Chapter 158: Sweetness in the Air (1)

“Excuse me, Young Master.”

Lloyd was exceedingly worn out tonight. With the equipment belt around him, Lloyd had sweated buckets on the site as he supervised the construction under the searing sun. He wanted to wash up and jumped into bed. But against his wishes, he was met with a maid as soon as he set foot in the manor.

“Master Lloyd, the count instructed me to bring you to his office once you returned home,” she said.

“He wants me in the office?” asked Lloyd.

“Yes, Young Master,” she said with a smile. “The count appeared happy. It looked like he had good news.”

“Did he?”

“Yes, Young Master.”

Lloyd wondered what the occasion was. He shrugged.

Did he win a lottery or something? Obviously, that can’t be. Good news from the palace, perhaps?

Could it be, Lloyd mused, that the queen announced she would provide additional aid? Or did she decide to pave a direct road to the palace from the fiefdom? Lloyd wished that such a good thing had taken place. Thinking so, Lloyd followed her until they arrived at the office. She knocked on the doors, and the count meekly spoke from the inside.

“Let him in.”

His voice sounded slightly brighter than usual. Something good did take place, for sure. Lloyd’s heart started to thump in anticipation.

“Thank you for escorting me, Emily.”

It appeared that she never expected Lloyd to know her name. She blushed red and left the office. Lloyd turned and saw the count and countess sitting on the reception sofa.

“Welcome back. Tough day?”

“A little.”

Lloyd sat across from them, and the countess poured some tea on his teacup.

“I am sure it was more than a little hard,” the countess said. “It must have been tiring to work outside all day in this heat. You must be thirsty. Drink this first.”

Trickle. Lloyd took the chilled teacup, and as he wet his throat, he observed them both.

“Anyway,” Lloyd said, “why did you call me? Did something good happen?”

Both of them were all smiles. The corners of the count’s lips were literally hanging up to his ears so plainly. And the countess, though she maintained an elegant smile, could not hide the satisfaction written all over her face.

It looks like there really is something.

Lloyd searched his memory. These two nobles weren’t rash people. They knew how to express their joy or grief in an elegant manner. And so, he had never seen the count and countess be this joyful in the past two years. The only time this similar emotion appeared on their faces was when they paid off their crippling debt.

So, this means that the news is as big as debt clearance.

What could it be? As curiosity grew in Lloyd, the count spoke up first.

“Oh, my, look at me. I called you here but did not explain why. Here. Take this first,” said the count as he placed a thick bundle of envelopes on the table. It looked like it easily contained at least 50 letters.

“What is this?” asked Lloyd.

“See for yourself.”

“…”

More than 50 pages worth of letters? But the sizes and colors of the envelopes were at variance. The commonality was that the envelopes were all flashy.

What is this seriously?

Judging from the quality of the envelopes, the letters inside seemed to have come from an expensive place. Lloyd scratched his head as he picked up the one on the top. He carefully tore the sealing wax, and inside was a letter with a flashy insignia. Considering the soft texture of the paper, it looked like it was of good quality. He opened it up and started to wade through the letter.

Dear Count Frontera, I pray for your perpetual glory. In recent days, I cannot help but feel that your family’s reputation and honor are on the rise. It was then that I came across the news that your eldest son is still unmarried. Fate has it that my second daughter has no suitable partner yet, so it is my wish to have a serious discussion with you, Count Frontera. Once again, I pray for your perpetual prosperity and success. I look forward to receiving a favorable response and hope we are lucky and blessed enough for an opportunity to deepen the relationship between our two families. Sent from the south. Count Cordona.

“…”

Lloyd blinked several times. He wondered if something had gotten in his eyes during work or if he suddenly couldn’t read.

Not wedded yet? Second daughter?

In short, it was a marriage proposal. It was a suggestion to form a strategic partnership between their families through the means of marriage.

“How do you like it?” the count asked.

Leaning very forward in his chair, Count Frontera gazed at Lloyd with glimmering eyes that reflected so much anticipation. And he looked so joyful. Putting on an ambiguous smile on his face, Lloyd spoke.

“Um, do the rest of these letters address the same topic?”

“See for yourself,” confessed the count.

