"What?"
There were three voices that gave this exclamation.
It was Haley's father, Haley's husband, and…me.
All three of us looked at her with shocked looks as if we couldn't understand what she was saying.
But then in front of us, she moved over to my side and took my arm with both her hands, holding it in the way that a lover would.
As soon as she did this, both Haley's father and husband glared at me.
I just revealed a bitter smile when I saw this, but I decided to play along.
It wasn't just because it was a nice feeling having her hold me like this…it definitely wasn't because of that. It was because of the side quest that I had received.
If I played along with this, I would have a chance to get more information and find out what I needed to do to finish the side quest. The allure of the mysterious reward from the side quest was just too big for me to resist.
After all, the items that I had received from the system before had saved me many times and I was certain that the items that I would receive in the future would also save me even more times.
So with this thought, I reached out with my other hand and put it around Haley, pulling her even closer in.
When this happened, Haley also couldn't help being surprised by my action and looked up at me with a blush on her face.
Ignoring this, I looked at Haley's father and said, "Father, please accept my relationship with your daughter. You should know that these two aren't right for each other, so please don't make her suffer anymore."
Haley's father's face twisted when he heard this.
To the side, Haley's husband glared at me with a glare that would have killed me if glares could kill.
After a long period of silence, Haley's father exploded as expected.
"You son of a b*tch, who said that you could call me father! You come out of nowhere and you ruin our family like this! Do you really think that I'll let you go?"
He had taken a few steps forward and was right up in my face. With the way that he was panting, it almost looked like he was a rabid dog that was about to bite by face off.
But before he could do anything, there was the sound of a sword being drawn.
When they turned to look in the direction that this sound came from, they saw Jessica standing there with her sword slightly drawn.
Seeing this, both the father and the husband couldn't help taking a step back.
But then Haley's father's face became serious again as he said, "Do you really think that you can threaten me? I am a very powerful person and I have many connections! To make someone like you disappear is as simple as waving my hand!"
I couldn't help slightly knitting my brows when I heard this.
I had heard that the company that Haley's father ran was a powerful company that did business all over the kingdom, though I didn't know how powerful it was.
Merchants relied on connections to do business and a powerful company would certainly have powerful connections. It was very likely that they would have connections to nobles that were higher rank than me.
In that case, it might even bring danger to my territory and my family…
But Haley said in a serious voice, "Father, you shouldn't make these kinds of claims. Zwein here is a baron from the surrounding land, so you should be careful."
When Haley's father heard this, he couldn't help looking at me with a wary look.
He had assumed that this young boy in front of him was just a simple commoner, but it turned out that he was actually a baron…
If it was in the territories where his company held power, he wouldn't fear any barons since he had his connections. But in this place where his company didn't have their roots buried, he would be at a disadvantage when it came to nobility.
After all, he didn't know the count of this city.
He could ask another count for help if it was a commoner since no nobles would care about what happened to a commoner. But it was a different story if it was a baron in the territory of a count.
No count would be willing to risk offending another count for a merchant since this count would surely protect the baron in his territory.
So even if he asked the counts that he knew for a favour, they wouldn't accept this.
After a long period of silence, Haley's father took a deep breath and took a step back before glaring at the two of us again.
Then he said in a low voice, "It seems like you've found quite the backer, but did you forget who owns this store?"
When this was said, the husband's eyes lit up before he revealed a devious smile.
He had thought that he had been pushed into a corner because the other side was a noble, but then he remembered who he had on his side. It seemed like what his father had left behind had really paid off.
Haley's eyes couldn't help trembling when she heard this.
This was the one thing that she was afraid of the most and the one handle that her family still had on her.
After all, there was nothing that she could do about this.
Unless she could somehow convince them to give her back the shares in her store, it was unlikely that she would ever be able to escape their grasp.
Well, the other way was to give up the store, but she was even less willing to do that since it was the result of her hard work.
But before she could crumple, I said, "Are you looking to sell this business? If so, I would be interested in buying it."
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