"Bring Arda over here this instant!" Earl Cornell screamed at the top of his lungs. His face was beet red from the embarrassment he had gotten from the young master just right outside the palace's gates.
The servant trembled as she heard the Earl's terrifying voice.
"U-Understood, My Lord!" The servant rushed to get out of the room, afraid that she will see once more the angry Earl.
---
"I heard that one of Lady Arda's head maid had burned the young master during their gathering," an information broker said. Earl Cornell had paid quite the sum to hire them and get even the tiniest information from the young master of the Belmiunde Household.
"Hah! Such information for the price of a thousand gold?!" He angrily spoke. The information broker simply stared at him as if he were talking to someone unimportant.
"Give me better information, I tell you! If the amount I paid for is lacking, I will increase it!" The Earl arrogantly said. The information broker only sighed and nodded his head in response.
"What kind of information from the young master do you want, My Lord?" The broker asked. Earl Cornell puffed his chest out and spoke.
"I want to know when is the schedule that the brat from the Belmiunde Household goes and visits the Crown Prince!" The information broker's eyebrows raised at the request.
"I believe it will cost more than you think, My Lord, information about households starting from the duke's position until the royals are highly confidential and hard to get due to the different shadows they have installed." Shadows are known to be the hired and trained workers of the higher-ranking nobles in the kingdom.
They assassinate information brokers that try to spy and gather details about the members of the household they work in.
"Then tell me how much is it?" The Earl scoffed at the broker.
"It will be half a million gold coins, My Lord." Earl Cornell stiffened for a moment.
Half a million gold coins were enough to build a small mansion for a noble family. The Earl hesitated for a moment, it would make some losses in his wealth but if he can talk and convince Pier to be his number one customer, he would even gain multiple times of the money he spent on the information broker.
"Then I shall pay you with that amount!" Earl Cornell grinned with satisfaction. He was already expecting to rake in more money once Pier becomes their customer and he gets to hold the designs Pier had made.
The information broker nodded and the two parted ways.
---
"I heard that one of Lady Arda's head maids had burned the young master during their gathering."
Earl Cornell was furious. He thought that the information he got from a thousand gold coins was useless but who would think he'd know the reason why he has to pay two million gold by tomorrow?
The door to the Earl's office opened and Arda came in. She was still in her house attire as she had been lazing around for a few days and sometimes attending noble gatherings.
"Father, what is it? I am still deciding who to marry-" Arda spoke but she saw the glare the Earl had.
"Tell me, Arda, what did you do to the Young Master?" The Earl asked and Arda froze for a moment.
"Father what do you mean-"
"TELL ME IMMEDIATELY OR I'LL HAVE YOU LEAVE THE KINGDOM WITH YOUR MOTHER!" The Earl screamed at the top of his lungs once more and Arda shook in fear at her father's words. The Earl simply did not mean to leave the kingdom for a sort of vacation but to leave the kingdom and never return to their territory anymore.
"F-Father, I-" The Earl grabbed a small figurine that was on his table and threw it across the room.
Smash!
The fragile figurine hit the wall and it broke into a million pieces. Arda consciously blocked her face with her hands as some of the fragments from the broken figurine went in her direction.
"WHAT DID I HEAR ABOUT YOUR HEAD MAID BURNING THE YOUNG MASTER?" Earl Cornell asked furiously. Arda's body froze after hearing her father's statement.
'How? How did father know?' She once more felt fear creep up her spine.
"I have already exiled the maid from our territory, father!" Arda spoke as tears went down her cheeks.
"So that head maid of yours really did. Did you know the price we have to pay for burning the young master?" The Earl said. His voice was now a tone lower than the screaming he did earlier.
"P-Pardon? Price?" Arda's eyes widened.
What did his father mean with the price?
"Yes, Arda, we have to pay the young master two million gold coins because your maid has burned him!" Anger once more started to arise in the Earl's body.
Arda lost the strength in her legs and she dropped to the floor of the office. The sharp fragments of the broken figurine dug into her knees and legs.
"T-Two million gold coins?" It was such a huge amount that their household would need to work extra-harder in the textile industry for an entire year before they could gather the loss it would make if two million gold coins went out of their grasp.
