Chapter 146

Chapter 146:  The Eldest Daughter Hunt (3)

The Grand Duke of the North summoned me.

Since leaving the Grand Duke's house, I hadn’t had any particular dealings with him.

Still, there could only be one reason he called me.

Because I had put Freya in danger.

She was the daughter he cherished most, so talented that he had her compete with Eric for the position of successor.

And yet, she had been so thoroughly taken in by a cunning outsider man...

He was probably seething with rage.

――――――

It had been a while since I’d come to the Grand Duke’s mansion.

Though it had been several months since I quit my position as a secretary candidate, the place didn’t feel unfamiliar.

I pushed open the heavy wooden doors.

Before me unfolded the vast office of the Grand Duke of the North.

There sat Duke Luton at his desk, with Debier standing at his side.

"You’ve come."

The Grand Duke didn’t even glance at me.

Wearing silver spectacles, he kept his eyes fixed solely on the national documents before him.

‘Must be about the trade route improvements.’

"Yes, Your Grace. This is Julius Roger."

I greeted him politely, placing my fist over my left chest.

At that, the Grand Duke raised one hand, signaling me to wait a moment.

"……."

Just as he instructed, I stood silently.

I waited in the middle of the office for about ten minutes.

A long silence hung between the three of us.

But not a single one of them showed any sign of discomfort.

Then finally, when the Grand Duke of the North took off his glasses—

He looked at me with the fierce gaze of an old lion.

"Take a seat."

"Thank you for your courtesy."

I quietly sat on the leather sofa placed in front of the office.

As if he had been waiting, the chief secretary handed me a cup of tea.

It seemed I was now being treated not as a secretary, but as a guest.

"You certainly landed a solid blow on Freya."

The Grand Duke rose from his desk.

The large man, draped with a cardigan over his shoulders, slowly took his seat at the head of the table.

"It wasn’t intentional, but the situation ended up that way."

"No need to beat around the bush. Even an old man like me knows it was your scheme."

Duke Luton’s response was unexpectedly calm.

"There’s something I’ve always told my children."

He looked toward the Luton family’s organizational chart hanging on the wall of the office.

The web of children and executives branching out beneath him.

"If you want to do something, you must first study it for ten years."

Eric, Freya, Edward.

All three of his children had rigorously learned the family business from age ten to twenty.

"Then endure five years in the field."

From the age of twenty, they each served as directors within the family company for five years.

During that time, they personally worked in the field as well.

"Then spend one year being tested by me."

Afterward, they rose to vice-president positions and proved their performance under the watchful eyes of the Grand Duke.

To use one's name as the head of an affiliate, one had to pass all of that.

"Well, those executives trailing behind them probably gave them the answers to that test in advance."

The Grand Duke knew everything there was to know about his children.

"But the mere fact that executives stuck by their side meant they were already worthy of being called heads of a group."

He wasn’t wrong.

In fact, when Freya embezzled fifty billion in public funds and lost it all—

The chief secretary and director didn’t blame or express disappointment toward her...

Instead, they supported her and offered advice.

That kind of response from close aides only happens when the leader is upright.

"This whole incident made it clear how loyal the executives following Freya truly are."

The Grand Duke held out his glass to Debier.

The chief secretary quietly filled it with golden liquor.

"Do you understand what I’m saying?"

He gazed steadily at the swirling whiskey in his glass.

But in truth, he was examining the reflection of my expression in the glass.

“If I push your daughter down from her position as major shareholder over the embezzlement case, you’re warning me not to dismiss her as CEO.”

I responded evenly, meeting the Grand Duke’s piercing eyes through the liquor.

At that, the Grand Duke looked at me approvingly, clearly pleased I understood his words so quickly.

"Yes, you grasped it instantly."

“I don’t hold any particular grudge against your daughter. If anything, I’d like to get along better with her.”

This time, the chief secretary poured whiskey into my glass.

Life was truly strange.

Who would've thought a day would come when I’d share a drink with the Grand Duke of the North?

“For someone you want to get along with, your greeting was quite harsh.”

“Well, isn’t it usually when someone seems easygoing that we reach out first? I just tried to meet her at eye level.”

I closed my characteristically long eyes into crescent moons.

The Grand Duke chuckled and sipped his whiskey.

As if using my reply as a chaser.

"Hard to believe someone like you ever held it in back when you were a secretary candidate..."

