Chapter 150: The Black Lion War (2)

The second son of the Gold Morning Company joined us at the table.

He was the current division head of the third-largest media conglomerate in the business world.

He had even outperformed his elder brother, forming his own faction of executives and employees within the company.

The guy envied me for being close to the Saint and the Grand Duke’s daughter, but I doubted he realized that he himself was quite the capable figure.

Unlike me, he also came from a prestigious family.

Even if I were to be promoted to baron, my lack of noble lineage made it impossible, but for a man from an old, noble family like him, there was nothing strange about engaging in marriage talks with anyone of status.

“He’s a good friend. In fact, he’s considered the most likely candidate to be the next president of Gold Morning.”

“I think I’ve heard that before.”

Freya looked between me and Mansachs with a mature gaze.

Unlike me, who looked straight into her delicate eyes, he kept glancing away from her beautiful gaze.

‘At times like this, he really did act like a bashful kid.’

“Hm—.”

Freya gracefully brushed aside her silver hair.

Then, as she studied the young man with short blond hair more closely, she began to question him.

She wanted to test whether this man could play a key role in the internal strife of the Daily Times.

“But doesn’t the House of Mansachs already have an elder son? By rights, he should be the one to inherit the presidency, shouldn’t he?”

I was about to answer,

but Freya’s eyes told me she preferred to hear it directly from him.

“That’s correct. At present, my brother and I are competing in terms of performance.”

Mansachs spoke up on his own.

Fortunately, as soon as the conversation shifted to business, his awkwardness vanished, and he returned to his usual composed self.

“However, starting from the first half of this year, my results have far surpassed his.”

He had dominated academy clubs since childhood and even managed to win over reporters from the main office during his student days…

With a firm tone and expression, he continued.

“Well, I must admit, this friend’s help played a big part.”

“I only gave you a few tips. You’re the one who turned the information into results.”

When Mansachs placed his hand on my shoulder, I simply shrugged, as if it were nothing.

“Most of the key executives at the head office have already started siding with me.”

“Hm—. Still, there must have been those who followed your brother. You didn’t use any… other means, did you?”

Like a mother—or perhaps an elder sister—Freya easily read the heart of the twenty-year-old before her.

With a queen’s composed smile, she asked again, and Mansachs blinked his large, puppy-like eyes.

“Well, I suppose there were… a few.”

“I’m curious about those ‘means.’ I’d like to hear how our young Lord Mansachs managed to surpass the family’s rightful successor.”

Freya herself was someone fighting against her own elder brother.

It was clear she wanted to see whether Mansachs could truly be of use to her.

“That is…”

The young blond man hesitated for a moment.

He looked at me for permission to speak, and when I nodded, his once bright, eager eyes suddenly turned sharp.

“To be honest, it wasn’t much.”

Like Freya, he lifted his gaze sharply and began to speak.

“I caught my brother hosting a private party with three young ladies while already betrothed through a political engagement.”

He looked as if just recalling that moment amused him.

It was as though he had felt a twisted thrill from biting into the weakness of his own family.

“I watched him alone for two months without any attendants, just to capture that scene. Once I had the evidence, I sent it to my close friend—the second son of the Daily Times.”

“So, you used a rival company to eliminate your political opponent?”

Freya looked at him with satisfaction, admiring his willingness to use any means necessary to achieve his goal.

Mansachs let out a faint chuckle and took a light sip of his wine.

“Well, it’s all about mutual benefit, isn’t it? Especially between second sons—we tend to understand each other quite well.”

The Daily Times itself was divided, with the second son and daughter competing for the presidency.

The daughter was married to Archduke Eric of the North, while the son maintained a close alliance with the next president of Gold Morning.

Freya instantly realized that if she sided with the second son and Mansachs, she could effectively check the dominance of the elder brother’s media control.

“Hm—. I think I understand now why you invited Lord Mansachs here, Roger.”

The eldest daughter of the Grand Duke of the North crossed her arms.

With her mature figure and piercing gaze, she looked at me with the commanding presence of a queen.

“As expected, you really are a sly, foxlike man.”

“I merely wanted to introduce a reliable friend of mine.”

