Chapter 12

Edgar laughed so hard that he fell from the chair. It was the answer he had been waiting for more than anything.

'You cannot do it even if the woman wants it unless you are in love with each other.'

If his father had learned that earlier, such tragedy would have never happened. There was a small drop of tear hanging at the corner of his eye as he laughed.

***

In the meantime, Rubica, who huffed in anger outside for some time, realized what she had done and started to tremble in fear. She had slapped the duke's cheek and called him a bastard!

She couldn't believe she let herself lose her temper at the duke's provocation and spoke such rude words. It was the word she hated the most in the world. However, she wasn't brave enough to go back inside the carriage and apologize. She could only quietly curse at her foolishness.

"Oh, Ms. Berner, have you had a good conversation with His Grace?"

Butler Carl, who had finished taking care of the people of the Berner Mansion, found her and spoke to her. However, his warm voice only put her down into even deeper sorrow. She just shook her head.

"Did he smile at you warmly?"

"No."

"Hmm, then did he praise your beauty?"

"What? Of course not."

Rubica answered, quite puzzled. Carl smiled warmly and said, "Then it must have been a very good conversation."

"Yes, it was a very good one."

It wasn't Rubica who said that.

Edgar opened his carriage's door wide and came down. There wasn't any trace of Rubica's slap on his smooth cheek. He smiled warmly and offered her his hand as if she had never hit him.

"As we have finished talking alone, let us go to finish talking with your family."

"Oh my, I see Your Grace is extremely angry."

Carl was about to give Rubica a piece of advice, but he had to shut his mouth and quickly back off at Edgar's sharp gaze. Rubica had to let him take her hand and take her into the mansion.

It was deadly quiet inside. It had been very noisy when Rubica had snuck out, but now, they didn't even see a maid on their way to the drawing room.

Carl led them with ease as if he had been working there for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Berner were sitting in the room with their daughter. Mr. Berner was pale. When he saw Rubica, he jumped to his feet and smiled widely.

"Rubica! We've been waiting for you. You must listen to me…"

Mr. Berner still hadn't realized his situation and called Rubica by her name, and it made Edgar feel uncomfortable. Carl read his expression and immediately warned Mr. Berner.

"Please do not call the duke's fiancé by her name."

"What, what the… I am Rubica's uncle. I took her in when she had nowhere to go!"

Mrs. Berner had met the duke at the main gate and had experienced how cold he was. She pulled her slow-witted husband's pants, but the optimistic Mr. Berner didn't care.

He didn't know how great the duke and his men were, but the person who was going to become the duchess was the Rubica who he had raised.

She had to at least know how big what he had graciously given her was. Moreover, the duke also had to clearly learn that without him, he couldn't have even dreamt of taking Rubica.

"If I hadn't paid Rubica's parents' debt, she would have been taken away by the creditors to become a prostitute or…"

However, Mr. Berner couldn't continue talking about the kindness he had shown to Rubica. He, instead, had fallen on the floor, grabbing his bleeding, broken nose.

"Father!"

"Matin! How, how could you act like a savage?"

Rubica covered her mouth with her hands in surprise and looked at Carl. The butler, who looked like he would keep smiling even when stabbed by a needle, had punched Mr. Berner's nose.

"If it had been someone else, it would have costed your neck, but as you are Lady Rubica's uncle, I punished you lightly."

"How… how, was what my husband said wrong? He was just trying to explain what he had done for Rubica."

"You don't know what is wrong? Then I will send someone to teach you how aristocrats should keep the ladies' honor here. At least your daughter should learn proper manners."

Mrs. Berner couldn't speak anymore, and her jaw dropped.

Damn Claymore!

Mrs. Berner quickly changed her target and looked at Rubica, silently ordering her to scold the butler who was so rude to her and her husband. She couldn't dare to oppose the duke, but Rubica was easy prey. The Rubica she remembered was supposed to be scared by her glare and stop Carl.

However, Rubica didn't say anything at her gaze and Angela's silent plea to save her father. She was rather ashamed by the word 'prostitute' Martin Berner let out of his mouth so easily. Carl wasn't wrong at all.

Mr. Berner didn't speak like a nobleman. Edgar didn't want to waste more energy on that useless talk, so he sat down on the sofa and immediately began to talk.

"Sir Berner, I've thought about what you requested for giving permission to our marriage."

Mr. and Mrs. Berners' gaze immediately turned to that of a merchant's. They were about to fool Duke Claymore and get paid well for raising Rubica.

"Rubica's mother was sick for a long time. When she passed away six years ago, this family's financial status was in a mess. They had loaned such a huge sum of money with this mansion as collateral. My wife and I paid all that debt and barely managed to keep this mansion and baronet title. We have been feeding and raising Rubica ever since. To her, we are like her parents. No, we consider ourselves better patrons than her father who had a bad sense of economy."

After Mr. Berner finished talking, silence filled the room. Edgar just coldly stared at him. Rubica didn't want to humiliate the family by arguing with Mr. Berner about what he had done to her in front of Edgar, so she kept her mouth shut. Eventually, Mrs. Berner couldn't handle the silence and spoke first.

"Compared to everything we've done for her, 100 thousand Gold is quite cheap."

Rubica's jaw dropped to hear the amount of money. According to her memories, her debt had been about 5000 Gold. They couldn't have spent more than a hundred Gold on Rubica's food and clothing during the 6 years. No, they had practically used her as a maid.

"'Cheap'… so you think of your niece as a good."

Rubica's face turned red at Edgar's low muttering. Mrs. Berner realized her mistake of speech and smiled awkwardly. However, she made it clear that they were not going to lower their price. Edgar could not afford to not marry Rubica just because he didn't like her price.

The king had already issued the special permission and they had realized it. They were determined to get at least 10 times the right amount of money from him. Edgar quietly listened to them, not inching a bit, and then stretched out his hand to Carl who put the document he had prepared on his hand.

Mr. and Mrs. Berner brightened up. They believed the document had to be the draft worth 100 thousand Gold or something similar to it. However, the document Edgar threw on the table was what they hadn't seen coming at all.

"I looked into the debts of Rubica's father. All of those creditors were linked to you, Martin Berner."

Rubica picked it up with shaking hands. Ever since they had taken Rubica under their wing, they had been talking about how much they had sacrificed to keep the mansion and the title.

They always said Rubica couldn't pay back that debt even if she worked till she died.

"Your Grace, Mr. Martin Berner was the person who introduced the private moneylenders to Cedric Berner, Ms. Rubica Berner's father. Also, I've checked that the rate of interest written on the original contract was different from the contract that was delivered to Ms. Rubica's mother after her husband's death. It was kind of… fraud."

"Because of that, Martin Berner, you cannot claim to be Rubica Berner's patron."

Then, he took Rubica's hand that was still shaking as she looked at the document. He smiled warmly as he looked at her.

"What do you want me to do with this?"

However, his eyes were cold, and those cold eyes woke her up. It wasn't the time to tremble in shock.

"Uncle, aunt, leave this mansion."

Rubica read the document and made up her mind. The last little bit of love for her kin she had toward them was now gone.

That debt… if there hadn't been that debt, she could have let her mother try various treatments. She had even fallen ill at first because of the worries she got from the huge debt.

"What do you mean? Rubica! Do you think your food and clothes have been free?"

"The jewels and dresses you took from me were more than enough for it. And as I have worked for you for six years, I'm the one who should be paid."