The Duke Salviana now fully faced Maria.
"Why would you think having my daughter be Lord Dorian’s sister’s bodyguard would be a bad influence to my na?"
He began.
"If you are worried about what people would say, then I feel that concern is unwanted. Since almost everyone in Lumberg understands the kind of man Lord Dorian is, most people would kill to get closer to his family."
Maria sighed, already seeing where Duke Salviana was heading with it.
"I understand. Well, if that is your goal, then only Lord Dorian can make the decision of whether he would accept this or not." Maria looked towards his direction. "My lord?"
Dorian, with his jaw still dropped on his fist, kept a long, hard stare at the man.
"You’re willing to make your daughter do this for free?" he asked.
"Of course. The reward is being close to your family, as I have stated. Money holds no value here."
"If that is the case, then I don’t care what you do. If my little sister says she accepts, then it’s fine by ."
A simple, small smile tugged at the side of the Duke’s face.
"Thank you. I truly appreciate your kind gesture."
anwhile, Dorian had been glaring at him the entire ti.
’Grand gesture my ass. What the hell is with this dude? I expected that by now he would have been planning so kind of revenge on since I imprisoned his friend. Is he using this to bait or sothing? Or maybe he just truly doesn’t care?’
"I do not harbor any hatred for what you did." Duke Salviana suddenly spoke, which obviously spooked Dorian a bit since he thought the man was mind-reading.
"In fact, I am glad you got rid of forr Duke Valerie. A man who would do sothing as vile and treacherous as that has no reason to hold such a high status in my kingdom."
’Hmmm...’ Dorian narrowed his gaze. ’A noble with integrity is quite rare. No wonder he never ca up in the list of fired nobles Seraphina personally took into her hands. Looks like he is clean after all.’
He soon smiled out loud.
"Very well, then. You have my support."
There was a bit of silence between them, their eyes locked onto each other for a very long ti.
"I appreciate it. I shall take my leave."
With a single bow of his head, the Duke turned around and walked out of the door.
"I didn’t expect you to accept him so fast. Especially after there are rumors of so nobles planning to launch an attack against you." Maria voiced out the mont the Duke was gone.
In response, Dorian stood up from the throne to stretch his body.
"All the more reason to gather allies from their midst, no? My Dukedom is growing faster than anyone could have expected. It would be far weirder if I didn’t have so enemies here and there."
Maria gave out an exasperated sigh.
"I wish you would give the permission to kill them for you. The First Division has grown stronger than they were weeks ago. No other territory cos close to ours right now."
Dorian looked at her.
"That’s strange. I assud you didn’t want anything to do with wars and whatnot. Ehhh? Did you have a change of heart?"
"I—"
She looked to the side, her cheeks blushed.
"Please refrain from teasing , my lord."
"Sorry." Dorian smiled. "In any case, it’s best we let them make the first move, or we’ll be fighting both them and the law. Besides, I need them to slip up. Having more pawns to play with will never be an issue for ."
"I see." Maria closed her eyes. "I just hope Seraphina is having as much fun as you are right now."
....
(Kingdom of Sualan)
Seraphina was seated in the beautiful golden room, dressed in a black, beautiful dress and a black choker around her neck.
The room was decorated with nurous gold items. Ranging from simple pictures on the walls to plates and artifacts, all were made from high-quality gold.
Seraphina expected nothing less from a kingdom that was considered the kingdom of never-dying gold.
In any case, seated right in front of her were two other nobles. First was the prince of Sualan, Prince Isak, and the second was the queen, his mother, Lalatina the First.
Both of whom had about three guards standing behind them, and another five at the other sides of the room.
The only guards Seraphina had with her were Aces and Flare, who was mounted at the side of the chair, sleeping on the ground.
Occasionally, Seraphina would catch them gawking at the burning cat. Sothing she expected since no normal person would be walking around with a monster that looked to be a special class unless they were a high-grade summoner.
But that wasn’t her biggest problem at the mont.
She had been there for more than four days, discussing the trade between the kingdom and Dorian’s new invention nad The Grid, capable of giving electricity to an entire community.
Especially now that he had moved towards bringing more magical technology inventions, people were realizing it would be far more needed than ever.
So far, the discussion had gotten nowhere.
Seraphina proposed fifty thousand gold coins per grid, which would cover the wires and even the transportation from the borders if they agreed to allow them to build a bridge over the river towards the other side of the kingdom.
This would make their transportation faster and less dangerous due to the monsters living in the river.
It sounded like a good deal, until the queen of Sualan ca up with a different proposition.
Though she agreed to allow for the bridge to be built over the border, she also demanded three other things that Seraphina knew for a fact Dorian would never agree to.
First, she requested that the price be dropped to nineteen thousand gold pieces per grid.
Secondly, she asked that Dorian himself co to Sualan for a one-on-one conversation.
And lastly, she wanted an agreent on all future inventions, aning she wanted a partnership.
Each day felt even worse than the last, and finally, Seraphina had had enough.
"If you don’t wish to trade, then there is really nothing I can do about it anymore. I only intended to change your mind because I didn’t want to disappoint my husband. But now I see that was a foolish thing to do, so now I’ll be on my way."
Before she could stand up, Prince Isak voiced out.
"Wait." He stretched his hand forward a bit. "Why are you refusing this offer? Last I checked, your husband is only a duke. Having to work with the king is sothing you should look forward to. I am surprised you are still adamant on your demands."
Seraphina was silent for a while, then she sighed.
"Look here, I feel like I failed to make this fact known. While I do respect your status as the ones holding such a prestigious noble position, my husband isn’t like and could care less about all that." She shrugged her shoulder. "So you either take it or leave it. We are not that desperate."
"You sure do have a foul mouth." Lalatina chid in. "Do you have any idea who you are speaking to? I could wage war on—"
"Wage war on Lumberg?" Seraphina laughed. "You might be the richest kingdom, but surely even you are not dumb enough to do sothing like that."
Lalatina frowned at Seraphina’s comnt, knowing she was sowhat right.
"I’ll be on my way. No reason for to continue this conversation. The deal is off."
Seraphina stood to her feet. Flare turned into its small size and positioned itself on her shoulder.
Just as she was about to walk away, Aces trailing behind her, the prince spoke again.
"How about we settle this so other way? It’s obvious things are not going in our favor, and as much as I hate to admit it, it would be a huge loss for my kingdom if this slips out of our fingers."
Seraphina halted right next to the chair, her eyes surveying towards the prince as he continued to speak.
"And I am aware that building a bridge over our borders benefits the duke. Easiest way for him to gain access to other countries without having to go all the way around."
"What are you getting at?"
"Simple." The prince raised a single finger. "Both sides are looking for ways to benefit off this deal. Hence, I have a proposition, a way for us to make it fair."
After thinking about it for a while, Seraphina fully faced the prince, ignoring the nasty stares Lalatina was giving her.
"I am glad you are willing to listen." Prince Isak uttered with a slight tilt of his face to the side.
"I only want to hear you out. I have not decided whether I would listen or not."
"Right." He smirked at her. "How about we settle this with a duel? Like how our ancestors used to settle disputes to reach a common ground."
...
[A/N]
Thank you for reading. if you like the story so far, don’t forget to support this book; your support goes a long way. Also, I am planning on dropping small Chapters on my discord, just your favorite characters doing silly things. maybe a patron covering more r18 content, but that hasn’t been decided.
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