ITMWG 87

Chapter 87…

 Nasty person.

As they walked side by side, various thoughts came to Nadia’s mind.

When they arrived at the appointed place, her uncle and the family’s lawyer, Lord Daemon, had already arrived and taken their seats.

When the two of them, who were having a conversation, got up from their seats, looking a little surprised by Nadia’s appearance, Altair greeted them as per natural courtesy and offered her a seat.

“I was a little late because I was unfamiliar with the mansion. Nadia, you can sit over here.”

Altair chose the authority seat, which was at the head of the table, and Nadia settled down. Her uncle, who was looking at her with a puzzled expression, furrowed his brows and repeatedly cleared his throat.

“I didn’t know Nadia would come too.”

“It’s the Vine family’s business, so of course we should come together.”

Altair answered casually and sat down next to her.

“If not…is there any reason why we shouldn’t be here together?”

“Ahem. No, not at all. I was just a little surprised because it was unexpected.”

As if there was nothing to worry about, her uncle sat down with his shoulders straight and gave instructions to the servant waiting at the entrance.

“Please bring tea for the two of them.”

“Yes.”

The servant threw a glance at Nadia before leaving, perhaps surprised that she, who was so cowardly before marriage, was now confidently facing her uncle.

The look in his eyes came like a wake-up call to Nadia.

Back then, she always used the grief of losing her parents and her timid personality as an excuse. There was also the sense of helplessness of not being able to do anything alone and the bafflement of being thrown into a novel that was destined for tragedy.

Because she lost the will to even do anything, even the servants were ignoring her.

How ridiculous and insignificant she must have seemed in her uncle’s eyes, for a servant to show such an attitude.

My uncle is such a nasty person.

Greedy and cunning.

But looking back, maybe she wasn’t so good herself either.

As she gripped the hem of her skirt under the table, her uncle called out to Lord Daemon in a slightly excited voice.

“Then let’s begin the process. You must have prepared what I said.”

“Yes.”

Lord Daemon took out some documents from his bag and laid them out on the table.

“I have made three copies of the same document, with one copy to each party, and the other is to be sent to the imperial family. Just take a good look and put a seal on it.”

“I’ll take a look first.”

Her uncle, who excitedly took the document, checked the contents then turned to glare at Lord Daemon and Altair with a stiffened expression.

“… What on earth is this? This isn’t the document we talked about before.”

“Is that so?”

Altair checked the documents in an exaggeratedly surprised voice and tilted his head as if he were puzzled.

“You’re right. This is not something we discussed in advance.”

“No, is it time for you to react so nonchalantly? What’s the meaning of this document?!”

The confused marquis glared at Altair with eyes full of betrayal.

“Now I get it. You never intended to hand over the orchard to me from the beginning!”

“I don’t know what the Marquis is talking about. I really meant to hand over the orchard.”

“Then what kind of prank are you pulling right now?”

“I didn’t know about it.”

“You’re going to continue to play dumb despite the content of these documents?!”

The Marquis threw the papers angrily, causing them to scatter.

Nadia ignored the noisy fuss and read the documents on the table.

No wonder her uncle went on a rampage. As this was a complaint, not a land transfer agreement. A complaint stating her uncle as the defendant.

“You prepared it exactly as I said. Thank you for your hard work.”

“As-, as you said?”

“What on earth do you mean? You prepared this?”

“Yes.”

“What…how… How could you do this…”

His eyes, which had been dazed as he was slowly grasping the situation, came back to life. He seemed to think that if this was her doing and not Altair’s, it could be resolved somehow.

“Nadia. How unbelievable. Even after my brother and his wife passed away, I did not abandon you and took good care of you. How could you frame me like this?”

Disputes over property and titles among the nobility were all overseen by the emperor, which meant that things would get out of hand.

Her uncle, who was suddenly faced with such a big problem, looked at her with ferocious eyes.

In the past, she would have trembled in fear at the look, but she had now become accustomed to Altair’s even scarier eyes.

She, who lived looking at the gaze of a lion every day, had no reason to be frightened by the gaze of a fox.

Besides, the lion is also on my side.

“I believe that if you think that all the questions I have raised are a sham, you should be willing to put your seal on it. Though, there is no procedural problem even if you do not apply a seal. Right, Lord Daemon?”

“Yes. The seal of the accused side is not very important. It just implies confirmation that he has been notified of the complaint. What is important is the seal of the accuser and the seal of the imperial family willing to accept it.”

“You heard that, uncle?”

Nadia, smiling faintly, gathered up the scattered documents and handed them to her uncle, but he squirmed and roughly slapped her hand away.

“What kind of joke is this, Nadia? You’re suing your uncle over the family property?! What kind of family disgrace is this??”

“Family’s property….you say… I don’t think you read the complaint properly, uncle. What I’m claiming is not my family’s property, but the price of my parents’ lives.”

“… what?”

The Marquis was stunned as she pointed out and started scanning through the documents again.

“My parents who passed away had a large amount of insurance, and you received it. Meanwhile, I didn’t even know such insurance existed.”

Her uncle’s face turned white as he listened to what she continued to say.

