In a tavern in Florence, as usual, all sorts of rumors were circulating.

    "Did you hear? The third son of the Bolognese family got a maid pregnant."

    "Imagine that—having a child before even getting married. The Bolognese family sure has luck with kids."

    "The church''s talk about loving only your wife is just nonsense, isn''t it?"

    Most of the gossip in taverns was nothing but empty talk.

    However, in the Toscana Empire, where nightly activities were limited to either intense exercises with their wives or idle chatter over drinks, these rumors were invaluable.

    Each one of them would be recycled countless times over.

    "I heard that the Bolognese family sent that maid to a village outside the city for a while."

    The Bolognese family could not ignore the pregnancy, whether it was an incident of rank-based coercion by their third son or a maid seizing the opportunity for a rise in status by seducing him.

    If it had been a one-night affair, they could have paid her off and told her to keep quiet until the wedding. But since there was a child involved, even the power of the nobility couldn''t keep a lid on it.

    So, Lord Bolognese, the head of the family, decided to send the maid away for recovery in the countryside.

    The people of Florence, known for their intellectual curiosity, were fully aware of these circumstances.

    "They say a woman’s fate depends on her man, and look at her now—she hit the jackpot! To the maid who turned her life around!"

    The man spreading the rumor raised his glass.

    Others around him raised their beer mugs for a toast as well.

    "If I had known, I''d have been born a beautiful girl!"@@@@

    "What nonsense! You look like a cabbage shredded on a grater. You should be thankful you were born a man."

    "Someone ought to break your skull with a hammer, you idiot!"

    Normally, the gossip would end here, with everyone laughing off baseless rumors. But this time, a man quietly drinking in the corner smirked.

    With a slight shrug of his shoulders, he exuded arrogance.

    "Is this all it takes to make you lot laugh?"

    All eyes turned toward the man who had ruined the mood.

    Typically, these gatherings were for people to craft “stories” about noble families, as if they were novels, mocking them in the process.

    But now, Florence''s cherished pastime was being disrupted.

    "Hey, don’t kill the vibe. Just leave, alright? You don’t seem like one of us anyway."

    The man downed his beer in one go and slammed the glass down on the table.

    "I’ve got a more interesting story—about the Medici family."

    The man glanced around the room, gauging reactions. The Medici were just prominent enough to avoid being ignored but not so lofty as to be untouchable.

    "Anyone living around here knows that Baron Medici married the Count Farnese’s daughter, right? Well, they say Fabio put up a huge amount of money for that wedding."

    To the point where even Baron Albert Medici couldn’t ignore it.

    Albert hadn’t been in the best mood lately.

    Objectively speaking, his life seemed to be progressing smoothly, like a ship with the wind at its back.

    He had formed a marriage alliance with the esteemed Farnese family and, unexpectedly, ended up with a very beautiful wife.

    Of course, even if she hadn’t been beautiful, he never would have considered rejecting the marriage.

    It’s a hundred times better to have an attractive wife, even if it’s common knowledge that spouses rarely get along.

    "Who the hell spread this damned rumor?"

    Fabio often treated Albert like a fool, but Albert was no idiot.

    Naturally, he had a good sense of who might have started it...

    "Why can’t a younger brother just give his elder brother a small loan of seven thousand gold? It’s nothing to him—he can easily earn that back in a few months."

    If Fabio had heard this, he would have thought:

    "Even a hundred million is a big deal, even to the CEO of a large corporation, you idiot."

    However, what irritated Albert the most was that his younger brother, who should have been subservient, refused to obey him completely.

    He wanted to berate him for not being able to do this simple favor for his elder brother.

    "But Duke Visconti and my father-in-law wouldn’t look kindly on me berating Fabio over something like this."

    Even though there was a marriage alliance in place, he wouldn’t face immediate repercussions.

    However, if he didn’t pay back the loan, he’d ruin his reputation as Baron Medici.

    As a baron, he might be near the top of the noble hierarchy, but counts and dukes held power far beyond his reach.

    "Typically, family loans are just a formality."

    Among nobles, that was indeed common sense.

    But the stipulation was that it was usually an elder brother supporting a younger sibling in times of hardship.

    For an elder brother to extort money from a younger brother and then refuse to repay it was shameful.

    "Now that the rumor has spread, I have no choice but to hand over the land..."

    Since he had put it in writing, failing to follow through would make him look like a dishonorable fool.

    "Fabio, that bastard."

    Albert ground his teeth in frustration.

    However, he had not yet decided to see his brother as a full-fledged rival.

    After all, Fabio had powerful connections, and turning family into foes would be frowned upon among the nobility.

    For now, he simply noted this event in his mental ledger of grievances against his brother.