“…”

“Since these are official marriage requests between noble families, the letters were gathered at the House of Peers before being sent here. And actually, I organized them a little for myself,” the count said.

“What do you mean?”

“I arranged them in the order of family history and reputation.”

“From the top to bottom?”

“That is exactly what I did.”

“…”

“So, it will be easier for you to deliberate and make a decision. Um, do you think I am overdoing it, my son?” asked the count.

“N-no, it’s not that. It’s not that, but…” muttered Lloyd.

“But what?”

Lloyd couldn’t tell the count that this situation was a little burdensome.

Ha…

It was honestly startling. Making sure that he didn’t show the tumultuous emotions on his face, he scanned through the rest of the letters. Count Perano from the north, Count Esperia from the west, wealthy Viscount Sicily in the southwest, and so many others… Viscounts, barons, and other small nobles were mixed in the bundle. Actually, it wasn’t an overstatement to say that Lloyd received a marriage proposal from almost all nobles across the kingdom.

What’s happening?

Lloyd had never been this popular before in his life. 59 families asking for his hand? Total the number of times he flirted and had a crush, heck, add even the Korean singers he liked. The number wouldn’t reach 59.

“So, any family you are attracted to?” asked the count.

“…”

The count, who looked more pleased than before, asked. Lloyd emptied his cup before giving him the answer. Don’t get carried away, he told himself. When Lloyd drank the cold tea water, his troubled spirit found peace. Calmness returned, and his thoughts cleared. The reason for the arrival of a flurry of letters crossed his mind first.

There’s only one explanation. My family is rising in popularity.

But his family wasn’t just entering the limelight. It was one of the few fiefdoms that survived the monster domino that swept the whole area in the east. Thanks to that, his fiefdom had become the hub of the eastern reconstruction. The queen then announced relief plans and promoted his fiefdom to become a county. Not only that, Lloyd had the great accomplishment of saving the queen from an assassination attempt. In other words, Frontera county received unreserved, generous support and favor from Queen Magentano.

This means that my family will now be the strongest family in the kingdom for the next 20 or 30 years. We are a rising star. A stock set to soar to the moon. That’s why everyone sent marriage proposal letters to tie the knot before we go higher.

Lloyd now had a clear understanding of what was happening. Once he knew, he also realized how he should act.

“Please forgive me for saying this in your joy, but I think we should turn every offer down,” stated Lloyd.

“Eh…?”

The happy countenance cracked. The count froze. Lloyd spoke.

“I do not think it is time to get married,” said Lloyd.

“How so? Why?”

The count’s eyes held a glint of dismay and disappointment. Lloyd understood such emotion very well. As a father, Count Frontera must have been extremely joyful for his son to receive marriage proposals from such powerful families. But Lloyd was telling him that he had to turn everything down. Making sure that the count would not be hurt, Lloyd continued.

“To explain some more, I do not think it is very timely. I must concentrate on the reconstruction right now, and there will be hardly any benefits to getting married at the moment,” Lloyd explained.

“Hardly benefit us? What do you mean, Lloyd? Are you saying, even if you got married, the possible material assistance would hardly matter?” asked the count.

“Yes, my lord,” Lloyd defended. “The palace is sufficiently providing us with materials, and it’s not going to be entirely free to receive things from the other family. Moreover, there is another reason it’s too early for me to get married.”

“Could you explain it to me?” asked the count.

He fixed his posture. Lloyd began to speak carefully.

“Answering their marriage proposals at the moment is the same as getting manipulated.”

“Manipulated…?”

“I suppose you can already guess why the nobles want to form ties with us through marriage. It is because we are currently being favored by Her Majesty.”

“Of course,” said the count.

“That is the exact reason. Our family has not reached its peak yet. We have more peaks to climb. Our value will only increase, so we should wait for a little longer. Our value will be proportional to the time we spend waiting.”

The Frontera county was like the land in Gangnam city before its development plans were announced. Or it was like a company waiting to dominate the market with its mobile phone. The heyday of the Frontera family hasn’t come yet. They had only started their ascent, and taking up a mildly appealing offer now would bring regret to the entire family in the end.

“As such, I believe it’s too early for marriage. Please wait a few more years. By that time, a family with greater reputation and status will send us a marriage proposal.”

“Hmm, what you are saying is that we do not have to precipitously form relationships with other nobles early on,” summarized the count.