"I'll send you to the young master tomorrow. Apologize to him in the stead of your maid for burning him." The Earl said with finality. Arda's entire body shook with the words.
"F-Father, I don't want-"
"Go and apologize or get out of the territory like your maid did"
Arda cried as she weighed the options. It was clear as daylight that she needed to go and apologize to Pier in hopes that the two million gold coins payment would be alleviated.
"I-I understand, father."
---
"I wonder where that fat bird went?" Pier said as he munched on a cookie. He was lazing around in his room after all the things that happened yesterday.
Pier felt great after talking with the Earl yesterday. He's also expecting to receive two million gold this day. He recalled the conversation he had with his father after he had gone home.
"I heard you made Earl Cornell kneel and beg in front of you," Ronnovian said as he stared at his black-haired son. Pier nonchalantly nodded his head.
"I did. He was disrespecting me and he had been leeching off our household for quite some time now. Don't you think so, father?" Pier smiled innocently at his father. Ronnovian's eyebrows raised after hearing Pier's statement.
"Indeed. It is the time for us to remove the leeches from our household." Pier tiredly yawned and rubbed his eyes.
"Can I return to my room now, father? It was tiring to talk with a lot of people." Ronnovian simply nodded his head and Pier started to walk out the door. But before Pier could open it, Ronnovian asked him a question.
"Do you not like the prince anymore?"
Pier chuckled. It was already so exhausting for him to hear the question over and over.
"I no longer wish to be with him, father. He can live his life all he wants to and I'll live my own. I hate chasing people." Pier said before opening the door.
Before he took a step out, he also said one last sentence.
"Oh, and expect two million gold coins from the Earl tomorrow. Consider that as my initial payment for the damage I have caused in our finances." Pier then took a step out and closed the door. Leaving Ronnovian wondering what happened to his son for the past weeks.
All he did was get the updates about his magic training with Liza and he did not know the other details.
Pier walked back to his room after yawning a couple more times. Honestly, Eliam did not hate the headmaster. Pier may have done so but Eliam's hands are already full with plans about the Crown Prince and those who made Pier's life miserable.
He also hated handling family matters because it was a topic he greatly avoided due to his own circumstances in his past life. Maybe not now, but soon he will try to fix his family matters.
Pier grabbed a book from his study table and opened it to the last page he had read.
He hummed as he turned every page. It was then multiple knocks came from outside his bedroom door.
"Young Master, a guest has come to see you." the maid said and Pier turned to look at the closed door.
'A guest? and they're looking for me?' He wondered who might be the audacious person who came to look for him on his rest day.
He sighed as he closed the book and proceeded to stand up. He also grabbed the new pair of glasses he had ordered from the head butler.
Eliam used to wear eyeglasses back in his past life from having his vision slightly worsen ever since he was a child and he felt a little bit empty without it. Thus, he ordered a few pairs from the capital.
'Glasses are so expensive here.' He grumbled as he held it in his hands. A pair of eyeglasses in the kingdom would be at a hundred gold coins at minimum. He wore the pair and it felt natural. The feeling of the small pressure in his nose bridge was comforting.
He opened the door of his room and went to proceed outside. The maid who was waiting for her young master to come out stopped thinking about other things as he saw Pier who wore his home attire and a pair of eyeglasses on his face.
The maid blushed as she continued to look at Pier.
"Is there something wrong?" Pier asked and the maid blushed even further.
"A-Ah, forgive me, young master. I shall accompany you to the guest room." Pier nodded his head and the two individuals walked towards the guest room. Servants kept on whispering to themselves as Pier passed by them.
"Do I look weird?" Pier asked the maid who was accompanying him. The maid flinched at Pier's sudden question.
"Y-You do not look weird, young master. You are as perfect as always." Pier grimaced at the sentences the maid said but he did not bother to correct her because Pier's love for attention was satisfied with it.
'I should seriously try to remove this attitude Pier's mind and body has. It's really annoying.' He thought as they approached the guest room's door.
"The young master has arrived!" The maid announced and the servants inside the guest room opened the door for Pier. Pier strutted inside lazily as if he was not even doing any efforts to meet the guest since he was in his house clothes.
