……”

Eliana was speechless. No matter how much she thought about it, it shouldn’t be like this.

‘Isn’t it appropriate to ask me how I am?’

If this body is at least the couple’s daughter, shouldn’t they ask if her body is okay? Was she adjusting to the duchy just fine?

“Now that things have come to this, it wouldn’t be bad to run a distribution business with Southern specialties, not furs or jewelry.” [B]

“Oh, that’s right, honey. Pink pearls, blue corals, and salt from the South Sea would also be nice.” [BW]

The baroness chimed in, becoming more excited by the baron’s words.

“Not pearls or salt.” [B]

“Honey, what do you mean?” [BW]

“The biggest specialty of the South are not those, but the artillery produced by the Duchy of Atcher.” [B]

Taking the arms out of the Duchy of Atcher were prohibited without the permission of the emperor.

The baron was nonchalantly talking about words he would never have dared to say had the other person been the old duke, who was famous for having no blood nor tears.

“Tell the duke to grant us artillery distribution rights in the North.” [B]

“I don’t want to.”

As soon as the baron finished speaking, Eliana replied firmly. She scoffed as listening to them was quite ridiculous.

“Why should I?”

She had just been feeling that life in the virtual world was quite good. Eliana was clearly upset.

“Ho, you’ve become arrogant just because you became a prospective duchess.” [B]

The baron’s face turned red. She was a gentle daughter who only knew how to say ‘yes’. He never thought such a resolute refusal would come from her.

“Am I your real daughter?”

Eliana asked the baron, whose face was turning red with anger.

“Are you seriously asking that!” [B]

“Ellie, what are you saying!” [BW]

The baroness and his wife shouted at the same time upon hearing Eliana’s question.

“If I were your daughter, you should at least be concerned about me.”

Eliana said resignedly to the couple who had flushed faces. They were the kind of couple that would make a person completely sick of them within 5 minutes of meeting them.

“If you’ve said everything, I’ll get up first.” 

They may not have known about her attempt to kill herself by poison. However, she thought that they would at least be a little sorry for sending her here as if they had sold her. It was too high an expectation and a delusion.

Eliana stood up first. She no longer wanted to exchange words with the baron.

“See you on the wedding day, Father and Mother. Next time we see each other, I hope you won’t speak of such things.” 

She knew from years of part-time work experience. The answer to the ‘truth’ does not exist. The only right thing to do was to avoid ‘sh*t’.

“You insolent thing, sit down right now! I’m not done talking to you yet.” [B]

The baron shouted, his blood pressure rising at Eliana’s attitude of leaving her seat without his permission.

“Oh my, honey, calm down! Ellie, what’s wrong? Listen to your father.” [BW]

“Words have to be like words to be listened to.” [E]

Eliana let out a light sigh at the baroness’ fuss.

“What?!” [B]

Unable to bear it any longer, the baron sprang up boiling with rage.

“If you’ve already sold your daughter for a high price, live satisfied with it! Don’t ask for more.”

Eliana said, looking straight at the baron, whose red and purple veins were protruding. The original Eliana was already dead. She knew that if she didn’t draw a clear line here, she would be dragged around by them until the moment she logged out.

“You’ve truly gone insane!” [B]

Just at the time Eliana had finished speaking, the baron’s hand flashed upwards.

“You don’t even recognize my grace of raising you until now!” [B]

Even though he allowed her to become a duchess, she dared to rebel without acknowledging her origins. He had to fix her habits before her liver* came out of her stomach.

[T/N: Before she becomes too bold/arrogant.]

“Baron Aclera!”

Then, a loud shout stopped the baron’s hand. It was Mihalis—he had come close at some point.

“What’s going on here?”

Mihalis’ voice was cold as frost. His deep blue eyes were staring piercingly into the baron’s hand.

“Who are you?!”

The baron felt anxious at the sudden shout and stared at the man striding towards the tea table. His tall, well-trained body caught his eye.

Judging by the plain white shirt and the basic sword slung around his waist, he must be a common knight in the castle.

“This is a family matter, do not interfere and go on your way.”

How dare a knight employed by the duke’s house intervene in the hostess’ family affairs. The baron, who judged his identity by his attire, raised his voice.

“Duke?”

Stunned by his sudden appearance, Eliana said, one beat late.

She hadn’t seen him in over a month.

“Ahem, you’re my soon-to-be son-in-law.”

The baron flinched and lowered his hand when he heard Eliana. Since what part was he listening? Somehow feeling like he was being pricked for no reason, the baron coughed and said.

“It’s nice to meet you. I am Baron Hyton Aclera, who will become your father-in-law.”

“I am Barone…”

“Was it not enough?”

Mihalis abruptly cut off the baroness’ greeting.

“What do you mean?”

“A chest of gold bars, a chest of pink pearls, a chest of blue coral, and three wagons of salt.”

Mihalis coldly replied to the baron.

Only after his father passed away was he able to confirm the documents containing the list of gifts. To a poor baron in a corner of the North, the gifts that had been given were excessive.

“H-How could that be…”

The baron turned blue at Mihalis’ words and quickly hid his hand behind his back.

“Baron, do you know why our Ducal family sent a marriage proposal to your House?”

