What’s Wrong With My Marriage? I Was Bought as a Wife, Yet My Husband Is Madly in Love With Me! - Chapter 26

Seeing someone collapsed in the slums was a fairly common sight.

Normally, Klaus would have ignored it and headed to his job cleaning sewers, a task that paid well despite the filth. But this time, he stopped and spoke to the old man. Part of it was because, although the man’s clothes were grimy, he didn’t have the malnourished physique typical of a slum dweller.

Is he a rich man looking for a thrill, or someone from a merchant guild? Klaus didn’t care which. He figured if he led the man back to the main street, he might at least get a small tip for his trouble. But beneath that ulterior motive, the real reason Klaus showed a spark of kindness was his encounter with Luce.

Luce had been kind.

Kind enough to happily accept a flower offered by a scrawny, filthy man with matted hair and a tangled beard.

Whenever Klaus remembered that smile, he felt as though he could escape, if only for a moment, the crushing guilt of having killed his mother with the burden of his existence.

“Hey, old man, you okay?”

When he slapped the man’s cheek and called out, the old man’s eyes snapped open with unexpected sharpness. He looked at Klaus and immediately asked how old he was.

“Huh?”

As Klaus let out a dumbfounded sound at the sudden question, the old man’s face contorted as he repeated himself.

“I asked how old you are. Were you born so low you don’t even know your own age?”

“F-fifteen.”

“Still a brat, then. …Fine. Take me to my house.”

“I’ve got work to do.”

“If you’re going to bother speaking to someone, the proper thing to do is see it through to the end, boy.”

“…”

“Just give me your shoulder.”

Irritated by the arrogant tone, Klaus nonetheless lent the man his hand. If this had been the Klaus from before his mother died, he would have punched a man like this without a second thought. But because a seed of “being a little kinder” had sprouted in his heart after meeting Luce, he did as the old man said.

Once they reached the main street, the old man began barking directions—turn right, go straight. It was a hassle, but as Klaus walked on as instructed, he suddenly realized he had stepped into the noble district, an area filled with luxury estates.

Unlike the slums, this was a place where only “proper” people lived.

He’d heard that knights from the castle patrolled here for security. If someone like Klaus were caught walking around, he’d undoubtedly be arrested.

When he voiced this concern to the old man, he was shut down with a simple, “Don’t worry about it.”

“Here.”

The old man stopped in front of a particularly large and magnificent mansion. He told Klaus he could let go now, stood up on his own, and began walking with a perfectly steady gait.

(He can walk just fine on his own?!)

Klaus was fuming, thinking he’d been tricked, and tried to leave before he got caught up in any trouble. But the old man beckoned him forward.

“It’s really bad if I just trespass like this.”

“Since when do I need permission to enter my own home?”

The old man pushed open the gates of the grand estate as if he owned the place—which he did—and strode inside. A man who looked like a butler emerged from the house. Klaus hoped he’d just be kicked out, but with nobles, you couldn’t complain even if they killed you. While Klaus hurried over to try and stop the old man, the elder simply said with an air of grandiosity, “I’m back.”

“Welcome home, Master.”

“Umu. Get this boy into a bath and put him in some decent clothes. He stinks something awful. Feed him, too.”

“Understood.”

The butler nodded simply at the old man’s orders and turned toward Klaus.

“Um…”

“Please, come inside. Honored guest.”

“Is… is he really the master of this house…?”

“Yes. My Master is Earl Damian Bart, the head of this household.”

“A-A-A Noble!?”

As Klaus stood there in shock, the old man, Damian Bart, turned back and spoke.

“Leave now if you want to. I’ll pay you a tip equivalent to what you would have earned cleaning sewers. But if you want to know why I brought you here, come inside.”

Klaus intended to follow him just to get the tip. However, something in Damian’s eyes seemed to look down on him as if he were certain Klaus was “that kind of person” who would just take the money and run. It made him angry. Deciding that he could always steal something valuable and bolt if things went south, Klaus stepped into the mansion.

He was bathed, his hair was trimmed, and he was given brand-new, formal clothing. Seeing his own face for the first time in ages made Klaus feel restless. Food was set before him, but as he tried to eat, a wave of nausea rose in his throat.

The butler looked at Klaus with concern and went to ask Damian if they should call a doctor.

“Are you ill?”

“…………”

Klaus remained silent, not wanting to explain the reason, but Damian didn’t seem to care. He gestured for Klaus to follow him and led him on a tour of the mansion.

The hallways were lined with artworks whose value Klaus couldn’t even begin to fathom.

“Every piece here is top-tier. Worth more than anyone could put a price on. And in this room, I keep the jewelry I bought for my former mistresses. It seems they couldn’t take it all with them when we parted.”

Damian continued his explanation.

“In this room are the deeds to my lands and this estate, and the rights to mines I own in foreign countries. Even if you do nothing but drink and spend like water, it is a fortune you could never exhaust.”

“…Why are you telling me this? What are you planning?”

Klaus furrowed his brow, completely unable to grasp Damian’s intent. Did this old man really think Klaus wasn’t going to rob him blind?

“I’m giving it to you.”

“…What?”

“I said I’m giving it all to you, boy.”

Faced with such an incomprehensible offer, Klaus’s face contorted further, and he stepped closer to the old man.

“How do you even come to a conclusion like that, old man?! Have you gone mad?!”

“I haven’t gone mad yet! You cheeky brat, talking back to me!!”

Damian yelled back, a vein throbbing in his forehead. He panted for a moment, his shoulders heaving, then sat down in a nearby chair.

“Are you okay, old man?”

“Hmph… the doctors say I’m still healthy enough to keep living for a while, so don’t you worry.”

“Then why were you collapsed in that back alley?”

“…………I was looking for someone to leave my fortune to.”

“Huh?”

Klaus was stunned once again. Damian explained with a grimace that if he died, everything would go to some distant relatives he’d never even met.

“The grandchildren or children of the people who kicked me out. Why should I hand over the fortune I worked my life to build to people like that? Absolutely not. I’d rather give it to a total stranger than let them have it!”

Despite Damian’s spit-laced words, the butler standing nearby remained perfectly calm, showing no reaction. Klaus, wondering if the man said this all the time, looked at the butler, who gave a quiet nod.

“But even if I say I’ll give it to a stranger, I have some standards. So, I decided I’d give it to whoever was kind to me. You’re the only one who spoke to me, boy.”

“So, you were faking it!?”

“No, my money was stolen, I was punched, and I was genuinely collapsed there.”

“…It’s a miracle you’re still alive, old man.”

“I built this much wealth, didn’t I? I’ve got enough luck for that much at least.”

Damian just snorted at Klaus’s look of disbelief.

“So, what will it be? An opportunity has come your way to obtain a fortune you couldn’t earn in a thousand lifetimes.”

Klaus blinked.

A short while ago, he would have jumped at the offer. But now, he hesitated. When his mother was alive, he had lived selfishly because he could depend on her. Now that she was gone, even if he got Damian’s fortune, he couldn’t use it to take care of her.

Klaus didn’t have anything he wanted to do with the rest of his life. He was only living because he wasn’t dead.

(Just because I have money doesn’t mean Mom will come back.)

“What? You don’t want it?”

He was about to say “I don’t,” but then, Luce’s face suddenly flashed through his mind.

“…Hey. If I have money, can I marry a noble’s daughter?”