Chapter 499 Visiting nobles (15)
This time, Viscount Henry and his wife were shocked when they heard this.
Viscount Henry immediately knitted his brows and looked carefully at me, as if he was trying to gauge me.
It was as if he was trying to figure out just what my intentions were when I asked this question. It was as if he wanted to see if I had any ill intentions asking him this.
What he mainly cared about was if I was setting a trap for him by asking this.
However, I just looked right back at Viscount Henry with a calm look on my face as if I wasn't bothered by this at all.
After a long silence, he finally said, "We are at odds sometimes, but that's to be expected from nobles that border each other."
This answer…was very safe, but it was not the answer that I was looking for.
Viscount Henry also knew that since he could see the look on my face.
However, it wasn't as if he could say anything else.
This was something that concerned the safety of both his family and his territory, so it wasn't something that he could be rash about.
He could only offer safe questions to keep him, his family, and his people safe.
That was his duty as both the head of his family and the lord of this territory.
But since I wasn't satisfied, I wouldn't let this matter go.
"Is that so?" I said in a calm voice.
Viscount Henry couldn't help knitting his brows when he heard this, but he didn't say anything.
Almost as if teasing him, I slowly said, "Then what if I said that I wanted to get rid of him?"
The moment that my voice fell, Viscount Henry and his wife immediately revealed shocked looks of disbelief. It was as if they couldn't believe that I would be so direct with this matter.
Even Rose and Haley were surprised to hear this.
They weren't surprised by the words I said since we had already agreed that this was something that was on the table, they were just surprised by how direct I was.
Viscount Henry narrowed his eyes to look at me as if he was trying to gauge if I was being serious or not.
After a long silence, he finally bit the bait and said, "Count Zwein, I don't know what happened between you and Viscount Teomold, but it is dangerous to speak in this manner. You should…"
Before he could finish, I suddenly said, "I just want to know if you want in or not. It's a very simple question."
Viscount Henry was completely taken aback when he heard this.
There was a part of him that started to feel regret since he had taken this Count Zwein lightly.
He had thought that he was just a simple straightforward person, but how could anyone that received the title of count possibly be a simple person?
It should have been clear that he was a cunning person who had his own plans.
Viscount Henry didn't know what to say as he turned to look at his wife, but she just shook her head to show that she didn't know either.
Seeing that the two of them were like this, I decided to sweeten the pot.
I looked at Haley and gave her a nod before saying, "Bring that out."
She looked at me with a surprised look, but she still took out a piece of paper for Viscount Henry.
Instead of putting it on the table, she just directly handed it to him this time.
In his daze, Viscount Henry just looked at the piece of paper out of reflex.
However, when he saw what was written on it, he snapped out of that daze and deeply knitted his brows.
After looking at this piece of paper and sharing it with his wife for a bit, he looked up at me with a slow and hesitant gaze as he asked, "Count Zwein, this is?"
I just said with a smile on my face, "A gift in a sort, but that depends on what you say next."
Viscount Henry deeply knitted his brows when he heard this, but it didn't seem like he was against what I had said.
He looked up at me with those knitted brows and it was clear what he was thinking.
Is this man a devil?
That smile on his face was clearly not the smile of a man, but a devil that tempted people…
After a long moment of hesitation, Viscount Henry asked, "What are you planning on doing?"
The smile on my face became wider the moment that I heard this.
After all, the fact that he said this meant that he was tempted and now all that was left was for me to reel the fish in.
With that wide smile on my face, I said, "Well, there are certain things about Viscount Teomold that I do not like, so I am planning on getting rid of him. For that, I ask that you help me with certain things."
Viscount Henry was once again taken aback when he heard this.
No matter how he looked at this, it seemed like there was no downsides for him to take this deal.
But the more that he thought about it, the more that it seemed like a trap.
So he was debating on whether he should let himself fall for it or if he should back out now before it went too far.
In the end, Viscount Henry couldn't help being moved as he asked, "Let's say that I was interested in this…what would I have to do?"
With this, I said with the same smile, "Well, before we can talk about that, we need to sign something."
I looked at Haley and she brought out another piece of paper.
Viscount Henry directly took it and knitted his brows again when he saw it.
After a moment of silence, he asked, "Do we really need to do this?"
I gave a nod as I said, "This is to ensure that we can work together without having to worry about anything."
He couldn't help revealing an even more worried look.
Without having to worry about anything?
The moment that he signed this contract, there would be physical evidence of their collaboration and he wouldn't be able to step back anymore. The moment that he signed this, he would be forced to walk down this path no matter what happened.
If anything, signing this would make him even more worried.
But there was also a part of Viscount Henry that was more relieved because of this contract.
Since Count Zwein was willing to bring out this contract, that meant that he was serious about this.
This wasn't a joke, he really was going to take down Viscount Teomold, the one that had been his rival the entire time.
After a long silence, I was the one that broke it by saying, "I promise that I won't do anything to harm you or your territory. I know that doesn't account for much, but…"
Viscount Henry shook his head and said, "No, that's more than enough."
Without hesitation, he picked up some ink and a pen from the side and signed his name on the contract before handing it back to me.
As he held this out, he said with a confident look, "I'm looking forward to working with you."
I revealed a faint smile before reaching out to take that contract.
As I took it, I said, "I'm looking forward to working with you as well."
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