Sweetie, Sweetie, Sweetie - Chapter 2

Eugene Rekbent Linweisen was the master of the Linweisen family, one of the noble families of the north.

Life had not been easy for the 21-year-old young man. Eugene’s misfortune began when his mother died of an illness when he was a child. Eugene’s father, Baron Linweisen, also fell into the pits of despair and died with a huge debt not long after Eugene turned 17.

Eugene, who had become a baron while in debt, had very few options. Selling the estate, handing it over to creditors, starting a business to make money, or marrying a wealthy heiress who wanted to become a noblewoman were his only options.

Eugene had attempted the third option but had failed. He declared bankruptcy in order to start a business, and the debt, which had more than doubled in the last four years, could not be resolved by selling the estate or marrying.

The Marquis of Taylot was the Linweisen family’s greatest creditor. Eugene’s father had signed a contract that included a special clause stating that if the debt owed to the Marquis of Taylot was not paid off within the time limit, the entire family estate would be forfeited. The deadline had been set for this summer.

Eugene’s coffers were already depleted. Because of the bad condition, the old mansion was demolished, and the money was used to pay the wages of the employees. The Marquis of Taylot made threats, saying that “If you do not turn over the territory right away, you will be in trouble.”

Archduke Ibulaon, a great nobleman from the north, was the one who reached out to Eugene at the time.

The Linweisen estate, located in the northern valley’s east, was small, but its value increased as it became a location planned for the construction of the railroad connecting to the northernmost trading port.

Eugene was unaware that the Linweisen estate had been designated as a potential railway site. Only the Marquis of Taylot was overjoyed with the windfall that washed over him.

Archduke Ibulaon advised that he should not hand over the territory of Linweisen to Marquis of Taylot, who had been in a static relationship from generation to generation.The deal with the Archduke Ibulaon to pay off the debt and absorb the Linweisen estate was shattered from the very beginning. It was because the relatives claiming to be Eugene’s guardians were negatively impacting it.

They argued that Archduke Ibulaon, who represents the northern part, was using money to steal the territory. Despite the fact that the law was nearly extinct, it was illegal to use money to purchase another lord’s estate located nearby.

Receiving estates for repayment of debt was not a problem for the Marquis of Taylot. Archduke Ibulaon, on the other hand, was unable to use the expedient.Territories were previously transferred through an agreed-upon territorial battle. However, territorial warfare was also banned by national law about 100 years ago.

There was only one of them left therefore Eugene’s relatives argued that annexing the estates through marriage between Archduke Ibulaon and Baron Linweisen was a good idea. They threatened to give the territory to the Marquis of Taylot if the two of them did not marry. Archduke Ibulaon would be forced to give up the Linweisen estate.

Thus, Archduke Ibulaon made the decision to marry. It was, in fact, a contract marriage. The marriage will last three years. Following this, they agreed to separate and promised to pay alimony to Baron Linweisen in the house of the Archduchess of Ibulaon.

Eugene began staying at Heinskan Castle, the Archduke’s residence, two months ago because he was Archduke Ibulaon’s fiance. Linweisen’s mansion was getting old and difficult to live in, but it was because Marquis Taylot threatened Eugene more than anything else.

The family of Baron Linweisen has been invaluable from generation to generation. When Eugene would die, there would be no heir to inherit the title, so the king was in charge of all the family’s rights and debts. This was an extraordinary measure because the estate would have to be transferred to Marquis of Taylot, Baron Linweisen’s family’s largest creditor.

Eugene lived as quietly at Heinskan Castle as a dead man. Three days later, he was summoned by Archduke Ibulaon, and while moving, he tripped and fell down the stairs, losing consciousness.

***

“The master tripped and fell down the stairs. He suffered a head injury and was unconscious for three days. I was concerned because the priest did not respond even when he left, but I am relieved that he woke up in this condition.”

