"Have you heard of the Aurelian barony?"
That was the first question Uncle Gilbert asked the mont I sat on the chair.
My father was not there, so my mother and I were the only two people he was talking to.
Before I had stepped in, my mom had already filled him in on what was happening with the family business, which, of course, helped a lot.
But the Aurelian barony?
I threw on a serious look before I replied.
"That disgrace?"
Of course, that was the only way I rembered them.
They were famous, but for all the wrong reasons. Apparently, their son was a gambler, and he had managed to destroy sothing belonging to the viscount, which placed them in a long line of debt.
Even then, these people didn’t stop borrowing money from other territories, and their son didn’t make it any better for them. If I were his parents, I would have disowned him a long ti ago.
’But why is my uncle telling about this? What does the Aurelian barony have to do with anything?’
I thought to myself, my brows arched in confusion.
Then my uncle spoke.
"Yes, the disgrace," he calmly folded his legs, his fingers touching, allowing his golden rings to glint in our eyes. "This disgrace, as you would call them, just gave a product that will further push my rank above the other rchants."
"What?"
My mother beat to exclaiming her confusion.
"The Aurelian barony, no, Dorian Aurelian, their son, single-handedly discovered a mining ground and has sohow turned it into a money-making machine. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised by his sudden change. I wondered, is this truly the son of the baron said to be a gambler and a waste? He sohow made sign a deal that keeps him at a high interest while also securing his future trade. That kid outsmarted ."
"Impossible." I leaned forward, my eyes widened in denial. "Uncle, you are the smartest rchant I know. How can the son of the Aurelians have gotten a step above you? Wait, did you buy this mining ground from them?"
"As I said, he outsmarted . Not only did I not get the mining ground for myself as intended, but I ended up buying more raw materials than the money I had," my uncle shook his head as if in tears.
"And I even had to borrow from the guild as well to pay off the rest. Sigh, did I also ntion any further trade must be done by or anyone under or recomnded by ?"
The more my uncle spoke, the less sense it made.
The son of the Baron Aurelian? The man who could not get into the royal academy because he was stuck in the novice rank all through? That Dorian?
I clenched my fist as I listened as my mother asked, "What could you have bought that would make you spend all your money? It has to be sothing quite rare. Is it a red diamond?"
With a serious glitter in his eyes, my uncle answered, "Dragon ores."
I froze in shock.
Dragon ores? The only dragon ore mine known in the entire kingdom was the one present in the king’s castle, and it was said to be dying since the dragon owned by the king was aging terribly fast.
How could a simple barony have such a life-changing resource?
Before I knew it, I was standing, my eyes widened.
"Are you saying other territories know about this?"
"I am afraid not. In fact, I am not supposed to say this to anyone. Which brings back to my statent: the boy is smart. If it’s kept a secret long enough for him to discover the rights of his father’s land, which would an checking old docunts at the guild, then he can protect his land. As a rchant, this is indeed what I would do."
His response made sense. Now that I thought about it, that sounded like exactly sothing my uncle would do.
I sat back down, the news hitting hard.
Just when I was trying to settle down, my uncle hit with another revelation.
"Which is why I am here. Lord Dorian might be the only way to save your father from his certain downfall. He is too hotheaded and rarely listens to anyone. By anyone, I am not including the young miracle, Dorian Aurelian," my uncle looked at .
"He is searching for young talents to help build his ideas. If you can convince him you’re worthy, he will surely take you under his wing and teach you everything he knows when it cos to running a business."
I don’t rember why, but his words pissed off. A man who was known to be a drunk and a failure was receiving this much praise from my uncle, and to top it off, he wants to prove my worth to such a man.
Unacceptable. I refused to be proven to any man. This Dorian guy sounded exactly like the kind of man I hate, those n who never work for anything and just leech off other’s ideas, presenting them as their own.
I am sure he wasn’t the one who discovered the mining ground either. I trust my uncle’s judgnt, but not this ti.
I have no choice; I will confirm this myself and prove to my uncle this Dorian guy is a fraud.
With so much determination in my eyes, I spoke, my words unshakable.
"I’ll go. I will go check him out myself."
My mind was made up. I was going to head to the Aurelian barony and see why my uncle thought so highly of a man with such a bad reputation.
I must say, the journey did not go the way I had thought it would.
In order to get to the barony, I was told I would have to pass the forest of Jilo, where it was said monsters currently overrun the area. T
To increase my chances of survival, I hired so adventurers from the guild to guide . They were C-rank, and I figured it would be enough since the monsters there were reported to be weak and docile.
Oh, how wrong they were...
Not even a few minutes in and my carriage was attacked by these an, scary monsters called beast spiders.
They killed my bodyguards in seconds and scratched in the leg as I attempted to escape. Eventually, they caught . I laid unconscious on the ground, getting wrapped in their webs.
To think this was how I was going to die. I couldn’t help but laugh at my own misfortune.
But I was never one to fear death.
I only regretted never eting the man of my dreams when I was alive. Soone I could pour all my trust and accomplishnts on because I’d know they would take them all with open arms.
Such a sha.
Then... i saw a dream... a dream i could not wake up from.
But then, I woke up. I was sohow alive.
Right beside was this jaw-droppingly handso man, just staring at with these beautiful, majestic grey eyes.
...
[A/N]
Well this Chapter was longer than i expected. But be resassucred, each back story has an important play to the plot overall.
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