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“What’s this?”
“This is the document I had. You have to have two together to make it effective.”
Owen fiddled with his beard and slightly frowned.
“Russell. No, I was against it when Russell Deniz asked me to write it… I didn’t know I would use it like this today. That’s a relief. Anyway, you did a great job bringing this.”
“Well, the ownership of the top of Deniz belongs to the Tertius family… Oh, my God.”
Dana closed her mouth while talking. Come to think of it, there was something Russell said to Dana as a child.
“Someday, I have to give it back to him. It’s not mine. I just took it for a while. However, Dana, are you the daughter of Elisa…”
She didn’t remember the last words, but she thought she had to look after the busy merchant group and then return it.
Leon gave Dana a moment to think and opened her mouth.
“Do you remember anything?”
“He always said I should give it back. Although he never told me in detail. I guess that’s what it meant.”
Dana carefully reread the documents written in more detail. Then she carefully said, looking at Leon and Owen.
“Does it mean that my father received initial capital from the Tertius family and made the merchant group?”
However, it was questionable that the Tertius family believed in and entrusted so much money to her father.
Owen kindly added an explanation as he answered Dana’s question.
“The Tertius family was a royal family before the creation of the Haschel Empire. When the kingdom disappeared and I inherited the duchy, I was worried about how to deal with the royal property. If we leave it as it is, we will have to support the imperial families who were wary of us at the time…”
“I thought my father had already handed it over to them.”
“I was going to tell you. At least, after Sophia disappeared.”
“What? What does mother care?”
When the atmosphere was about to get worse, Dana hurriedly stepped in and asked questions again.
“Did you leave the property to my father? Why?”
“That’s right. I didn’t mean to make the top, but he found a way himself. I wouldn’t have said anything even if you used up all of this property…”
“I don’t know why you trusted my father so much. Of course, my father is a good man.”
“He was my friend. And your mother was also… She was an old friend of mine. The Empire was not happy with her, and it was very cheap in return for her safety. I’m just sorry that I seem to have put a lot of burden on him.”
She didn’t fully understand, but she accepted Owen’s answer without answering back. There would be a past between them that they do not know.
“Anyway, based on this document, I’ll rephrase the trial.”
Daniel’s theorem concluded the story of the past. That’s how they began to talk about the future again.
Dana had a few questions left, but she thought it would be okay if they got to know each other gradually.
* * *
Rian eventually had to return to Duke Hamilton. He couldn’t leave his seat for long, and he desperately needed someone strong to watch his back because he might face Grand Duke Terratius.
“Are you okay? How did you…?”
Rian forced a smile and nodded at Hales Hamilton, who looked worried. There was still a bandage around his injured head.
It didn’t matter if he removed it now, but he left it on purpose to win sympathy from the people in the house.
“Has my father-in-law come back yet?”
“He’ll be back soon. I gave you a hard time asking you to see me.”
“Okay, then I want to rest in the meantime.”
At what he said, Hales stood up silently and went outside. She stood with her back against the door and did not move for a moment.
There were lots of thoughts in her mind with her head down.
Soon someone approached Hales and bowed his head. He was a watchman Hales had put on Rian without his and her father’s knowledge.
The Duke of Hamilton’s eyes looking at Rian were never fine. He stared at his insufficient son-in-law with disrespectful eyes and clicked his tongue.
“The banquet was an important occasion and you didn’t show up, so what is this?”
“I’m sorry, I was busy at the top…”
“I’m going to try something. I’m watching, but it won’t be a problem, right? We are a family that values honor above all else.”
Rian soon replied in a confident tone, although he was guilty. Very few people knew about hallucinogenic drugs anyway, and he thought they could never be caught because they were transported with general goods.
“Of course, this will help the family.”
“Then I’ll listen, what the hell are you doing?”
“It’s something that allows us to operate the distribution network at the Deniz Merchants under the control of our Hamilton family. It’s already been done to some extent.”
“How did you do that?”
A little interest appeared on the face of the Duke of Hamilton, who was being easy on him. However, he added a question as if he were still indifferent.
It hurt his pride that he, a high-ranking nobleman, looked interested in the work at the merchant group. The value of goods had increased, but this was because awareness of commerce had not yet been good in this era.