Chapter 253: Will You Fall for Me?
“That's right, once they confirm that we can become their white gloves, we'll have value to them.
Once a business grows to our scale, it can't be hidden anymore. Only by weaving together relationships of interest can we survive.”
After saying that, Leon sat down in the chair in the study. Adele closed the door, leaving only the two of them in the room.
Adele mulled over the facts Leon had told her in surprise for quite a while before finally speaking: “Is this kind of thing actually common?”
“It's just an exchange between money and power, is that really so unfamiliar to you?” Leon asked in return, “Didn't your grandfather also obtain his title by donating money to various projects when the local area needed funding for development?”
“What Grandfather did was nothing like the kind of deal you're making!” Adele immediately retorted.
“You studied law. Strip away the legal judgment and look only at the essence of the matter, can you really say with certainty that what your grandfather did and what I'm doing are fundamentally different?” Leon asked.
“That's sophistry! The fact that you're breaking the law is the biggest difference between you and my grandfather, how can you possibly remove that factor! The business my grandfather did wasn't something that could get him hauled before the Church Tribunal!” Adele wasn't so easily led around by Leon.
“That's how you see it, but what about Cardinal Stuart? He's the Church's Grand Inquisitor, the entire Tribunal is under his authority. Whether what's happening here is illegal depends on whether he chooses to investigate it.
Those people in high positions, those who have the power to stand above the law, change the law, even make the law, do you think they'll look at this issue the same way you do? Answer me this, between me now, doing heretical business, and your grandfather in the past, doing legitimate business, which of us has more value to them?” Leon stared at Adele and asked.
This time Adele had no answer. Precisely because she had handled Leon's money herself, she knew just how absurdly fast Leon made money. In less than two years of operating the dungeon on this island, Leon had already surpassed what her grandfather had accumulated over more than a decade.
“But……” Adele still didn't want to accept Leon's way of thinking so easily, “But you said it yourself, if something goes wrong for them, they can just take off the gloves and throw them away. If we do this kind of business, once we lose our value, or someone more suitable appears, couldn't we be discarded at any time?”
“Yes, exactly. Relying on relationships of interest alone can only guarantee survival for a while, which is why we need power of our own! While we still have the time we've managed to win, we have to develop desperately. Gain authority within the Church, manage the territory, gather talent, resources, technology, even strength we personally control……only real, tangible power can guarantee that we obtain status and authority. If you want to make sure people in high positions can't manipulate you, then climb upward, climb to a position higher than theirs!”
As Leon said this, his gaze burned intensely, and Adele could feel the force in his eyes.
“I really can't imagine how high someone can climb through this kind of business……” Adele shook her head. The path Leon described was still far too unfamiliar to her.
“Count Fry started out doing exactly this. Before he became the greatest lord in the east, he was only an apprentice knight from a collateral branch of a noble family.” Leon said calmly.
Adele's eyes widened.
Count Fry, the most powerful lord in the east, was a name so lofty and unreachable in the world she lived in that a family of the Viscount of Allende's status might not even have the chance to attend the same banquet and catch a distant glimpse of such an important figure.
That Count Fry had also made his fortune doing this kind of business?
Could it really be possible to rise above others in this country through this kind of business?
“B-but, Count Fry isn't……” Adele quickly came back to her senses.
Count Fry had already been missing for a long time, deeply shaking the entire balance of power within the Empire, and had even become a topic of discussion at that eastern nobles' banquet.
Now that she knew Count Fry had also once engaged in this line of work, no matter how she looked at it, his disappearance couldn't possibly be unrelated to it.
“So our goal has to be a little higher. We have to surpass Count Fry.” Leon said lightly.
“You only imagine that you might have a chance to climb that high, but don't you think about how if you make one mistake along the way, you'll fall and shatter to pieces? How is this any different from my father's gambling?” Adele frowned.
“When you borrowed money from me to do business, did you ever think about what I'd do to you if you lost money and couldn't repay it?” Leon very deliberately looked Adele up and down.
Hearing this, Adele immediately hugged herself and gave Leon a wary look: “I'll pay it back, stop trying to scare me!”
Seeing that amusing reaction, Leon smiled in satisfaction, then continued: “When your grandfather bought this island for business, did he ever imagine that your family would be pushed to the brink of bankruptcy by one problem after another? Investing and doing business is full of risks everywhere, so why don't you say that's the same as your father's gambling?”
“Of course that's different……”
Adele had just started to object when Leon directly continued for her:
“Exactly, doing everything you can and leaving the rest to fate is obviously different from purely leaving everything to fate. No matter how far-sighted a person is, there will always be things beyond their control, moments when they have to rely on luck. When sailing at sea, wind and rain are beyond human control, but at the very least, we can control the sails and keep hold of the rudder.
As for the kind of gambling your father did, that's no different from blindly throwing yourself into the sea and drifting wherever the current takes you, handing your life over to heaven. If he had actual gambling skills, that would be one thing, but he was genuinely terrible at it……”
Whether it was Father Oden or the subordinates now responsible for keeping the former Viscount of Allende under house arrest, all of them had reported this to Leon. The old Viscount of Allende belonged to the kind of gambler who was both terrible at gambling and loved doing it, otherwise he wouldn't have been manipulated into that state.
