Leo held out his hand in front of the Marquis’ estate. Lena took his hand and jumped down from the tall carriage.
“Thank you.”
Lena forced a smile, though she felt down. It was already decided that she would become the Marquis’ adopted daughter.
Lena thought that her brother would only feel worse if she continued to sulk about something that was already decided, so she brought up a more positive topic.
“This dress is pretty too.”
“Yes, it is. But aren’t you cold?”
“Not at all. I can just wear it like this.”
Lena demonstrated how to drape the shawl over her shoulders, calming her brother’s anxiety.
The Marquis sent new clothes every day. Her room was overflowing with the clothes he had sent, yet there wasn’t a single item she could bring herself to throw away.
Every single piece was made just for her. Thanks to that, she wore a different outfit every time she visited the Marquis’ estate. Even so, there were many clothes she hadn’t even tried on yet.
The dress Lena was wearing today was a blue silk dress. At first glance, it seemed simple, but a closer look would immediately change one’s mind.
Silk itself was a precious fabric, but the embroidery of silver thread densely woven throughout made it incredibly elegant.
From afar, it accentuated Lena’s beauty, and up close, it made her look like a fairy who had descended to the human world.
And the blue jewels adorning her neck and arms were the accessories that came with the dress.
The necklace and bracelet, so delicate they were barely visible, gracefully adorned her slender neck and wrist. The jewels seemed small and modest compared to the beauty of their wearer.
Lena lightly tugged at the off-shoulder dress.
It was her first time wearing this style of dress, and she was at a loss for how to wear it properly.
She was worried that her exposed shoulders might get cold as autumn approaches, but a shawl made as a set with the dress was included in the gift.
Thinking it was an unnecessary courtesy, Lena turned her head to look at her brother.
Leo was also dressed in clothes gifted by the Marquis.
A uniform with a faint reddish tinge. The lining was a bright red silk, and the fit was so precise that it seemed not a single inch of discrepancy would be tolerated.
‘He does look good.’
But Lena wasn’t really happy about it.
Rather than these things…
Leo led Lena inside.
As the impeccably dressed siblings stood at the entrance of the mansion, the butler emerged and bowed respectfully.
“Welcome… you are.”
He had seen them many times, but he still couldn’t seem to get used to it. The butler finally tore his eyes away from Lena and led the siblings inside.
Leo followed familiarly. He had been visiting the Marquis’ estate every day for several months now.
He was learning the ropes as the Marquis’ unofficial adopted son. The three butlers took turns teaching him about the workings of the estate.
The first people he met were the servants of the mansion. Hundreds of servants bowed deeply to Leo.
He was taken aback by the sheer number, but that was nothing. What was truly astonishing was the ledger that contained the accounts of the estate. The history of House Tatian.
Just maintaining the estate cost an astronomical amount of money.
The servants’ wages were only a small part of it. The regular banquets devoured a tremendous amount of money each time, and the gifts the Marquis exchanged with other nobles were on another level.
And even this was just the tip of the iceberg. Leo had only seen the mansion in the capital so far.
The Marquis owned two territories. One belonged to House Tatian, and the other was the territory near the border, which he possessed as the Margrave of the Western Border. The Marquis collected taxes from four different cities.
The dozens of large and small villages were omitted from the ledger, seemingly insignificant. He heard that governors dispatched to each city managed them as they saw fit.
In addition, the Marquis maintained a force of thirty knights.
It was rare for a single family to possess so many knights, but considering that House Tatian was not a knightly family, it was even more astonishing.
The official size of a single knight order in the Kingdom of Bellita was one hundred and fifty, and with three knight orders, the royal family possessed four hundred and fifty knights.
Comparing thirty to four hundred andfifty might make House Tatian’s power seem somewhat insignificant, but such a calculation would be misleading.
It was true that the royal family of Bellita, House Tartalia, officially commanded four hundred and fifty knights, but since the knight orders were maintained in the name of the kingdom and with the kingdom's budget, it was difficult to consider them as the sole military force of House Tartalia.
