What’s Wrong With My Marriage? I Was Bought as a Wife, Yet My Husband Is Madly in Love With Me! - Chapter 27

“For an ordinary family, it would be impossible.”

The Luce who had spoken to Klaus.

The Luce who had accepted his flower and shown him a smile.

Their social statuses were worlds apart, and Klaus was a man who struggled just to earn enough to keep himself alive. There was no way he could make a noblewoman like her happy.

But if it were possible to make her happy, he realized he wanted Damian’s fortune. However, at Damian’s answer, Klaus immediately grimaced.

Damian, watching his reaction, told him to wait.

“If it’s the daughter of a family that’s penniless but puts on a show of vanity, you could manage just to marry her.”

Luce’s family—how were they? He recalled she had an older brother, so she wasn’t the heir. She had said she was the middle of three sisters.

“What about a house where the noble daughter comes to do volunteer work and cooks for the soup kitchen?”

“That’s quite specific. Do you know the family name?”

“Orlov… yes, I’m sure it’s the Orlov family.”

“That house? Hmph. You want the eldest daughter?”

“No, it should be the second of the three sisters. Her name is Luce.”

When asked if he knew her, Damian replied that he didn’t.

“I have some dealings with the head of the Orlov house on paper. I’ve paid for a few things at the request of an acquaintance who begged me to buy out their failed business ventures.”

Damian muttered thoughtfully, “So it’s the daughter of that house.”

“That family is vain in all the wrong ways. The head of the house would undoubtedly refuse to marry his daughter off to anyone but a noble. …You, do you want this fortune because you want to marry that girl?”

“…If I can’t marry her, I don’t want any of it.”

“Hmph, you fool.”

Klaus felt a flash of irritation at Damian’s words. However, Damian merely remarked that it was better than just wanting money for its own sake, and began giving instructions to his butler.

“Bring the adoption papers. From now on, this boy is the child of a child born to my mistress—my grandson, in other words.”

“Understood, Master.”

“Hey, brat. What’s your name?”

“Klaus. …Old man, what are you talking about?”

“Straighten your back! We’re going to fix that stutter, too. And you’ll acquire the education and etiquette that a noble’s daughter would actually appreciate.”

In addition to the butler, a woman who appeared to be the head maid was summoned.

“Deck the butler, and this is Nora the head maid. This is Klaus, who becomes my grandson as of today. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Master.”

The two nodded simply at Damian’s words. Unable to keep up with the development, Klaus tried to stop Damian. But Damian pointed at Klaus as if to silence him and spoke.

“Are you satisfied just marrying that noble girl?! If you took your money to that head of house as you are now, he’d just squeeze you for every penny of your fortune, and the girl would end up hating you for being crude and barbaric!”

“…That’s…”

“If you want to marry Luce Orlov, acquire the education to match!!”

Pushed by Damian’s momentum, Klaus ended up staying at the Barth estate.

For Klaus, a resident of the slums, becoming a noble youth required a monumental amount of effort. There were times he wanted to run away from the sheer tedium, but every time he did, Damian would egg him on by mentioning Luce, and Klaus would throw himself desperately into his studies and etiquette lessons.

In the process, he took over the management of Damian’s businesses.

Though Klaus’s grades in the subjects taught at the academy for noble sons were mediocre, he apparently had a genius for management. He more than doubled the fortune Damian had held, which actually led to a massive argument when Damian complained, asking what he was supposed to do with even more money.

According to Deck and Nora, they were like a real grandfather and grandson.

Despite all his complaints, Klaus felt a sense of affection for Damian, and the feeling seemed to be mutual. Deck had once secretly told him that Damian had regained his vitality ever since Klaus arrived.

After completing his studies abroad, a condition set by Damian, Klaus returned to the country and was handed a paper detailing Luce’s situation.

“The head of the Orlov family has run up more debt.”

Klaus had heard reports of this even while he was abroad. He had no interest in how many times the head of the Orlov house failed in business, but he was constantly worried about whether Luce was suffering because of it.

“Previously, every time a business was sold, he auctioned off ancestral lands, ranches, and villas. But this time, it seems there is nothing left to sell. He has finally begun the sale of his daughters.”

Klaus had heard rumors that Cassandra, the eldest Orlov daughter, had begun to act conspicuously at evening parties. Apparently, on her mother’s orders, she was surrounding herself with men and selling off the jewelry they gave her.

Having seen Cassandra himself, Klaus suspected that surrounding herself with men was simply a hobby of hers.

“It’s not the eldest. It’s Luce Orlov. He is even saying she is an obedient, quiet girl, so the suitor can do as they wish with her.”

Klaus’s face twisted at the foulness of the words.

“If we bring a proposal for a loan from the House of Count Barth, it will likely be settled immediately. What do you want to do?”

There was no question of “what to do.” Klaus had no intention of letting Luce go to some random stranger. He wanted her to be happy. He did not want the girl who had saved him from the depths of despair to be miserable.

“If you are going to propose marriage, I shall withdraw to the villa. Well, if you get divorced in a few days, I suppose I could consider coming back.”

Having spat out one last piece of oversized spite, Damian left Klaus at the Barth estate and departed.

And so, Klaus obtained the status of Count Klaus Barth and his vast wealth. He felt a powerful resolve to dedicate all of it to Luce, the one who had pulled him back from the brink of despair.