What witch? The Deadly Pharmacist!

"Who's hiding there?" Leon turned to the tree and asked deliberately.

Leon Seth!?

Adele recognized the voice and was greatly surprised.

Why is Leon here? Did he come with us?

Realizing that the other person had seen her, Adele was at a loss for words for a moment. Finally, she stepped forward with her head bowed and said in a rough voice, "Ah, sir, I'm just a villager from nearby, out for a walk. Please don't mind me..."

Seeing Adele's clumsy acting, Leon couldn't help but laugh: "Miss Adele, what are you doing here?"

She was recognized after all! Adele inwardly groaned.

Just as Adele was wondering what to do, Leon looked down at Adele's feet and asked, "Your feet are injured."

Leon dismounted and asked Adele, "How did you get yourself into this state?"

Adele looked at Leon with some surprise. Judging from his words, Leon didn't seem like he was there to arrest her.

“Judge Seth, what are you doing here?” Adele asked softly.

“I’m here to take care of something. Are you in any trouble?” Leon asked.

“I…” Adele hesitated for a moment, “My father is planning to force me to marry to pay off our family’s debts. Your Honor, are you aware of this?”

“I’ve heard Father Auden mention it,” Leon replied after a moment’s thought.

"Then, you and that person..." Adele asked tentatively.

“Oh, my relationship with the person who plans to marry you isn’t a business partnership,” Leon explained.

Because he is that person himself.

Adele breathed a slight sigh of relief upon hearing this. Leon hadn't shown any interest in her during their several meetings, so she hadn't considered the possibility that he was the one who intended to marry her; she only suspected that he was connected to the matter.

“Your Honor, I’ve been managing the 500,000 you invested in me very well. But today, my father suddenly came over and said he brought someone back for me to meet, and he wants me to marry him! Then he’ll help our family pay off our debts. This kind of thing… doesn’t seem right at all, does it?” Adele began to explain the whole story to Leon.

“Yeah, that guy definitely has ulterior motives,” Leon nodded in agreement.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying! If I’m forced to marry someone like this, the 500,000 you invested in me might end up as part of the assets to pay off debts, which will be very difficult to deal with! So, could you… help me?” Adele gave Leon a pleading look.

Now that things have come to this, she has no other choice. Someone could come after her at any moment, and she has no other option but to ask Leon for help.

Leon raised an eyebrow and nodded: "Alright, I can indeed help you a little with this. Get on the horse first, and I'll bandage you up."

"That's wonderful! Thank you!" Adele felt like she had been granted a pardon when she heard that Leon was willing to help her.

With Leon's help, she carefully mounted the horse. Then Leon took out clean water and gauze to wash the stains on her feet, dried them, and applied some iodine.

Adele winced in pain, then watched as Leon carefully bandaged her foot, and suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

"Thank you..." she whispered. It was the first time she had met Leon, and her impression of this judge, who had always seemed so terrifying, had changed slightly.

"You don't need to be so polite with me. After all, I bear some responsibility for injuring your foot." Leon quickly bandaged it up.

"What...do you mean?" Adele was confused when she suddenly felt something being put on her feet.

She looked down and saw that Leon had put a new shoe on her bandaged foot, which matched the one on her other foot perfectly.

At this moment, Leon also mounted his horse, wrapped his arms around her and grabbed the reins, essentially encircling her on the horse's back.

Leon then turned his horse around and began to walk back.

"..." Adele stared blankly at the shoes on her feet, then stiffly turned her head to look at Leon behind her. "Your Honor, may I ask where you got these shoes?"

“Right from where you knocked it down,” Leon replied matter-of-factly.

“Then, the one standing there at that time…” Adele suddenly remembered the dark figure, whose shape looked exactly like Leon’s.

“It’s me,” Leon replied.

"You, you're with them!? You're lying to me!!" Adele finally realized she had been tricked.

“I’m not lying to you, Miss Adele. I’m not in a business relationship with the man who’s going to marry you.” Leon paused, then continued, “I am him.”

"What did you say?!" Adele was shocked again.

“I’m telling you, the person your father was going to introduce today to pay off your family’s debts is actually me. I’m the one who wants to marry you, and I’m your future husband,” Leon explained slowly.

"..." After a brief moment of stunned silence, Adele suddenly began to struggle and scream, "No!!!"

Chapter 200 Dancing with Wolves

Adele never imagined that her situation could be worse than being forced into marriage.

The man who was supposed to marry her, her future husband, turned out to be the very same heretic inquisitor who had left her with so many psychological scars and was now toying with her like a cat with its prey!

Absolutely not!

"Don't move, Miss Adele. Falling off a moving horse can easily break your neck..." Leon put one arm around Adele's waist to stop her struggle. Seeing that she was still too agitated to listen, he lowered his voice and whispered in Adele's ear, "Behave yourself, or I'll get you into a fight!"

"Eek!" Adele shivered and dared not move.

