The Secretary of the Northern Grand Duchess Has Run Away

Chapter 27:  The Rise of a Nouveau Riche (2)

After securing residency promises from the Empire's talents, including Anna,

I formally took over the hotel and assumed the position of president.

Of course, I was buried in debt, but with the status of the Grand Duke’s House and a recommendation letter from the Saint, I managed to handle things roughly.

Afterward, I borrowed Mansachs' carriage to return to the mansion.

“By the way, aren’t you overdoing it a bit?”

Mansachs spoke while looking at the hotel visible through the carriage window.

Even after reopening, the place felt quite desolate, being right in the middle of a ghost town.

“What do you mean?”

“Back at the real estate office. You took out a considerable loan using your Luton affiliation and the cathedral’s recommendation.”

As we passed the hotel, the carriage reached an uphill road.

The higher we climbed, the more the cityscape unfolded before us.

“I can cover the interest with profits from the Luton Sword. As for the principal, I’ll repay it slowly through the hotel’s earnings.”

The sun sank behind the majestic Northern mountains.

Thanks to that, the city had grown darker.

Most of the streets were lit with street lamps, filled with citizens returning from work.

However, ‘Old Luton’, infamous as a ghost town, still remained dim and gloomy.

It felt utterly lifeless, as if it had truly been abandoned by its people.

“To think that what you bought with all that was just a nameless ‘hotel’......”

Mansachs pulled out the contract poking out of my document case.

Then, he read through the strange purchase conditions written inside.

“A building where reconstruction is banned and maintenance costs are a bombshell every year—why on earth did you buy it?”

It was the only high-rise hotel in Old Luton.

The reason it was plastered with such bizarre clauses was simple.

The builder had been an important member of the Grand Duke of the North’s household...

And it was his final work.

The Grand Duke had taken care to ensure the meaningful structure wouldn't be defaced.

However, that fact wasn’t widely known.

“It was cheap.”

I shrugged at my business partner, who couldn’t even dream of these special circumstances.

“And there’s someone who knows the true value of that hotel better than anyone.”

“Who?”

At the newspaper heir’s question, I turned to look at him from the window.

Then I replied with black eyes, as if I had rolled through a muddy battlefield countless times.

“Those who miss the architect of that hotel.”

With that meaningful answer of mine, the most bustling district of Nord came into view.

The new city, New Luton, built by the Grand Duke of the North after abandoning Old Luton.

“I’ll get off here.”

“Here? I was going to drop you off near the Grand Duke’s House.”

I waved him off as I picked up my document case.

“It’s fine. I have someone to return with.”

In truth, I wasn’t the only one showing interest in Old Luton.

There was a ‘woman’ likely admiring the view from here alone, the only place where one could overlook all of Nord.

“Is that so… Got it.”

Mansachs gave me a smile that said he had a good guess who I was meeting.

Then, with a wave to the coachman, he dropped me off in the middle of the bustling district.

“See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah. Things are going to get really busy from now on.”

His carriage, marked with the black hawk flag symbolizing the newspaper family, headed toward the main road.

I silently watched as he disappeared into the thick traffic jam.

“New Luton really hasn’t changed, even now.”

Whether it was ten years later or now, this place remained the same.

From the traffic jams caused by the Northern Court and tightly packed shops,

to the shopping centers, performance halls, and even the coliseum built by the Grand Duke of Luton.

Truly, it held the dignity befitting Nord’s greatest city.

“To live comfortably for life, you’d need at least two buildings here.”

I turned my head to look out at the plaza.

Beneath the black lion statue, symbol of the Grand Duke of the North, stretched a wide fountain.

In front of it sat a café.

Its name was unknown, as it had no sign.

However...

I remembered it clearly because Echina always drank her coffee there.

The Grand Duke’s daughter sat alone at a terrace seat.

She was crossing her legs and quietly admiring the night view of Nord.

“Greetings, Grand Duke’s daughter.”

I approached Echina and offered a polite bow.

She looked up at me gently, then acknowledged my greeting with a blank expression.

“Julius Roger.”

Then, she silently turned her gaze back to the panorama of Nord.

Her eyes were fixed on Old Luton.

With lifeless eyes, she stared at the hotel that stood out alone from that place.

“So you haven’t returned home yet.”

“I was just about to call for a carriage.”