I smiled easily and filled her glass.

Then, rising from my seat, I spoke casually.

“I think the wine’s getting to me a bit, so I’ll step out for some air. You all should take this chance to get acquainted.”

Mansachs stared blankly at me as I subtly made my escape—like a puppy watching a fox slip out of the trap it had led him into.

“Hey, where are you going…!!”

He called out in a small voice.

Freya, reading even that small trace of emotion, refilled his glass herself and caught his gaze.

“I’d like to hear a bit more about that story. Did you really go undercover all by yourself for that long?”

“Ah… yes. I did.”

‘You’d better thank me later, you idiot.’

With a grim look, I left him behind.

After lightly straightening my collar, I headed toward the outdoor terrace near the hotel restaurant.

――――――.

“……”

Outside, the streets were crowded with people.

Families and lovers walked together, arms full of gifts and bouquets, faces glowing with happiness.

“The world’s strange sometimes.”

I had improved Old Luton for the sake of expanding my own assets.

And yet, the people of the city looked far happier than I did.

Of course, it wasn’t that I was dissatisfied with my life.

I had escaped from the Grand Duke’s northern house, avoided a meaningless death, and soon enough…

Because once I became a baron, I would be able to restore my family’s honor.

“Just one more step.”

Still, something lingered in my mind.

Since Echina had joined the family business, the eldest son, Eric, had begun expanding his influence even more aggressively than he had in my past life.

Perhaps I had simply forced Echina to shoulder the fate that had once burdened me.

Living leisurely while leaving behind the only woman who had ever called me family and shed tears for me—

It didn’t sit right with me.

“……”

I closed my eyes slowly.

Listening to the laughter of the townspeople around me, I sank quietly into thought.

Then. At that moment—

“Roger.”

A familiar voice spoke beside me.

“You still haven’t sobered up, have you?”

It was the voice from those days when someone had cried for my sake—so familiar, so gentle.

But this wasn’t that time anymore… was it?

Puzzled, I slowly opened my eyes.

And there she was, standing beside me.

“Your face is red. So you’re weak with alcohol, huh?”

“Ah, yes… actually, I get sleepy even after just one bottle.”

A cool autumn breeze drifted by.

The wind brushed softly through her long, dark hair.

“I see.”

Echina slowly tucked her fluttering hair behind her ear.

Then, with a face as pale and pure as snow, she gazed out at the citizens on the street—just like I did.

“Have you visited your family home yet?”

“If you mean the main estate, not yet. There were things I needed to handle first.”

I had been quite busy rebuilding the family.

From the capital to the western region, and now back to the north—

A life completely opposite from my old days as a mere chief secretary confined to the mansion.

‘Though from now on, I’ll be staying here in Nord for good.’

“Your father must be waiting for you.”

Father.

When that word came out of Echina’s mouth, it stirred something strange in me.

In my past life, I hadn’t even thought of the Grand Duke of the North as family.

Yet now, she was the one to speak of him first.

That was a good sign.

“My father’s the kind of man who thinks no news is good news.”

I smiled in satisfaction and placed my hand on the railing.

Then, taking a deep breath, I savored the air of Nord.

“I used to think all fathers were like that.”

Echina placed her hand on the railing as I did.

Then she rested her other hand there too, leaning against it more comfortably.

“But I’ve realized they’re warmer than I thought.”

The Grand Duke’s daughter seemed to be starting to understand Duke Luton’s heart a little more now.

Once, her gaze had always been as cold as the northern mountains, but now—at twenty-one—she was finally becoming more like a young woman.

I could feel a trace of warmth in her.

“Especially when I visited your house last time—I realized it then.”

That memory was still vivid in my mind.

When I woke up that morning…

The Saint, the Western Grand Duke’s daughter, and finally Echina herself had all entered my house.

My father’s face at that moment—

It had truly been something to see.

“When I saw your father that day, I could tell he was a truly warm person.”

“How did you come to feel that way?”

The Grand Duke’s daughter’s long eyelashes fluttered softly.

Then, in a quiet voice, she explained what made her think so.

“You might not know this, but whenever I visited, the fathers of all those sons would always have a strange sense of expectation.”

