Chapter 169

Chapter 169

At the end of a dull investment meeting, the smell of tobacco and whisky permeated his body. Lucius found a sink in the small living room where the meeting was held and wanted to wash his hands.

Then, he noticed there was already a visitor on the sofa beyond the screen.

It was one of those useless aristocrats who had been smoking all the time at the meeting. Sometimes, when attention was placed on him, he would say pretentious things like and act all high and mighty.

As soon as Lucius saw him, he turned around and tried to avoid him, but the man nodded and gestured.

“Why don’t you come in? It’s not my house anyway. I only smoke here.”

Lucius felt the arrogance in his eyes. He stood there for a moment, contemplating, and eventually went over the screen and began to wash his hands.

He moved the water in the glass bottle to the sink and thoroughly rubbed his hands with fragrant soap. The man, who was looking at the act that was almost ritualistic, opened his mouth with his chin raised.

“So, I guess you do this for a living now?”

Connecting investments, providing information, and receiving money like a rat.

He wanted to say these words out loud, but still had the decency to refrain from them. However, there was no answer from Lucius’s side.

Well, even the man knew that Lucius wasn’t the kind to get angry easily. He was just the kind of man who would make these kinds of accusations, to curry favor or bite at the people around him.

“I heard you’ve earned a lot. I wonder, is it really that good to lick the emperor’s boots? He must’ve given you a lot of valuable information.”

Slowly raising his level, the man began to giggle, intoxicated by his own wit. Lucius, on the other hand, focused on his hands as if he could not hear at all. He washed them clean and used the towel next to him to dry his hands.

The whole act was superfluous and sophisticated, but the man’s contempt did not fade.

Hmph. Still a crude illegitimate child.

The man was about the same age as Lucius and was one of those people who had seen the fiasco up close.

From the time Lucius Fenry swept the social scene with the title of the most noble man, until it turned out he was just an illegitimate child mixed with dirty blood.

It was of a different level of scandal from other illegitimate children who had no significant influence. The others could only claim they had the blood of the aristocracy with no capabilities to back up their half-lineage.

If that woman, Lucius’s birth mother, hadn’t appeared, wouldn’t he still have a monopoly on everything?

After a disastrous failure in the lawsuit, when this man heard that Lucius had gone to the battlefield without a word, the man thought that at last everything had gone according to order.

But Lucius crawled out of death like a worm that wouldn’t die even if he stepped on it. This time, he returned to society as a hero who saved the emperor’s life.

And he used that fair face to enchant the duke’s daughter and win a title.

“Don’t be so condescending,” he started. “Whatever you’ve worked hard on, it’ll all be gone anyway. The Marchioness will no longer stand by you when the prince returns. Breaking up a marriage is so easy for royalty, especially since their former engagement was officially terminated.”

The man watched Lucius wear the ring in contempt and said.

“Oh, did you hear? The prince would visit the palace in time for the emperor’s birthday with that sword. Perhaps the emperor will take his side just for the sword’s sake and discard his faithful pawn.”

He puffed out some smoke from his tobacco, “Shouldn’t the emperor have already paid his life debt by even giving you his attention all these years? And just like that, you will slowly be removed from the aristocratic society like the illegitimate bastard you are.”

Lucius listened to the man’s chatter until he finished and answered indifferently.

“Are you done?” A bored expression covered his features, “If anyone hears you, they might think you’re a lunatic spouting a prophecy. Or perhaps, did you write down what to say in advance and memorize it.”

The man staggered up with a red face.

“Don’t take my warning for granted. Do you think the duke’s daughter will still look up to you if the prince comes back? Even if you weren’t an illegitimate child, but that Lucius Fenry from back then, there is still no possibility. But now?” He sneered, “You have a dirty bloodline and shall soon be abandoned by his master. What’s so good about you—”

“Cornell Ingelmann.”

The man’s babbling stopped at the unexpected calling of his name.

“You’re on the verge of bankruptcy this time. What to do? The Marquis told me to take pity on you and accept you for bringing in a small fortune for our investment.”

Lucius smiled and stared down at him arrogantly, “I wonder, should something happen to that money, wouldn’t you have to sell your estate to pay off your debt?”

“You—”