Dylan and Alicia were riding their horses straight to the Stargaze family's territory.
Because he rarely came home, Dylan's face wasn't known by a lot of people. He easily headed to his home without getting any attention.
As soon as he reached the mansion gate, the guards stopped him as though he were just a stranger.
Dylan didn't feel offended at all. He simply said, "Is Taylor here? Can you call him out? Tell him that the first young master has returned."
The guards were confused, but before they could do anything, someone's voice echoed from afar.
"Young Master!"
They all turned their heads around, seeing a big, muscular man run toward the gate and even jump as if he were about to tackle Dylan. The latter simply grabbed the muscular man's head and stopped him without taking a single step back.
*Bam!*
The impact produced a shock wave that astonished the soldiers.
"Ca…Captain Taylor?!" The guards were confused.
On the other hand, Dylan simply smiled while tilting his head to the side so that he could take a good look at Taylor. "It's been a while, Taylor. You still haven't changed."
Taylor smiled and straightened his body, revealing his true height. He was a giant with a height more than 230 cm. Compared to him, Dylan looked so small even though his height was average.
"I'm just happy that the young master can return safely." Taylor smiled. He was the one who had trained Dylan since he was young, so it wasn't weird that he had a deep attachment to Dylan.
Dylan smiled. "Is my mother inside?"
"Yes. How many days are you going to stay this time, Young Master?" Taylor asked.
"I'm going to stay here for a long time. You don't have to worry about that."
"A long time?" Taylor suddenly gasped. "Young Master… you…"
"It's time for me to learn how to be a noble. That's why I'm counting on you from here on, Taylor."
Tears couldn't help but form in the corner of his eyes. Dylan, who had been sent away this whole time, could finally return. As the one who was most attached to him, Taylor wanted to cry but had to say, "Of course. Please leave all the tasks to me. The young master is finally home… Young…"
Dylan patted his shoulder while saying, "Alright. Alright. How about guiding me inside first?"
"Y-yes! Huu…" While crying, Taylor led his young master inside.
"Is my mother in the office?" Dylan asked.
"Yes. Madam has only told me that you will be home soon and asked me to guide you to her once you arrive."
"In that case, I'll go there by myself. You should guide her inside." Dylan pointed at Alicia.
Taylor was surprised at first, but he noticed that Alicia's strength wasn't weak. Her awkwardness and her red face only indicated one thing.
"Yes, sir!" Taylor understood the assignment.
Dylan nodded with a smile and headed to the second floor by himself. It only took him a moment to reach the office and open the door, finding several people inside.
On the left side, there were two middle-aged men who were surrounded by piles of papers. On the right side stood two old men who seemed to be talking about the map on the table. Still, the most important person was hidden behind the mountains of papers on the opposite side of the room.
When the door was opened, all of them turned around to see who came in without knocking, including the person behind those mountains of papers.
Dylan could see a middle-aged beauty taking a peek. She had blond hair like Anna, but instead of purple eyes, she had light blue eyes, which he inherited. She was wearing thick glasses as though her eyes had deteriorated a lot after working hard for so long. She was Anna's mother, Vivian.
Even though she was already close to her forties, she still maintained her natural beauty, which Anna definitely inherited. Unfortunately, she had never prioritized spiritual energy. She might be a Spirit Practitioner, but that strength was only achieved by consuming demon crystals over a long period of time. Her spiritual energy was just in her body to strengthen her body and slowed the aging a little bit. She never wielded a sword or even awakened her spirit.
The moment she saw who actually entered the room, she couldn't help but drop everything on her hands and stand up. "Dylan!"
"I'm home, Mother." Dylan smiled. "I hope that I haven't disturbed you."
She hurriedly waved her hand, gesturing to the four men inside the room to leave as she had a more important thing to do.
They all bowed to her and hurriedly excused themselves.
"I hope you are doing well, Mother," said Dylan while closing the door.
"Are you hungry? Are you tired? How about taking a bath first? I'll ask the servants to prepare you a meal."