It was more accurate to see the Kingdom of Bellita as a collective centered around House Tartalia, with numerous other families participating.
Furthermore, the knight orders tried to maintain political neutrality as much as possible and had a separate chain of command as soldiers.
Currently, Count Hermann Forte, the Swordmaster and Commander of the First Knight Order, held strong influence over all three knight orders.
Recently, he had even taken the First and Second Knight Orders with him to the battlefield.
Therefore, to calculate the military power of House Tartalia alone, one had to count the number of ‘Royal Guards’.
The Royal Guards were knights who protected the royal palace and only followed the orders of the ‘King’. The exact number was never revealed, but it was generally believed to be around sixty to seventy.
This meant that House Tatian possessed military power equivalent to half of the royal family, and the Marquis was the undisputed ruler of the west.
Leo walked down the wide, opulent hallway, recalling the formidable power of House Tatian. He smiled contentedly, envisioning a rosy future.
In his mind, it was only a matter of time before his sister became a princess. The Marquis would introduce her to the prince, and Lena and the prince would marry.
Leo had no doubt that the prince would fall for Lena. And the first thing Leo, having become the unofficial son of House Tatian, had investigated was the prince’s character, and he was a very decent man.
The prince of the Kingdom of Bellita, Killian de Tartalia, was said to be kind and handsome. Just like Chloe de Tartalia.
He felt a pang of discomfort when he thought of that clumsy princess, but he brushed it aside, believing it was just a political move.
The siblings arrived in front of the drawing-room.
They weren’t here to visit the Marquis’ office today. Today was a day for a different kind of appointment.
Recently, the Marquis had begun introducing Lena and Leo to nobles close to him.
It was a groundwork for officially revealing his unofficial adopted son and daughter.
So, once a week, Leo brought his sister to meet with these nobles.
“Welcome.”
The Marquis greeted them with a bright smile, rising from his seat.
Two nobles were seated beside him. One was almost comically flamboyantly dressed, while the other wore no adornments whatsoever.
The Marquis gestured for Lena and Leo to sit, along with the nobles, and helped with the introductions.
He first introduced the flamboyantly dressed noble.
“This is Viscount Brian Sauer.”
“Hello, I’m Leo.”
“Hello, I’m Lena.”
The Viscount was a man with a surprisingly wrinkled face.
He smiled with every wrinkle on his face and rolled his steel-grey eyes towards Lena.
“Pleased to meet you. I am Brian Sauer. The Marquis mentioned he would introduce his son and daughter today! I never imagined they would be such fine individuals.”
He displayed an exaggerated etiquette that was all the rage in the Kingdom of Bellita.
Leo responded with the honest etiquette of the Akaian Empire, and Lena bowed her head politely.
“And this is Baron Gustav Peter. He was promoted once, wasn’t he? He’s the one who broke the engagement and also a dear friend of mine.”
The siblings also greeted the Baron. Baron Peter returned the greeting with restrained politeness, maintaining an indifferent expression.
After the introductions, the Marquis moved behind the seated siblings. He placed his hands on their shoulders in a friendly manner and said,
“These are the children who will become my son and daughter. Please, do treat them kindly. We should have some tea. I’ve acquired some exquisite tea.”
The Marquis glanced at Lena and then instructed the servant to bring in the tea.
That day’s meeting was no different from any other.
They enjoyed light refreshments and fragrant tea while engaging in pleasant conversation. Lena remained quietly in her seat, while Leo tried his best to make a good impression on the nobles.
At one point, the conversation turned to the border region, and it seemed Viscount Sauer made a slip of the tongue, but it was quickly glossed over with a sideways glance from Marquis Benard Tatian.
At the time, Leo didn’t know much about Viscount Sauer.
Later, when he learned that the Viscount owned every brothel in Orville, Leo blushed with disgust, but it was already in the past.
Moreover, Viscount Sauer was the half-brother of Bretin Sauer, the brothel manager Lena had encountered in the previous scenario, but fortunately, Leo never found out about that.
If he had known, it wouldn’t have ended with mere disgust.