Mother really collapsed this time. She was terrified, upset, regretful, and angry. All sorts of emotions intertwined, and this time, she really fell sick on the bed ….
Claude presided over Adele's cremation ceremony at the Anna Ranch. Then, he handed the ashes to his younger brother, Bloweyk, and Cremiso. He arranged for Big Gum to bring four guards to escort them to the 300-acre farm that Old Softer had left to his children in Cromwell.
After that, Claude rushed back to Ferd Manor in Lanu to see his mother and tell her about the consequences of his letter to Adele.
She thought Claude was joking at first, but the cold expression on his face told her that he was telling the truth.
She first cursed the dead Adele hysterically before begging Claude to bring her beloved son, Bloweyk, to her. She would do everything in her power to beg for Bloweyk's forgiveness and swore that she would never arrange any more blind dates for him. She promised that he would be the one to decide his own marriage.
Claude watched expressionlessly as his mother cried, begged, and cursed. No matter how much pain she put on, he didn't care.
When she was done venting, Claude told her coldly that it was too late. Everyone had to be responsible for their actions. You reap what you sow.
Bloweyk no longer listened to him and swore that he would never appear in front of his mother again.
You were the one who broke the bond between mother and son and forced Bloweyk to sever his blood ties with House Ferd.
You did all that for the sake of House Ferd's reputation. You wanted to show off in front of the noblewomen.
Now, your wish has come true. The Ferd family has truly become the laughing stock of the overseas autonomous region. The head of the family has abandoned his family and gone into exile. This matter will soon become a hot topic on the streets …
Claude's merciless words caused her entire body to tremble. She suddenly flared up at him. "Was it you? Was it you who forced my little Booke to leave for the position of house lord?"
Claude smirked. "I'm sorry, Mother. I came back to tell you something. I won't be the head of House Ferd.
Since you think so highly of the Ferde family, I'll leave it to you to play with.
I don't care who you choose to be the Patriarch. I will divide the family property during this period of time.
To me, as long as I have the ability, I can create my own family … "
Perhaps Claude's words affected her too much, but she finally collapsed.
Angelina returned to the manor to treat her mother with a cold expression and told everyone that there was nothing wrong with her body. She had been taking good care of herself in the region for the past few years. No matter what, she was still Claude's mother. She had eaten quite a lot of tonics and could live for another two to three decades as long as she didn't take it too hard.
She was worried because the Ferd family had really lost face this time.
She was annoyed because what she had done this time was too rash and excessive. In order to make herself feel better, she wrote a letter to scold a pregnant woman who was about to give birth and caused serious consequences, leaving the impression that her mother was mean, petty, and narrow-minded.
She was regretful because she had lost her youngest son. The separation of mother and son was something she didn't expect.
Apart from that, the mother was even more angry. She was angry that her youngest son had disregarded the kindness she had shown him since he was young and had cut off the mother-son relationship for a lowly shepherdess. He was even worse than the dog she had raised.
At the same time, she was angry at Claude for not being filial. As Bloweyk's elder brother, not only did he not take the initiative to help the family solve Bloweyk's problem, he even used it to threaten his mother. He treated the succession of the family head like it was a child's game.
As for what his mother thought, Claude didn't care at all. He was a transmigrator and family ties were weak to begin with. The gratitude he felt towards his parents paled in comparison to the sibling bond he had with Angelina and Bloweyk. That was why he had always been on their side.
Coupled with the fact that he didn't have the concept of a clan in his previous world, he didn't care much about being the head of House Ferd. He didn't really care whether he was the head of House Ferd or not.
However, he had rather complicated feelings towards Kefnie. No matter what, she had given birth to three children for him. They were his bloodline in this world.
However, he was a transmigrator and the body belonged to the original owner. So, he couldn't figure out whether his three children were really his or the original owner's.
But there was no doubt that he had enjoyed the pleasure of interacting with Kefnie at a negative distance. He had no choice but to take on the responsibility of being a father.
Fortunately, Kefnie knew that her refusal to adopt Adele's two children had incurred Claude's displeasure, so she cooperated obediently with Claude to sort out and divide the family's assets and handed over all the shares Claude had given her to manage.
Claude only left House Ferd with thirty percent of the family's tobacco factory, the 1,500-acre estate in Cromwell and the Ferd manor in Lanu.
Actually, all of that was Claude's personal property. Without him, House Ferd wouldn't have been able to establish itself in the region.
