In such circumstances, no matter how much money they have in their pockets, they're merely holding it for the King and Dukes; it doesn't truly belong to them.
Dorian understands his position clearly. His entire family serves as the nobles' white gloves for amassing wealth, to be discarded once sullied.
Though money can buy him luxurious estates and beautiful women, even the nobles' fake smiles, it cannot buy real respect or a sense of security.
He knows all too well that, in this hierarchical Divine Right Kingdom, the fate of the Gage family is already inscribed in the Holy Word Book.
Their only way out is to bypass this rigid feudal system and gain a universally recognized "hard currency" across the Empire—a status as an Academic State Mage.
It's one of the tickets to the "road of prominence," and unlike the path of the knights, it's not fraught with danger, nor does it tempt like the seemingly enticing pie of the adventurer's path.
