nucmednet Chapter 77 Engagement Banquet
Chapter 77 Engagement Banquet
Chapter 77 Engagement Banquet
On the day of the engagement, Gou Dan and the other two received a formal knight's outfit, with silver-white inner armor and a gorgeous longsword, looking incredibly handsome. However, this outfit was extremely uncomfortable for attending a banquet.
Especially Fatty Chicken, who already had a big beer belly, couldn't possibly have a knight's suit tailored to his large belly. He could only squeeze his soft belly into the rather hard armor. From morning until now, he hadn't dared to touch a single exquisite dessert or drink at the banquet. Heaven knows how much effort Dog Egg and the others had put into stuffing him in this morning. He didn't want to go through that sausage-stuffing experience again, so even if he pooped in his pants, he wouldn't take off this armor, let alone dare to eat and drink at the banquet.
In comparison, Dog Egg, being slim and able to shrink his bones, was incredibly agile in his armor and ate and drank without any restraint the whole way. At this moment, Fatty Chicken finally understood the importance of managing his figure.
Eliza, on the other hand, was dressed in a high-end and elegant black evening gown. Now that she was the widow of Lord Martin, it was naturally inappropriate for her to wear revealing fashions to attract the attention of nobles as she had done a few years ago. However, even in a conservative evening gown, Eliza still outshone many noble ladies with her tall figure, three-dimensional features, and emerald-like eyes, thanks to her natural advantages, attracting waves of envious and jealous glances.
Of course, many nobles also cast greedy and curious glances at them.
Widows are very popular in aristocratic circles, especially someone like Eliza who can almost control the family and has no constraints. Such a sexy and beautiful widow is very popular in social circles.
Eliza remained indifferent, observing the greedy gazes of the nobles around her. For some reason, she felt no sense of pride. Originally, with Martin dead and no one in her family to supervise her, she could have easily followed the example of many widowed noblewomen, engaging in social activities to gain more benefits.
Many people in this industry have gone through this process: being young and beautiful enough are their assets.
As for love? Chastity?
She had completely disappeared from my life the moment I had my first abortion.
But when she actually had these opportunities, she suddenly felt incredibly disgusted by those gazes. For some reason, when she saw Brett, dressed in a formal suit, handsome yet somewhat naive, greeting guests with a smile at the entrance of the club, she felt inexplicably uncomfortable.
This mysterious corpse collector approached him and helped him through his most difficult time, but now... he's hooked up with a girl from the Duke's family.
man....
Is this how it always is?
She knew that Bright had never expressed any romantic feelings for her, but she still felt uneasy because subconsciously she felt that Bright's willingness to continue helping her meant that he had feelings for her.
And then there's Kailan (Wang Gou Dan), who still hasn't given himself an explanation, pretending to be clueless and acting as if he has no idea what's going on with that kid!
Just then, a person that many of the people at the engagement banquet hadn't expected walked into the club.
Dressed in a brown suit, with a pure gold cane, and supported by two marquises, the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Finance, he was none other than the pillar of Mirandil, the most senior and most esteemed duke in the Rhine Empire!
No one expected that this person would come in person. Although the girl who was engaged was a child of the Duke's family, the Duke of Oss had so many children, and even after several generations of his children got married, there were very few weddings that could get the old man to come in person, let alone a granddaughter who was not very important.
Even Nayuki's father, Albert, was shocked this time and rushed forward to greet her.
When he got married, the old man was too busy to attend. He remembered being ridiculed by his wife at the time. Now, no one expected that his illegitimate daughter's engagement would attract him to come in person. It seems that the butler was not exaggerating. The old man values Mr. Bright very much!
Not only were the scholars and nobles who attended the engagement banquet shocked, but the granddaughters of the Duke of Os were also incredulous.
Especially the granddaughters who had the opportunity to meet Dr. Bright before, all of them looked rather pale.
"Father..
Ottifina immediately went to stand behind her father, while the finance minister, Ruin Igor, didn't even bother to glance at his neglected daughter.
He really is a hopeless case; he couldn't even seize such an opportunity and ended up being inferior to that good-for-nothing Albert. It's truly shameful.
Ottifina's face was pale. Although her father hadn't said anything, she could feel his coldness. Among all the granddaughters, she was the most noble and beautiful. If she hadn't refused the housekeeper's suggestion, how could Nayuki, that lowly illegitimate daughter, have the right to compete with her?
But she just couldn't understand why a mere extraordinary doctor would warrant her grandfather personally attending the engagement banquet.
Putting everything else aside, just this statement alone means that no noble in Milandil will dare to underestimate Bright from now on.
"Come..." Duke Os smiled and beckoned to Bright, who quickly took Nayuki's hand and walked up with her.
