Chapter 271: Just How Many Wives Do You Have?

After meeting with Johnny and the others, Leon took a boat back to the pier on the western side of the island, preparing to go to the Temple to explain the results of the aftermath handling to Rena and Weiss, as well as the matter Dorothy had mentioned.

Previously, he had asked Rena and Weiss to investigate whether anyone had tampered with the production of Magic Potions, and it had not taken long to basically confirm that Arachne was responsible.

But he had not immediately asked Rena and the others to return to the Temple. Instead, he had assigned them to take some people and reinspect several compounding workshops within their territory, reviewing the rules and procedures for every stage of compounding to see whether there was still room for improvement.

Although this incident had ultimately been confirmed to be caused by an external party, it had also made him vigilant about maintaining the safety of internal production.

While he had been running around trying to eliminate the impact, Rena and the others had also been busy throughout the territory, and he still was not sure whether Rena and the others had returned yet.

However, he knew that if Rena and the others had returned, they should have passed through this pier. He only needed to ask the people stationed here to find out.

The person currently on duty at the pier was a young subordinate who had only recently been transferred to the island. Leon had just been about to ask him when the other man saw him and immediately saluted before reporting: “Welcome back, Mr. Fenrir, your wife is waiting for you in the cottage beside the lighthouse.”

Rena was already back? Leon thought.

For her to specifically wait for him here, she probably had something urgent she wanted to discuss with him as soon as possible, right?

Leon nodded and quickly walked toward the cottage.

As soon as he pushed open the door, he saw Petra, who was responsible for protecting Adele, standing beside a chair. Upon seeing him, she gave him a salute.

Meanwhile, Adele was sitting on the chair with an anxious expression, clutching her own arm. The moment she saw him, she stood up: “Leon!”

“Why is it you?” Leon, who had expected to see Rena, could not help but freeze for a moment.

“What do you mean, why is it me? I heard you would come back here after finishing your business today, so I've been waiting here for you all afternoon.” Adele found his reaction rather baffling.

She knew that the people stationed at the pier were all Leon's men, so she had Petra tell the person on duty to have Leon come to the cottage to find her once he returned.

Yet when Leon arrived at the cottage and saw her, he looked extremely surprised, as though the person he had expected to see was not her at all.

“Oh, sorry.” Leon realized what had happened and first gave an apologetic smile, “The person on duty only said that my wife was waiting for me here, so I thought he meant……”

He paused at this point, but Adele had already understood. She frowned slightly: “You mean that…… but aren't I also your wife?”

“What? You've started taking a liking to that identity now?” Leon casually teased.

“Of course not——” Adele's face immediately flushed red, then she seemed to think of something and glanced toward Petra at the side, “You go outside first.”

Petra did not hear Leon object, so she simply nodded as instructed and withdrew.

Adele was now managing Leon's accounts and governing the territory for him. Since she had produced results, Leon had specifically instructed the people stationed on this island, especially those assigned to the Viscount's residence, to show Adele respect.

This was a necessary measure. If Adele wanted to implement governance within the territory, she needed the authority to mobilize manpower in order to get things done.

Only Adele and Leon remained in the room. Adele planted her hands on her hips and complained to Leon: “Do you understand this or not!? At least nominally, I am your wife. Right now, within the territory, I am exercising your authority in the name of the Viscountess.

In front of other people, you can't emphasize anything about a fake marriage, and you should also avoid mentioning other women as much as possible. That might make people question my position! I'm helping you manage your money, you know. If the people under you look down on me, what if someone gets crooked ideas about the things I handle?”

“You don't need to think that much about it. My people all know who I've always been living with. As for you, they don't know that our marriage is fake. In their eyes, you're probably all my women, like the first wife, second wife, third wife, or something.” Leon replied unconcernedly.

“Where did a third wife come from?” Adele froze for a moment, then blushed again and retorted, “And who, who is your woman!?”

“I'm only saying that's what they think.” Leon shrugged.

Although in reality he currently only had a true marital relationship with Rena, in the eyes of his subordinates, Adele, whom he had openly married, and even Weiss, whom he had brought back and entrusted with important responsibilities, probably both had relationships with him as man and woman. For an underworld leader like him to have several women was hardly anything strange.

Of course, surrounded by so many beauties, it was not as though similar thoughts had never occurred to him. Leaving aside the fact that Weiss had always been very attractive in his eyes and had feelings for him, even Adele, whom he had initially looked down on just a tiny bit, was now beginning to make him see her in a new light, and he was enjoying spending time with Adele more and more——especially when teasing her.

However, out of respect for Rena, he only entertained those thoughts briefly. Of course, most importantly, within the organization he was currently running, whether it was Rena, Weiss, or Adele, all three were difficult to replace. If this relationship was handled poorly, it might even cause the entire organization to collapse, so he was still relatively cautious about it.

“So what exactly did you want to see me about?” Leon brought the topic back on track.

Only then did Adele realize that she had allowed the topic to drift off course. Her expression turned serious as she asked: “Leon, I saw the news about Baron Lawrence's death a few days ago. Today I heard that he died after drinking a Magic Potion? And at least two other people died as well. Is that true?”

