Wizard Earl

Chapter 160 George's Private Affairs

"Connor, what brings you here?" To Connor's surprise, after the manager went in to announce his arrival, George actually came to the lobby to greet him, which made Connor feel flattered.

"I've come to see you, buddy!" Connor replied with a smile, giving George a firm hug with open arms.

"Come on, let's go see my new office!" In front of Connor, George didn't put on any airs; instead, he acted like a big boy showing off his new toy.

Following George to his office, Connor glanced at the exquisite decorations and exclaimed in amazement, "Your old man really trusts you; he's even letting you work here!"

"It's alright, I guess!" George said, but the pride and joy on his face betrayed his true feelings.

Seemingly remembering something, Connor opened his mouth slightly, but ultimately said nothing. However, George, being no fool, could easily see through Connor's hesitation. He patted his chest confidently and said, "I have absolutely no contact with Sonia anymore, Connor, you can rest assured!"

Seeing that George understood what he was going to say, Connor didn't say anything more and just nodded slightly. The Sovia that George mentioned was originally his and Connor's classmate at Green University. Her family owned several handicraft workshops and were not considered very wealthy, belonging to the middle class.

Sophia's family sent her to the history department at Green University, where tuition was exorbitant. The reason, unsurprisingly, was to allow the beautiful, curvaceous, and outgoing Sophia to make more friends, expand the family business's network, and ultimately, to help her snag a wealthy husband. This wasn't exactly a secret; everyone at school tacitly agreed. And Sophia, Connor's classmate, certainly had some tricks up her sleeve, captivating several of the boys in the class.

Connor didn't have any prejudice against Miss Sophia at first, but when they were in school, Miss Sophia took the initiative to try to make their relationship more ambiguous after she learned that Connor was the heir to the earl. However, at that time, Connor had witnessed Margaret's stunning beauty, so how could he be interested in such a common woman?

Furthermore, Connor had just acquired "Reyes Alchemy" and was completely focused on alchemy; how could he possibly have time for her? After being rebuffed by Connor, Miss Sophia wisely stopped bothering him and instead started flirting with George, the real rich kid...

This wouldn't have been a big deal in itself. Saying George hooked up with a hundred girls might be an exaggeration, but it was definitely twenty or thirty. The real issue was that George wasn't single. His mother, Lady Christine, went to great lengths to find him a powerful ally—a fiancée named Melissa—in order to solidify his position as the heir to the family fortune.

Connor wasn't very clear about Melissa's background either. During several drinking sessions with George, George remained tight-lipped about his fiancée Melissa's background, the only thing he revealed was that Melissa's family was from the capital.

These things shouldn't normally concern Connor, but a few months ago, George's mother, Mrs. Christine, Mr. Harvey's legal wife, approached Connor and told him that he was George's best friend and asked Connor to persuade George to leave Sovia.

Mrs. Christine's words left Connor completely bewildered. Logically, in this world, it's perfectly normal for powerful, wealthy, and influential men to have several affairs; even Mrs. Christine's husband, Mr. Harvey, maintained a stable marriage while having numerous mistresses on the side…

Mrs. Christine offered her explanation for Connor's confusion: the real reason was that Miss Sovia was quite ambitious and had even considered having George marry her as his legal wife. And that rascal George had also developed such thoughts!

In this world, for these large families, the marriage of the first heir to the principal wife is rarely based on genuine love. More than 90% of marriages are political alliances, where two families begin to cooperate and form an alliance through marriage. The family behind Sovia is not even in the same league as the Sanchez family... This destined her to be unlikely to become George's principal wife.

From a etiquette perspective, in the ethics of this world, annuling an engagement is a very easy thing to do, and can even be considered an insult. In the history of the Kaman Empire, there are countless examples of two families that were originally on very good terms becoming bitter enemies because of annulment...

From the perspective of absolute rationality and self-interest, Sofia's idea could even be described as overestimating her own abilities!

"I want to take out a loan to buy the apartment I'm currently living in." Seeing that George was quite self-aware, Connor stopped dwelling on the Sophia issue. After all, it was George's private matter, and it wouldn't be good for a good friend to get too involved. Instead, he directly stated his purpose.

"Connor, the apartment you live in is in one of the best locations in Loen on Land Street in the East District. It's worth at least ten thousand gold pounds!" George said, somewhat surprised, upon hearing Connor's words.

"I'll use that apartment as collateral and borrow eight thousand pounds, George, what do you think?" Connor knew George's predicament very well and simply stated his idea.

Although George is the first in line to the throne, even if he becomes the head of the Sanchez family, he cannot do whatever he wants. The Sanchez Bank has a board of directors, and tens of thousands of pounds is no small matter. It requires the board's approval to complete the transaction.

"With collateral, things will be much easier. Connor, I can lend you nine thousand gold pounds at an annual interest rate of five percent!" George patted his chest, confidently offering Connor a very generous discount.

A flicker of emotion crossed Connor's eyes. He didn't say anything, but simply patted George's shoulder heavily.

He knew that although George spoke lightly, it was definitely not an easy task. According to the industry practice of Rune Bank, mortgage loans are generally between 70% and 80% of the market value of the collateral, and the interest rate, even for large clients who have been doing business for many years, is at least 6% to 8% per annum in regular banks.

The fact that George could offer Connor such generous terms when he was walking on thin ice, fearing that even the slightest mistake would be seized upon, speaks volumes about the friendship between them!

(End of this chapter)