“I actually learned quite a bit back then.”

And it was true.

Everything about who I was now—was shaped by the things I learned from you in my past life.

"Drink up. I didn’t call you here today to interrogate you, so you may relax and enjoy."

“Then, I’ll gladly accept your kindness.”

I offered a courteous nod and took a sip.

A sweet liquor spread across my tongue, followed by a fragrant scent of honey and caramel.

Even the signature burn of the alcohol felt more like a refreshing coolness, almost like mint.

“This is a fine drink.”

"Isn’t it? I cherish it."

“And you’re letting someone like me share it?”

"I don’t drink it often myself. I just happened to have a reason to open it after a long time."

So the reason he was drinking for the first time in a while... was me?

It felt strangely sentimental.

"Indeed, it is good. Back in my younger days, I used to have a drink every single night."

"You still look well now, Your Grace."

Duke Luton waved a hand dismissively, as if shooing away a flattering fox.

Still, he didn’t seem entirely displeased with the compliment.

"If I drank like that at this age, who knows when I'd drop dead."

He tapped the back of his neck lightly with two fingers.

Well, it was true—Luton had once collapsed from a fit of rage, and with old age compounding it, he never got back up.

……

The continent’s second-in-command, now approaching seventy.

He silently stared into the drink, at his own aged reflection in the glass.

At first, I thought he was lamenting the deep lines on his face.

But what truly weighed on the Grand Duke’s mind was not his aging appearance.

"I hear you’ve remained close with Echina even after leaving the mansion."

What concerned him was his second daughter.

Echina Luton.

"Roger."

"Yes, Your Grace."

The Grand Duke gazed into my eyes in silence.

Golden irises gleaming with brilliance. Eyes as dark and dull as mine.

We had lived lives at opposite ends of the spectrum.

And yet, he looked at me with a strange softness, as though sensing an unexplainable sense of kinship.

"Is Echina part of your plan?"

"……."

I couldn’t immediately grasp the full meaning behind that question.

"I'm not sure what you believe my plan to be. But what I can say for certain is..."

There was at least one thing I could say with conviction.

"I truly hope Lady Echina thrives."

I gave a discreet glance toward Debier, asking with my eyes if I could borrow the bottle.

The seasoned secretary of thirty years caught my signal instantly and gave a subtle nod.

"Because the second daughter is a good person."

I received the bottle from him and held it with both hands, respectfully.

The Grand Duke, apparently unbothered by my pouring, even held out his glass himself.

"If it were up to me to choose the next successor, I would choose her."

"And why is that?"

Just as the golden liquor filled his glass halfway—

"There are three main reasons, Your Grace."

I carefully set the bottle down and began.

"First, leadership."

The Grand Duke took another sip, gesturing for me to continue.

Despite drinking two full glasses of that strong liquor, not a trace of flush appeared on his face.

"Lady Echina commands immense respect within the knight order. Every one of her actions becomes a trend, which speaks to her strong potential as a future leader."

The influence she wielded in popularizing the Luton Sword.

Even Dalton, once a rival family, acknowledged her unwavering conviction and relentless effort.

It's a rare and remarkable ability, hard to believe for someone just twenty-one years old.

"Second, integrity."

Unlike other noblewomen, had the Grand Duke’s daughter ever shown interest in extravagance?

She was always the model knight, going so far as to wear her uncomfortable uniform perfectly tidy at all times.

"She doesn't adorn herself, nor has she ever wasted money. That alone proves she can safeguard the family vault."

Duke Luton gave a nod, seemingly in agreement.

By then, his glass had been filled with a third round of liquor.

"Lastly, it’s her decisiveness."

I spoke with utmost seriousness, as if reaching the peak of my argument.

"This is something even Your Grace must have felt recently."

After all, the most valuable takeaway from this incident was now right before his eyes.

"I'm talking about the opposing investment results between the eldest daughter and Lady Echina regarding Lloyd Shipping."

Etching into memory that Echina was in no way inferior to Freya—

This was the most important card I had prepared before coming here today.

"Echina wasn’t shaken in the slightest by the astronomical figure that could have multiplied twentyfold. She invested only as much as I advised and calmly sold at the appropriate time."

What matters most in the leader of any group?

It’s the ability to make rational decisions over the fate of countless people under one’s care.

And from what I know, Echina had remarkable talent in that field.

