Chapter 374: Gentle Push
My first impression of Ariel von Elsheimer was of a sweet, delicate, innocent girl. But I could read the fear in the eyes she turned on me. She was a fine young lady, but she would never make a family head.
"Baron Wolfgang Ritter von Streit, Fräulein Elsheimer. Or would you prefer I address you as acting Viscountess Elsheimer?"
"...Call me whatever you like, Sir Streit."
"Then, Fräulein Elsheimer, may I ask why Count Reinfeldt is present at this important negotiation?"
"That’s..."
Flustered, Ariel shot a pleading glance at Adelbert, who sat beside her. Adelbert, put on the spot, could only mumble something in reply. He must have known he had overstepped.
Elsheimer may be a vassal house of Reinfeldt, but inserting himself into a negotiation between two families was an act of disrespect toward me. By any common standard, it was extremely rude.
Naturally, displeasure showed plainly on my face.
Which was exactly why Ariel feared me.
"My apologies, Baron Rosenheim. Ariel isn’t used to occasions like this, so she asked for my help. Rather than blame her, hold me responsible—I intruded of my own accord."
"How could I hold you responsible, Count? I wish only to make one thing clear: the parties to this negotiation are Fräulein Elsheimer and myself. Do not interject carelessly."
Only after that firm warning did Adelbert close his mouth. I understand his concern for Ariel, but this is a negotiation between families, and I can’t back down either.
This was no lighthearted occasion for trading jokes.
It was the table where the fates of Elsheimer and Bodo would be decided.
"Ordinarily I would have eased into things and let the conversation warm up, but that can’t be helped now. Fräulein Elsheimer, are you willing to recognize Bodo as a rightful heir?"
"...And if I refuse, do you intend to persecute Elsheimer, Sir Streit?"
"Persecute? Not at all. If anything, I’d rather pretend this whole business had never happened. Think about it. If Bodo inherits the viscounty, then, like it or not, he becomes a higher-ranking noble than I am. How do you think I’d feel, watching my own retainer suddenly outrank his master? Nothing could be more uncomfortable."
In truth, it doesn’t bother me much.
Even if Bodo outranks me, he can’t escape my influence. But I have no intention of using this as a pretext to bind Elsheimer hand and foot. There’s no need to go that far.
For now Bodo will lean on me, but noble relationships being what they are, no one knows how things will stand years from now. If he ever wants to step out from under Streit’s shadow, I’m prepared to let him go without regret.
For Bodo, though, whose position is shaky, ties to a lord’s family with military power are a matter of survival. Above all, he’s a boy who knows gratitude. He’s not the sort to betray me easily.
He’s cunning, but good at heart, and he knows where the line is.
That’s why I took him in from the brothel district.
"Do you truly not want this negotiation?"
"Refuse to recognize Bodo, and I will go home perfectly content."
Ariel’s mindset was colored with bewilderment. Bodo succeeding to Elsheimer would clearly benefit me; the reason my words didn’t match my thoughts was that I knew exactly what lay in her heart.
What happens if Ariel refuses to recognize Bodo and the negotiation collapses here? To continue the Elsheimer line, she would inevitably have to take in a husband through a matrilineal marriage.
She and Adelbert are in love, but he cannot marry into her family. She would have to enter a loveless marriage with some suitable noble who could benefit the house instead. Could she really do that?
The Elsheimer family has cadet branches as well, but a cadet branch is only ever a cadet branch. Ariel now stood at a crossroads: choose for the family, or choose her own love. That was the question.
"..."
Adelbert, unable to help her, watched with an aching look while Ariel floundered in her inner conflict. As I thought, she’s an ordinary young lady, utterly unsuited to being a family head.
If she had the mindset of a family head, she would already have chosen the adopted husband. She would never have accepted a bastard born to a prostitute.
So I gave her a gentle push.
"If you recognize Bodo as a member of the family, Fräulein, there are two benefits in it for you."
"What benefits?"
"First, the Streit family can protect Elsheimer in its precarious position. Count Reinfeldt has only recently inherited the Finance Minister’s seat, so he lacks the means to shield your house properly. I will protect Elsheimer from the other nobles in his stead."
"...And the other benefit?"
"You can marry the one you love, Fräulein. Isn’t what you want most to be free of your duties to family and title?"
"..."
Ariel, who had been lukewarm when I offered to protect Elsheimer, wavered sharply at the second benefit. Even without reading her mindset, the shift in her emotions was plain to see.
Handling a young lady in love is child’s play.
Deep down, Adelbert must have been hoping for the same thing.
"But if I recognize the child, he may be called the bastard Viscount Elsheimer for the rest of his life. That could be a wound he carries forever."
"You truly are a kind soul. But the Bodo I know wouldn’t care about such things. If anything, he’s the sort who would rejoice at being recognized as noble blood at all."
For Bodo, who from birth was scorned as a street urchin, a mongrel, a whore’s son, the title of bastard Viscount Elsheimer would feel like more than he deserved. Call him a bastard all you like; as long as he is a noble, it doesn’t matter. Had he been born a noble, he would have taken it as an insult, but for a boy who came from the lowest of the low, this was nothing less than the world turning upside down.
Of course, he may think differently once he’s older, but not right now. And as long as Bodo doesn’t leave my side, I will remain Elsheimer’s backer for as long as he needs one.
Then, whatever people mutter behind his back, no one will dare mistreat him to his face. That was my goodwill toward him, in its own way.
Ariel gazed at Adelbert with longing.
"Would you permit me to speak?"
"Go ahead, Count."
"The Elsheimer family is a vassal house of Reinfeldt. Bodo Werner is plainly a retainer of the Streit family. If he becomes Viscount Elsheimer, won’t the ties between our houses become hopelessly tangled?"
"There will be nothing tangled about it. The Elsheimer family is and remains a lawful vassal of the Reinfeldt family, and it would be improper for me to interfere with that."
What Adelbert feared was a loss of control. He was deeply in my debt at the moment, so even if I hardened my heart and swallowed Elsheimer whole, he had no power to stop me.
I don’t know how the Finance Minister’s house of Reinfeldt ended up in this state, but it’s all karma, the price of piling grudge upon grudge. If they had treated those around them well, they would never have been driven into a corner like this.
Adelbert let out a sigh.
"I have a feeling Bodo Werner will value his former master’s wishes over those of his lord."
"You say that only because you don’t know Bodo well. That boy will walk the tightrope between you and me without batting an eye. He may well use us both as backing to shore up his shaky position."
"Ariel, what do you think?"
All eyes returned to Ariel.