Noble gatherings usually involved receptions and balls, but Leech had little experience with such things. To put it simply, Porcupine Territory was poor. The previous Baron Porcupine was not only a pauper but also had few friends, so he never hosted receptions or balls, and no one ever invited him. Of course, the current Baron Porcupine was also a pauper. Though he had acquired over ten pounds of gold just last night, he had already squandered it all.
The last time the red-haired girl and her brother visited, they had hastily concluded their business and departed without even staying the night. It was a clear sign of their disdain for the backwater that was Porcupine Territory.
Bordering Porcupine Territory was the domain of another noble, "Baron Spark," Marvin Simon. Pig Spine Valley lay between them. To be more precise, a mountain range cut the godforsaken Porcupine Territory off from everything else.
Iron Stone City, located in Pig Spine Valley, was one of the most prosperous regions in the East Gorge because of its iron mine. The Leopold siblings had left early precisely so they could rest in Iron Stone City.
There was an interesting story behind the title "Baron Spark," a name Marvin Simon himself despised. The Simon family crest was a hammer, and their motto was, "With a hammer in hand, even stone will spark." However, after Simon took charge of the family, he went on a spree opening brothels, turning Iron Stone City into a "holy land" renowned far and wide. It was rumored one could even find semi-beast women from the southern Mysterious Continent there.
The Simons, it seemed, had to make *something* spark. Thus, the lecherous Baron Marvin naturally became "Baron Spark," the man who made sparks fly with his whores.
"My brother... he's not feeling well," Evangelina explained, but she trailed off, unsure of how to continue. She had rushed here because of a message from Mrs. Ellesmere, which claimed Baron Leech had died in an accident. Her purpose was to oversee the transfer of the title to his younger brother, Leo, in accordance with the kingdom's laws. Ideally, this news should have been relayed to Roaring Castle first, so they could wait for a raven from their father before taking action.
In the Leopold siblings' eyes, it made no difference who inherited. 'It's all the same. This is just a worthless patch of land nobody wants. Better to get this over with and leave than to waste time waiting around.'
'It's a good thing I came myself,' Evangelina thought, sighing in relief. 'If word got out that I'd stripped a baron of his title and territory without confirmation, the other lords would have hated me to the bone.'
When it came to protecting their own rights, no one was more stubborn than the lords. Take, for instance, a lord's right to be ransomed if captured. This wasn't just about the gleaming Jinri; it was also insurance for the day they might be captured themselves.
'He's probably getting tangled up with a pile of women,' Leech mused. He'd heard his share of the nobles' sordid affairs. How could her brother possibly resist, now that he was in Iron Stone City? He remembered how his teacher, Jamie, would get so animated when he spoke of noble gatherings and all their ladies and madams.
In truth, he was also quite curious about this "holy land." It was just a shame that Baron Leech was short on cash.
Seeing the red-haired girl trail off, he changed the subject. "Perhaps you'd like to hear about my adventure yesterday."
"Of course!" The girl smiled. "I'm quite curious."
The exploration of the underground cavern was hardly worth mentioning. The whole process had been dreadfully dull: pitch blackness, screams, and then injury. The only part that could be called miraculous was how the gravely wounded Baron Leech had recovered thanks to the blessing of the Four Gods. Leech didn't consider himself a good storyteller, yet the girl always managed to ask questions and express amazement at all the right "exciting" moments.
'I suppose this is the charm of the "Red Rose,"' he thought. But he was keenly aware of his current station and would control himself rather than become utterly enchanted by her.
He also believed his future held much more than this.
In contrast to the pleasant conversation between Leech and Evangelina, Mrs. Ellesmere sat to the side as if on pins and needles. Behind her strained, forced smile, she was practically grinding her teeth to dust.
'Leech didn't die. It won't be so easy to get rid of him next time.' She was also worried about whether Leech knew of her involvement. 'And... why isn't Jamie here?'
"Miss Evangelina," Leech said after her laughter died down, "there is one more thing I'd like to ask for your help with."
"As long as it is within my power," the girl replied with a slight nod. It was like a payment for their pleasant conversation that afternoon. As the daughter of Duke Leopold and the future wife of some great lord, her influence was extraordinary, and her promises were equally precious.
It was clear she had genuinely enjoyed her talk with Leech, but one couldn't rule out that her heart held a certain desire to see justice done—the young baron, nearly murdered by his wicked stepmother, now preparing to exact his revenge.
"It's about Mrs. Ellesmere, my stepmother," Leech said.
Startled at the sudden mention of her name, the stepmother maintained her smile while letting a look of confusion cross her face.
Evangelina's expression seemed to say, 'Just as I thought.'
"She is still young, beautiful, and charming. She shouldn't have to spend the rest of her long life in this cramped, dilapidated, and drafty castle, wasting away her youth." Leech's description of Porcupine Castle was a wild exaggeration, yet Evangelina nodded gently. It seemed that in her eyes, Porcupine Castle truly was little more than a ruin on the verge of collapse.
After a slight twitch of his lips, Leech said, "I would like to ask you to act as a matchmaker."
The wars had only ended a few years prior, and with most men having died on the battlefield, there were many widows left behind. The church had even issued a decree allowing widows to remarry in order to solve the problem of there being far more women than men.
In the eyes of many wives, these desperately lonely widows, who understood the ways of men and women, were a menace. Left to their own devices, they could easily seduce other women's husbands, posing a far greater threat than any unmarried maiden.
In some regions, it wasn't unheard of for a widow to remarry twice, three times, or even ten times.
This was no disgrace; in fact, every remarriage would receive the church's blessing.
A baron's widow, however, was not required to remarry. The law could not compel the nobility; this was a well-known, albeit unspoken, rule.
But the lord of this castle was Leech, and he possessed the right to marry off any woman of the Clarence family—even if the only such woman left was his stepmother.
Evangelina stared at Leech in surprise. From the moment she had stepped out of her carriage and seen him alive, she had pieced together most of the story. Such sordid affairs were hardly rare among the nobility. If Leech could find even a shred of evidence, Mrs. Ellesmere would be sent to the gallows for plotting to murder her lord. She had never expected Leech to be so magnanimous.
He was merely sending her away, not killing her or taking revenge. Elsewhere, Mrs. Ellesmere would still be the wife of a noble. Leaving the poverty of Porcupine Territory, her life might even be better.
"Since you're asking me to be a matchmaker, you must have a suitable candidate in mind?" Evangelina asked.
"Of course," Leech nodded. "Under Baron Simon of Iron Stone City, there is a knight known as 'Iron Bull's Hoof.' My father told me of him. This knight was once captured on the battlefield, but he single-handedly broke through the enemy's encirclement, stole an ox, and rode it back into the fray to win the battle. I believe only a man of his valor is worthy of Mrs. Ellesmere."
Evangelina's smile froze on her face. She looked at the handsome young baron before her in a new light.
She had heard of this "Iron Bull's Hoof" Knight as well, but the story she knew wasn't about him riding an ox back to battle to secure victory. It was that he enjoyed beating his wives. He would kick them with iron-plated boots. Over a dozen wives had already died at his feet. Since his wives were all commoners, they had no recourse to accuse him of murder, and the nobles who could pass judgment on him simply treated the matter as an amusing joke to be told over dinner.
He was a noble knight, after all. There would always be women willing to marry him, believing their own charm could tame him. He was, after all, one of the few noble knights who didn't care about his wife's status. Of course, these women always paid for their ambition with their lives, ending up disemboweled by his kicks.
The nickname "Iron Bull's Hoof" came not from some heroic deed, but from the iron-plated boots he always used to kick his wives' bellies into pulp.