The insurance money paid out to her deceased parents was significant.

Although it was not a huge amount compared to the entire wealth of the Vine family, it was not common to receive that amount of money solely in cash.

The property of nobles largely consisted of assets that were difficult to immediately convert into cash, such as land, buildings, and business rights, so pure cash assets were very valuable.

He probably no longer has that cash.

Considering her uncle and Melissa’s spending, it would have already dissipated into thin air.

So, were she to immediately ask her uncle to hand over the entire insurance money, it was clear that he would have to hand over important land, buildings, or business rights to her, and the family would be greatly affected.

The Marquis looked confused, perhaps trying to grasp the situation, but that only lasted for a moment.

He snorted, regaining his usual shamelessness.

“My late brother depended on me a lot. That’s why he created an insurance policy for me in case of an unexpected situation. Since you are a daughter and cannot inherit the title, he must have known that the future of the family lies with me.”

“My parents were planning to bring in a son-in-law to continue the family. If I then had a son, he would become the future Marquis of Vine.”

“What do you mean by a son! You-…!”

Her uncle, who raised his voice in agitation, suddenly closed his mouth.

His expression gradually brightened as he rolled his eyes here and there, probably thinking of a way out.

He wasn’t faking a relaxed attitude; he looked like he had truly regained his composure.

“Okay, fine. If you really want to, let’s decide whether it’s right or wrong. It will soon become clear who will be a disgrace.”

He huffed, stamped the document and threw it down on the table.

Since Nadia did not have the family seal, she replaced it with her signature.

Seal and signature.

The marquis, who saw the difference, seemed to feel a little relieved and patted her shoulder with a smile.

“You’ll regret picking a fight with me, Nadia. It’s incredible that you thought of stabbing me in the back like this, but you shouldn’t have forgotten that this is my stage. and…”

He glanced at Altair and Lord Daemon in turn.

“You must have suffered a lot from being swayed by this guy. We will have a discussion after this is over.”

He snorted and kicked out the door, causing the servant who was bringing the tea to be startled and panicked. Altair then raised his hand and called out to him.

“The tea goes this way.”

“Pardon? Ah yes…”

The servant came in with a puzzled look, set the tea down in front of Altair, and then left.

Lord Demon also stood up, taking the documents with the seal and signature.

“I will file the complaint with the imperial family as soon as the sun rises.”

“Thank you for helping me.”

“I didn’t help with anything. All family disputes were my responsibility, so I did my job. Well then.”

Lord Daemon bowed politely and disappeared, leaving Altair and Nadia alone in the same space.

Altair was just drinking tea calmly.

Looking at his appearance, anyone would have wondered if the commotion that had happened a moment ago had all been an illusion.

He doesn’t even know what tea tastes like.

(T/n: in case you don’t remember, Altair once said tea is just tea, they’re all the same Out of frustration, Nadia snatched the teacup Altair was drinking from and took a big sip.

“You knew, right?”

“About what?”

“About my parents’ insurance money. Knowing that, you deliberately said that you would hand over the orchard to my uncle. You want to bring out the family’s lawyer and create an opportunity for me to investigate.”

“The family lawyer was quite knowledgeable. He says he won’t respond to requests from other families, so there’s nothing else I can do. I can’t threaten someone who is a lawyer.”

“You could have told me what you found out right away, or negotiated with my uncle directly.”

That would have been much more convenient for Altair. But he passed the opportunity to her.

“It’s a matter concerning your parents. Isn’t it better to do it yourself rather than have someone solve it for you? I would do so if it had been me. Similarly, I didn’t think you would want to just sit back and watch things unfold.”

“…”

“And you definitely should solve this yourself.”

“Yes. But since Altair had taken the lead in raising the issue, people might say that you lured your wife to do so because you wanted the insurance money from your father-in-law. Even if that’s not true.”

“I don’t care about those criticisms. It’s not true anyway. However…”

Altair trailed off, lifting the remaining cup of tea and quenching his throat.

“Aren’t you curious about my acquaintance with Duke Viosques?”

“… You are bringing that up right now? So suddenly?”

“Yes. There is an important connection.”

An important connection?

When Nadia tilted her head in confusion, the corner of Altair’s mouth curled as he leaned back in his chair with a cunning smile.

“The Duke of Viosques has only one son, but he is frail, and might pass away at any moment. The son has a daughter, and she is only two years old. To put it in a different way, what would it mean?”

“The Duke of Viosques has no worthy heir, only a granddaughter, and the granddaughter is too young to be able to bring in a grandson-in-law… ”

“Right. If he leaves it like this, his title and property will be handed over to the wrong person. Do you think Duke Viosques will just ignore this situation?”

That couldn’t be possible.

It was at that moment, in the midst of confusion, Nadia’s mind gradually became clearer, and the answer came to her as an enlightenment.

“Nothing can escape the flow of time.”

Altair spoke eloquently.

(T/n: ⚠ Spoiler for context ⚠ – I don’t wanna leave y’all confused, but if you don’t like spoilers then don’t read ^^ – the baron couple, together with Duke Viosques intend to change the empire’s inheritance law)