"Don't worry, Mother. It took more than that to get me tired." Dylan chuckled. "I just want to meet you after so long."
"Mhmm…" Vivian felt a bit ashamed that she couldn't prevent her son from leaving back then.
"I have read my father's letter. It seems that Anna is going to marry someone and it's time for me to learn how to manage the territory from you. Is Father here?"
Vivian gave him a wry smile. "No. Your father is still in the capital city. It seems that the situation on the court has become intense, so if he leaves, there's going to be a lot of problems. And I'm sorry that only when Anna is like this can you finally go home."
"Don't worry, Mother. I disliked the fact that I've got to run away more than your and Father's decision. I'm already aware of what's been going on in the past few years." Dylan shook his head.
Vivian knew they owed him a lot.
"By the way, I have heard a few things about the guy who is going to marry my little sister. Can you tell me more about him?"
"That's actually related to what you're going to do from now on." Vivian paused for a moment. "Your brother-in-law is now a Marquis. As you know, his territory is Lounstein, and his achievement is immeasurable."
"He is a Marquis?" Dylan looked surprised. He never aimed for getting a noble title by himself since he would inherit it from his father, but he knew how hard it was to become a Marquis. People might not be able to achieve it in their lifetimes, but to think that someone as young as him would be able to reach that stage by his own strength. "And what do you mean by he is related to what I'm going to do?"
"You're going to learn how to manage the territory from me, right? Managing itself is pretty easy to teach, but you'll need a lot of partners to learn the art of negotiation. In a negotiation, you have to be careful with your words and learn what they like and dislike to get the cooperation you desire. And your brother-
in-law gives you the opportunity for it."
"Oh? He really did all that?"
"Yes. To be honest, I couldn't really find any flaws in the plan." Vivian sighed. "He is going to expand the highway for his new technology. The technology is desired by a lot, so they will definitely support the expansion of the road.
"You still need to negotiate with them so that we all can use the roads with the least amount of tax. Because they already want it, they will probably agree to our conditions since we're the Stargaze family."
Dylan thought for a moment. "So that's how it is. Because of Anna, the negotiation will be a simple task. If that's the case, should we just try to make a profit in the negotiation?"
"That's what I'm going to teach you." Vivian raised a finger. "If you show outrageous cooperation and eventually sow a seed of hatred in your partner, there will be a high chance for them to betray you in the future. That's why I'll be helping you so that the benefits are mutual and the agreement can be long lasting."
"I see. It's an experience that I don't have. It seems that my brother-in-law is a capable man."
"I can't help but agree on that. And more importantly…"
"Yeah. He manages to turn my sister back to normal. Even now, I hate that arbiter." Dylan clicked his tongue.
"That's also another problem. According to your father, Josephine rarely visited the royal court anymore. He is still observing her movement and seems to know more of what's going on, but currently, we don't have to focus on her yet."
Dylan nodded. "Yes. I'll focus on strengthening our territory first."
"Mhmm… And because of that, some other nobles might try to take advantage of this situation to make a 'connection' with you."
Dylan's expression turned serious. He obviously understood what she meant. Because of Anna, he became an extremely important chess piece to reap some benefits from the Ardagan family.
After all, he could simply ask Anna for something, and the latter would give it directly or plead with her husband.
So, there would be a lot of nobles coming with their daughters.
"Can I just tell them that I already have Alicia here?"
"Do you really think it's going to work?" Vivian shook her head. "If you're going to use that, the first thing they will do is eliminate her. If you don't want that, you have to accept others…"
"I guess I have to do that." Dylan smiled wryly.
"Still, your father and you are strong enough to choose your spouse. So, you can choose whoever you deem is good for you."
"Mhmm. I'll think about that later. There is one thing that has been on my mind this whole time. I've heard a rumor about a carriage that can actually bring hundreds of people or tons of supply in a single trip."
"It's the new technology of the Ardagan family."
"What are these rune technologies?"
Vivian thought for a moment before nodding her head. "Let's start with that. They are…"
