Chapter : 181
“Ahem, ahem, little brother. Now that I think about it, I’m late in asking—how have you been?”
So this human could actually speak so gently and kindly.
Elcius twisted the corners of his lips upward into a bright smile.
“I’ve been fine until recently, but for the past twelve days or so, I haven’t. I haven’t seen my love’s face.”
“Oh, that’s unfortunate… I wish I could help, but unfortunately, I lack that ability.”
“No, you actually do have that ability, brother.”
“What?”
“‘I wish I could help’” was obviously an empty phrase meant to curry favor.
But Elcius, as if he didn’t know that, or rather, as if he knew it all too well, smiled brightly and placed both hands on Duke’s shoulders.
“Brother, do you know something?”
“Know what?”
Duke glanced nervously at Elcius’ hands on his shoulders. Before he could push them away, Elcius continued.
“Up until now, the medical bills and medicine costs for your wife… and all the good medicinal herbs you’ve been using—did you really boil porridge five times a day?”
Elcius presented the receipts that the head butler had pre-calculated right in front of Duke.
“A total of 40 million Rooks.”
Duke’s mouth fell open at the unimaginable sum. Seeing that, Elcius laughed joyfully.
“How are you going to pay it back?”
“This is absurd! We’ve only been here for four days!”
Duke snatched the receipts from Elcius’ hands and began scrutinizing them one by one.
Elcius stepped back with his arms crossed, giving Duke time to examine the receipts twice, three times, even four times.
“That’s amazing. You spent 40 million Rooks in just four days.”
There were mainly two reasons Duke could do this.
First, he had grown up too gently and knew nothing about the world.
Second, his wife, a maid who knew the world well, was unconscious and suffering, so he couldn’t stop him.
The point was, even after wandering outside for nearly three years after running away, Duke hadn’t matured at all.
‘No wonder he blew through all the money he got.’
Rachel, knowing full well that the young master she served was clueless about the world, tried her best to manage the household herself.
But this naïve fool caused trouble everywhere. Elcius, who had been observing them by sending people to watch, eventually decided to put the two on a deserted island. Otherwise, it wasn’t just money that would be lost—someone might even get sold.
As Elcius expected, Duke lived well, with no one around to scam him or overcharge him. Thanks to his wife taking care of him, he ate well and lived comfortably.
After observing Duke and Rachel’s newlywed life, Elcius concluded:
‘They’re still more master and maid than husband and wife.’
If Duke had fulfilled his role as a husband properly, when his wife fell ill, he wouldn’t have returned to his own home but would have taken the money he earned and gone to a big-city hospital.
If the people Elcius had sent to carefully watch them weren’t arranged as they were, Duke wouldn’t have even returned from the deserted island to the Duke’s mansion with his wife.
‘What exactly did his wife see in this guy to run away with him?’
Out of pity for his wife, he needed to make this lazy man responsible.
And of course, it was also for Duke’s own sake.
“Ahem, ahem… Listen, little brother? We’re brothers, right? Brothers don’t fuss over money. Above all, isn’t brotherly love the most important?”
Brothers? Brotherly love?
Elcius smiled brightly at those warm, familiar words.
“And when I said that as a child, what did you reply, brother?”
“Well… hey, when are you talking about that for?”
Duke cleared his throat, glancing at Elcius’ hair and the Plum perched on his shoulder.
When he was little… he remembered shouting at Elcius, who would follow him around with tearful eyes, and chased him away a few times. But back then, he truly didn’t think Elcius was his real brother…
‘If I’d known it would turn out like this, I would have served him properly.’
But regrets always come too late.
Duke laughed heartily and patted Elcius on the back.
“A real man! Even as a duke! Why dwell on childish things? Hahaha!”
“Exactly. Now that you’ve matured, you should take care of your own wife.”
Elcius gestured toward the receipts in Duke’s hand.
Plum, startled by Duke’s pat and fluttering, flapped its wings vigorously as if urging him along.
Looking at the flapping receipts, Duke gritted his teeth.
“You… really? How am I supposed to repay this huge sum?”
“‘How’ is simple. You work and pay it back.”
“Work? You mean I have to work?”
“Of course. Were you planning to just trust your wife forever and laze around? Now that you’re an adult, you need to earn your own money.”
Duke’s carefree days on the deserted island ended the moment he stepped out.
Elcius scanned Duke up and down as if he were a butcher examining pork.
“You have no muscle, but you’ve got some body mass, so you might manage physical work…”
“I-I have no stamina! If you make me do that, I won’t last two days and I’ll ruin my body!”
What a boast.
Elcius’ eyes were full of disdain, and Duke, embarrassed, avoided his gaze.
“So, what can you do? You’ve been on a deserted island. Can you hunt? Farm? Fish?”
“…”
“Even cooking or cleaning, at least, you must have done that.”
“…”
Duke fiddled with his ear with his pinky and whistled.
Elcius had expected the answer from the report he received, but he hadn’t expected such complete silence.
Now, his gaze shifted from pity to contempt.
“It’s a miracle you haven’t gotten divorced.”
“M-My Cherry said the young master who was raised lovingly doesn’t need to do harsh work!”
“So you just lounged around, doing nothing, eating food your wife cooked, wearing clothes she washed, living in a house she cleaned?”
“…”
“Tsk. No wonder your wife got worn out.”
Finally realizing he had overdone it, Duke’s face turned bright red, unable to speak. Elcius clicked his tongue in disapproval.
“You’ve lived comfortably thanks to your wife, now let her enjoy the comfort thanks to you. Right?”
“How am I supposed to do that?”
Still clueless.
Compared to this pitiful man, how incredible was Airi, running from dawn till late night to pay her grandmother’s medical bills?
Elcius felt a sarcastic surge, thinking about how Duke, at his age, had never earned a penny himself, but he held back and smiled. He propped Duke’s shoulder with one hand to prevent him from escaping.
“Anyway, you did receive training as a duke-in-waiting in estate management and accounting, right?”
“Yeah… I did.”
Since the one chosen as the contractor of a Divine Beast inherits the title, all children of a duke are trained as duke candidates until a new Divine Beast appears and forms a contract.
Duke was no exception. Even before he ran away, and after his older brother inherited the title, he had continued his training.
If a Divine Beast had appeared and chosen him as a contractor, he would have immediately become a duke.
“Wait, wait. You’re not trying to return the dukedom to me, are you?”
Elcius immediately grew serious.
“Are you crazy? How could I entrust such an important duty to someone as irresponsible as you? Do you know how I stabilized Pennington?”
Plum flapped its wings violently next to him, as if warning, Even if you died and came back, I would never choose you as a contractor.
