Chapter 150: The Wedding (4)

In a large residence by the Forrest Harbor was a room that looked more gaudy than expensive, clearly a room that took a lot of money to furnish, and inside it was a man who was lazing about.

“Haaaa… life is great. It’s seriously great.”

He had an expensive wine and snacks next to him, clearly enjoying the moment. Truthfully, the taste of it didn’t matter, what was important was that he was consuming expensive things. He was a man who put a value on everything in the world. That man was Robin. To such a person, an attendant came to speak to him.

“Captain Robin, the Grand Duke is looking for you.”

“What? Again? Why?!”

“That, I don’t know, sir.”

“Ugh! I don’t want to. I have a feeling he’s gonna ask me to do something unreasonable again. No, no way. I’m not going! Tell him I’m sick.”

Robin was almost throwing a tantrum. In the past, thanks to Bianca’s curse(?), he had been unconditionally obedient, but now, he knew better — there was no such childish curse like that in the world. He had only found out the truth after looking all over for the curse. But now, regardless of the curse, he couldn’t leave Milton, that’s why he was obeying him. Thanks to that, his personality had gotten stronger and when Milton ordered him to do something, Robin would automatically say no. 

Of course, Milton had expected Robin to act like this, that’s why he had something else to say.

“His Highness the Grand Duke said…”

“No way.”

“If you don’t appear in front of him within three hours, he’ll be fining you per minute.”

“Shameless bastard.”

Robin jumped out of his seat while grinding his teeth. He would never accept a fine.

‘He’s trying to take my money when he has more than I do. If you think about it, I earned that money for him. That cheap and shameless bastard. He’ll be punished by the heavens, hopefully relating to money.’

Even while thinking all that, Robin was busy changing his clothes and preparing to go see Milton.

***

Robin. He was originally a pirate until he was connected with Milton. In fact, he was a rare person with a low loyalty amongst all those under Milton’s command. Robin’s Loyalty was around 70, but if he was left unmanaged and neglected, then his Loyalty often fell below 60.

Truthfully, Milton couldn’t trust Robin, but he still took Robin quite seriously. There were two reasons for that. The first was that his abilities were certain. His Commerce level was an 8 and his Sailing was at a 7 and because his Sailing level had improved since the first time Milton had seen him, Robin made him huge sums of money. To be honest, in terms of economic power, Robin was the best amongst all the people that Milton had. Milton was afraid that without Robin, there would be a significant loss to maritime trade, that’s why Milton wasn’t able to toss Robin to the side.

The second reason Milton took Robin seriously was… Milton had the confidence to deal with him. Robin’s Loyalty to Milton was very low, however, Robin’s loyalty to money was a belief, no, it was like a religious faith. One time, Robin’s loyalty had fallen to 50, Milton had given him a hefty reward and Robin’s loyalty level went up to 80 in no time at all. Robin was someone whose Loyalty could go up or down 30 just because of money. That’s why Milton hadn’t publicized the existence of Robin too much. He knew that if someone gave Robin more money, there was a 99% chance that Robin would betray him. 

Instead, Milton shackled Robin down in the form of rewards. While he had been giving Robins rewards, Milton rarely gave him monetary rewards — land and buildings, shares in merchant companies, profits from trades, etc… Most of the rewards given to Robin were limited to what could be enjoyed by those under Milton’s command. The more money Robin made from the maritime trade, the more Milton rewarded him. Thanks to that, Robin could never leave Milton when he could see his wealth growing. Ultimately, he wasn’t something Milton could trust, but Milton was creating a situation in which Robin couldn’t betray him. That was the way Milton was dealing with Robin.

But now, since Queen Leila said she had a business with him, Milton had called him over.

***

“I greet Your Majesty the Queen, Leila von Lester.”

Robin greeted her according to the courtesy due to a member of the royal family according to an attendant’s urgent teaching.

“Raise your head.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

When Robin saw Queen Leila from a distance, he first admired her beauty. 

‘Woah… gorgeous.’

His second thought was:

‘Wonder how much money I can get if I converted that into money.’

Gold was first. If you think about it, it was pretty impressive that’s what he thought of even after seeing Queen Leila’s beauty firsthand.

“I heard that you’re leading most of our country’s maritime trade, is that correct?”

“No, Your Majesty. I am just in charge of pioneering sea routes and creating deals with new merchant companies.”

‘So, he’s in charge of all the important issues.’

Leila was also a woman who once led the great merchant company called Charlotte. 

Although he was speaking humbly, she had no doubts about Robin’s abilities. 

“As far as I know, the maritime trade in the South is already stable.”

“All of that is because of your grace, Your Majesty.”

“Enough with the flattery, I have something I want to ask of you…”

“Cough… I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I have a chronic disease, tuberculosis… cough cough…”

The moment he felt that Queen Leila wanted something, he started coughing and pretended to be sick.

“You have a chronic disease?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Cough… I was born with a weak body…”

“Is that so?”

Queen Leila responded calmly and brought up her business again.

“Anyway, I have something I want you to do. That is…”

‘That stubborn chit.’