“That’s…”

At Mihalis’ words, the baron swallowed the answer that lingered in his mouth. Back when he thought that the other party was the old duke, he figured that his daughter’s appearance perfectly suited the duke’s taste, and that that was also the reason he refused a dowry and wanted to take her away in a hurry.

“…..”

But if the young duke had been the other person from the start, he had no idea why he sent a marriage proposal. The baron was speechless.

“If it was with high-nobles, our marriage would be considered an alliance. But what started as an alliance could end up in a misunderstanding that they were on equal footing with our duchy, and in the end, they will try to dip a hand in the duchy’s interests or intervene in our military authority.”

There would be no end to the sharing of interests, and if the ducal family was not strong enough, there would be a crack in their defense. The Duchy of Atcher was not weak enough to benefit from such a marriage.

Marriage was only a means to obtain a successor for the bloodline.

Rather than wasting time trying to keep the interference of the maternal relatives in check, they would rather choose a lowly family so that the intervention of the maternal relatives can be excluded. That was the simple strategy of the Duke of Atcher.

“Did you also just say artillery?”

There was anger in Mihalis’ voice. For someone who didn’t send a penny of dowry for his daughter, the baron was too greedy.

“No, that’s…”

The baron couldn’t even come up with an excuse.

“Can a baron or something of the like bear the weight of military authority?”

In order to maintain military power, astronomical military expenditures are required. The monopoly of salt and the exclusive development and monopoly of firearms were the privileges the Duchy of Atcher received in exchange for defending the empire.

“…..”

At Mihalis’ words, the baron had become speechless. The weight of the words ‘military authority’ was too great.

“Baron, if you are thinking about it, learn about the subject first.”

Mihalis said with raw disgust to the baron who couldn’t refute anything.

“If you can’t handle it, don’t even think about touching anything in the duchy.”

Mihalis’ gaze lingered on Eliana.

“Whether it’s a person or a thing.”

Mihalis seemed to know why Eliana looked like she was about to cry. It was a terrible familial relationship.

The anger that had been bound by reason was starting to leak out, bit by bit.

“Yes, yes, I understand…”

Having only lived as a merchant his whole life, the baron did not have the courage to endure the tenacity of Mihalis, who had been holding a real sword since he was seven years old.

“Son-in-law, oh no… Your Excellency the Duke.”

He thought he would be easy to handle because he was still young, but who knew he would be such a beast. When the baron met his bright blue eyes, the hairs all over his body stood on end and his body trembled involuntarily.

‘Crazy guy.’

Shameless fool. Mihalis swallowed curses at the sight of the baron and his wife trembling.

“If you intend to stay in the inner castle until the wedding, you must stay out of my sight.”

“Yes…yes!”

“Yes, I understand.”

The baron and his wife were frightened by Mihalis’ words that gave off a murderous aura and hunched over more than necessary.

“Get out of here.”

“Yes, yes!”

The baron couple went pale at Mihalis’ order then dashed out of the garden supporting each other as they ran away.

“…..”

Should she say thank you or be angry with him for insulting her family? Eliana stared at Mihalis in silence.

“Why are your clothes like that?”

As she was choosing what to say to him, Eliana’s heart shattered, embarrassed by Mihalis’ words.

“What about my clothes…?”

You’re criticizing my clothes in this situation? It was so out of the blue and embarrassing.

“It looks suffocating.”

Mihalis was upset with Eliana for no reason. He hated the clothes that were covering her neck in this heat. It reminded him of his mother, whom he could only remember faintly now.

“These are summer clothes in the North.”

‘I don’t have other clothes…’

Eliana didn’t wear this outfit because she liked it either. Inwardly, she had wanted to go shopping right away, but the money that the barony gave her as her last pocket money was just enough to cover Amy’s salary.

“Ha, I see.”

It looked like she was about to cry.

Mihalis sighed, seeing Eliana furrow her eyebrows as if she was angry. Still, her expression was much better than when she was with the baron.

“Then I’ll see you at the wedding.”

Mihalis said after staring at Eliana for a few seconds. Though the material looked thin, the clothes looked cramped. It was bittersweet to see her without a single basic accessory.

“Yes, I’ll see you at the wedding.”

Eliana stared at herself then at Mihalis’ back as he turned away from her. He helped her, criticized her clothes, then left.

‘What, did you come here to pick up a fight? You have such a weird personality.’

Eliana shook her head as she glared at the back of Mihalis, who was moving away from her.

***

“Gather the troops. We will be conducting impromptu naval exercises.”

Mihalis arrived at the third floor of the main building and opened the door to his deputy’s office.

“You mean now?”

Iadis, who was wrestling with the documents as usual, was dumbfounded.

“Duke. Your wedding is only three weeks away.”

Training at a time when he should be focusing on wedding preparations was impossible.

“Then just a week of naval training…”

“It’s a military command.”

“Yes! I will follow your orders.”

Iadis tried to persuade his master however, he had no choice but to obey the weight of the ‘military command’ without being able to continue talking.

“Convene within an hour.”

“Yes, I understand!”

After a short salute, Iadis ran out of the deputy’s office. Mihalis then walked past Iadis’ desk and opened the door behind it.

It was his private office.

The neatly organized office was filled with the faint smell of paper and ink. Mihalis then pulled the two ropes installed next to his desk at the same time.