I Only Raised Men for Revenge - Chapter 8

Those who praised Elzer’s beautiful appearance began to admire her even more when she made a dazzling debut in central high society. Thanks to this, the Imperial Family also took a considerable interest in the Marquisate. However, the Marquis did not reveal who was behind it.

Rather, people praised Elzer’s brilliant mind, assuming that Elzer, the formal heir of the Marquisate, was responsible.

‘What will happen this time? Can the Marquisate really survive?’

Recalling the past, Sesenia chuckled and lay down on the bed.

**

Perhaps because she had already done it once in the past, Sesenia’s business preparations went quite smoothly.

The money the butler gave her was about the same amount Sesenia had used to buy all the Hepria cotton in the past.

Money that Elzer would never have given if she had known in advance. But it seemed the Marquis had secretly set aside that money. Fortunately, in the past, she had to get the Marquis’s permission for everything, but now she could act on her own accord.

In the past, the butler had acted on her behalf because she was running the business as the Marquis’s proxy, but this time, it was Lizbeth, not the butler, who was helping her.

More precisely, it was Rohan, Lizbeth’s older brother and the eldest son of the nanny.

Rohan was the nanny’s sore spot.

So Sesenia hired him directly.

‘The nanny had to lose two children around the same time in the past.’

As a child, Rohan, whom she had met a few times with the nanny, was very mischievous and playful. But Rohan had stopped coming to the Marquisate around the age of ten. Sesenia learned the reason for this after she became Empress.

Lizbeth hadn’t said much about her brother at the time, so she didn’t know. Lizbeth acted as if she shouldn’t talk about her brother.

Rohan was not actually the nanny’s biological son. The nanny had taken in a child who had been abandoned in an orphanage when he was very young. Rohan was the child who had come to the orphanage where the nanny went to volunteer. He was a particularly weak child.

She hadn’t really intended to adopt a child, but the nanny was drawn to Rohan as if by something.

And when Rohan was ten years old, he found out that he was not the nanny’s biological son.

He even learned that he was the illegitimate child of the Count of Azwick, famous for his swordsmanship. The Count of Azwick had no son to carry on the family, so he found Rohan, born to a woman he didn’t even know. And he took him into his family.

Thanks to that, Rohan learned swordsmanship there and became a knight at a young age, but his life became unhappy.

Even when he was adopted, the Count of Azwick had no son, so the Count did his best for Rohan. But when the Countess, whom he had belatedly obtained, gave birth to a son, Rohan became a thorn in his side.

That was when Rohan was only 13 years old. For over seven years, until he came of age, Rohan was hated. At the same time, he felt his life was threatened. The Count of Azwick decided to kill Rohan, fearing that Rohan, who was called a genius of swordsmanship, would threaten his late-born son.

‘Rohan became a genius of swordsmanship and even became an Imperial Knight, so his anxiety was amplified.’

He was poisoned, sent to dangerous places. Nevertheless, Rohan survived every time, and in the meantime, Rohan turned 20 and returned to the nanny. Without saying anything about what he had gone through.

But the Count of Azwick, thinking he was a danger, eventually sent assassins to kill Rohan, and when the nanny was in danger, Rohan lost his life trying to protect her.

‘Lizbeth told me about it while crying. The things Rohan had gone through. Rohan’s story of living desperately, which neither the nanny nor Lizbeth knew.’

So Sesenia found Rohan, who had turned 20, and brought him here. She didn’t know if she could protect him, but she thought that since things were different from the past, he might be able to live a little.

The Count of Azwick had made a rash decision after Rohan became an Imperial Knight. This time, Sesenia predicted that the danger would be minimized if she didn’t make him an Imperial Knight.

Was it because of such a series of events that Rohan, whom Sesenia met again, had none of his past self left?

‘It’s really a shame to make him, who has a natural talent for swords, give up his sword but it can’t be helped for everything. Still, he did a pretty good job with the merchant guild.’

Sesenia launched a merchant guild with the help of Rohan and Lizbeth.

It was called the ‘Iar Merchant Guild’, named after her mother, who was the Marchioness. Sesenia was the representative there, and Rohan was the butler and manager. Lizbeth was not included because she was tied to the Marquisate. And Sesenia immediately proceeded with the business.

