Can Love Be Bought?
“Love’s fruit…”
*Thud.*
Luang sat on the sofa first.
It was hard to see as the way of a man receiving a guest at someone else’s house.
Instead, it looked like he was trying to claim the atmosphere of the room for himself first.
But Giovanni said nothing extra.
He simply sat quietly across from Luang.
On the table between them sat a single scale.
The kind used to weigh the weight of gold or silver coins.
Next to it, a neat row of different-sized weights.
The moment Luang saw them, he reached out.
He placed half of the ten weights on one side—five of them.
*Clink.*
The scale tipped heavily to one side.
The blood of the imperial family.
The lineage of the royal family.
That was its value.
“Right. Implicitly, we can make her give birth to the child who will be treated as my son.”
Luang’s words were calm.
Giovanni knew she wasn’t the type to hide another man’s child and offer it up.
She wasn’t skilled at cleverly concealing lies.
If she met one person, she looked only at that person.
When she accidentally ran into another man, guilt would overwhelm her, and she would confess first.
In that one point, it was certain.
Luang touched the scale lightly with his fingertip once more.
“So, what do you plan to give me in return?”
Giovanni answered with nothing but slowly pulled the remaining five weights toward himself.
Then he picked up the first one.
“Angela has independent merchant routes.”
*Clink.*
It went onto the scale.
“That alone will be worth hundreds of gold coins.”
“Continuous hundreds of gold coins.”
“Perhaps it can grow even more.”
Angela’s business had already spread deep into noble society.
Just knowing it had reached the ears of Bianca, the daughter of a high noble family, was enough to show that.
She wasn’t only feasting on the gold of nobles.
She was gathering the silver of commoners too.
Looking at growth alone, it was not impossible for her to surpass a thousand gold coins.
Giovanni picked up the second weight.
“She will not betray you.”
*Clink.*
The second weight rose too.
Luang let out a short breath.
“Hmm…”
Betrayal.
It was far too common in this world.
No matter which organization, when there were enemies, they would unite under one banner.
But once victory was decided and peace appeared, the united people would split apart.
They would attack the colleagues who had been with them to obtain their own gain.
If they didn’t get what they wanted, they would rather seize the profit through betrayal.
Switching positions and words according to profit was everyday life.
Yet Angela was strangely unlike a merchant.
She never squeezed profit to the end.
She never tricked on raw materials.
She never swapped in expensive materials to increase margin.
If trust was about to break, she would simply cut off the deal.
It was inefficient.
And that was exactly why it was rare.
Giovanni summarized it all in one line.
“She is a merchant who values trust over money.”
Luang nodded.
“Right. That’s certainly your specialty.”
Merchants turn their backs more easily than nobles.
Nobles have honor, faith, and face.
Those things act as shackles on their actions.
But merchants are different.
If nothing is left, they don’t move, and if there is profit, they change direction.
Yet Angela had slipped a little from that rule.
Giovanni picked up the third weight.
“The third is our family.”
*Clink.*
The third weight rose too.
“The family?”
Luang narrowed his eyes.
“After I left the palace, it would have been difficult for them to support me directly.”
The blood of the royal family was both grand and light.
If the royal family were unjustly harmed, the emperor would issue a decree to punish them.
The emperor’s blood was the law itself.
Except for justified duels, no one could touch it lightly.
But ignoring them indirectly was another matter.
Neglecting respect, ignoring them at necessary moments, or subtly drawing lines were all possible humiliations.
Later, when another royal family member became emperor, the place that had supported Luang could be pressured with treason charges.
Nevertheless, Giovanni did not retreat.
“But merchants are a group that follows profit.”
He smiled gently.
“I don’t know why they went that way, but if I say they merely chased gold, what then?”
Luang’s lips curved up.
“Right. I don’t know what kind of merchant, but that’s truly commendable.”
To punish, you need to know the crime.
But merchants who don’t know smuggling, ledger manipulation, and tax evasion can’t earn huge money in the first place.
If they move with the intention of hiding, being discovered is also a skill.
Giovanni rolled the fourth and fifth weights in his palm.
Then he placed both of them directly into Luang’s hand.
