The city of Antika, the Silver Moon Merchants' Guild.
The red-haired girl with golden eyes was sitting in a private room on the second floor, sipping her tea.
Under her brown skirt, her long and straight thighs, wrapped in black stockings, casually crossed each other.
Looking out of the window of the room, the girl sighed softly.
At this moment, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in."
As the red-haired girl spoke, a middle-aged man walked in from outside.
"Miss, your gift has already been delivered to Duke Lucius' mansion yesterday. The Duke was very pleased, and today he is sending his son to thank you."
"Oh? Is it Viscount Osen, or the newcomer Viscount Liter?" The girl placed her hand on the back of the chair and asked.
"It's Viscount Osen," the middle-aged man said. "It is said that Viscount Liter did not perform well when he first arrived in the family, so the Duke is not considering letting him meet outsiders just yet."
"I see." The girl nodded and then put down her coffee.
"Lorenzo," she asked, "if it were you, would you choose high-risk, high-return goods for investment, or low-risk, low-return goods?"
"In response to the Miss, I think it depends on the individual's standpoint. If I started from scratch, I would naturally invest in high-risk, high-return goods," the middle-aged man pondered for a moment and replied.
"But if I had a large amount of wealth, I would choose the more secure option."
"For a large guild like the Silver Moon Merchants' Guild, we don't even need to do anything to earn plenty of profit."
"You're right. You've been Father's loyal companion for so many years," the girl smiled and continued, "However, the Silver Moon Merchants' Guild only became strong and prosperous from my grandfather's generation."
"Before that, the largest guild in The Empire was the Red Dragon Merchants' Guild."
"The Red Dragon Merchants' Guild had the same idea, choosing to play it safe. But why did the Silver Moon Merchants' Guild eventually surpass them?"
"Um..." Lorenzo was taken aback, unsure of what the young miss meant, "I don't know..."
"This was the first investment my father gave me," the girl continued.
"In our Bonaventura family, every successor has an equal opportunity. Whoever has strong business abilities and can lead the regional guilds to prosperity will become the leader of the overall guild. This is a rule set by my grandfather."
"But, you should have noticed, Lorenzo, my two brothers, one was assigned to Duke Prussia's domain, and the other was assigned to Duke Aragon's domain, both are already economically prosperous regions."
"There, they are like the wealthier side you mentioned, just needing to be cautious and they won't encounter any problems."
"But as for me, in the economically backward Antika domain, I must take a risk."
"Father seems to favor my two brothers more than me."
"Celina, young lady," Lorenzo heard the girl complain about her father, and his tone also became somewhat serious, "Lord Louis is fair to each of his children..."
"Of course, I know that." Listening to the formal statement from the other side, Celina sighed helplessly. "Alright, Uncle Lorenzo, you can leave now. Bring the person to me when they arrive."
"Alright." Lorenzo nodded and then left the room.
Celina stared at the coffee cup on the coffee table, recalling the various experiences in her family before.
As the largest guild in The Empire and the owner of the Silver Moon Merchants' Guild, the Bonaventura family has always been a guest of honor among the nobles from various regions since Celina's grandfather.
After all, in this era, it was not the farmers toiling away in rural areas who could provide large sums of money to the nobles, but the wealthy merchants in the cities.
They conducted business activities everywhere, adhering to the principle of buying low and selling high.
And the money earned from their business, part of it went into their own pockets, and the other part was handed over to the lords who protected them.
In addition, in order to get the lords to help them with their affairs, the guilds also regularly paid a batch of "obligatory fees" to the lords.Meanwhile, in this society, although businessmen have money, there is one thing that is always tightly controlled by the lords.
That is power.
The number of guards that the merchant guild can hire is limited, and there is no way they can challenge the lords. At the same time, the local judicial power is also in the hands of the lords. If one offends a lord, the merchant often has to suffer a loss.
Because of this, Louis Bonaventura, my father, wanted to use his only daughter as a bargaining chip for a noble marriage.
As long as Celina is married to a duke-level nobleman, the Bonaventura family will have a backer and the safety of their business in various places will be guaranteed.
After all, no matter how arrogant and overbearing local nobles are, they still have to give the duke some face.
A year ago, during a family banquet, Louis wanted to introduce Celina to Donni Florence, the son of Duke Giovanni Florence, the largest lord of the Napoli duchy.
Seeing a suddenly appearing man next to her who looked fierce and ugly but pretended to be gentle, Celina knew without thinking that it must have been arranged by her father.
Celina was not stupid, she knew what her father meant, so after the banquet, she talked to her father overnight.
"I know your aspirations, Celina." In the middle of the night, Louis sat in his study, looking at her.
"If you know, why do you want to go against my wishes..." Celina looked at Louis in confusion.
"Giovanni Duke is a decent person. Although his son Donni has a bad temperament and an average appearance, there are many rumors about his promiscuity. But after all, he is the future heir of the duke."
"Marrying him can bring more contributions to the family than going into business yourself."
"Your two brothers are also good at business management. They can handle the branch well, and now what we need is political help."
"Agree with me, and make the last contribution to the family."
"Contribution?" Celina looked at Louis with red eyes. "In your eyes, my happiness is not as important as your business, is it? Do you see me as a commodity?"
"Celina!" Louis's tone became stern. "I raised you and gave you the best education, not for you to argue with me here!"
"Father..." Celina lowered her head and pondered for a long time. Finally, she made up her mind, raised her head, and said decisively.
"Grandfather once said that every child in the family wants equal inheritance rights. Whoever is most capable of managing the merchant guild should inherit it."
"Is this a rule in the family?"
"You?" Louis looked at Celina in disbelief. "Are you trying to defy me?"
"I am not defying you, father. It is you who have pushed me to this point."
"Fine, fine, fine." Louis said with a laugh out of anger. "Okay, I'll give you two years. If you can't bring the Antika branch of the Duke Antika's territory to the first place in terms of income within two years, then you give up the idea of inheritance and obediently marry young Master Donni!"
And so, six months ago, Celina, with Louis's appointment letter, took office and became the head of the Antika branch of the Silver Moon Merchant Guild in the city of Antika.
