A Marriage of Convenience /The Marriage Business

Ch.56

While the cold winter was long, the warm spring days flew by in an instant. It has been a month since spring arrived.

Slowly, the time for Zachary and Bianca to depart for the capital was approaching.

Originally, the vassals would not have headed to the capital because the king would have traveled the country with thousands of servants and knights to tour his territory. The king used to display his dignity as king and confirm the loyalty of the lords through itinerant performances.

However, the current king was elderly and unable to endure the wandering life, so he used the engagement of the crown prince Albert as an excuse to invite all the lords except the margrave* to the capital.

There was no need to say that the lords went to the capital. It was not solely out of loyalty to the king. As the king grew older, his eyes were focused on who would succeed the king, and since it had to do with their future, they had to feel the weight of the scales tipping even if it was just a little.

Of course, the official heir was Gautier de Sevran, the first prince, but Jacob, the second prince, could not be ignored either. While Prince Gautier's temperament was quite fragile and gentle, Jacob explicitly revealed his greed for whatever he wanted. If it had been a peaceful era, everyone would have pushed Prince Gautier to the throne, whether they desired peace or wanted to seize power and shake the weak king, but in times of war like now, the story was different.

Lords who had already chosen a side went to the capital to be the strength behind their prince, and lords who had not yet chosen a side went to the capital to find out which prince was closer to becoming the king.

And Count Arno's carriage was also getting ready to join them. In the castle, the supplies were steadily being loaded, and under Vincent's command, the servants loaded them onto the carts. The knights were checking their weapons and horses, and some were bidding farewell to their families.

When it came to luggage, it was, of course, Bianca's luggage. Dozens of dresses for Bianca to wear in the capital, the accessories that came with them, and her essences were lined up in fifteen trunks.

Fortunately, this was also greatly reduced because Zachary said that if there was anything she wanted or needed, he would buy it for her in the capital.

The servants clicked their tongues at Bianca's extravagant load. All of Bianca's belongings were precious, so Yvonne widened her eyes and watched the servants to make sure they didn't drop the trunks.

While Bianca's luggage was enormous, Zachary, the owner of the estate, had only five trunks. However, most of the items were weapons, books, and items presented to the king instead of clothes. Firstly, Zachary was used to packing his luggage compactly as he used to travel to the battlefield.

Still, he would be staying in the capital for almost half a year, so five trunks were too few. Zachary's luggage, prepared by Vincent, consisted of eight trunks. It was entirely thanks to Bianca that Zachary's load was reduced so much.

How was Zachary's load lightened?

It started with Vincent, who went to move Bianca's luggage and expressed his dismay when he saw the trunks piled up like a mountain.

"Are you planning to move the entire castle as it is?"

"I only take what I need. Do you want me to go to the capital and be laughed at?"

"Even the Count only has eight trunks. The lady's load is too much. Could you reduce it to less than ten trunks?"

"Ten? Don't be ridiculous. It's absurd that the Count only has eight trunks. What the hell is he taking?"