She spent half of the money the Marquis had given her to buy Hepria cotton and secured a warehouse with good ventilation and warm sunlight. This time, she didn’t buy firewood, but instead, Sesenia headed to the slave market.

‘For my future.’

In this life, she would break off her engagement with the Crown Prince. But she couldn’t recklessly break off the engagement now, nor did she want to.

Sesenia intended to give the Crown Prince, who wanted to become Emperor and therefore would not break off his engagement with her, hope that he could become Emperor, and then throw him to the bottom.

She would put someone else on the throne.

Prince Ian, the Crown Prince and her friend. To ruin both of them, she needed a new talent to become Emperor. So, she decided to raise someone who would become Emperor.

Sesenia moved to bring the one who was the Emperor’s son but no one knew, not the Crown Prince who would obviously become Emperor in the future, nor her friend Prince Ian who would betray her.

**

It was a week after she started her business. After finishing a meal with her family once a week, Sesenia headed straight to the slave market.

She was free to go out since she started her business, but Sesenia didn’t want anyone to know that she was going to the slave market, so she secretly went to the slave market on foot with Rohan and Lizbeth, wearing hoods.

“Lady. Why are you suddenly going to the slave market?”

“Let’s just say it’s to increase manpower.”

“No. Still, buying slaves is a bit.”

“Right. It’s not, is it?”

“Yes.”

Lizbeth nodded vigorously.

“But what I’m buying isn’t a slave.”

“You’re going to the slave market and not buying a slave?”

“Lizbeth. The Lady must have a reason.”

Rohan stopped his sister and stuck close to Sesenia.

“Aren’t you worried about the Lady, Brother?”

“I’m worried, so I’m not saying anything.”

“…Whatever. You’re really weird these days.”

Lizbeth shook her head as if disgusted, looking at her brother. Nevertheless, Rohan’s face was firm. As if he was trying to believe in whatever Sesenia did.

But Sesenia still couldn’t fully trust people. Ian, whom she had trusted so much, had betrayed her. She hated people. Nevertheless, Sesenia felt comfortable with the two of them.

Was that why? Sesenia smiled more comfortably than ever and walked ahead. Of course, she didn’t seem to know it. Only Lizbeth seemed to notice her change and smiled.

The Imperial Capital. The slave market that exists within it.

The slave market was basically legal and illegal. It was legal to bring prisoners of war and sell them as slaves, but it was illegal to sell their own people to the slave market.

When the war was raging, there were no cases of selling their own people to the slave market. But now that the war was over, there were no legal slaves. So those who abandoned their status for money or those who became slaves for other secondary reasons often came to the slave market.

In particular, there were also cases where children who were not found by their parents were taken out of orphanages and sold to the slave market.

It was illegal, but since they had nothing to prove their identity, they could just say they were war slaves, so the country had no way to stop them. Slaves had no human rights.

In addition, war slaves had almost the same appearance as the Imperial people, so they couldn’t even defend themselves.

And Sesenia came to this slave market today to buy slaves that were not being sold.

“This is not a place for young ladies to come and play.”

The slave market, which you have to go through back alleys, restricted those who came in because they were worried about illegal parts. The gatekeeper, who was slouching and guarding the shady place, shook his head.

Sesenia didn’t like the slave market even when she was Empress. So she came several times to find illegal things, to overturn this place by finding those illegal things, but in the end, she couldn’t do anything and only had to look at the poor slaves.

She asked her husband, the Emperor, and eventually raided this place by Imperial order, but the slave traders had disappeared without a trace, as if they had already been contacted.

“It’s a shame that you can’t distinguish between a guest and someone who came to play.”

“Heh heh. I don’t know what you’ve heard, but it’s not a place where just anyone can enter.”

“Just anyone? I’m a merchant too.”

“You’re saying something very interesting. A noble lady running a merchant guild.”

There were no cases of noble ladies running merchant guilds. The gatekeeper’s judgment was correct. But Rohan couldn’t stand it and opened his mouth.

“This is Sesenia of the Iar Merchant Guild.”

Merchant guilds were established to buy and sell goods, but since they had never actually shown anything prominent, the man guarding the door only shook his head.

“These days, young ladies play with creating merchant guilds. How interesting. Go have your make-believe party.”

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