"However, I have a small request too..."
Ardim chuckled and said as he looked at Eloise.
Eloise's expression froze when she heard Ardim's words, and she had a bad feeling.
"Please go ahead."
Looking at Ardim, she asked directly without hesitating.
"It's okay to let her go, but as the price for trespassing into my residence and offending the dignity of the Yaru family, she and her family must pay a sufficient price."
Looking at Eloise, Ardim smiled and then said, "100,000 gold coins. This is the price they need to pay."
Eloise looked at Ardim, and her face was full of disbelief.
"100,000 gold coins..."
She muttered to herself and looked at Ardim. "Mr Ardim, do you know what you are talking about?"
100,000 gold coins!
Even for Eloise, as the princess of the Empire, this amount was such a high price that it was almost unacceptable, not to mention Ella.
The value of the gold coins of the Karkoen Empire was extremely high. A single Karkoen gold coin was sufficient to exchange for many other gold coins in return if compared to the currency of other kingdoms.
Within the Karkoen Empire, a whole Karkoen gold coin was not a small amount of money even for a noble, at least, for an ordinary noble.
The family behind Ella was naturally not an ordinary noble family.
In reality, with the assistance of Eloise, the princess of the empire, and the assistance of the previous Ardim, even if they were initially an ordinary noble family, they would quickly grow and make a name for themselves.
The family behind Ella was in the upper echelons even within the entire Karkoen Kingdom.
Although they weren't one of the most elite noble families, they were not one to which an ordinary noble family could compare.
The price of 100,000 gold coins wasn't something that couldn't be taken out for a noble family as such.
With the industries, lands, and other things they controlled, they could indeed take out such a sum as long as they were willing.
However, no doubt that doing so would cause the Mead family behind Ella to be significantly weakened.
The Mead family needed to sell many properties and most of the things under them. Only then would they be able to gather 100,000 gold coins within a short period.
There was no doubt that this price to pay was extremely high.
To put it bluntly, even if the Mead family successfully redeemed Ella, they would probably be unable to recover from this setback.
Under normal circumstances, if they had a choice, they would have given up on Ella without hesitation and used her life to exchange for this sum of money.
Although a mere Ella was considered an essential character in the Mead family, her value was far inferior to this 100,000 gold coins.
With these 100,000 gold coins, it would even be sufficient to hire assassins to assassinate the entire Mead family.
A mere Ella could not be compared to the value of this sum of money.
However...
Eloise took a deep breath. After a while, she calmed herself down.
The matter in front of her was no longer about Ella alone. Instead, it was about Ella, the Mead family, and even Eloise herself. What Ardim had targeted was not just Ella but the Mead family behind Ella.
Within just a short period, under Ardim's instructions, the Mead family had lost an unknown amount of things.
In the Karkoen Empire, the power of the Yaru family was something ordinary people could not imagine.
As the Yaru family's future successor and the Yaru family representative in Kaner, the things he could do and the energy he could unleash with his word were not things that ordinary people could imagine.
Under such energy, a mere Mead family could not save anything, nor could they do anything.
If Ardim insisted on not letting Ella off and not letting the Mead family off, then the future of the Mead family...
Thinking of this, Eloise could not help but feel a chill in her heart. She felt a deep sense of powerlessness.
Before the Yaru family, although she was the princess of the Karkoen Empire, what could she do?
In the end, she was not the future successor of the Karkoen Empire, nor was she like her noble brothers who had the support of a powerful force.
She possessed only an empty identity of a princess of the empire.
Usually, it was fine, as everyone would give her some face on account of her identity as a princess of the empire. However, this identity was nothing in front of the Yaru family.
Facing the oppression of Adim, she seemed to be unable to do anything except coming here to plead. Thinking of this, she felt even more powerless in her heart.
"This price... is too outrageous..."
Looking at Ardim, Eloise took a deep breath and then said, "Can you lower this price? For my sake..."
A hint of weakness and a hint of begging appeared on her face at the right time.
She looked like a pitiful girl. People could not help but sympathize with her when they looked at her. However, Ardim did not fall for this trick.
He stood where he was and looked at Eloise's performance with great interest. Then, he smiled and continued to say, "Since Princess Eloise has spoken, I naturally have to agree."
