Chapter 176 - 176 Parents
Steve returned home and summoned Isabella, Arthur, Elizabeth, Mikhail, along with his wives.
While waiting for the wives to arrive, Isabella explained the situation to Mikhail.
"Actually, this is my real home. Surprised?"
"Yes. Very."
Mikhail was confused, having come to the mansion of Steve, the top domestic noble. He couldn't find the next words.
So, Isabella continued.
"I didn't mean to deceive you. I just thought that if I mentioned the House Archibalt name, all sorts of weirdos would come around. I wanted to enjoy school life."
"Is the name 'Cromwell' a lie?"
"No. That's true too. My aunt gave me the title of viscount, so I can use my mother's family name."
"Um, your aunt...?"
"The Yellow Empire's Emperor's Second Consort."
"Eeeeeeh!!"
Steve's daughter was already shocking enough, but the fact that the Yellow Empire's Emperor's Second Consort was his aunt shocked him even more.
Watching that exchange between the two, Steve was in a foul mood.
Bella noticed this.
"Steve."
"Oh, yeah."
The two were so close that he understood he was being scolded by that single word, and Mikhail thought that Bella was Steve's mistress. So, he vowed not to mention it.
While doing that, Christina, Nancy, Julia, and Camilla arrived.
Julia looked at Mikhail and smiled brightly.
"It seems we made it in time."
Mikhail was confused, not understanding the meaning.
"Um, what do you mean?"
"I received a divine revelation to save you."
Hearing "divine revelation," Mikhail understood that the woman before him was the Saintess Julia.
He knew that the Saintess had married Steve, but he never imagined meeting her at her home.
While Mikhail was bowing in embarrassment, Steve was in a foul mood.
"Really, God is useless. There must have been another timing."
"I do not know what happened, but everything is the will of God."
Hearing that conversation, Isabella turned as red as an apple or octopus.
"Dad, forget what I just said."
Having parents overhear a conversation with a lover was the number one past they wanted to erase for teenagers. Isabella's heart rate and blood pressure had risen more than ever before.
"I'll forget too, so let's make Mikhail forget as well."
"That won't do."
It was an immediate denial. Steve slumped his shoulders dejectedly.
Seeing that, Nancy raised her eyebrows.
"Both of you, seriously. You were targeted for your lives, right?"
"Yes."
Steve shrank down after being scolded.
To Mikhail, this was fresh. He thought the Lord of the Dragon Head Medal, the top domestic noble, had dignity even at home, but in reality, he felt no such thing at all.
Steve cleared his throat and looked at Isabella and the others.
"Pull out of the Fleming Trading Company market."
"Why?"
Isabella asked, but she knew the reason.
"They are targeting your lives. Probably, that was Count Cutter targeting you. I will investigate from now on, but it's likely correct. It's no longer something for children to do. Besides, your funds are at their limit. Leave the rest to Dad."
Steve was aware of the children's financial situation. Therefore, he knew they could not maintain the stock price any longer.
Isabella and Elizabeth had no comeback.
But Mikhail was different.
"My Lord, please let us do it until the end."
"I said it. It's dangerous, and above all, you have no funds."
"No, even without funds, I thought of a way to raise the stock price."
Mikhail looked straight at Steve. Steve sensed something in that.
"A strong will. Let me hear the reason for that will."
Hearing that, Mikhail nodded and spoke the reason for his will.
"My father lost his position trying to use your Lordship's power. If I give up here, it will mean ending this market with your Lordship's power, just like my father. I don't want the dishonor of two generations of father and son being unable to achieve anything without your Lordship's power."
Mikhail hated seeing his spiritless father. And Mikhail himself, who couldn't find the meaning of living, had found the joy of living through the market manipulation of the Fleming Trading Company after meeting Isabella at this school.
Therefore, he wanted to finish this market manipulation with his own hands. Furthermore, if Steve, whom his father had failed to utilize, appeared there, it was natural that the will to accomplish it without using Steve's power would arise. Mikhail was right now changing from a boy into a man.
Hearing that, Steve could no longer easily say no.
"I understand. However, it depends on the method to raise the stock price. If it seems ineffective, I will not permit it."
"In that case, let me tell you the method I thought of."
Mikhail told Steve the method he had thought of. Steve listened and pondered.
Before Steve could open his mouth, Isabella became worried and asked first.
"Dad. Please. Let Mikhail handle it."
"Understood."
Steve permitted the children to continue the market manipulation. He intended to permit it even without Isabella asking, but the reason his reply was late was that he was thinking about how to deal a fatal blow to Count Cutter.
"Thank you! I love Dad. But forget about school matters."
"I won't forget."
"I hate you still."
When Isabella said that, laughter erupted.
Once that subsided, Steve spoke to Mikhail.
"It's late today, so I will take you."
"Your Lordship?"
Mikhail bowed in embarrassment for the umpteenth time.
"I have to speak with your father as well."