“These two, Your Highness must bring them yourself.”
Luang turned the small weight in his palm.
It was the lightest scale.
But being light did not mean it was worthless.
In this era, the most expensive things were not gold, not knights, not territories.
Ultimately, the most expensive thing was humans.
And the flow between humans.
Connections.
Gold, power, and information all flowed through people in the end.
“You know a merchant’s network, but do you have a noble network?”
Giovanni answered calmly.
“Nobles live long lives.”
“…?”
“There are still living people.”
Nobles who accumulate mana, train as knights, and receive good medicine and treatment live long.
The late emperor died of overwork, but other elderly nobles would be resting at quiet country villas.
If all went well, they might live for decades more.
Only then did Luang fully understand Giovanni’s words.
Not just money lines.
Past connections.
Retired nobles.
Hidden networks.
Old favors and debts.
The Goldrun family was a new noble, but by binding people with money, they were slowly digging into the gaps.
“Do you really want the child to have children without marriage?”
Luang asked quietly.
It was both probing and warning.
But Giovanni’s face lit up with genuine certainty upon hearing it.
“If Your Highness says that, I believe it.”
“…Ha.”
Luang pressed his forehead.
He had realized he had made a mistake.
In noble society, even without marriage, the possibility of having children was always calculated.
Sending a daughter to a great noble family as a maid often led to mixed bloodlines before long.
It was easier if there was a young son in the house.
Passionate noble youths did not care whether it was a page or a maid.
The child born that way was not killed merely for having a little royal blood.
Usually, they were educated to be used as administrative officials or practical staff.
Sometimes, with permission, they were adopted into their own family as “highborn blood” to be claimed as such.
Yet Luang had just voiced his concern about Angela’s wishes and situation.
That meant he was already treating the other party as a human, not a tool.
Even if not love, at least he would not treat her carelessly.
Giovanni’s smile this time was no longer light—it was sincere.
Luang saw the expression and furrowed his brows, looking even more troubled.
“A baron might even take a traditional noble bloodline if he gets the chance.”
“You flatter me.”
Giovanni pretended to be modest, but his eyes showed no modesty at all.
Luang now understood clearly.
Giovanni was a man with great ambition.
He had become a noble through money, and he was a man who would not be satisfied with being a noble.
Yet at the same time, his affection for his daughter was genuine.
If he had been completely cold-blooded, it would have been simpler.
He would have been viewed as a mere trader who would sell anything for the right price.
But Giovanni was not.
He had judged that it was better for the daughter to stay by Luang’s side than to be married into another family, so he had come here.
In other words, there was calculation and affection.
That was why it was all the more difficult.
‘A merchant like this will clearly have hidden things in this transaction too.’
Luang thought to himself.
‘But… will this transaction only harm me?’
Luang had valued Angela’s worth quite highly.
Because she possessed the instincts of a transmigrator,
and because she was inventing convenient things that did not exist in this world.
Could Angela continue inventing after entering another noble family?
Luang had seen the possibility as low.
What great noble families usually wanted was a shining belle of society,
not an inventor locked away in a workshop creating strange things.
If she gave up inventing for no reason,
it would be quite troublesome harm for Luang too.
Perhaps it would be better to keep her by his side and use her.
No.
To be completely honest,
perhaps it would be more fun to keep her by his side and keep watching her.
‘She’s loved by many people. Is she the protagonist?’
Luang recalled Angela.
In this harsh noble society, she was loved by her parents,
she had received unusual favor from Bianca,
and even he himself didn’t look at her too badly.
She was a strange woman.
Annoying, stupid, always causing trouble,
yet it was hard to abandon her now.
If she stayed by his side, something more interesting would happen.
And if Angela learned that,
she might scream, faint, and stay that way.
She might want to watch the protagonist’s love story,
but she would not want to die as the villainess.
But noble family marriages were ultimately decided by the authority of the prince.
The daughter’s wishes were unimportant.
Whether she liked it or not, whether she cried or laughed, she would be sent if necessary.
Thinking about it that way, Angela had already stepped onto the trading board.
And now she would slowly learn, with her own body,
how cruel the noble society truly was.