“Even if you can control part of it, your risks and ours are still completely different!” Adele said.
“So the returns and the ceiling we can reach are also completely different. The height I can touch is something your grandfather back then couldn't even envision.” Leon said this, saw Adele frown slightly, then continued, “I hope you don't misunderstand, I don't mean to look down on your grandfather.
Your grandfather was someone who knew how to climb upward. He successfully fought his way from commoner status to a genuine noble position, allowing you to be born as the daughter of a noble family. I respect him, and I understand why you respect him. But I want to ask you something, Adele, how high have you ever thought about climbing yourself?”
Adele froze for a moment: “I-I want to restore the business Grandfather left behind, I want to revive this island!”
“Mm, complete the goal your grandfather never finished.” Leon nodded, “And then? What goal do you yourself have? Is merely preserving this island your grandfather left behind enough for you?”
“What's wrong with that?” Adele asked blankly.
“Nothing's wrong with it. It's just that I think a goal only at that level isn't really proportional to the risks you're bearing now.” Leon said slowly.
Adele thought about it, then suddenly realized.
What Leon was doing was already known by an important figure like Grand Inquisitor Stuart, and she was now Leon's lawful wife, the one giving legitimacy to his inheritance of the title, while also using Leon's money to manage the territory. In that case, she was essentially also under the attention of major figures within the Church!
Even if one day she successfully redeemed the Viscount of Allende family's property from Leon, people would still remember that she had once been Leon's wife and had managed the territory for him!
If she left Leon at that point, without his protection, could she really remain safe and sound?
If things were like this, how could she ever extricate herself from this illegal enterprise, from the man standing before her?
“So from the moment I married you, I actually stopped having much chance of leaving you, of getting out of all this, didn't I? You……already expected things to become like this?” Adele stared at Leon with wide eyes.
“Did you never think about that consequence yourself? If you want to push that responsibility onto me, then that means you aren't able to take responsibility for your own choice, doesn't it?” Leon asked in return.
Adele had no reply. When she made this choice, she should have understood the risks herself. If she had overlooked something, that was her own responsibility. Leon had no obligation to take responsibility for her choice.
“Adele, I was once like you too. I thought that once I'd earned enough money, I'd be able to get out. Unfortunately, this isn't a road that's easy to turn back from. If you feel uneasy about the future, I actually have a suggestion, just find a way to like it.” Leon looked at Adele and said.
“Like what?” Adele didn't understand at first, then glared at Leon, “You? W-what do you mean?”
Did he mean that since she couldn't leave, she might as well just accept the fact that she was his wife?
Leon laughed helplessly when he heard that: “I meant learn to like this enterprise! If you broaden your horizons a little too and learn from the momentum your grandfather had when he climbed upward, he rose from commoner to noble, so you might as well set an even higher goal for yourself. You'll discover that although this enterprise is dangerous, it can make you rise upward with unprecedented momentum.”
Adele's face reddened when she realized she'd misunderstood him: “A business that can get you beheaded, how could anyone possibly like it? Do you?”
“I do! I like it very much!”
Leon answered without the slightest hesitation, leaving Adele stunned.
“I was uneasy before too, and for a while I wanted to get out. But later I discovered that only this enterprise could give me a different kind of life. It took me from having nothing to reaching the height I'm at now, it let me find the way of life I truly want, so why wouldn't I like it?” Leon asked in return.
Adele looked at Leon and once again felt that wildfire-like desire flickering in his eyes. This man had a view of life completely different from hers, which sought stability.
At that moment, she unexpectedly felt a little……envious. She felt as though the flame in Leon's eyes had some invisible infectious power, enough to ignite her as well!
“Whether or not you yourself want to climb higher, remember this, if I fall, you'll be dragged down with me. So remember to make good use of the time I've managed to win and manage this territory properly, Adele, this is the foundation that lets us stand firm.
If you're capable of surpassing your grandfather and managing this territory until it reaches the level of the Fry region, then even if you leave me, you'll still have somewhere to stand, won't you?” Leon looked at Adele and spoke slowly.
“Mm, I understand……” Adele responded instinctively.
Perhaps, compared with herself, who had only ever wanted to preserve the family property and had never seriously considered climbing higher, this man really did resemble Grandfather in some ways. That thought suddenly occurred to her.
Leon noticed that Adele had been staring at him absentmindedly for quite a while and suddenly remembered that Weiss often looked at him like this too.
Thinking of that, he casually said to Adele: “Adele, I don't think someone like you would end up falling for me, right?”
“Huh?” Adele was caught completely off guard by the question, “Of course not! What are you thinking? Did you hit your head while you were away?”
“Mm, that's what I thought too.” Leon nodded.
“Why would you suddenly say something like that? Seriously, it makes no sense……” Adele muttered under her breath, yet couldn't help glancing at Leon a couple more times.