"Understood."
Mikhail was to be escorted by Steve. Upon arriving at the Taylor Estate, Steve spoke with Alex alone.
"Long time no see, Your Highness."
"You are no longer in a position to be called 'Your Highness', My Lord. What is your business today?"
"Actually, my son has become involved with your daughter. Since there will be people suspecting various things, I intend to persuade them at the Royal Palace. Also, the children are conducting a market manipulation in the stock market to help their classmates, and the opponent is that Count Cutter."
Hearing the name Count Cutter, Alex's eyes went distant.
"That Cutter? No, more importantly, my foolish son and your Lordship's daughter?"
"As a parent, I think romance is too early for students."
Steve was still dissatisfied. But he continued the conversation regardless.
"Count Cutter stopped at nothing and sent assassins. It is quite dangerous, but the children insist on doing it until the end. I will take responsibility for protecting them, so please watch over your son continuing the market manipulation."
"If My Lord says so. We, in turn, ask for your favor regarding my foolish son."
Alex bowed deeply.
There were no past grudges there, only a father worried about his son.
After Steve left, Alex called Mikhail.
"Mikhail."
"What is it, Father?"
"Was school fun?"
"Yes."
Alex asked only that and said nothing more.
He thought that when his son married Isabella and took over the company management, he would buy the company's stock. Then, he would know the stock price movements and company trends from economic newspapers and get excited or worried accordingly.
In Alex's thinking, the president was the king, and the employees were the citizens. Sales and stock prices were territory and national power. And extending influence to other countries without war, and hiring employees there, was the same as expanding territory. He found joy in seeing his son doing what he himself could not do.
On the other hand, Jackson, who failed the assassination, reported it to his father, Count Cutter.
"Father! The Dragon Head Lordship failed and looked at us."
Count Cutter shouted at Jackson's explanation that missed the point.
"Calm down. Explain what happened in order."
Jackson regained some composure and explained what happened at school.
"The assassins tried to kill Taylor and the Imperial Lady and threw knives, but the Imperial Lady knocked them away, and they stabbed only Taylor. Then, the Imperial Lady's guard fired a gun and killed the assassin. At that moment, the Dragon Head Lordship appeared, healed Taylor, resurrected the dead assassin, spoke something, and then looked at us."
Count Cutter felt a bad feeling when hearing that the Imperial Lady's guard fired a gun.
Even if it was a guard, carrying a gun in the Royal Capital was not permitted. And judging from the story, it seemed they fired immediately, but the current mainstream was matchlock guns. The only ones who didn't need those were Steve's magic-made guns.
And with Steve appearing there, Jackson realized that the Imperial Lady he tried to kill was no ordinary person.
"What was the name of that Imperial Lady?"
"Isabella Cromwell."
"Cromwell!"
Count Cutter had heard the name from Jackson before and investigated the House Cromwell to some extent, but he couldn't get much information from the Kingdom of Cascade.
That was only natural. Even for an empire, there were few who knew about a viscount house that had just been established. So he judged it to be nothing special.
However, he remembered now. The name Cromwell belonged to Steve's wife. She was listed as having died in battle and never appeared publicly, so he had completely forgotten, but he remembered it now.
And he vented his anger on Jackson.
"Idiot! That is the Dragon Head Lordship's daughter! Cromwell is the maternal family name. Why didn't you investigate that!"
"Hiss."
Jackson stepped back at his father's overwhelming presence.
He couldn't say that he also tried to kill Arthur while he was at it. He decided to stay silent. If he had said that, he would have been killed right there.
Count Cutter disowned Jackson.
"You are disowned! I will never allow you to use our family name again!"
"Father, that is..."
"If you stay in the mansion any longer, I will deliver your head to the Lordship!"
Hearing that from the Count, Jackson left the house in his clothes.
The two didn't notice that a spider was watching from the ceiling. Count Cutter continued to think of excuses for Steve in that room.
And after leaving the house, Jackson walked slowly down a dark road. Since it was the noble district, the security was good, and he didn't encounter any robbers. But he encountered something much more terrifying.
Thud
Something fell to the ground behind him.
Startled, he looked that way, and there was the corpse of the dead assassin. It started moving and walked toward Jackson.
Seeing that figure, Jackson ran away, urinating on himself.
Two shadows watched from the shadows.
It was Steve and Bella.
"Is this level enough? Shall I kill him?"
"No, it's fine. I don't want to take a child's life."
"But he's angry."
"Well, yes."
It was Steve's revenge for being targeted for his children's lives.
Also, Mikhail, who became like family to Steve from that day on, later reminisced.
"My father-in-law played the role of a deified self outside, and perhaps as a reaction, he had a strong desire to be human at home. I never felt the unapproachability shown outside within the home."
However, there is one word added to that.
"Except when I went to ask for permission to marry Isabella."
Emergency contact from Nancy. Daughter is approaching home with a marriage partner.