I couldn’t blame them.

On the surface, the Grand Duke’s daughter appeared cold and distant, yet she carried the image of a pure and noble knight—

A flawless ideal of womanhood, untouched by frivolity or idleness.

And as the daughter of the greatest house in the North, she was someone every father would covet for his son.

“But your father was different.”

Echina turned her head and looked at me quietly.

The sun hung low over the horizon, dripping molten red light across the sky.

Her once-pale face was bathed in its glow, and her golden eyes had turned a vivid shade of scarlet.

That color burned like a living flame.

“When he met me, he thought that you—being from a comparatively modest bloodline—would suffer if we were to be together.”

“How could someone like me possibly hope to be with the Grand Duke’s daughter?”

A helpless laugh escaped me.

I let out a small chuckle and waved my hand dismissively.

But at that very moment—

“……!”

Echina gently caught my hand mid-motion.

And right then, I felt it.

“There’s nothing impossible, is there?”

The hand that had once felt cold during my early days after returning in time—

now overflowed with warmth, like the glow of sunset.

“I’m the Grand Duke’s daughter, after all.”

Though not the eldest, she was still called the Grand Duke’s daughter.

For the first time in her life, she smiled at me—

a soft, enchanting smile unlike anything she had ever shown before.

“If I want something, anything is possible.”

‘Was Echina ever like this before?’

My lips parted slightly, stunned by the subtle change in her aura.

Then, the Grand Duke’s daughter rose on her toes and leaned close to my ear.

“……”

With a faint, sweet scent, she whispered—

“See me after the battle for succession is over, Roger.”

Leaving only those words behind, the Grand Duke’s daughter slowly brushed past me.

Then, gathering her fluttering hair, she turned slightly to glance back.

“Because I won’t be this lenient next time.”

I stared blankly at Echina as she walked back toward the restaurant.

Then, I slowly placed my hand on the side of my neck—

the very spot her breath had touched.

It still felt as if her warmth and that faint sweetness lingered there.

“It feels like everything’s changing…”

It wasn’t just my future that had begun to shift.

Everyone around me was changing too.

‘Still, I suppose it’s a relief that none of it seems to be for the worse…’

After hearing Echina’s words, my mind felt strangely clear.

Thanks to her, I was able to organize my next steps quickly.

How to deal with Eric—the root of all evil.

“First, I’ll need to meet Mansachs’s father.”

Terry Mansachs.

He was the father of my reliable ally, Aiden Mansachs, and the founding president of Gold Morning.

As of now, he had not yet aligned himself with the Imperial family or the nobles.

Ten years later, he would eventually yield to their pressure and join their ranks…

But this time, I intended to change that.

“Well then, shall I head back in?”

With my first plan now set, I opened the restaurant door, feeling a weight lift off my shoulders.

Inside, I immediately spotted Istina and Helena waiting.

“Roger, your face is red. You really don’t handle alcohol well, do you?”

“Indeed. When you poured me a drink before, you looked so confident, though.”

Istina, who had already finished two bottles of wine by herself, smiled brightly.

Helena, too, was happily savoring a spoonful of sweet cream cheese with her wine.

“Hey, you! What took you so long…!!”

Mansachs shouted in a flustered voice—both thrilled and suffocated by being seated next to the woman he admired.

Freya looked at him with amused affection and took a delicate sip of her wine.

“……”

I quietly watched the cheerful group before me.

Then, once again—not as the old chief secretary, but as the head of the Erian Foundation—I spoke.

“Weak, you say? I can drink well enough myself.”

Wearing the sly smile they often called ‘foxlike,’ I took my seat with a thud.

Then, pouring myself another glass, I spoke boldly.

“Since fate has brought us all together like this, how about a toast?”

Echina, who had left earlier after saying something daring, raised her glass firmly at my suggestion.

And, in front of everyone, she was the first to clink her glass against mine.

――――――!!

The clear sound of glass striking glass filled the VIP room.

At that, the two other women at the table exchanged meaningful looks, clearly intrigued by Echina’s change in demeanor.

“To our own domains—and to the Empire.”

It was as if we were all conscious of the one among us who had already begun to step ahead of the rest.

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