Eugene was speechless after Robert, Linweisen’s sole remaining servant’s lengthy explanation. In this case, Eugene used this conversation to know the rules of the country and asked questions that he did not understand in the middle.

He assumed it was because his name and the name of the body possessed were the same and they were both born in the same year. It was a setting that frequently appeared in Hoi Bing-hwan novels or cartoons. He asked Robert just in case, and the fact that they had the same birthdays gave him goosebumps.

Then, as soon as he heard Archduke Ibulaon’s name, he realized where he was.It was a fantasy novel called {Where the Stars Passed by}.

Eugene, who mainly read modern fantasy and martial arts novels, touched on a novel of a different genre because of the posts on the community bulletin boards he frequents.

It was posted that a fantasy novel that had been wildly popular on a well-known free-running novel site had been finished. At first, he only skimmed the title but then he came across a few more related articles and became intrigued.

The first was the assumption over who was the main protagonist.The story progressed with a focus on the male and female protagonists, and the style of the writing changed dramatically depending on who was speaking.

The novel started from the male protagonist’s point of view as a teen academy fantasy, but when it switched to the female protagonist’s point of view, it became a revenge story that ended with a fortune.

Actually, the genre shift was not a big deal. It felt more like a sales tactic. However, the majority of the articles that had been published since then were about the conclusion. The shocking and horrifying ending disturbed everyone.

There were also rumors that the author could not be reached. Despite its popularity, no publisher was able to secure a contract or even pay for it. There was also a novel on an English novel site which was serialized at the same time with the same title and content, and there were even rumors that it was written by an author from another country.

Eugene wondered how the novel ended after seeing numerous posts and comments asking them to sign a contract and change the ending. So he went looking for just the ending, but he ended up reading it all in one night.The title didn’t fit with the current trend. The story was also dry and calm. The prince, who is aiming for the throne by hiding his power from his brothers and the heroine, who returned as the incarnation of revenge, did not work together.

Why was he possessed? The issue needed to be resolved.

He heard something in a temple-like setting with a pure white backdrop that he mistook for a dog’s dream. Voices claiming to be warriors begged to save the world.

‘Am I a warrior? Warrior? This is a bit old-fashioned. If so, why me? And why did I possess the body of the Fallen Nobility?’

There were still many questions, but Eugene focused on the immediate situation.

Reading novels set in a fantasy or martial arts world provides knowledge, and knowledge is power. He was the fiance of Archduke Ibulaon, and he was a man. He had once seen an article about the setting of marriage between two people regardless of gender in order to unify the territory. But he needed to ask more questions to figure out what was actually happening.

“Master. Are you okay?”

“So, am I the fiance of Archduke Ibulaon?”

“Yes. Yes, but lord please don’t do it. You can’t do that.”

Eugene was embarrassed by Robert’s flirting. The class society was like this.

“Ah… After all, it’s a contract marriage… Um… It is a nominal marriage because of the transfer of ownership of the land, so men can marry each other. They must obtain the king’s permission, and after three years of marriage they separate and receive alimony. Did I understand everything correctly?… Ah?”

Eugene asked the question awkwardly. No matter how old he was, it was not easy to do something with a middle-aged man.

Anyway, the laws of the fantasy world were awesome. Is it possible for men to marry for the sake of territorial annexation? This was a very open minded world.

“It’s all right.”

“Is that right?”

Robert nodded his head agreeing with him. Eugene was confused. {Where the Stars Passed} is mostly written from the point of view of the male and female protagonists. He read the point of view of Archduke Ibulaon, who plays the villain, not long ago.

From what Eugene remembered, Archduke Ibulaon had no such thing as a fiance. He did have one, but it was mentioned that he was dead.

‘So, that means, I possessed the body of the fiancé of Archduke Ibulaon, who should have died.’

The situation was a bit clear now.

“Well, I know it’s strange to ask such a thing but… Is the alimony worth enough to live like this through this marriage? “

Eugene asked bluntly. He had an excuse that he had lost his memory, so he was not ashamed to act like a snob.