Why are you obsessed with your fake wife?

“I’m glad of your cooperation. As I said, you won’t be harmed in any way, so don’t worry too much.”

“Yes… I will heed to your words, Madam.”

“Since it’s something that I will oversee myself, if anything happens, you have to contact me directly. I just want you to keep one thing in mind. You have to buy nearly all the apple thorn herbs available in the market, the seeds, everything!”

Wayne and other merchants left the receiving room half dejected.

Half of them were expressing how much they wanted to take back their promise to push the repayment date.

The rest also looked very depressed. When the door of the receiving room was closed, Nadia finally lifted the cup.

The tea had cooled down when she was done talking to the merchants.

She sipped the tea and turned her eyes away.

In the place where her gaze was directed, Gordon, the butler, stood like a statue.

“You think I’m doing something foolish, don’t you, Gordon?”

“…No, Madam. How dare I?”

“It’s alright. It’s natural if you think so.”

Nadia put down her tea cup and laughed.

Of course, she already expected that she would be treated like a crazy person.

“Just wait. There will be good news.”

* * *

The news that the new Marchioness had started a herbal tea business spread widely within a week.

Therefore, it was a given that merchants came and went in and out of Marquis’ castle.

And there was no way Glenn, the lord of the castle, could not have known the situation that all of his servants knew.

However, the purpose of the dowry was usually determined by the bride’s will.

In most cases, it was used for the husband’s family, but the bride’s consent must first be obtained.

To add it further, it was not a marriage decided by the bride’s side, and there was no way that Glenn could prevent it from happening.

Though, of course, he himself wondered if everything would work out.

Glenn pressed his fingers against his sore temples.

His aunt’s whining voice beside him didn’t help with his headache either.

“You shouldn’t have given her the ledgers and seals! While you were away, the previous family head trusted them with me! How could you make such a decision, Glenn?”

“Is that so?”

“Is that so? Is that so– That’s your only reaction? This is not the time to be doing nothing! You should get it back right now! How could you leave the property of our family to the daughter of the Duke of Balazit!”

“Calm down, Auntie. Everything will be settled with her dowry. She won’t touch our family’s property.”

Madam Grace, who couldn’t argue back, closed her mouth.

But in the next moment, she soon began to come up with new reasons.

“Don’t you feel uneasy? How do you know she is not going to sneak into the safe? We are already in a bad financial position and for her to spend money to buy that useless weed….”

“I told Gordon to keep an eye on her, so you don’t have to worry about that. I think you’re too agitated.”

“Glenn, I’m just giving you my advice right now.”

“I fully understand your concern for the future of the Winterfell family.”

“Well, thank you for your understanding. In that sense–”

“But I think you’re just overreacting right now. I’m worried that it might be too much for your health.”

“Glenn!”

Glenn said it lightly, but there was no way she wouldn’t have noticed what it meant.

Didn’t he imply that she just had to be quiet like an old lady in the backyard by saying he was afraid this matter would harm her health?

Glenn gave her a shiver down her spine.

“I hope you understand how I don’t want to lose another elder figure in my family after my mother.”

“If it’s for my health, you have to kick out the Balazit wrench as soon as possible.”

“Elbert, send my aunt to her house.”

“Glenn, are you really going to do this?”

“You’re overreacting. I’ll talk to you later.”

“…There will come a day when you will know that I am saying this for you.”

Madam Grace could not hide her anger, but she left the drawing room as the servants guided her.

As a quick-witted woman, she seemed to have noticed that her stubbornness here would only antagonize her.

When Madam Grace finally disappeared from view, Glenn leaned back on his chair like he just used up all his energy for the day.

He murmured with a sigh.

“This person and that person… They are just hyenas who can’t wait to eat our family.”

“Well, wouldn’t you rather trust Madam Grace than  Duke Balazit’s daughter? At least she’s a Northern like us, so there is no way she is a spy.”

“A spy and a petty thief. It amazes me that I have to choose between the two.”

Glenn glanced over his desk.

There was a high pile of papers.

Those papers were about the soldiers who participated in the expedition, about the estate’s financial situation, and next to it was about this year’s harvest and the tax.

Realistic problems that he didn’t know when he was a minor filled his view.

“Wouldn’t it rather be a petty thief? At least Madam Grace doesn’t go so far as running a business in vain.”

“Indeed.”

Glenn closed his forehead and sighed again.

He was not a fool to believe that Nadia would be serious about the herbal tea business.

‘She just doesn’t want to hand me the dowry.’