225: Chapter 225 The Territory's Financial Situation! Catherine's Expectations!

One month later.

Golden Flame Castle, top-floor bedroom.

The afternoon light was just right.

Outside the window, the branches and leaves of the old oak tree swayed gently in the summer breeze, casting dappled shadows onto the windowsill.

Rowan sat in a recliner by the floor-to-ceiling window, with his personal maid, Catherine, snuggled in his arms.

She was softly humming a melodious Northern ballad, her voice clear and gentle, flowing past his ears like a stream in the woods.

Her fingers gently fiddled with Rowan's lapel as she curled up in his arms like a lazy cat, her posture natural and intimate.

Although Rowan's gaze was fixed outside the window, his thoughts had long since drifted elsewhere.

Since Miss Aurora arrived, the situation in the territory had indeed improved significantly.

Although her monitoring magic circle had not yet been fully completed, the few simple rune arrays she had temporarily set up had already successfully warned of several incidents where people attempted to sneak into the vicinity of Gino City to conduct illegal rituals.

Under the leadership of Commander Portia, the City Guard, in coordination with the tracking methods provided by Aurora, had rounded up those two groups, greatly deterring others.

It could be said that Aurora's arrival had helped him stabilize the increasingly volatile situation in the territory.

However—she was also a little expert at spending money!

To build the wizard tower she had planned, plus the mage inheritance he had purchased from the Purple Gold Merchant Alliance, he had almost completely spent the magic crystal savings he had seized from the wizard Harrison.

Coupled with the subsequent construction materials for the tower, the engraving of magic circles, the laying of mana conduits... every single expense was an astronomical figure.

He had now completely become a pauper.

However, with the witch's addition to the territory, the City Guard should have no problem holding on for a while longer.

...

Second floor, female official cabinet meeting room.

Melissa looked at the territory's financial report in front of her, her brows slightly furrowed.

Because of the construction of that wizard tower, the castle's finances were starting to become stretched thin again.

She raised her eyes to look at Helena, who was sitting in the main seat, her gaze flickering slightly.

Helena was now seven months pregnant.

She was wearing a loose, light blue dress, and her belly was noticeably rounder.

But she remained composed. Her increasingly heavy body did not affect her efficiency in handling government affairs.

She and Cecilia, one civil and one martial, were the only two women in this batch after the Beauty Pageant who were already pregnant.

As for the other female officials, they had also faintly realized a certain pattern from the frequency with which Rowan summoned them to the top-floor bedroom.

Although no one said it explicitly, that subtle tacit understanding had already quietly formed among the women.

Thinking of this, Melissa's cheeks flushed slightly, but she quickly reined in those subtle feelings, cleared her throat, and began her report:

"Lady Helena, the territory's financial report for this month has been compiled."

"The Master will be summoning us to discuss matters later, but the current financial situation is really not optimistic."

"At the current rate of expenditure, I'm afraid the territory's liquid funds will have a shortfall before the end of the year."

"And this is still thanks to the small magic crystal mine in our territory."

"However, it is strange; the mining speed of the Imperial Resource Department has suddenly accelerated quite a bit recently, and the monthly output has increased by nearly double compared to before, which just barely fills part of the fiscal gap."

Upon hearing this, Helena put down the document she was reading and fell into thought.

She certainly knew the territory's financial situation.

During this period, accidents had occurred frequently in the territory, the City Guard's expenses had increased sharply, and Rowan had also purchased mage inheritances for several members of the female official cabinet one after another.

Now, all nine female officials had obtained their own suitable inheritance paths, including Isabelle's rather rare Necromancy inheritance.

In this way, the daily cultivation resource consumption of the twenty-one transcendents, including the nine female officials and the twelve maiden knights of the castle guard, was a considerable expense.

She was silent for a moment, and a plan began to take shape in her mind. She stood up and said calmly:

"Let's go, we are going to see the Master. These issues need to be communicated with the Master."

...

Top-floor bedroom.

Seeing Helena and Melissa arrive together, Rowan patted Catherine in his arms, signaling her to step down first, and then smiled:

"Helena, Melissa, is there anything you need to see me about?"

After sitting down, Helena spoke first. She concisely explained the territory's financial predicament, then raised her eyes to look at Rowan and said:

"Master, the current expenditure pressure on the territory is mainly concentrated in two aspects."

"First is the sharply increased maintenance costs, training costs, and pensions for the City Guard, and second is the consumption of transcendent cultivation resources within the castle."

"If no new sources of revenue can be opened up in the short term, my suggestion is that we can temporarily reduce the supply of transcendent resources within the castle..."

"After all, we are in the castle, where safety can be guaranteed, unlike the City Guard, which suffers casualties every day and requires funds to maintain its scale and morale."

"This can buy us a few more months to maintain the current financial situation until the end of the year."

After listening, Rowan thought for a moment and shook his head directly:

"No, the supply within the castle cannot be reduced."

"As for the financial problem, I will think of a way."

"Let's hold on a little longer."

After listening, Helena and Melissa looked at each other. They both knew that Rowan always meant what he said, and once he made a decision, he would not change it easily.

Since he had said so, he must have his own considerations. The two did not say anything more, only nodded slightly and said:

"Yes, Master."

At this moment, Rowan looked at Helena's belly, his gaze softening a bit.

He stood up, walked to her side, stretched out his hand, and gently placed it on her belly:

"How have you been lately? Are the little ones bothering you?"

Helena did not expect him to make such an intimate gesture in front of Melissa.

She glanced at Melissa, who was looking down beside her, and responded a bit shyly:

"Hmm... fine. It's just that sometimes they kick a few times at night, not too much trouble."

"That's good..." Rowan smiled and sat back in the recliner.

Seeing this, Helena and Melissa stood up to take their leave.

"Hmm." Rowan nodded.

Watching the two leave, Catherine snuggled back into Rowan's arms and said coquettishly:

"Master, I also want to have a baby."

She looked up at Rowan, her beautiful eyes filled with expectation.

Upon hearing this, Rowan glanced at Catherine's score. [86 points]

So he chuckled:

"It's not the time yet."

Upon hearing this, Catherine felt a bit frustrated and aggrieved:

"Then when will it be time!"

"Sister Cecilia and Sister Helena are both pregnant, I want to too..."

Rowan thought for a moment and said:

"If you take some of the time you usually spend on painting, singing, playing the piano, and writing poetry collections and devote it to practicing harder, you will be able to soon."

Upon hearing this, Catherine's cheeks turned bright red, and she protested:

"Painting, wasn't that all because the Master asked me to paint! I don't want to paint those kinds of paintings at all!"

Upon hearing this, Rowan rarely blushed slightly, coughed, and changed the subject:

"Alright, alright, one year, I promise, at most one year, I will let you have a baby, okay?"

Only then did Catherine turn her anger into joy, kissed Rowan, and continued humming the unfinished Northern ballad.

In the bedroom.

The soft and clear singing drifted again...

Rowan held her, feeling somewhat helpless in his heart.

The amount of Breathing Technique proficiency required to increase the Princes Blood Exchange by one point was simply too much!

At his current rate of accumulation, using the Princes Blood Exchange on Catherine was basically a pure loss.

But when he lowered his head and looked at Catherine's profile in his arms, which looked exceptionally beautiful in the sunlight—those long and thick eyelashes, that pert nose, those full and rosy lips... he couldn't help but smile again.

A loss is a loss, but he would have to wait until the landlord's household had surplus grain before talking about it...