CHAPTER 27: LINGERING DUTIES AND BONDS.

The following day.

As she walked into the room, Yelena turned her gaze towards Maria.

The excited look that was once glued on her face melted, giving way to a scowl.

"You again..." she uttered, more of a whisper than anything.

Soon, Maria was standing close to the bed, her silver hair packed in a ponytail while dressed in a red dress that brought out the beauty in her red eyes.

Along with the changes in the Aurelian household, Dorian’s retainers were one of them.

Before she said anything to Yelena, she turned her gaze to Dorian.

"Good morning, Lord Dorian. Please ready yourself; the viscount will be here soon."

’Right, it’s today.’

Dorian remembered his father had told him a day before about the Viscount Embre coming to discuss something along with the loan payment.

Since James had gone to the county to settle a few business issues, Dorian was acting as the baron and was in charge of everything regarding their territory.

"I am well aware of that. You need not worry," he gave a reply, though his current situation says otherwise.

After mildly acknowledging his response, Maria faced Yelena.

"Lady Yelena, I thought we already discussed sneaking into Lord Dorian’s room in the morning. The baroness has asked for you to refrain from this, as it is not ladylike."

In response to what Yelena viewed as nagging, she grabbed Dorian’s hand and placed it on her cheek.

"Come on, are you seriously going to have an issue with a brother and sister bonding?"

Dorian glared, mirroring the same judgmental look on Maria’s face.

Her eyes had scanned Yelena from head to toe, seeing how she was seated seductively on Dorian.

Sigh!

"You can bond when he is done with his meeting. For now, I ask that you not sit on him and leave him alone," Maria uttered with a calm voice.

However, it would seem Yelena interpreted it rather differently.

"Oh?" she covered her mouth with her palm, a teasing smile on her face. "Could it be the composed angel of the barony is jealous of my—"

...

Yelena found herself sitting outside Dorian’s room, blinking in a stunned gaze at how quickly Maria threw her out.

Even the maids who happened to be there at the time were shocked as well.

After a while of total silence, Yelena smirked before standing to her feet.

She crossed her arms, staring proudly at the door.

"He definitely blushed a few times. Hehe, Just you wait, brother; you’ll understand soon enough."

And with that, she walked away.

Back inside the room, Maria stood near Dorian’s table, helping him clear out some of the books he had left scattered there.

"Lord Dorian, are you sure you are ready for the meeting?" She turned to him. "This is the first time you’d be speaking to another noble from a different territory. Saying the wrong thing might lead to unwanted conflict."

Dorian sat upright in the bed, his hair scattered, and yet, it only further brought out his attractiveness.

"Are you worried about the Embre territory?" said Dorian as he stared outside the window. "I can understand why; they managed to leech off Father for all he was worth, but that is only because Father is rather soft."

"No, I am worried you’d extort them to the point they might hate you."

Dorian looked at her for a while, then he laughed.

"You know me so well."

"Please do not laugh; this is a serious matter."

"Embre himself asked for a meeting when the money could have been paid through other means. It’s obvious he wants something." Dorian stood up from the bed. "’Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,’ as they say. If I were to be laid back, he would have the upper hand."

"If it leads to a small civil war?" Maria asked, concern filling her tone. "We don’t have the military strength yet; your soldiers are still adapting to their new environment."

There was silence for a while.

In truth, Dorian had been thinking about it for a while.

In the case of a civil war breaking out from other territories trying to claim his mining ground, he would have no means of protecting himself.

As of now, the number of military personnel the barony has is 230; 220 of those are new recruits still learning the basics of fighting. The remaining ten, while good fighters, are still contemplating their stay; they need a powerful warrior to lead them, someone whom they can learn and grow from.

[Title: Lord of military.]

[Effect: All soldiers under your rule are prone to always having good form and also gaining 90% increase in potential and 50% increase in loyalty if led by a powerful leader.]

This was a title he acquired after his father hired many of the soldiers to work for the Aurelian barony.

Since they had no one leading them, the title has been useless.

Dorian glanced at Maria.

’Maybe it’s time I used that on her; if she is the one leading the military, it will work in my favour as well.’

He was about to speak when a knock on the door interrupted him.

"Uhm? Lord Dorian? Are you awake?"

That voice belonged to one person. Seraphina.

"Yes, come in—"

Baam!

Seraphina dashed into the room, sprinting towards Dorian with a huge smile on her face. She grabbed his hand and held it straight to her chest as if she wanted to merge with him.

"My Lord, did you sleep well? Please forgive me for not coming to check up on you sooner. I had to take care of a few things at the mining ground."

With every sentence she took one step forward.

"N-no, it’s alright. Good morning to you too."

Dorian’s brow arched in a nervous manner.

A few days back, he spoke to Seraphina’s parents about sharing part of their property; in exchange, he was going to give them a new business idea.

Which they did accept.

He gave them two products that skyrocketed their business in a single day.

A new type of clothes that was all the style in Dorian’s former world; an example was what Seraphina and Maria had on.

And the second was a restaurant selling all types of snacks that never existed in this world, the most famous being chocolate bars and udon noodles.

Two of these products were in such high demand from nobles all over the kingdom that even the duke gave Seraphina’s father over 7000 gold coins to expand his shop to make more products.

Their family became rich in less than two days.

But with that, came another issue.

For some reason, Seraphina had been rather clingy towards him. Even going as far as calling him darling sometimes.

"My Lord, I have some reports about the road expansion as well; it seems we have a few issues here and there that I’d like your wisdom on."

"Lord Dorian has a meeting with the viscount; can it wait?" uttered Maria from the back.

"He does? Oh right, I forgot," Seraphina turned to look at Maria. "I didn’t know you were here, Maria. Why are you hiding in the corner? That’s creepy."

Maria said nothing, but the red marking at the side of her head proved she was rather annoyed at Seraphina’s comments.

"Wait, this is perfect; I can do you both at the same time," Dorian suddenly voiced out.

Both of them gazed at him.

"That’s right, both of you, stand together. I am about to give you a blessing from the angel."

[Character upgrade has been activated.]

Dorian grinned at the thought.

...

[A/N:]

Yelena’s character art is out; go and vote if she is to your liking.

Tip: As i get more characters, i might base the character screen time on the votes.