At my calm smile, Echina narrowed her sharp eyes ever so slightly.

She looked up at me and parted her red lips.

“Where did you go?”

To this, I answered very honestly.

“I went to Old Luton.”

Echina softly tucked her black hair behind her ear.

Then, she took a sip of her coffee, as black as my eyes.

“That's unexpected. There’s nothing there for a freshly twenty-year-old man to enjoy.”

“I know a great restaurant, so I had lunch there with Sir Schmidt.”

The Grand Duke’s daughter slightly raised her head.

Her long black eyelashes, tinged with the glow of the sunset, fluttered faintly.

“Mansachs too, I suppose.”

Her golden eyes—just like the Grand Duke of the North’s—pierced through me.

“You seem to be spending time with him lately. I didn’t know the Julius family had those kinds of connections.”

“He invested in the Luton Sword, after all. I suppose he sees me in a favorable light.”

Even under her suspicion, I responded with an unhurried tone.

“So the two of you were scouting for investment opportunities in Old Luton?”

“Yes. I even bought a building.”

As my answers flowed more smoothly, Echina fell silent for a moment.

“The initial investment must’ve come from profits from the Luton Sword. But how did you manage the loan?”

Her sharp line of questioning continued.

In response, I answered confidently, with the pitch-black eyes I had during my time as Chief Secretary.

“I received a recommendation letter from the cathedral.”

The Grand Duke’s daughter crossed her arms.

Perhaps she found it interesting that a mere twenty-year-old had already stepped into real estate, as a faint smile formed on her lips.

“You must’ve received that letter by leveraging your affiliation with the Luton family, right?”

“That’s correct. I also made a small donation.”

There was no need to hide my actions from her.

After all, as long as I stayed in the northern part of the Empire, everything I did would eventually be reported in detail.

What truly mattered now was maintaining a confident stance—one that proved I wouldn’t bring any harm to the Grand Duke’s House.

“……”

The black-haired Grand Duke’s daughter placed her index finger against her red lips.

Then, as if her calculations were complete, she asked why I would invest in a dying city.

“What’s your reason? That place has been in continuous decline for years.”

Echina, too, had once held multiple real estate properties during her time as a knight commander.

She was a shrewd strategist, investing only in safe properties with steady upward trends.

“If you’re going to invest, you should aim to succeed proudly. So why borrow my family’s name to get involved in a place like that?”

Whether it was the Grand Duke or his daughter, neither had any tolerance for incompetence.

Echina looked at me with a cold gaze, as if I were merely trying to exploit the leave she had granted for my own personal gain.

But.

The sharpness in her eyes came from a different place entirely.

“I’ll explain.”

From the way Echina had spent the entire day here, looking out toward Old Luton...

To how her expression had turned solemn the moment I said I had purchased a building there...

All of it pointed to one truth: Old Luton held deep meaning for her.

“Old Luton is where the monumental history of our Grand Duke’s House rests.”

I placed one hand respectfully over my left chest.

Then, I widened my eyes beneath my black hair and spoke.

“The building I purchased is the Erian Hotel, constructed by the Luton family in the past.”

Erian Hotel.

At the name, Echina’s lips parted slightly, as if she recognized it.

“Although it’s the least impressive among the many structures built by the Grand Duke’s House, I know.”

Then, she looked up at me in a daze, her eyes tinged with emotion.

“That the person who designed it was none other than the Grand Duke’s first wife, Lady Erian.”

Lady Erian, the Duchess.

The one mentioned was none other than Echina’s mother, who had passed away from illness ten years ago.

“After losing his first wife, the Grand Duke was so stricken with trauma that he abandoned the development of Old Luton.”

And the abandoned land remained neglected ever since.

However, the Emperor, unwilling to leave a blemish on the flourishing city of Nord, had pressured the Grand Duke to sell the property.

In response, the Grand Duke had attached a series of troublesome conditions to the sale, ensuring the district wouldn't be sold easily.

“So I was lucky enough to purchase the property when it hit the market at a dirt-cheap price.”

Echina looked at me in silence, her expression cold.

Then, with eyes as fierce as the Grand Duke’s, she shot back.

“You knew all that, and still dared to lay hands on Old Luton?”

Her crimson lips trembled slightly as she held back her emotions, angered that I had touched her late mother’s final work.

