“A person? Whom are you willing to spend such a large sum to find?”

Cucos asked, still not fully grasping the value of the silver coin. The way he looked at Stella seemed akin to how one would look at a naïve nephew unfamiliar with the ways of the world.

“It’s a girl who used to be my personal maid. We lived like a family in Amalun, but we had to part ways when I came to Credion. Find out if she’s safe and living well. If Rudina wants to stay with me, bring her to where I am, and if she wishes to settle down and live there, give her enough money to live comfortably.”

“Enough money?”

“Yeah, plenty.”

As Stella repeated her words, Cucos nodded and picked up the silver coin.

“Not a criminal, right?”

At Cucos’s question, Stella quickly nodded. Rudina was definitely not someone who would commit a crime.

“I guess I need to thoroughly search around the Amalun Kingdom. With this money, it won’t be enough. I’ll have to free quite a number of people.”

Cucos had already returned to being the leader of the Moonlight Guild.

If Stella could find Rudina, she could offer even more money.

“Just find her. I have more silver coins.”

Cucos wasn’t the only one surprised by Stella’s response. Even Darun was taken aback. Darun had no idea that Princess Stella possessed such a large sum of money, and his surprise wasn’t solely due to the money.
“Finding a maid and willingly offering such a large sum of money.”

In Darun’s eyes, Princess Stella appeared to be a remarkable person who would take care of her people no matter what. On that day, Darun decided that he would be loyal to her for the rest of his life.

After the tumultuous journey of commissioning the search for Rudina and returning.

Stella felt light-hearted as if she had solved a big problem. Despite just recently making the request, her heart was more anxious and restless than before.

What if something happened to Rudina within a day, or if she was captured by the people sent by Queen Eliza during that time?

Still, Rudina did nothing wrong, so it should be okay, right? Am I too late in finding her?

Countless thoughts swirled in Stella’s mind as she walked along the forest path.

“It seems you are a very precious person to the princess.”

Watching Stella’s troubled expression, Darun cautiously asked. Strangely, a sense of envy and jealousy arose simultaneously with the question.

Even if something happened to the people in Verduria Castle, would Princess Stella still do this for them? Awkward thoughts like that crossed Darun’s mind.

“Yeah. She’s like a sister to me. The one who stood by my side when I was going through tough times.”

“So that’s why you introduced her as Rudina when you mentioned her in the market.”
Darun thought Rudina’s name was made up on the spot, but it turned out not to be the case. Upon discovering this fact, Darun became very curious about who Rudina might be. If she was someone Princess Stella relied on to this extent, she must be a very good person.

Darun gradually put aside his comparing thoughts and wished that Princess Stella could find Rudina as soon as possible.

The sugar-coated peanuts sold through Ian Blake created a significant stir in noble society. As it was a limited quantity crop, it sold like hotcakes as a premium dessert ingredient.

The plan to receive 10 gold coins per bag and sell them collapsed, and a strange phenomenon occurred where people couldn’t buy a bag of sugar-coated peanuts even with 20 gold coins.

In the market, fake sugar-coated peanuts made by simmering regular peanuts in sugar syrup also appeared.

If it were a precious ingredient, the proper procedure was to present it to Her Majesty the Empress first. Nobles who paid extra to acquire the sugar-coated peanuts difficultly made dedicated lists to offer to the Empress.

The rumors about the sugar-coated peanuts that stirred the market also reached Leo, the imperial culinary artisan.

Leo quickly reviewed the dedicated list of sugar-coated peanuts presented to Her Majesty the Empress and began happily contemplating how to prepare them.

Due to allocating time for swordsmanship lessons twice a week, there was relatively less time to handle tasks during the week.
Kai tirelessly reviewed issues across the empire and quickly addressed them by convening noble meetings.

Harang, who pitied the Emperor working much busier than usual, carefully placed a covered silver tray in front of Kai. Although he tried to be as discreet as possible not to disrupt the Emperor’s work, Kai couldn’t help but notice.

“What’s this?”

It wasn’t that he particularly wanted a snack. Harang, who seemed determined to say something about it, confidently lifted the lid with an eager expression.

“Do you know what this is?”

“What is it?”

Ambitiously revealing the contents, Harang, who had acted arrogantly, lowered his eyebrows, surprised by the Emperor’s indifferent reaction, like he had no idea about sugar-coated peanuts.