Chapter 120

120 – A Billion Won Wedding

There was a closed hall, that was literally, undisclosed. It was a secret place used for holding private events, to the point where it was used only once in a generation. Therefore, some servants did not know that such a place existed. Due to the nature of the Empire that worshipped absolute gods, there was a law that necessitated the construction of a chapel when building a family’s estate. Of course, there was the chapel in the Grand Duchy. However, it had been closed for an extended period of time due to no worshipping service. The Chapel and non-public halls of the Grand Duchy of Kristen were like ghost buildings, out of human reach. But Irene, who had just come to the estate, did not know that.

As their gazes fell on her, Irene, rather embarrassed, muttered, “I found it while walking with the head maid. It’s a very remote place, so I found it by chance…”

“I see. You mustn’t go there alone because the route is complicated and you could get lost.” hearing her, Noel said gently. Irene nodded, she didn’t mean to go there again, but she was thinking that having her wedding there, it was slightly regretful she hadn’t taken a closer look

I’ll go back with Noel soon.

Thinking that she would be able to look around then, Irene listened to Tom’s next words. “As the Master said, we plan to reduce the number of attendees as much as possible, and make the scale as grand as possible.” Tom looked at her briefly, continuing. “A billion* in total.”

*a billion won ~$1m

‘Keuk!’

As she drank her tea, sipping quietly to Tom’s debrief, Irene coughed in vain. Noel handed her a napkin. “Are you okay, Irene?”

“I’m fine.” she wiped her mouth and repeated what she had just heard.

One billion?

Not a hundred million, it’s a thousand — a thousand million. A billion won was the equivalent of the entire wealth of a medium-sized family. Is marriage always this expensive?

Unlike Irene who was in a state of confusion, Noel was extremely relaxed. “I see, go ahead.”

Irene breathed in deeply, then turned to ask Noel. “Is marriage supposed to cost this much?”

“On average, it costs about half a billion won for the middle nobility,” he replied calmly.

“Well, why is it twice the difference for us? No matter how luxurious it is, that is too much of a difference.”

“Because there’s a special charge.”

“A special charge?”

Since marriage was essentially carried out on a separate organised budget, Irene had not been paying much attention to the wedding preparations. It was also because Noel did not accept her help, because he was proceeding on his own. But a billion won! That was an astronomical amount of money, which seemed to be spinning in front of Irene. At the same time, there was a lot of pressure.

“…what is the special cost?” she asked cautiously.

In the first place, because Noel was paying the wedding expenses, Irene did not interfere much. However, she could not help but ask what the special cost was, to generate as much of a difference as 500 million won. Irene’s eyes fluttered and she turned to him.

Noel smiled at her reaction. “Are you worried I’m going to go bankrupt?” he teased lightheartedly.

“Well, that’s not true, but…” she tried to deny it, but to say she was not worried would be a lie. He should be too, how much property did he own as the Grand Duke? Even if he had separate businesses, it would be difficult to cover this amount all at once.

Are you planning on getting married, by using the property of the estate? If so, it made sense. A billion won would be less than a droplet in a bucket filled with water, in comparison to the wealth of the Grand Duke. However, that could lead to criticism from Count Rixis’ side who were constantly looking for loopholes in Noel. Rumours could start to spread that he coveted the property of the Grand Duke, and was lavish. So how on earth would Noel be able to attain that astronomical amount? No matter how hard she thought about it, no answer came up.

Noel stared at her, his expression relaxed. He could clearly see what she was thinking. Surely, there would be questions from her.

It was originally a secret, but…

He thought it would be alright to let her know. Because if it were her, and she knew his weakness, she wouldn’t use it to her gain and take advantage of him. “Irene, would you like to go out with me tomorrow?”