It was a pity that his mother was blinded by the flattery of the noblewomen and really thought of House Ferd as a noble family in the region. She didn't think that the family was still built on sand.
If something were to happen to Claude, the entire House of Ferd would be drowned in the waves.
Had it not been for his mother's death, Claude would have worked hard to make House Ferd a true noble family in Faslan.
Myjack, for example, was also a nameless person. He was born a vagabond and had forgotten his surname.
In the past, he had wanted to go back to his homeland to find out what his surname should be. But after staying in the region for more than a decade, it didn't really matter anymore.
Claude had wanted Myjack to take the surname Ferd as well and become a branch of the family. Given that Myjack was his brother-in-law, it would make sense.
But now, there was no need to think about anything else. Myjack would either have to send someone back to his homeland to find out his surname or start a new family.
With Angelina helping him manage it, Myjack's family might even be able to do better than House Ferd's.
The thought of that made Claude feel like a wild boar had eaten the cabbage he planted.
He also had to think about his plan to take in a retainer.
Would he take in one for himself or for House Ferd?
For example, during the accounts two days ago, the old butler Alek and the first retainer Kester made it clear that they wanted to follow Claude and not House Ferd.
That made Kefnie lose a lot of face as she was the one in charge of House Ferd's affairs.
But after the accounts were divided, Kefnie realized that there wasn't much to take care of in House Ferd. Alek's eldest son was in charge of Ferd Manor and Pyano, a retired veteran, was assigned to manage the manor.
House Ferd was left with 30% of the profits from the tobacco workshop. Alek and Kester would be in charge of Angelina from now on.
Claude split 30% of the shares of the tobacco workshop between Angelina and Bloweyk. Bloweyk's shares would also be managed by Angelina.
Angelina would be staying at Anna Ranch for the next three to four years to take care of her son and the twins Adele left behind. She wouldn't be able to go to Blackstone to help Claude with his new weapons.
The rest of the shares were handed over to Angelina to manage. From a certain point of view, Claude trusted his sister the most.
Only Angelina would hand over money without hesitation when Claude needed it, unlike Kefnie, who seemed rather reluctant to part with her shares and kept reminding Claude that he had three children. Perhaps it was a mother's instinct to accumulate a large amount of wealth for her children in the future so that they wouldn't have to worry about food or clothing for the rest of their lives.
That was the limitation of Kefnie's perspective due to her humble background. What she didn't understand was that their children's future depended on how far Claude could go and not how much wealth she could accumulate.
Otherwise, without Claude, their children wouldn't be able to keep their wealth and would only be torn to shreds by the greedy wolves.
Claude was also tired of Kefnie's constant nagging about the bills of Blackstone Firearms Workshop. Blackstone Firearms Workshop had only barely been able to balance out its expenses.
The main reason was that Claude had invested a large amount of money into the development of new weapons. That took up the largest portion of the profits and he even had to pay out of his own pocket to make up for the losses.
In the past, Claude had left all his shares to Kefnie to manage. While the other shares would receive a sizable amount of dividends, Blackstone Firearms Workshop was always in the red.
Kefnie didn't understand how important the weapons manufacturing base was to Claude. She was always worried that the workshop's expenses were greater than its profits. Many times, she brought up the idea of going there to check the bills or sell the workshop.
Now, everything was fine. Claude's ears could finally be at peace.
As for whether Kefnie was disappointed or not, that was her own business. Since you want to mess with House Ferd, I'll let you have your fun.
She and her mother still didn't understand that without Claude, House Ferd was nothing.
Claude had already decided to find a new place to stay in Lanu. He wanted to show his mother and Kefnie how many people would visit Ferd Manor if he didn't return.
Of course, that was also Claude's selfish motive. He wanted to find a home for himself and Sheila so that he wouldn't have to bring Sheila back to Ferd Manor.
However, he still had to go home for a few days from time to time. After all, he still had his three children there.
Next, Claude planned to give his younger siblings a piece of property each. Angelina only had a ranch, which she and Myjack bought together. While Claude paid for it, he didn't get half of it.
So, he decided to buy the ten thousand acres of barren hills around the ranch and turn it into a forest.
At the same time, he would also get a small gold mine in Loki Mountains as part of his dowry.
Bloweyk was the same. He had given up on the Ferd name and basically had nothing left.
Claude had to give him a piece of property and a small gold mine to give him something to remember.
Even when he grew old, there would be a place for him to return to. Regardless of whether Bloweyk would remarry, the property wouldn't disappoint his wife.