Eloise suddenly became spirited, thinking that there was a turn of events.
However, Ardim's following words blocked the matter again.
"Gold coins can be reduced to 80,000 gold, but I heard that... The Mead family has a Blazing Fire Crystal?"
Looking at Eloise, Ardim said in a soft voice, "Offset 20,000 gold coins with one Blazing Fire Crystal. I think this deal is worth it..."
"Mr. Ardim..."
Eloise couldn't help but speak, wanting to continue persuading him.
A Blazing Fire Crystal was an extremely rare material. Legend had it that there would be a chance to nurture it only in places related to the Gods of Fire.
It often contained a trace of God's aura, as it was baptized by it. Thus, its essence had been sublimated, and it was an extremely rare and good material.
This crystal could be forged into a highly precious magic weapon, carrying an extremely high value.
That piece of Blazing Fire Crystal of the Mead family was something they had obtained by chance in the past. In terms of its value, it might even be more than 20,000 gold coins.
It was precisely why Eloise couldn't help but open her mouth. In the end, what was the difference between this and the initial conditions?
He even had the intention of taking advantage of the situation.
"Your Highness Eloise, there's no need to say more..."
Looking at Eloise in front of him, Ardim shook his head, then continued, "Although the Blazing Fire Crystal is good, its value is too high. I'm afraid it won't be easy to sell it in a short time."
"If it's not good, its value might not even be 20,000 gold coins."
"Isn't it a good thing to give me 20,000 gold coins now?"
He spoke softly, looked at Eloise beside him, and said with a smile.
As soon as he said that, Eloise was silent and didn't know what to say.
But in the end, she sighed softly, "I'll talk to them."
"But, they might not agree..."
"Don't worry, they will agree."
Ardim smiled and continued, "If they don't agree, I believe someone will agree on their behalf..."
His voice was very soft, and his words were also very gentle. However, the threat divulged in his words made Eloise's scalp go numb. The meaning of his words has been made clear.
If the Mead family was unwilling to surrender and hand over 100,000 gold coins, then it seemed that the current situation would continue, and even if they could persevere, they would suffer heavy losses in the end.
Even Eloise would be embarrassed because of what happened this time. After all, everyone knew that the Mead family and Ella were forces under Eloise.
If Eloise couldn't protect Ella and the Mead family, her reputation would be ruined.
Who would be willing to take refuge on a master who couldn't protect them?
At that time, even the Chamber of Commerce and the nobles who had already taken refuge in Eloise and contributed to her would have some bad thoughts.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but sigh.
They chatted for a while, then Eloise turned around and left in a hurry. After Eloise left, there was only Ardim left on the spot.
He stood alone and silently watched Eloise leave. At this moment, he couldn't help but smile.
"Young Master..."
In the distance, an old man strode over and arrived before Ardim.
"The things you want are ready."
The old man looked at Ardim and said m in a soft voice with a respectful expression.
"The situation of the Mead family has been calculated?"
Standing on the spot and listening to the old man's words, Ardim turned around and asked in a soft voice.
"Yes."
The old man nodded and then continued, "According to our statistics, if the Mead family wants to gather 100,000 gold coins in a short period, they must sell most of their properties."
"Then, I've recorded all the properties that might be sold."
"Okay."
Standing on the spot, Ardim nodded with a smile and then said softly, "Find someone to keep an eye on the Mead family."
"When they are about to sell their properties, remember to approach them and buy those properties immediately."
"These are all good things."
A smile appeared on his face as he thought of something,
Mead family's properties were indeed excellent, and many of them were difficult to obtain under normal circumstances, for example, some land and some manors that had already been put into operation.
If one wanted to obtain them on their own, it would not only be very troublesome, but it would also be tough to come by.
However, it would be much easier if one wanted to obtain them from the Mead family's hands.
One could obtain the best things at the lowest price too.
More importantly, after the Mead family sold off their properties in exchange for gold coins, this sum of money would also have to be handed over to Ardim in the end.
In other words, Ardim had taken a large number of high-quality businesses from the Mead family without spending a single cent.
This method of using his powerful force to suppress and blackmail was a great idea.