“Good, be good, it’s better for both of us.” Leon continued when he saw that Adele was no longer moving.

Adele trembled for a moment, then huddled in Leon's arms, sobbing as she said, "What...what are you going to do to me? Why are you suddenly doing this?"

Previously, Leon had only asked her to turn a blind eye to what was happening on the other side of the island, and at most to keep a slight eye on her.

At least for her and her family's titles, Leon showed no interest whatsoever.

Suddenly, Leon came running over and said he wanted to marry her and take away their family's title!

Could it be that this man had been planning this all along?

Adele could hardly imagine what would happen to her next.

“Don’t be nervous, Miss Adele. The reason I came out to find you is to find an opportunity to talk to you alone. I want to discuss a business deal with you,” Leon said slowly.

"Talking business?" Adele asked, still somewhat shaken.

“Things did happen a bit suddenly, but I have my own circumstances. To put it simply, I only need to borrow your family's title and territory temporarily; it doesn't mean I really want to marry you,” Leon explained.

"A temporary loan?" Adele thought for a moment, then seemed to understand a little. "You mean... a fake marriage for a while?"

“That’s right. At this stage, I need your noble title and the management rights of your family’s territory, while you need money to pay off your debts. We can each get what we need.” Leon began to explain in detail. “The specific deal is as follows: we will register our marriage first, and then I will take your family’s title according to the procedure. I have already obtained your family’s debt from the Watchers Merchant Guild. Once we have completed the succession of the title, I will also inherit your father’s debts, and I will deal with them immediately.”

"What are you going to do with our titles and lands?" Adele was a little wary of this, and she guessed that Leon was doing something illegal.

Once Leon inherits the title, the Viscount Arendt family will be directly linked to his illegal activities. If he is purged, the family will also be purged, and their reputation will be completely ruined.

“Are you still worried that your family will be implicated by me? Forgive my bluntness, Miss Adele, but your family is almost finished. You are already in a very dangerous situation. Given your father’s condition, even before he passes away, the Watchers Merchant Guild alone… no, now I am your creditor. As soon as I initiate debt liquidation, the Viscount Arendt family will be completely bankrupt and have its title revoked, right?” Leon said.

Adele was speechless. Indeed, the Viscount's family was now essentially in a state of de facto bankruptcy. It wasn't completely bankrupt, but the Watchers Merchant Guild hadn't initiated the debt liquidation process because they didn't have anything to offer for bankruptcy liquidation.

The key point is that Leon now claims to have acquired the debt. If this is true, then the Viscount family's survival is now in Leon's hands.

Of course, Leon didn't want to actually force the Viscount's family into bankruptcy. In that case, although he could acquire some assets on Arend Island through liquidation, his title would still be taken away.

"Also, Miss Adele, I hope you understand that I'm not asking for your opinion this time, I'm just informing you. If you refuse to comply... then you'll only suffer in vain. The dungeon over my territory is quite large, would you like to take a look?" Leon continued.

"No! I don't want to!" Adele's hair stood on end. As a pampered young lady who could faint at the sight of blood, she couldn't bear just imagining the torture Leon might use. In fact, she had no right to refuse from beginning to end.

“It would be best if you didn’t. I still hope you can cooperate a little more proactively, so I can save you some trouble. That way, I can treat you better. The most important thing in business is to know how to reciprocate. Actually, your father is a little better at this than you are. Anyway, it’s a situation that you can’t change, so you might as well enjoy the situation for now. Struggling pointlessly will only make you suffer.” Leon continued to coax Adele.

“But… once you inherit the title, won’t you…” Adele asked, her voice trembling.

“If you cooperate enough, what good would killing you do me by arousing suspicion and investigation? I’d kill you only if you caused me enough trouble, and I don’t think you should overestimate yourself on that,” Leon said.

"What about the time limit? Am I going to... be tied to you for the rest of my life?" Adele felt hopeless at the thought of being a plaything in Leon's hands for the rest of her life.

"As for the deadline, let's talk about it when I obtain another title," Leon replied after a moment's thought.

In the Empire, if a person acquires legitimate rule over multiple territories, he can possess multiple corresponding titles. If he can acquire titles through other means, even if he divorces Adele and has his Viscount Arend title revoked, he can still retain the titles and territories he acquires later.

However, considering the need to safeguard the Arend Island labyrinth, he wouldn't easily relinquish the title of Viscount Arend after acquiring it; there was simply no need to discuss it further with Adele now.

“To obtain another title…” Adele thought to herself.

The opportunity to obtain a title is not something that comes easily. Her grandfather was granted a title decades ago when the local area was being developed and the city was in dire need of money. He was able to do so by making donations, taking the lead in attracting investment, and leveraging his network of connections.

However, the eastern region is still in the development stage. Due to the historical issues of Eland, it is not stable and there is a risk of war. Behind the seeds of turmoil lies hidden opportunity. As long as you can contribute to the central government, whether through military achievements or donations, you will have the opportunity to become a newly promoted noble in the east.

