The couple, Marquis Stefan and his wife, were a typical noble couple. They did not exchange affection in private, neither in public nor in secret.
However, because they have many children together, they have reached a level of mutual trust and cooperation.
“Ahem, ahem. Are you here?”
Marquis Stefan let out a cough as he faced his wife's stern gaze.
There was no good news when she was looking at him with such a frowning face.
“You look happy?”
“Of course, why do I furrow my eyebrows when things are going so well?”
As expected, his bad feeling was proven correct.
“You say things are going well?”
Her forehead, which had maintained its perfect appearance, was deeply wrinkled.
“Is there a problem? Has the Empress caught on…?”
"That's not it."
"Then what? Is it the social circles?"
“No! You haven’t read the latest issue of ‘Safety Rules of the Haunted Duke’s Mansion’, have you?”
“Why don't I read that?”
As his voice rose, Marquis Stefan became equally annoyed and raised his tone.
He spent the money to read that damned graphic novel thoroughly to make sure the stories overlapped.
However, he couldn't understand why his wife was acting like this.
"Then at least check the last page! That's what's causing all this trouble now!"
The Marquis felt as if his enthusiasm was collapsing into a muddy pit, so he picked up the magazine from the nearby table and flipped it over.
Naturally, the content was the same as he had read many times before.
But as he flipped through the pages of the comic, the last page contained a notice he had never seen before...
“Uh…?”
As he slowly read the words out loud, a strange groan escaped his mouth.
He had just rented storage space from Count Rolax for their bogus business…
“Is this… the original version?!”
jingle.
The magazine fell from his hands.
Audrey let out a sigh as she watched her husband's disfigured face.
“Huh...”
Having recently tried to stay close to the Empress, Audrey learned that her husband had recently met the Crown Prince. She also had a clear idea of the source of their new wealth, and could easily deduce what had happened.
This increased her anxiety.
In the noble society I knew, survival of the fittest was the law of nature.
If you displease officials, you may quickly fall out of favor and be expelled from the circle they control.
As the Marquis's wife, she understood this well, as she had not previously been in the Empress's circle.
“My dear, think about everything we have built so far. If everything collapses now, it will be very difficult to recover.”
Audrey recalled the past.
When Stefan was first married, his family had not yet gained the fame it has now.
While people now hail the House of Stefan as an ancient and wealthy family, this was not always the case.
The previous Marquis and his wife died young in a landslide, and when Stefan inherited the title, the others treated them as mere merchants.
They were treated like beggars, constantly begging for money from other nobles!
As Audrey thought about how humiliated she felt, she still felt her hands shaking with shame.
Nobles might boast of dealing in rare and valuable goods, but frankly, they were no different from licensed peddlers.
Before Audrey sided with the Empress, people secretly mocked and shunned her, believing her to be inferior to them, especially when she was a close friend of the late Empress Dowager.
But when she could take it no longer, she received a tempting offer from the Empress that she could not refuse.
“You are a friend of the Empress Dowager, aren’t you? You must know at least one of her embarrassing secrets.”
“I would never do such a thing...”
Don't you know that you should hold my hand, not your friends', when you look at your children?
As the Empress suggested, Audrey could not refuse, so she publicly betrayed her friend and became the Empress's right-hand woman.
Since then, no matter how much others criticize her, she and her husband have remained steadfast, leading the Stefan House together.
She didn't care who cried blood in their wake. She had achieved her ambition to move up the social ladder, and had no intention of returning to the past.
“Darling, you haven't forgotten who you were counting on, have you?”
Audrey made it clear that she didn't want to upset the royal family.
But now, with her husband's business collapsing and her on the verge of losing the Crown Prince's money, this was a clear crisis.
“What do we do now?”
Her stinging rebuke caused Stefan's face to wrinkle. Despite his wife's talents, he had also worked hard to secure their future, and naturally, he was worried.
"First...we have to stop distributing these fake lupines quickly. The longer their tail, the easier it is to crush them."
“What then?”
“Is there anything we can do? As long as we make it clear that these things are not from Stefan’s family, they should have no other recourse to appeal...”
“No, we need to make sure we have a solid plan.”
Stefan realized what his wife was suggesting, so he shook his head.
“We can't attack the Wizards Tower.”
Turning the Mage Tower into an enemy now would only fan the flames needlessly.
But Audrey wasn't ready to back down.
"Then, we should at least create a rift between the Wizards' Tower and House Blair. I don't understand why the Wizards' Tower would do this to House Blair in the first place."
“Hmm...”
“Ugh…”
It may seem very aggressive at first, but there was nothing wrong with the Marchioness's words.
At that moment, an idea came to Marquis Stefan's mind.
“The wizards of the Magic Tower are known for their extreme pride and arrogance.”
Blair Duke's family may have offered a generous sum to cover up the affair, but breaking the superficial ties formed around money was easier than it seemed.
“It's better to spread a rumor.”
"…rumor?"
“The wizards gave up their pride and everything else, and worked for Blair Duke's family just for the money.”
Relaxing comfortably on the back of the sofa, Marquis Stefan smiled wryly.
“If this news gets out, the arrogant scholars will be angry, and whether it stems from their goodwill toward the Duke or their dealings with him, they will want to sever ties. They will want to protect their dignity.”
Marquis Stefan knew them well because he frequently communicated with wizards to trade luxury goods and valuables.
Their trading style and psychology.
This time, I will crush their pride.
The goons in Duke Blair's mansion, who were probably busy cleaning up the mess, didn't know it yet, but…
Marquis Stefan had one last move remaining.