Standing where he was, Ardim could not help but sigh when he thought of this.
Unfortunately, such methods could not be used frequently. It would be fne once in a while if there were a legitimate reason.
But if he did these things tooi often, he was afraid that it would cause public anger and the situation would become difficult to clean up. Moreover, it wouldn't look good on him if he did so.
In Kaner City, the capital of the Karkoen Empire, there were members of the four great Duke families, including the Yaru family and members of the Kaner royal family.
Living here meant that one had to be more cautious in doing things.
This time, it was fine. After all, it was the other party who had made a mistake first, and Ardim had found a reason for it.
He still could not do anything else after this.
"However, with this attack, I believe that my previous impression will be refreshed..."
Ardim had a faint smile on his face, and this thought flashed through his mind.
He did it not only to take something from the Mead family but also to intimidate the others.
He believed that with this lesson from the Mead family, the others would have to think twice before doing anything. At least, action similar to Ella's would not happen again.
These thoughts flashed through his mind, and then he turned around and silently walked to the side.
Time passed quickly. After Eloise returned, the Mead family quickly reacted.
In the beginning, they did not want to accept the conditions offered by Ardim and were ready to give up on Ella. But in the end, they had no choice but to accept it.
This was because there were too many people suppressing them and attacking them, not only the people under Ardim, but also many other people.
This included some people that the Mead family had offended in the past and some who felt that there was an opportunity and wanted to rip off a few pieces of flesh from the Mead family.
These people were the main force that would strike when they were down, and they would often bite even more ferociously than the people under Ardim.
From the looks of it, if these people didn't rip off a few pieces of flesh from the Mead family, these people wouldn't let it go.
Under this terrifying pressure, in the end, the Mead family had no choice but to agree to Ardim's conditions.
They sold many properties, gathered the 100,000 gold coins that Ardim needed, and handed them over to him.
During the process, who knew how many people had looted those properties from the Mead family. Among these people, Ardim was the one who looted the most.
After a few days, Eloise once again came to Ardim's manor. This time, she came to pick up Ella.
It wasn't that the Mead family didn't have someone to come. It was just that after this incident, the attitude of the Mead family towards Ella had significantly changed.
In the past, because of the relationship between Ella, Ardim, and Eloise, Ella could be considered the core of the Mead family, second only to a few other members.
However, after this incident, the situation had suddenly reversed. After all, the entire incident this time was caused solely by Ella alone.
If she hadn't barged into Ardim's manor without permission and recklessly rammed into Ardim's head, the incident this time wouldn't have happened at all.
Yet, though this incident was caused solely by her, in the end, it was the entire Mead family that had to pay the price.
Everyone in the entire Mead family had suffered heavy losses because of this incident, and they had to tighten their pockets to live— all because of Ella.
Predictably, within the Mead family now, definitely not many people who had a good impression of Ella.
Thus, Eloise had no choice but to come over personally and pull her cousin out. However, this time, she was unable to see Ardim.
"I'm sorry, Young Master Ardim is resting in the room and is temporarily not able to meet Your Highness."
Standing in place and looking at Eloise, the old butler spoke with a respectful expression.
However, even though his expression was respectful, his words made people uncomfortable.
"He doesn't even want to see me?"
For the first time, Eloise enjoyed such an attitude here. As a princess of the empire, situations like this rarely happened. This time, it happened because of Ardim.
If it were in the past, Eloise would never have believed it.
"Please take me to see Miss Ella..."
Standing where she was, Eloise took a deep breath. After a while, she calmed down and said, "Thank you."
"Please follow me."
The old butler nodded slightly. Then, he turned around and walked to the side.
Eloise followed behind him, walking at a moderate pace. Soon, they came to a place. It was a dark room.
This room was neither luxurious nor neat. It was initially the house where the servants lived, but now it was empty and had become a place for detention.
Looking at this scene, Eloise felt relieved. Although Ardim had detained Ella, he seemed that he would not do anything to her. But soon, she realized that she had concluded too quickly.
The room in the distance soon appeared in front of her eyes, and she saw the room's appearance.. The room might have been very typical, but when she went closer to take a look, she could see that the entire room had been sealed.
