Chapter 17 - Is Aecilia Sertsul Troublesome?

'What if he asks for children?', Aecilia, with her body turned away, contemplated the future with a mind full of thoughts, her serene gaze and relaxed lips covered by her delicate fingers revealed her deep immersion in contemplation.

'Hm, marrying princess and having affair with me.....', Aecilia was left feeling perplexed after learning that Avendial was interested in taking her out on a date in the free city. (*her perspective)

She couldn't help but question the security of their future together, especially considering his existing engagement to the princess, as dating each other would essentially be an affair.

'Sigh, isn't he straightforward when it comes to business?', Aecilia shook her head and shifted her gaze towards the pensive man seated close by. She struggled to understand why Marquess Avendial, a figure of such prominence, lacked confidence and had yet to express his true emotions to her. This realization led her to let out a sigh, feeling a sense of pity towards him.

'I need access to an awakening crystal', As the past memories resurfaced, Avendial remembered the first priority he needed to fulfill with the help of the princess in the morning meeting. While contemplating, his eyes momentarily met Aecilia, who, after all this time, finally decided to look at him.

'Did she just hit me with the 'I feel sorry for you' look?', Avendial raised an eyebrow as he observed Aecilia's expression, making it seem like she was silently judging him for some unknown reason. This caused his face to become blank as he realized she was also present here, with who knows what thoughts racing through her mind.

After losing sight of her following the first few floors of the tower in his previous life, Avendial is clueless about what her future may have held.

However, upon seeing her now, he can't shake the suspicion that she is cooking something that is definitely giving off a burnt smell.

"Miss Aecilia, is there something on my face?", Avendial, not retreating, inquired while also using this opportunity to distract her. He noticed that Alfred had just entered a nearby tent, which Avendial interpreted as the second step of Alfred to cause havoc and distract everyone. With Aecilia potentially becoming suspicious, he directed his words at her to make her attention focus on him.

"Nah....it's totally normal for any lovestruck man...", Aecilia smirked before taking a deep breath, a smile forming as she discovered a new side of Marquess Avendial. Due to the effects of the poison, he wasn't able to confess his feelings directly, instead making excuses to accompany her to the red light district. She knew, based on his character, that he simply wanted to go on a date with her.

'Huh? Did she think what I'm thinking she thinks?', Avendial's head throbbed momentarily as he grappled with the headache induced by the persistent woman who had cornered him twice already. The first time, she had the audacity to publicly embarrass him by pointing out his sudden arousal, and now, she had attracted the attention of the remaining palace maids towards their direction.

Indeed, he could feel a few maids glancing in his direction once again.

The issue was not that he cared about his image, but primarily that this specific fact, being referred to as a lovestruck guy, would reach the Princess. Knowing her personality, he was aware that she would definitely bring it up in their meeting tomorrow to gain the upper hand on him.

Afterall, starting with a few light embarrassing moments is just basic psychology to lower a person's defenses before revealing the main cards that could potentially be used against them in a blackmail situation.

Yeah, he was certain that the princess would request something from him once she confirmed her suspicion.

After hearing Aecilia's words and observing how she had a dissatisfied look just moments ago, Avendial couldn't help but think that she believed he was in love with her, especially after she gave him a pitying look.

In his previous life, while doing business with the Sertsul family, he was not oblivious to this woman's romantic interest in him. However, his main focus was on making money, so he never allowed her the opportunity to approach him romantically.

But today, he truly felt that by announcing his support for the Sertsul family and indirectly granting this woman some freedom, he had inadvertently caused a lot of trouble for himself. Despite this, he couldn't help but return her smile as he leaned his head on his clasped knuckles before in a firm tone adding. "Miss Aecilia, it would be good if you watched your words in front of many people."

Naturally, Avendial didn't have any reason to entertain Aecilia since she didn't have any value in furthering his future. He may sound selfish, but being self-centered was important, considering that unnecessary distractions could only burden him when he only had a year left.

"What? Do you want us to go inside a room and do it privately?" Aecilia, seeing his stern blue eyes fixed on her with a cold smile, felt confused about why she should care about what others think of her words. Simply put, what others say about her doesn't matter.

Aecilia had seen enough of the world since childhood and did not appreciate sugarcoating words. This prompted her to inquire once again if Marquess wanted her to not be straightforward.

'....This woman...', Avendial felt his mouth twitch as he shut his eyes, sensing the gaze of others turning towards him after Aecilia's words. Even nearby palace maids peeked in his direction.

Only a few maids and soldiers remained, as many had already left due to Alfred's dealings with the Empyreal who have called them away. However, there were still one or two remaining servants who could act as spies to deliver these specific messages to the Princess, possibly after embellishing their words.

"Whatever," Avendial said, realizing it would be too much trouble to explain things further. He backed off, folded his hands, and looked at the woman. "Miss Aecilia, I will give you the agreed-upon amount after you accompany me to the free city."

Avendial mentioned the fake call he had made to Alfred a few hours ago in front of all the nobles about transferring 10 billion out of the 13.5 billion he had promised to invest in the Sertsul family.

Though at that time the intention was to draw the attention of other nobles and distract Princess Katheria by mentioning her name as the password, the main reason for investing was to gain profit and favor with Aecilia Sertsul, who could be helpful in establishing influence in the free cities.

As the wealthiest nobleman, he had the support of political leaders and the central government of Free Cities. However, Avendial, being a businessman, eventually realized the importance of locals over high-profile individuals like political leaders or civil servants. This made him want to establish a connection with the Sertsul family.

And wouldn't there be an ocean of information and evidence to blackmail various people he wanted with the help of the videos that the Sertsul family's courtesans collected?

"....Don't tell me, Marquess, did you offer that money so I could accompany you alone?" Aecilia, upon hearing the man declare that accompanying him was the way to secure the investment she needed, felt confused. She inquired with an impassive look, seeing him in a new light.

To her, Avendial appeared as a shy, lovestruck rich man who doesn't know how to clearly propose and engage. He offers his money and gifts in the hope of gaining the attention of the woman he loves. She doesn't hate it, but she sees it as a somewhat cute side of him.

GASP

"Hey, did the Marquess give her money to spend the night?" a maid whispered to another, trying not to look in the direction of the Marquess, but her ears perked up after hearing this secret. She turned to a nearby maid beside her in shock, who instantly broke into sweat as she felt an intense glare from Avendial.

'Damn this woman!', Avendial didn't have a hard time dealing with Princess, but Aecilia was a real troublemaker who always caused problems whenever she spoke. The issue was that she wasn't mindful of her words and didn't think before speaking, making the situation even more difficult.

However, Avendial chose to remain silent this time as he noticed smoke rising from the tent that Alfred had just left, indicating a possible equipment overload which soon revealed a sound.

BOOOOOM!

The whole night was once again illuminated by a loud explosion, emitting intense heat and light that caused everyone to look at it.