Like the noble Grand Duke’s daughter she was, she didn’t erupt right away—but I could tell.

She was very upset.

“Yes. It was a rather presumptuous act.”

As I calmly acknowledged it, the tension in her eyes grew even more intense.

Despite how crowded the café was, it suddenly felt as if the place had gone deathly quiet.

But.

I didn’t shrink back from her presence at all.

Instead, I turned away from Echina and looked out over the city.

“However, as a member of the Luton family, I couldn’t bear to stand by and watch the Duchess’s final work be left in such a state.”

The dazzling nightscape of Nord spread out before us.

Among it, the only street shrouded in darkness—Old Luton.

I pointed toward the district, stark in contrast to its surroundings.

“So I dared to purchase it.”

Echina didn’t respond right away.

She simply stared at the Erian Hotel with her lips pressed tightly together.

“To Father, that place is nothing more than discarded trash—abandoned because development was banned.”

She took a sip of her now cold coffee.

If it was bitter, she didn’t show it.

“There’s no deeper meaning to it. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Maybe it was the night air,

but Echina’s characteristically pale skin looked even more ghostly than usual.

“That’s the kind of man my father is.”

At just twenty-one, Echina didn’t know.

She didn’t know the real reason the Grand Duke of the North had left his wife’s hotel untouched.

“That’s not true.”

I looked down at her reflection in the surface of the coffee.

At that emotionless face, I let a quiet smile form on my lips.

“His Grace didn’t abandon Old Luton.”

At my meaningful words, Echina raised her head.

“What are you saying…? That my father didn’t abandon the city…”

Between her black strands of hair, her golden eyes gleamed.

Just like the lights of the city below.

“When the Grand Duke sold that place, he included a clause prohibiting reconstruction.”

I gave her a warm smile.

“First: The building must never be demolished or rebuilt at will.”

Just like in those past days, when I served Echina and her family with unwavering loyalty.

“Second: The hotel must be preserved exactly as Lady Erian envisioned it—beautiful.”

That was the reason it was explicitly stated that the building could not be used for any purpose other than a hotel.

A hotel on a street no one visited.

That was how the Grand Duke of the North, in his own way, protected his wife’s final work.

“Do you know why His Grace, a man so thorough in business, went so far?”

Echina shook her head.

“Because he wanted to preserve the first and last memory he had with his wife.”

A memory with his wife.

At those warm words—so unlike anything one might associate with her father—Echina’s face turned pale.

“Then… why did you buy that building?”

At her question, I silently looked down at the nightscape with black eyes.

The city lights reflected in the darkness of my gaze.

“Because someone has to protect and take care of it.”

Ten years later, the Erian Hotel would collapse.

After the Grand Duke’s death, the clauses would be voided by Eric, the son of the second wife.

“And that responsibility falls to me.”

Once the clauses were erased, the building fell and was replaced by a shopping complex.

And just like that, the final memories of the Duchess and the Grand Duke turned to dust and vanished into the wind.

“Because I am the secretary of the Grand Duke’s House.”

This time, I would stop it.

The final gift I could give Echina—the one who cried for me—was her mother’s legacy.

The Erian Hotel.

“It’s time.”

While I spoke with her, it had become 7 o'clock.

The time when most had finished dinner and were returning to their lodgings.

Thanks to that, there was now a slow movement of people even in Old Luton.

At last—

“Would you look at Old Luton once more?”

“The city…?”

Echina followed my gaze and looked down at Old Luton.

The hotel her mother had built, along with the surrounding buildings, remained cloaked in darkness.

But then, at the sound of the cathedral bells ringing for 7 o'clock—

“……!!”

「――――――」

Lights began to come on in the streets of once-dark Old Luton.

Curtains that had been tightly closed were now drawn open, and bright lights pierced the shadows.

The same happened to the hotel built by her mother and the Grand Duke of the North.

Students, who had already begun moving in after hearing my words, had lit up the place.

Thanks to them, the pitch-black exterior of the building now flickered with a growing brightness.

“Old Luton will live again.”

With my hands clasped behind my back, I turned to Echina once more.

And I gave her a gentle smile—the same one I offered to the woman who had cried for me.

“You’ll no longer have to stand alone in that street, Your Grace.”

Just as you stayed by my side until the very end, Echina.