"You spent how much?"Alessandro's voice cracked as he stared at the system interface Marco had projected onto the wall of the study. The numbers floated in golden light, each one a testament to the impossible economics of House Deluca."Fifty thousand gold on investigators," Marco said calmly, leaning back in his chair. "Another fifty on accelerated evidence verification. Plus the one hundred thousand I spent on your entrance fee, the two hundred thousand on noble registration, and the five hundred thousand on the duel enhancements.""That's—" Alessandro's mouth moved soundlessly as he did the calculations. "That's almost a million gold. In two weeks.""Eight hundred fifty thousand, to be precise.""You say that like it's nothing!"Marco's golden eyes flickered with something between amusement and exhaustion. "It's not nothing. It's everything I had. My liquid reserves are down to two hundred fifty thousand gold, and my monthly expenses are bleeding me dry."Alessandro dropped into t

The morning sun had barely cleared the horizon when the first messenger arrived.Marco was in his study, reviewing the final evidence packets for the third time, when Vargas burst through the door without knocking—a breach of protocol so severe that Marco knew immediately something was wrong."Lord Deluca. We have a problem.""How bad?""All of them."Marco set down the documents. "All of who?""Our suppliers. Every single one." Vargas's face was grim. "I've received twenty-three cancellation notices in the past hour. Food suppliers, weapon smiths, cloth merchants, even the company that delivers our firewood. They're all terminating their contracts. Effective immediately."Marco's blood went cold. "All of them?""Every last one." Vargas placed a stack of letters on the desk. "The Santoro Family got to them. Lord Vincent must have offered them something they couldn't refuse."Marco scanned the letters, his jaw tightening with each one. The language was formal, almost apologetic, but th

The price war escalated faster than anyone anticipated.What began as a simple contest of wallets between House Deluca and House Santoro soon engulfed the entire region. Suppliers who had never dreamed of such profits suddenly found themselves courted by both sides, their rates climbing daily as Marco and Lord Vincent each tried to outbid the other.Within a week, the cost of everything had doubled."I can't believe this," Fiora said, staring at the latest报价单 spread across Marco's desk. "Lord Vincent just offered one of our food suppliers eight times the normal rate. Eight times! That's not negotiation. That's insanity."Marco studied the numbers, his jaw tight. "He's trying to bleed us d

The Moretti estate lay three days' hard ride from Marco's growing fortress—a sprawling palace of white marble and blue slate roofs that crowned the highest hill in the eastern province. Its towers pierced the clouds like frozen spears, and its walls glittered with defensive enchantments that had repelled sieges for three centuries. The Moretti family had ruled this land since before the current kingdom existed, and their seat of power reflected that ancient lineage.Marco had never seen anything like it.His carriage—a modest vehicle by noble standards, though still worth more than most commoners earned in a lifetime—rolled through the outer gates and into a courtyard that could have housed an entire village. Servants in blue-and-silver livery hurried to attend to the arriving guests. Guards in enchanted armor watched from the battlements, their eyes tracking every movement."This is excessive," Alessandro muttered from the seat across from Marco. The alchemist had insisted on accompa