“Your news came a little late.” Leon was somewhat surprised.

He had already more or less finished handling the entire matter, yet Adele had only now heard the first version of the rumor.

But thinking about it carefully, Adele had been busy dealing with matters concerning the territory on the island all this time, so it was not strange that her information in this area lagged somewhat behind. And the fact that the rumor about there being a problem with the Magic Potions had only now reached Adele's ears happened to show that his actions had already reduced the impact and limited the scale of the rumor's spread.

“Did something like that happen or not!?” Adele asked anxiously.

“Suddenly so concerned about my illegal business? Looks like you've integrated into our group quite nicely. Before, you were so worried that my business would implicate your family that you couldn't even sleep.” Leon laughed.

“I'm being serious right now. If something goes wrong with your business, there's a risk that the funding chain for the territory's investments will break. Then I'll have to make adjustments as quickly as possible, halt those projects whose expected returns are still too far off, and use the currently profitable industries to cover our expenditures!” Adele said with complete seriousness.

The current breakneck development of Arend Island mainly relied on the enormous cash flow generated during the money-laundering process from the funds earned through Leon's business.

Adele had used this to attract even more investments and loans, allowing Arend Island's industries to soar upward as though riding a whirlwind.

But this also meant that once Leon's illicit funds at the very root were cut off, external investments and loans would also be slashed in half. Industries currently undergoing high-cost development would quickly create deficits, causing the flow of funds to dry up and even resulting in debt.

But if Adele strategically contracted their operations in advance and promptly abandoned those projects that required burning through money yet could not generate returns in time, there would not be any major problems.

In fact, the industries currently existing on the island could already generate profits on their own. They could completely rely on her management to develop steadily; they simply would not be able to rise as outrageously fast as before.

“All right.” Leon nodded, “Actually, this whole thing was an enemy framing us. She poisoned our customers to death so that people would suspect there was something wrong with our goods.”

“Someone would actually do something like that? Then wouldn't that……” Adele's eyes widened when she heard this.

If panic were allowed to spread among their customers, the industry would suffer a fundamental blow. This was a method she could never have imagined. Only a madman would do something like that, right?

The commercial warfare encountered by the industry Leon was involved in was far more dangerous than she had ever imagined.

“Don't worry, I've already found a way to reduce the impact.”

Leon roughly explained to Adele how he had fabricated other cases to divert suspicion, merely skipping over the specific people and factions involved.

“……Although the business will more or less be affected a little, it should still be within an acceptable range. I've also had our other collaborators restrain the enemy. If everything goes smoothly, this matter can be considered temporarily concluded.” After finishing his explanation, Leon finally summarized.

That's right, once Arachne was recalled, this matter could be considered temporarily concluded.

But conversely, if Arachne was not killed, then this could only ever be considered temporarily concluded.

“I see.” Hearing this, Adele's suspended heart finally settled down, “It's really impressive that you managed to handle this.”

“What? Are you starting to feel a little admiration for me?” Leon casually joked.

“There is…… a little.” Adele answered quietly.

Leon looked Adele over in surprise. He genuinely had not expected Adele to actually acknowledge his methods for protecting his underworld business.

“Just a tiny bit!” Adele became somewhat embarrassed under Leon's gaze and hurriedly added.

“Actually, it's nothing much. After all, I've encountered things worse than this along the way, and I've made it through all of them.” Leon shrugged.

In the past, he had encountered so many major crises that directly threatened his property, his life, and even the people around him. This time, only his business had suffered a blow, so comparatively speaking, it really did not amount to much.

Hearing this, something stirred in Adele's heart. She had always deeply admired how her grandfather had started from nothing and overcome all sorts of difficulties, but wasn't Leon the same?

“Speaking of which, wasn't the island surrounded by a fleet before? Were they also after you that time? How did you deal with it?” Adele suddenly remembered what had happened before and abruptly became a little curious about Leon's various experiences.

“There are some things you're better off not knowing too much about.” Leon reminded her.

“I'm already helping you launder money, and you still don't trust me that much?” Adele felt a slight sense of disappointment in her heart.

Compared with that Witch who had shared those experiences with Leon, there was ultimately still something separating Leon from her. Just as that Witch was the one who was truly Leon's lover in his heart, while she was sometimes even forgotten by Leon as being his nominal wife……

No, why do I have to compare myself to her?

Adele suddenly felt that her thoughts were not quite right.

“So you want me to describe in detail what happened that day when you were nearly captured by a group of bandits, and when I rescued you, you were so frightened that you fainted?” Leon smiled faintly.

“Do you have to put it like that!” Hearing Leon deliberately make her sound so embarrassing, Adele coquettishly protested in both shame and irritation. She raised her fist as though she were going to hit Leon, while Leon laughed and dodged backward.

Just as they started fooling around, the cottage door was suddenly pushed open, and the veiled Rena appeared in the doorway: “Leon, I heard you were here——”

Rena stopped halfway through her sentence, and both she and Weiss, who was following behind her and likewise wearing a veil, froze for a moment.

“Ah……” Adele also froze in place with her little fist still raised.