People often call knights’ ideals and principles rigid—

But when sharp intelligence and economic insight are added to that, they evolve into shrewd investors.

"It means she knows precisely when to be greedy and when to show restraint."

"……."

The Grand Duke quietly watched me praise his daughter with a steady expression, not betraying the slightest change.

"If someone heard all this, they'd think Echina's father is you, not me."

"My apologies. Seems the liquor’s loosened my tongue a bit."

Duke Luton slowly shook his head, saying it was fine.

"It’s fine. What parent would dislike hearing praise about their child?"

Yet even so, his face did not brighten with joy.

Instead, the laughter faded from his face, and he stared at me seriously—my words having been nothing but compliments.

"But when praise is too generous, suspicion naturally follows."

The Grand Duke set his glass down and crossed his arms.

Then, one by one, he began to counter the points I had made in praise of Echina.

"Echina certainly has leadership. But it’s limited to the knight order."

The cold precision with which he pointed out his daughter’s shortcomings—

This, too, was a testament to why he was called the Grand Duke of the North.

"Judging that she can lead the family based on that alone is premature."

Duke Luton extended two fingers to form the number two.

"And being clean-handed isn’t always a good thing. Only those who’ve spent money know how to use it wisely."

Finally, he extended his ring finger to form the number three.

He looked down at me with an unsettling gaze, like one might give to a sycophantic courtier.

"And finally, that decisiveness you speak of... she only followed your advice, didn’t she?"

Even after returning from the past, the Grand Duke’s murderous aura still sent a jolt through every nerve in my body.

I calmed my trembling form with quiet control.

"If that child sat in the family head's seat alone, could she still make wise choices?"

The Grand Duke pointed directly at my face with his large hand.

"Unless you're by her side, there's no way of knowing."

"You're right, Your Grace. Julius Roger is no longer the second daughter’s secretary."

Debier, standing nearby, added his voice.

The two titans now stared at me with an intensity that felt like they were boring straight through my soul.

"Tell me the real reason you're helping Echina."

"……."

What more could I say to convince the Grand Duke to support her?

I searched for the answer this old Black Lion standing before me wanted to hear.

What made Luton’s heart beat?

And then, I reached a single conclusion.

"Because she is the only one who can protect what you’ve built."

The most precious thing to Baylis Luton—

Was the city he had cultivated over his seventy years of life.

The city itself—Nord.

"I love Nord. It’s my hometown. I grew up here, and I’ve lived a happy life in the city as it prospered."

I slowly turned my head to gaze out the window.

At the night view of the beautiful city beyond the rye fields.

"That’s why, every night, watching the nightscape of our Nord is one of life’s great joys for me."

The Grand Duke didn’t say anything for a while, as if he understood exactly what I meant.

He, too, used to enjoy looking out the window at the city he built, night after night.

"Then, one night, as I was returning to the mansion, I saw Lady Echina sitting in a café. It was already late, yet she remained there, staring at Old Luton."

A memory came to mind.

Of her sitting alone at a café in New Luton for a long time, silently looking out at her mother’s hotel.

"There was a cold cup of coffee in front of her. She hadn’t even touched it—just stared at that outdated part of the city."

I rose from the sofa.

Then looked down at the Grand Duke and spoke earnestly.

"When everyone else was blinded by gold, Lady Echina was always looking only at the city you built."

The reason I had once believed Echina was the only true family member in the Grand Duke’s household—

"That night, I thought to myself—if it's her, even as the head of the family, she would lead it well."

Choosing to see the whole rather than chasing immediate gain.

That, I believed, was the mark of a true leader—one who watches over even those left out of the larger group.

"……."

The Grand Duke of the North turned his gaze toward the radiant lights of Nord, following where my eyes had gone.

Debier, too, looked out in the same direction.

"There's truth in what you say."

"Well, Lady Echina always looked into the eyes of the giver before the gift itself."

They no longer saw me as some lucky rookie who happened to stumble into business.

"Maybe it's because I haven’t drunk in a while."

Perhaps seeing me now as someone standing on equal footing, the Grand Duke raised his glass toward me for a toast.

"Feels like the drink tastes better today."

"I feel the same, Your Grace."

The Grand Duke never said directly that he would begin backing Echina more.

But still...

"Let’s share a drink from time to time, Roger."

That felt like more than enough of an answer.

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