192 Elia's rebuttal

28th June 1574

"So that's why you came barging into my home, to demand me to cede my rightful heritage to you, dear cousin? But please, go on and amuse me, why should I do that?"

Instead of flat out refusing this man, I prompt him to keep going with his proposal. While I didn't care about his end of the offer as I never intended to lift my ownership over Tarnow by even smallest degree. Yet I still had to make him give me some time to scan through the system information storage to uncover the details of the blood connection between our families that he spoked about.

"Ah, I wouldn't be as arrogant to come here and demand you to give up your rightful land, dear cousin. What I came here with, is a simple offer of the trade!"

While the young polish noble gestured to one of his servants to bring some formal paper on to the table, I was desperately scrolling through wiki-like pieces of information. Soon enough, by searching through my family members, I managed to find what I was looking for. Yet what I saw also made a colossal fear fall on my shoulders.

My dear father, Jan Kristof Tarnowski married only in year one thousand five hundred forty-five, meaning that if I wanted to claim his name and heritage rightfully, I had to be born at least a year later. That would be one of the first clues I could have to how old this body of mine was in reality, yet with how fragmented such records was in this day and age, the best I could learn was that I was between twenty and thirty years old!

"Since my mother, and your aunt, was older than who you claim to be your father and my uncle, it could be debated whether you hold the greatest rights to the Tarnowian lands, yet in our compassion, my great father decided to offer you… entire thousand red goldens for the villages surrounding this place along with ten thousand red goldens for the city and castle! Additionally, hearing about your exploits in the easter plots of lands, my family is willing to offer an additional twenty thousand red goldens for the city of Ropian and Pilzno, along with villages bound to them. All in all, if you decide to take upon our generous offer, I will add my part to it and offer thirty-five thousand red goldens for all the lands from the Tarnow dominion to the town of Ropian. What do you say about it, dear cousin? I think it's a really generous offer when we could obtain all of this land just by questioning your bloodline!"

Just from this long few sentences alone, I could gauge what the intention of this damned cousin of mine was. With both my parents long gone from this world and his claims backed by one of the richest powers in the entire country, unless I could defend myself against their scrutiny, then no matter how stupid their claim would be, it would be hard for me to keep a hold over those lands of mine.

"I'm sorry, but as your proposition includes the lands that my dearest wife brough to my household, I can't decide without hearing her opinion first. Hanz, go and fetch my wife."

Even though I already know how I would answer those bully-like claims, the way in which I wanted to do so was bound to put me at odds with this powerful clan. With how my cooperation with Cheerie family has yet to start properly and the chaos that the lack of the king would bring to those lands, I wanted Elia to know in advance what we would be signing in for before starting this small war.

"At once, sir!"

With one of the butlers that attended the meeting instantly springing up into action, it still took a long while for my significant other to reach this place. With how she claimed to hold the fort back in our chambers while waiting for me, I could only be thankful to how quickly she managed to dress up and prepare to show herself in front of a significant noble like this cousin of mine.

"Dear, honoured guests..."

Greeting everyone with a slight curtsy, I could see how just a quick glance at our faces was enough for Elia to assess the situation. By the time she sat right beside me, I was sure that she already more or less knew what was going on.

"Dear, let me fill you in. This is Alexander, a cousin to me, born from my aunt Sophia. He came here with an offer to buy off all our lands from Tarnowian dominion to the east, with both cities of Pilzno and Ropian included. He offered us thirty-five thousand of red goldens while claiming…"

Before I could even finish my sentence, I felt a slight tug on my arm. Turning my head to the side to take a look at my wife, I saw her grinning and opening her mouth.

"My love, what is this joke of an offer? How could we sell our lands for less than half of what they bring us in a single year? As for whatever he attempted to threaten you with to stop you from throwing him away from our home, do you think that with our current power we should have any reasons to mind his face?"