Robin gritted his teeth when he saw Queen Leila trying to get him to do something without a concern even though he had said he was weak. Although she looked pretty, he hadn’t thought she wouldn’t show any feelings.

‘Guess I have no choice.’

Robin hardened his resolve and covered his mouth, then he started coughing hard.

“Cough cough… guh…”

In the end, Robin even vomited blood. With blood dripping on the red carpet in the Queen’s palace, he looked at her tragically.

“Cough… I’m… I’m sorry, Your Majesty… My body is too… cough…”

Robin’s complexion turned slightly blue and he looked precariously close to dying. But…

“There’s no reason for you to be sorry.”

“……”

“Anyway, let’s get to the main point.”

‘I’m telling you I’m sick, you beautiful and crazy bitch.’

Robin screamed in his mind but Queen Leila continued talking without concern.

“I want you to revive the cities on the western coast of the Northern region. Can you do it?”

“I’m honored that you would entrust me with such responsibility, Your Majesty, but… cough… as you can see, I’m not too well… cough… cough…”

“You’re not well, so it’s difficult?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I’m really sorry, but…”

“That’s what he's saying, Milton.”

Even before Robin finished talking, Queen Leila interrupted him and Milton appeared with a smile from the back of the hall.

“Really? You’re ill?”

Robin’s face turned pale the moment he saw Milton.

‘FXck, I’m fXcked.’

Milton approached him without hesitation and put his hand inside Robin’s breast pocket. Then…

“What’s this?”

It was a blood bag used by actors as a prop.

“Ah… that’s um…”

Milton thought to himself as he saw Robin getting flustered.

‘This dumb bastard, he thought my wife would be easy.’

Robin hated it whenever Milton gave him orders. It’s not like they had a good relationship from the beginning, but more than anything else, Robin hated having to work hard. No matter how much money he earned, he had to give up(?) 99% of the income to the country and could only keep 1% for himself. For Robin who not only respected but loved money, this was tremendously unfair. The more money he earned, the more he had to give up — he really felt this was unfair. Of course, what Milton gave as compensation was incomparable to his days as a pirate, but still, unfair was unfair.

That’s why Robin was always thinking up ways for him to earn as much money as possible while not doing as he’s told. This blood bag was an item that had once worked on Milton, but when he had tried it a second time, Robin had been caught and badly thrashed. But this time, the opponent wasn’t Milton, it was Queen Leila; that’s why he thought maybe it could work on her and had prepared it. 

“Why is it that you’re so stupid with everything that doesn’t have to do with earning money?”

“No, that’s… um… that’s not it…Marquis.”

“I’m a Grand Duke now.”

“The Great Grand Duke, that wasn’t it…”

“You didn’t know?”

“What do you mean, sir?”

“You didn’t know that it’s the death penalty if you lie in front of the monarch.”

Robin's eyes widened at those words.

“L…lie. I know you’re lying to me like you lied to me about the curse before.”

“It’s true, you punk.”

Robin turned towards Queen Leila with an anxious expression.

She nodded to him calmly as she spoke up.

“Since you lied to me in the Royal Hall, I guess you won’t have anything to say if you lose your head for trying to deceive the monarch of this country.”

At that, Robin prostrated himself on the floor.

“Yooour Maaaaaajeeestyyy! I was wrong. I just didn’t have the confidence to do what Your Majesty asked me to do, so I just…”

‘This sly bastard…’

Milton sighed. Why was he so incredibly competent with earning money, but so incredibly incompetent in all the other fields? Clearly he wasn’t stupid. Maybe Robin was just blinded by his greed for money and acted foolishly? No matter how much he hated being exploited(?), how big were his guts that he would so blatantly lie in front of the country’s monarch? Although Queen Leila wasn’t someone who would fall for something like this, it was still evidence that Robin’s guts were too big or he was completely blinded by his greed for money.

“Well, don’t worry about it, I’ll save you.”

When Milton responded to him, pretending to be generous, Robin smiled brightly at him.

“Thank you, Your Highness the Grand Duke! Your grace and benevolence is immeasurable.”

“That’s right. Don’t worry.”

“Yes, Your Highness. I won’t worry.”

“Since you were impudent enough to be ill in the presence of royalty, I’ll turn your lie into the truth.”

“Yes, Your… What?”

“If your lie turns into the truth, then since you didn’t lie, you won’t be punished. Isn’t that right?”

Milton began cracking his knuckles as he spoke. Robin cried out when he saw Milton approaching him with the sound of cracking knuckles. 

“That’s… that’s not fair. Who does that?”

“Me.”

“Didn’t you say you’ll forgive me?”

“I said I’d save you. I never said I’d forgive you.”

“Guh… this is tyranny.”

“Really? Then do you want an option?”

“What kind of option…”

“Do you want a beating or do you want to pay a fine?”

“…I’m asking just in case, but would the fine be higher than the medical fee?”

“It’s a wonder that’s what you’re curious about right now…but yes. Much higher.”

“In that case, I’ll take the beatin… guh!”

“Right, I knew you’d pick that.”

Even before Robin finished talking, Milton’s fist landed against Robin’s chin. With that bloody beating, Milton forgave Robin his sins.