Even if Bloweyk didn't want it, he could leave it to his and Adele's children.
Also, Claude had to leave some property for Madam Sonia. Even though his illegitimate son, Mallex, was going to inherit Liboyd's family, he had to do something as a father.
Madam Sonia, on the other hand, had helped Claude so much and never asked for anything from him.
Just because she didn't ask for it didn't mean that Claude didn't have to. The property had to be set up.
Bloweyk's decision to give up on the Ferd name and go into exile caused quite a commotion in Lanu and the region.
Fortunately, Claude was in a high position and nobody dared to report it in the papers. They only mentioned it in taverns or at private gatherings and it became a rumor among the people.
Sometimes, they would even change their names to fictitious families. Bloweyk and Adele even became legendary love stories.
Claude could only feign ignorance and pretend that he didn't hear anything.
However, Claude's search for a new place to live in Lanu caught the attention of General Skri. He brought two bottles of good wine to visit him and tried to find out the reason for Claude's decision.
Claude didn't hide it from him and told him about his intentions. He mainly wanted to teach his mother and wife a lesson. At the same time, he expressed that he refused to be the head of House Ferd and it was better for him to live far away.
General Skri gave Claude an address in the western suburbs of Lanu, opposite the high-class villa district where Ferd Manor was located. The land was bought by General Skri a long time ago. He originally wanted to build a manor for his family when they moved to the colonies. But after the war zone rezoned Lanu, the high-class villa district was built and General Skri was given a manor.
His family didn't have a lot of people, so the newly built manor was left empty.
Since Claude needed it, General Skri was willing to sell it at the original price.
Now that the property prices in Lanu had multiplied, Claude naturally didn't want to take advantage of General Skri. After haggling for a long time, he finally settled the deal at 20% of the market price.
By the time he was done with those trivial matters, a month had already passed.
Sheila, who was in Cromwell, brought her guard squad to Lanu and was sent by Claude to renovate the manor that she was now the mistress of.
Compared to Claude's family, Sheila preferred the forests. The western suburbs of Lanu was made up of seven small hills. It was lush with trees and surrounded by a stream. The environment was quiet and elegant.
The only downside was that it was a little far from the center of Lanu, but it was still rather relaxing.
Seeing that Sheerah liked the place, Claude took out some money and bought the entire hill, intending to use it to plant the fruit trees and herbs that Sheerah liked.
Apart from the manor that General Skri had built on the hill, there were more than ten holiday villas or small manors built by the wealthy families of the region.
But since Claude wanted to buy it, they wouldn't reject him. They sold their villas and manors to Claude and bought a piece of land on the hill nearby to build their own manors.
It was simple. If General Claude wanted to settle there, they had to get close to him first and become his neighbor.
Given the fact that they were neighbors, Claude had to give him face when he came to visit or invite him to a banquet.
Once the news got out, the price of land on the hill tripled again. Even General Eiblont came to join in the fun and bought a piece of land near Claude to build a holiday villa to keep him company.
Perhaps it was because she had been separated from Claude for more than a decade, Sheerah was rather obsessed with him. Claude, on the other hand, doted on his first love a lot. He even agreed to her request to build a tower on the hill.
However, Claude didn't want people to know that it was a magus tower at first glance. He drew a picture of an ancient tower from his past life with a total of five floors. It would be the landmark of the hill in the future.
One time, Sheila even got herself a military uniform and changed it into a woman's style and insisted on following Claude to HQ.
In the end, General Eiblont saw it. After being stunned for a while, he gave a thumbs up and ran away.
Three days later, General Eiblont brought two female soldiers to the war zone command center. He said that the two women were his personal aides.
But looking at how intimate they were, anyone would know what this life meant …
Claude was even harshly reprimanded by Bolonik for being the one who started it all.
Sheila wasn't happy about it and felt that she wasn't any weaker than Claude's guards. So what if she was a female soldier?
Claude couldn't say anything about it. Men were the dominant force in this era and having a female soldier in the army would only make people think badly of her. If Sheila really wanted to follow him, she would have to disguise herself as a man.
By the time Claude finished his chores at home and helped his siblings set up their own businesses, three months had passed since he moved into his new home.
In September, bad news came from Aueras. Unable to reach an agreement with Nasri, Nasri attacked Aueras on the grounds that Aueras had gone back on their word and defaulted on their debt. War descended on Aueras once more.