It didn't take long for Avendial's words to send a ripple through the gathering, causing several noblemen, who had previously shown disgust or frowning expressions, to gradually change their demeanor. Their eyes began to dart towards each other before murmurs started.
"Doesn't it mean...?" one of the men, appearing to be a representative from a noble family more aligned with the Prince but present today due to the Marquess' presence, speculated. Though he wasn't the head of his family, but his brother, he understood that such an investment could significantly increase the value of the Sertsul family's shares.
Moreover, if this information leaked outside the gathering, many noblemen would likely forget their disdain for the Sertsul family and try to invest in the business.
For most nobles, this amount of money wasn't particularly significant, but what mattered was showing their interest in a business in which Marquess Avendial had invested, indirectly trying to attract his attention to their own noble family businesses.
But among all the guests present, one wearing a velvet suit was trembling. Even in the cold breeze, sweat trickled down his forehead, soaking his clothes. His eyes widened, revealing a redness formed by fear. 'No, the Prince will kill me,' he thought.
Patric trembled at the mere thought of how the entire plan to destroy Avendial's ventures—or at least give him a shock—had backfired.
It had turned into a bigger issue, one that would cause the noblemen to show interest and profit Avendial even more.
Technically, if other noblemen followed Avendial's direction and invested in the Sertsul family business—which was already profitable due to the inherent human desire for lust—the increase in valuation was inevitable.
With the added advantage of the involvement of several noble families, which would signal acceptance and act as advertisment even to the free cities, the profit would definitely multiply.
But the major issue was that most of the profits would go to the biggest investor—Marquess Avendial Croceaus, indirectly making this whole scenario benefit him the most.
Patric's hands trembled as he looked toward the man standing at the center. He observed the fluttering white hair and the blue eyes of the man who had turned the entire situation, meant to degrade him, into a ladder and climbed once again.
'The Prince needs to kill him, or else...' Patric, who felt threatened before, was now horrified, understanding how things were soon going to become more dangerous.
Only remaining thought inside his mind was him dying at the hands of the princess and then Avendial's fake acting about the poison—it wasn't hard for Patric to discern that he had fallen into his own trap.
"M-Marquess, please go to the hospital first," said a woman with black lipstick, standing just a few steps away from Avendial. Her body trembled, yet her feet remained firmly planted. Her eyes glanced toward the few noblemen whose expressions had turned envious.
Not that she expected anything more from these greedy people.
Ignoring them all, Aecilia tried to convince Avendial to prioritize going to the hospital and taking care of his poisoned body instead of making such announcements. While it was definitely very good news for her family but she didn't want it at the cost of harming him.
Avendial continued to look at her before a smile crossed his face. His eyes then shifted to a mature woman beside him, her figure accentuated by elegant curves and a poised demeanor. Her dress hugged her body in all the right places, emphasizing the graceful arc of her hips and the gentle swell of her bust. Stretching his hand toward her, he asked, "Lady Margaret, may I have your phone?"
"Huh? Yes," Lady Margaret stammered initially, taken aback by Avendial's sudden request after declaring his intent to invest a large amount of money in the Sertsul family business. Composing herself, she offered her phone, which had a pink cover—an unexpected touch for someone of her mature beauty.
Avendial had already noticed some noblemen hesitating, aware that his poisoning might prevent him from making any investments.
"I thought it would make me appear fitting among the young women of noble society," Margaret calmly replied, interpreting Avendial's struggles with the buttons as due to the font, and patiently waited with a smile.
After some time of doing something on her phone, he offered it back. "Thank you, Lady Margaret, here it is."
{A/n: Illustration of Margaret Grafia}
Margaret took the phone and noticing something glanced towards the Princess, who appeared not to be paying attention to Margaret at the moment. Still feeling perplexed, Margaret inquired to at least let others know, "Marquess, isn't this your private number?"
Margaret noticed the number saved at the top of her phone's favorites list, showing the name of none other than Avendial Croceaus.
Naturally, due to advancements in technology, scams and crimes related to phone numbers were common.
In response, a new system of dual number allocation had been introduced, though only noblemen were able to use it—Hierarchy was present, and investors should be prioritized.
Under this system, one number was kept for answering business calls, while the other was a number that noblemen could give out, with a security number added to it.
This meant that anyone with only the phone number could not call unless they were authorized with the security number. A golden caller ID was automatically generated for that person.
So, having the private number of someone with a golden number meant that person had authorized you, added with the number in her phone showing the name of none other than Avendial Croceaus was a big deal.
After all, even Princess Katheria doesn't have his personal number.
silence~
The whole place fell into silence upon hearing that word from Lady Margaret, everyone looking blankly at the man who had first shown favor to the Sertsul family, especially Aecilia Sertsul, then revealed the Princess's name as his banking password, and now even Lady Margaret had his number.
In an instant, for all of the individuals, it was surprising and confusing at the same time. Their minds excused it as a side effect of the poison affecting his behavior, but they also understood these actions were done due to his favoritism towards these women, which they clearly envied.
"Princess, I have called my personal doctor's team here, will that be a problem?" Avendial, who had already messaged his doctor with a large team to arrive here on a private jet as soon as possible, glanced towards the woman seated in the chair.
'....' Her lips parted as if to speak, but she halted as her other hand just grabbing her phone paused before she nodded, understanding that risk was still present inside the palace and doctors of Royal district could not be trusted.
Avendial reciprocated her nod before taking his seat once again, paying no attention to the Princess's sudden change in demeanor, as everything returned to normal with her fingers putting her phone aside.
"Come, Miss Aecilia and Lady Margaret, let's eat something until my doctors arrive," Avendial said, taking a seat and beginning to eat, prompting the others to find themselves in a tough situation since they couldn't force someone like him to urgently go to the hospital, nor could they persuade him, except to eat.
"Y-yes, Marquess." Though awkward given the risk to his life but none of them could do anything. They were not dealing with a normal citizen, but someone who could hold grudges even after having his life saved.