Chapter 8- Investments

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.

After all, noble society was as ugly as normal humans.

Taking the phone, Avendial dialed a number directly and placed the receiver to his ear. In a composed voice, he ordered, "Transfer 10 billion NR to Sertsul now."

'?!'

Most of the discreetly observing noblemen were now brought into the light, their eyes widening as they watched Avendial order such a huge transfer to the woman's family.

It was evident that this action would spark gossip about their relationship or, at the very least, raise questions about why Avendial had invested so much money in Aecilia Sertsul's business.

Unbeknownst to these noblemen, Avendial was already aware of the ramifications of such a declaration. Knowing that his enemies would seize this opportunity to tarnish his image and damage his future prospects, he calmly added, "Banking Password is Katheria if you need it."

'!?!'

Most of the noblewomen were taken aback. The password Avendial mentioned was none other than the name of the Princess herself.

Unbeknownst to anyone, the call had already ended before he spoke the password. Avendial had called his butler, who, given his responsibilities, would not trust any such verbal instructions regarding money transfers.

After all, in today's advanced world where deepfake technology could mimic voices with alarming precision using AI, initiating a transfer without proper protocols was a significant risk.

So, it was clear that the call was fake.

But Avendial knew none of the noblemen would doubt this, since they were dealing with the present-time Avendial Croceaus, who never declared something hollow, not the future world's Avendial Croceaus who had survived the harsh environment of a tower filled with betrayal, traitors, and backstabbing, using whatever resources he had—even acting and lying.

Leaving the noblemen aside, the only one who could see through him right now could only be Princess Katheria. But to even fool her, he had intentionally used her name, adding another layer of confusion instead of letting her mind simply think about such methods of transaction and rest work his poisoned body had done.

'Oh my?' Lady Vinis, holding her hamster, glanced towards the Princess, and other noblewomen followed suit, their eyes filled with envy. Despite this, visible admiration for the elegantly seated figure remained in their eyes. 'Did he save the Princess's name as his password? How romantic.'

As noblewomen, they understood the depth of affection required to set someone's name as a banking password in noble society. Though it might seem trivial from the perspective of a normal couple or citizens of free cities, it held significant weight given Avendial's personality.

Unbeknownst to them, the man before them was not just a shrewd businessman now, but someone who had endured harsh challenges that significantly shaped his personality, guiding him to take whichever path would be most beneficial for him.

'...This?' Maintaining her regal composure, Princess Katheria Arinphiam sat in the chair at the head of the desk, observing the man still engrossed with the pink-covered phone.

Princess appeared puzzled, trying to understand why he would set her name as his password. Given the state of his poisoned body, she couldn't fathom why he would use her name as an excuse, leaving her perplexed.

She averted her gaze, focusing on the priority: identifying the person behind the poisoning. Her eyes landed on Patric, whose legs instantly gave way, collapsing under the sharp, chilling intent emanating from the Princess who, though composed, displayed a cruelty necessary to survive in a royal family where several heirs like her had perished—it only underscored her strength.

"Hm, that's a very fancy font you have, Lady Margaret," Avendial noticed the stylish fonts and theme, completely fitting with her ladylike demeanor, unlike her natural personality, as he clicked on the numbers, finding it amusing.

"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.