Pier was expecting it to be some sort of merchant noble that would come to tell him that the item they were selling was the Crown Prince's favorite thing and he would buy it. He was ready to ignore them when he saw the person who was sitting on the guest seats.
'Huh?' It was Arda.
"My, what has brought such an esteemed guest into my home?" Pier mocked before sitting on a couch in front of Arda. The maids quickly attended to their young master as they served him tea and snacks.
"Why did you embarrass my father and asked him to pay two million gold coins?" Arda went straight to the point.
Pier chuckled at Arda's question.
"I did?" He feigned innocence and pretended not to know what Arda was talking about.
"Why did you do that, young master?! Was it because my head maid burn-"
"Let's calm down first, Lady Cornell. I dislike people who shout early in the morning." It was in fact, not early in the morning and noon was fast approaching. Pier grabbed the tea the maids had prepared and drank it as if he had no worries in the world.
Arda on the other hand was fuming with rage at the sight of Pier leisurely drinking tea in front of her.
"Please take back the request for a payment of two million gold coins," She stated and Pier stopped drinking for a moment. He was a little bit astonished by her confidence.
"Why? are you perhaps the replacement for the payment the Earl needed to do?" Pier asked and he shuddered at the thought of Arda being the replacement fee.
"As much as I liked having money in my hands, Lady Cornell, I am not a fan of human trafficking to obtain money," Pier said and placed the teacup down. He stared at Lady Arda for a moment before he spoke the triggering words.
"You are not even worth a single copper coin."
Arda's face flushed at the statement. She was extremely embarrassed and offended at the statement Pier said.
"Y-You dare call me worthless!" She raged and stood up before grabbing the teacup in front of her. The maids panicked at the sight and proceeded to run in their young master's direction to protect him and some rushed to stop Arda from throwing the cup at Pier.
However, Arda had already proceeded to throw the teacup in Pier's direction. The teacup which has boiling hot tea spilling all over the place traveled in Pier's direction but Pier remained unmoving.
"Young Master!"
Crash!
The teacup shattered in an instant and hot tea spilled on the carpet, table, and other couches.
"That's not a proper way for a lady to act," Pier said as he stood up. He was not affected by the shards of the glass and tea spilling at all.
And in his hand was a violent swirling whirlwind.
Swoosh~
The whirlwind reformed into a whip and Pier stood in front of Arda.
"You do realize that you are in my territory and no one is here to protect you, right?" He grinned as the swirling winds that formed the whip also sent sharp gusts in Arda's direction.
Her hair fluttered as the violent winds from Pier's hands gave her a warning. Arda trembled as she stood there frozen.
"I guess the Earl really desired to be our household's enemy," Pier stated and looked down on Arda. The unmoving lady from the Cornell Earldom watched as the pair of blue eyes made her mind scream danger.
Small lights started to flicker in Pier's hands until they fully formed a blazing fire. The servants around the two nobles also quivered in fear after watching two elements manifest in each of their young master's hands and it gave them an ominous feeling.
Arda's face was stricken with fear as the fire illuminated Pier's bright blue eyes dangerously. She realized how careless her actions were and silently repented on them.
Pier took a step forward and Arda took one back. The movements repeated until Arda was cornered in a wall and Pier was right in front of her, a few steps away.
The fire in Pier's hands roared wildly as it thrashed around the room. Tears streamed down Arda's eyes as she knew she would suffer and may even die if those fires were to reach her.
"Did you realize what your actions meant, Lady Cornell?" Pier asked
"You attacked the successor of the Belmiunde Household right in front of everyone. Did the Earl send you here to declare war against our household?"
"N-No... I... I did not mean-" Pier watched the lady tremble in front of him. He had conflicting feelings because Pier's memory of countless suffering through these nobles led by Elena and Arda flashed.
But as the rational being that Eliam was, he made the raging fire and wind from his hands disappear.
"Take the lady back to her carriage and send the Earl a notice of departure from our allegiance!" Pier said as he adjusted the pair of glasses on his face.
"I shall declare the Cornell Earldom an enemy household until they submit themselves into our control!"
Pier Belmiunde's announcement became the start of not just his new story but the indicator of the Belmiunde Household's dominance over the entire kingdom once more.