The Duke gave Nayuki a satisfied look, then said to Bright, "You have good taste."
Many of the granddaughters, even some of the legitimate granddaughters, were extremely surprised. The Duke's words were practically an acknowledgment of Nayuki's excellence, which could be considered self-praise.
It's rare to see Grandpa say something like that!
Nayuki was also a little out of breath; she hadn't expected to receive this treatment.
This investment... seems to have been incredibly profitable!
"I have to thank you, Grandpa, for giving me this opportunity to have such a wonderful wife," Bright said with a smile.
The faces of the Igor family members twitched involuntarily. They were already calling him "Grandpa"?
This kid really knows how to climb a tree if you give him a chance!
The Duke seemed quite satisfied with the other party's attitude: "Very good, it's good that you think so..."
'
"Mother..
'
Behind Mrs. Albert, two tall girls looked resentful. They couldn't understand how their mother could still turn things around when she had agreed to let that damned bastard marry that old merchant from the North. It was already tacitly approved by the higher-ups.
She originally thought she was just marrying an ordinary doctor, but she never expected him to have such a powerful background!
If they had known it would be like this, they should have considered it back then.
Mrs. Albert's face was also extremely ugly. She hadn't expected that a doctor from a rural city would be valued so highly by the old man. However, due to insufficient information, she couldn't possibly cancel her two daughters' original marriages.
Both of his daughters are engaged to powerful viscounts and city lords, which is far better than a doctor. Damn Albert, he actually concealed such important information for this bastard!
"Come, let me give you a brief introduction." Os pointed to the members of the Igor family who were present.
"Ruin Igor, my second son, is the Finance Minister of Mirandil; this is Haus Igor, the Interior Minister of Mirandil; this is Nathan Igor, the President of the Bank of Mirandil..."
As each name was introduced, Bright stepped forward and bowed respectfully, making sure to memorize these important figures of the Igor family.
Although he had already read through the intelligence notes before coming, he was still somewhat surprised.
The large city of Milandil has fourteen medium-sized vassal cities and more than three hundred small vassal cities. The area of land it governs is almost the largest among the duchy fiefdoms of the Rhine Empire!
But no one dared to object, because many people knew that most of the vassal cities of Mirandil were seized from the northern kingdoms by the illustrious Duke of Os!
The expansion of the territory made it so that even the royal family couldn't claim any legitimacy to the land ownership of Mirandil.
Because of this, the Dukes of Os and his son, who were powerful dukes who expanded their territories, were too domineering in appointing important positions. Almost all the important positions in Milandil were in the hands of their own descendants.
The Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Works, the Academy of Sciences, the College, and the Bank—aside from the judicial department, which the empire required to be centrally controlled—most of the important positions were controlled by the Igor family. A few ordinary positions, such as diplomacy and city management, might be reserved for the nobles who invested in Mirandil at the very beginning.
As for vassal cities, most of them were only granted fiefdoms to the original shareholders.
Even so, Mirandil still had no shortage of nobles moving in.
The reason is simple: under the strong leadership of Duke Aust, this city monopolized trade between the north and south. Horses, cattle, sheep, specialty jewelry, and special herbs from the northern empire could only enter the Rhine Empire through Mirandil. Meanwhile, the most precious items for the north in the Rhine Empire, such as tea, medical supplies, steel, and luxury goods for the nobility, had to be transported through Mirandil.
Anyone wanting to do business between the north and south has to pay taxes to Milandil. Outsiders who want to do business here face extremely high taxes, while insiders receive nearly half of the tax reduction.
This has led many nobles who have been granted titles to want to settle in Milandil. Even without a fiefdom, they can create far more wealth and profit in this place by controlling a certain number of people than in other ordinary cities.
But all of this is based on the Duke of Os's strength!
After learning about the Igor family system, Bright understood even more why the Duke was willing to become a living corpse to persist.
This enormous profit is necessary to keep the North from acting recklessly and to prevent the royal family from interfering, which requires a powerful figure like the Duke of Os to back it up.
But if he falls, his descendants will suffer a backlash if they cannot stand firm!
His own surgery could only barely stabilize the Duke for now, and the key to long-term stability would be the resurgent Shadow Faction and the will of the elves in the forest.
Bright knew that the Duke's support for him this time was to enhance his reputation among future generations, meaning that he would have some influence when he needed resources, but only if he demonstrated certain value.
Otherwise, simply being a doctor is ultimately not enough to make a name for oneself.
The duke seemed to have high expectations for himself.
Bright suddenly realized that his initial pursuit of a comfortable life of modest wealth, his dream of becoming a wealthy and leisurely viscount, seemed unrealistic.
>