Chapter 82 [part 1] (1/2)

(4)

TN: One more chapter till book 6! Also, I’m sorry, I dozed off.

Gio Baden, head of the Count Baden family, and nobleman of the southern frontier, devoted his entire life to restoring his collapsing family. The household was not in that much difficulty during the childhood of the Count. Because it was family with deep history, they maintained their local influence and lived exercising small influence over their region.

His late father overdid himself trying to do business and it went wrong, causing their financial status to decline greatly. His late father was tormented with self-reproach at destroying the foundation of the family; his heart grew weak and passed away leaving the responsibility of settlement to his son. The inheritance taken over by the Count of Baden was a title, an old mansion that existed for generations and a tremendous amount of debt.

It took a lot of money to retain the title. He had to pay a considerable amount of tax to the king every year. The debt increased without him doing anything. But when he thought of his father who passed away with regrets, he couldn’t give up the title at all.

The Count busied himself in trying to save his family. Because he was running around here and there, he had no time to take care of his family. He reduced the debt and went out only for the revival of the family. His wife quietly supported her husband, and raised their two sons and one daughter by herself.

One day, his wife suddenly collapsed. The Count was not even at his sick wife’s side and could not protect her properly. He thought she would recover soon but his wife left the world sometime after. The absence of his wife who had always been there was too big. His two sons understood their father within reason but his young daughter resented her father for the loss of her mother.

The thing that made him get back to his feet after he was drowned in the sorrow of losing his wife was ironically, his family’s debt. He believed that it would be beneficial to his children in the future if the family was brought to prosperity. The Count had no time to comfort his wounded daughter’s heart. He believe that his eldest son would take good care of his siblings, in the place of their mother.

When he was away on an important business and couldn’t come back home for a while, his youngest daughter ran away. His sons didn’t want their father to worry so they didn’t tell him. When he asked where the immature child was, they told him she was sleeping at a friend’s house for a few days so he didn’t look for her and left it alone for a few days. When her brothers couldn’t find her after combing through every place they could think of, they finally realized that this was a serious matter. The Count only came to know that his youngest daughter was missing, a month after she had disappeared.

Alone with his son, the Count searched for his daughter for nearly over a year, but he couldn’t find a trace of her anywhere. To make things worse, the high-end business he invested in went bankrupt. The family that had risen a little bit, fell back to the ground. As things stood, he wanted to just embrace his sons and pass away but eventually he gave up looking for his daughter.

Over the next 20 odd years.

The Count of Baden lived life diligently. He could confidently tell anyone who asked that he had worked hard. But the heavens did not reward according to the effort put in. Everything he did kept running off course. When he thought things were improving, they would go back to how they were.

During the height of the war, the south enjoyed the peculiarity of war because it was not that far from the battlefield. Everyone was earning money but Count Baden was in the minority that couldn’t.

His debt increased. The mansion passed down in the family for generations was about to collapse. The Count, who had never asked anyone for a favor even though he had been living a hard life, made a big decision. He decided to ask his friend in the capital for help.

The Count had lived in the capital for some time when he was a child. There was a friend he had been in contact with since back then. It was the only cord he could lean on.

Because he couldn’t afford to take the expensive gate to the capital, the Count of Baden gathered his old bones and arrived at the capital after several months of traveling. When he arrived, the capital was in great excitement over the coronation of the new King. When he found his friend, he was received with great delight and given a room to stay. He hadn’t been able to ask his friend for help yet.

His friend was the son of a Count with decent influence. Even if he didn’t inherit the title, he was able to receive an invitation to the celebration party in the Inner Palace. Thanks to his friend, the Count of Baden was able to enter the palace for the first time.