Chapter 36.1

While Count Altair had been puzzled, trying to figure out what was going on, the woman had reached right in front of him.

“Even if we’ve won the battle, we definitely cannot take a noble’s life.”

“Yes, exactly what I mean! I will compensate you very well. Immediately set me……”

“But have you ever thought of this, Count?”

She bent forward slightly, and spoke next to his ear. The words she spoke out of her beautiful lips caused goosebumps to spread all over his body in fright.

“Count Altair thought his defeat and capture to be completely disgraceful and took his own life. He did so to protect his pride as a noble. All he left behind were his dying words passing his title to his first son.”

“What!!?” [1]

“How does that scenario sound? All the people will think that Count Altair really cared for his pride as a noble, praising him. And since he liked things like ‘pride’ so much, it would all have turned out well.”

Her gentle voice belied the brutal things she uttered, which made even more goosebumps rise on his skin.

He was now in the enemy’s camp, completely surrounded. Even if he was killed, and his death then disguised as a suicide, not a soul would know of it.

‘If I stay here any longer, I will really die.’

Instinctively making that judgment, Count Altair knew he had to prostrate before her and beg.

“Ple… please save me! My life, just spare my life! I will give you all my property! I will give anything, so please spare……!”

“Oh my, it is so lovely to see how cooperative you are.”

The robe-covered woman signaled towards the knights, and a baby-faced knight handed her a sheet of paper.

“This is a treaty of nonaggression. It would be splendid if you carefully read it and signed it.”

“This, this is……”

“Ah, yes. There is no room for negotiating. so do keep that in mind.”

The count slowly looked over the document that was placed before him. It was written with all sorts of elaborate, flowery words, but the main point was as follows.

First, Count Altair could take no military action against the Marquis of Winterfell for the next 30 years.

Second, he was to pay a hundred thousand gold as reparations for his defeat.

Third, he was to permanently hand over ownership of Reina territory, including Vallon castle.

“This is absurd!”

Forgetting that there was a sword placed at his neck, Count Altair shouted twice as loud as before. That was how absurd the clauses in the treaty were.

“No matter the case, this is outrageous! Even if the reparations are set aside, how can I give up Reina territory? That is extortionate!”

“I just told you that there is no room to bargain.”

Nadia gently tapped on the sword that was pointed at him, and said,

“Hundred thousand gold is indeed a fortune, and the value of Reina territory cannot even be calculated in monetary terms. But Count…”

Under the hood, her mouth curved with a bright smile.

“Are those things more important than the Count’s life?”

“Wha……”

“Think carefully, Count. I will give you three minutes.”

How could she say to think carefully and yet give only three minutes. Even if coercing someone, such arm-twisting was unheard of!

But no one in that room would acknowledge the unfairness he felt. He had to first survive to see another day before he could think of whether to pay back the injustice or not, no?

Eventually, he could only accept Nadia’s terms, despite the pound of flesh it took from him.[2]

“…I agree to your demands.”

“Excellent decision, Count. Nothing is more important than your life.”

“First…first untie my hands. I can’t sign if they are tied.”

“Not right now. They will be untied later.”

“……?”

Later? Her attitude seemed a bit too unhurried and relaxed  for someone who had rushed and browbeat him into making a decision in three minutes. Count Altair’s face took on a doubtful expression.

Count Altair was not the only one who was puzzled; Glenn questioned her.

“Isn’t it better to finalize everything before he changes his mind?”

“He could do an about-face even after signing, no? Oh, he was under duress, so he had to sign. Or, oh, he had never signed such a treaty. Things like that. We have to get him to sign where many people can see him to make it indisputable.”

“Ah, that is true.”

“Set up a dais in front of the main castle gate, and gather as many people as you can. The more witnesses, the better.”

Just being defeated and taken prisoner of war was shameful enough, but now they were also going to turn him into a spectacle in front of people, like he was some circus entertainer? Count Altair’s face turned pale with humiliation, but no one paid him any mind. In fact, they only felt even more admiration at the Madam’s thoroughness.

‘The marchioness is right! It is much better to eliminate any future problems.’

‘Changing his words later is something this petty punk could do.’

But while they thought her attention to detail very commendable, they also found it hair-raising. The contrast between her smiling face and her threatening words a few moments back was terrifying. She had really asked him to sign the treaty obediently if he didn’t want to be murdered.

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Notes:

[1] The sound here is “히, 히이이익!” (‘heeeek’), like a shocked gasp.

[2] The idiom used here is “울며 겨자 먹기로”, meaning ‘to cry while eating mustard’. It means to do something you hate doing because you are forced to. Raw mustard green is supposedly pungent, peppery and bitter, all at once. Lovely combination.