For Leon to achieve such wealth and status at such a young age, regardless of whether his actions are ethical or not, at least shows that he has some skill. In the East, with the added advantage of a noble title, it seems not impossible for someone like him to acquire new noble titles.

However, the condition that Leon would let their family off the hook once he obtained a new title is that the other party keeps his promise.

Seeing that Adele was still hesitating, Leon spoke again: "Miss Adele, do you remember the question I asked you before?"

"What?" Adele asked in confusion.

"How much are you willing to pay to save your family?" Leon asked.

Adele turned back and stared at Leon for a moment, stunned.

“Do you know why you couldn’t escape today?” Leon looked down at Adele. “Because you lacked the awareness to take risks. Did you think that climbing out of the second-floor window and sneaking out was a fight? If you had found a weapon upstairs, rushed to the stables, stolen a horse, and broken out, maybe you could have escaped.”

When you fall into the sea, you must be prepared to fight the waves; when one hand is trapped, you must be prepared to cut off your arm to survive. You're not really so naive as to think that your family can escape your current predicament through conventional means, are you?

“I…” Adele couldn’t refute it.

She understands business. Making 30 million from scratch is already something most people can't do, and turning things around with 30 million in debt is even more difficult. Without taking risks, it would be almost impossible.

She herself didn't even have the chance to take the risk, but now...

“Now, the opportunity is right in front of you,” Leon said in a deep voice to Adele.

Adele blinked, the meaning was clear.

The condition Leon offered was a chance for her family to escape their desperate situation, but the price was that she had to accept Leon's acquisition of a title and his exploitation of everything in her family; from then on, she would have to dance with wolves.

This certainly carries enormous risks, but taking risks is actually quite reasonable in order to change such a situation.

"Then...then..." Adele's resolve was beginning to waver, but she still hesitated on one question, "Are we really...just having a fake marriage?"

“Yes.” Leon looked down at Adele, who was holding him nervously, and suddenly a mischievous thought popped into his head. He leaned closer to Adele’s cheek and said, “If you want, it’s not impossible to do it for real!”

"No! No!" Adele immediately shrank her neck to avoid Leon.

“Just kidding, all I need right now is your family’s title and territory, at least for now,” Leon said, straightening his posture.

“At least for now, it’s not up to you to decide what will happen in the future…” Adele still couldn’t calm down.

She realized that she would be living under this man's control from now on, and even if he said he wasn't interested in her in that way now, he could change his mind at any time in the future.

Leon's face darkened, and he suddenly reined in his horse, stopping and dismounting.

“Get down,” Leon said to Adele.

"Huh?" Adele didn't react.

"Get down!" Leon repeated, reaching out to pull Adele off her horse.

"It hurts..." When Adele was forcibly pulled down and landed, the wound on her foot was aggravated, and she bent her knee.

“Miss Adele, if I were willing to take on your family’s debts to marry you, you should feel fortunate. Do you know that many people in this world struggle just to survive? A happy marriage or a life that provides enough to eat and wear—they don’t even have the choice between the two. You don’t really think you’re that miserable, do you?” Leon stared at Adele and said, “Miss Adele, I don’t actually like you, because this about you really annoys me.”

At that moment, Adele felt as if she had been suddenly punched, her mouth agape, unable to speak.

“I’m talking to you now, hoping you’ll cooperate honestly. I’m giving you a chance.” Leon mounted his horse, glancing down at Adele. “If you’re willing to take me, catch up now and we can talk back. Or, you can continue to run. When I get back to the gate and don’t see you, I’ll send men to capture you. You won’t get the same treatment then!”

Before Adele could reply, Leon flicked the reins, urging the horse to trot.

Adele stared blankly at Leon's retreating figure for a moment, then, after a while, she came to her senses, lifted her skirt, and limped after him, saying, "Wait, wait a minute, I'm willing to talk! Stop for a second, at least don't walk so fast, okay?"

Chapter 201 The Wedding Ceremony

Castells, parish office.

In a reception room, Father Léon Auden sat on one side of a square table, opposite Viscount Arend and his daughter Adele. A church notary sat on the other side of the table, which was piled with various documents.

Adele was still intently staring at the documents in her hands, scrutinizing the clauses line by line, while the other four had already settled down, some with their hands on the table, others with their arms crossed, all waiting for Adele to finish processing their own documents and sign them.

After a while, Father Auden sighed and couldn't help but say, "Miss Adele, you've been looking for a long time. We still have procedures to follow. If possible, could you please consider everyone's time?"

For ordinary people, marriage registration is very convenient, but Viscount Arend is a nobleman with land, and Leon is an elected member of the church with a rank. This marriage also involves the inheritance and transfer of the title, and the procedures are complicated. Just to complete the marriage registration, they have already spent most of the day here.

"Wait a minute, let me finish reading!" Adele continued without lifting her eyelids.

She wasn't stalling for time; she was carefully checking the clauses concerning the transfer of the title for any issues.