“Yes, that is what I mean,” said Lloyd, “for time is on our side.”

“But I do not think time is on your side,” refuted the count.

“Excuse me? What could you mean, my lord?”

“You are a bachelor.”

“Argh…”

The count’s words were like a punch to his stomach. His words pierced into Lloyd’s ears.

“Think about how old you are. You are already twenty-seven. What kind of eldest son of a noble family remains single for that long?”

“Um, but…”

“Do you not think the time has come for your old man to have grandchildren?”

“…”

Here we go, Lloyd said to himself. The grandchild attack. Sure, the count made sense. He was 27 years old. In Korean society, he was still young and youthful, but in the standard of the Lorasian continent, he was clearly an old bachelor.

Still, I have to put my foot down.

Lloyd collected his thoughts. To be honest, he wasn’t interested in an arranged marriage with a noble lady when he knew nothing about her character, hobby, and face. He simply wanted to fall in love with an ordinary girl and get married like an ordinary couple. So, the time wasn’t ripe yet. Marriage could come when he met someone he really liked. Only then would he express his desire to get married to the count. Lloyd shared these thoughts with the count, emphasizing again that it was too early to get married. After all, all these families cared about was the things they would benefit from the marriage. They would turn around and abandon us if we staggered and went down, he said. Reasoning such, Lloyd calmly persuaded the count.

The count didn’t interrupt Lloyd. He simply listened, never being able to get rid of this sorriness in his heart. But the one who put an end to this battle of stubbornness was the countess.

“My dear, let us do what he wishes this time,” the countess said.

“Honey…?” asked the count in disbelief.

“Lloyd is the one who will get married, and he doesn’t want it. It is not likely that we will get married on his behalf.”

“…”

“Lloyd has always been a reliable child. So, let us trust him this time as well.”

“Whew.”

The count finally said “uncle.” With a dismayed look, he told Lloyd, “Is that what you really want?”

“Please forgive me,” said Lloyd as he looked down.

“Ha, I see. What do you want me to do then?”

“Simple. Please send a letter of denial,” Lloyd said firmly.

In moments like these, Lloyd had to be firm. He felt apologetic to the count, but there was nothing he could do.

“Ha. I really suppose there is no other way.”

That night, past midnight, Count Frontera was still in the office. He restlessly paced around the office, unable to take a seat. Sighing at length, he couldn’t help but feel unsettled over what happened at dinner earlier.

That boy, I wonder if he has any plans to get married.

The count was concerned. A long time ago, he was worried about his son causing all sorts of nasty troubles, but now, he was anxious that his son was too virtuous.

Sure, it’s nice that he is putting in the effort for the construction and working so hard. But I wish that he would get married soon.

Time was passing, and Lloyd was still a bachelor. There was no parent in the world who wouldn’t feel anxious in this situation. On top of that, more than 59 families had sent them a proposal letter. But he had to turn every single one down. His heart sank as much as his heart had elated after receiving the bundle of letters.

But… I must respect his wish, seeing how adamant he was about it.

That was the respectful choice he could make. So, he had to do what Lloyd wanted. Taking a seat at the desk, Count Frontera picked up the empty letter and held up a pen.

“Whew.”

The count’s reluctant hands began to move, each stroke of writing containing a swelling amount of regret and sorriness.

Dear honorable Count Cordona, I pray for your perpetual glory to your honorable family. I cannot express the happiness I found myself in your kind proposal in the letter you sent me, and that alone has deepened the trust between our families. I also learned how an unexpected offer of hand from someone can be a source of great blessing. As such, my heart is filled with regret to no end. There are no words to express my sorrow. My heart is torn that I cannot form a special bond with your family, whose reputation and honor are well-known in the kingdom. Indeed, I am overwhelmed with grief as I write down this reply. It prompts me to wonder, is this what it feels like for the world to end? Therefore, please do not misunderstand my response. I sincerely express my gratitude for your proposal, but it is with profuse reluctance that I express my rejection… Blah blah blah… Despite that… Blah blah… Since my heart is sincere…

Just like that, the count wrote rejection letters through the night. The next day, 20 pigeons, carrying 59 regret-filled rejection letters, fluttered and left for the House of Peers in the palace.