Cassar entered the study, opened the envelope, and checked its contents. On the luxurious letterhead bearing the Ratean family crest, a puzzling message was written in elegant handwriting.

“Ha, he’s coming to congratulate me on taking the regent’s seat?”

If it had been a letter from someone else, he would have believed it. But this was a letter from Floyd. A letter from Floyd Carlot Ratean, who hates everything about the Pelur royal family.

“He’ll congratulate me and even sell the demon beast byproducts obtained from this subjugation at Kanta’s auction house.”

It was a groundbreaking proposal.

The sales revenue from demon beast byproducts was known to be so enormous that it could surpass a country’s annual operating budget. Even if he took only a few percent as compensation for lending the auction house, Cassar could reap huge profits.

If he used some of those funds for the benefit of Kanta’s citizens, it might even quell the rebellions flaring up here and there.

But the problem was that the person making this proposal was Floyd.

Cassar had not interacted with Floyd since exchanging brief greetings at an imperial party in the Empire a few years ago. He had occasionally sent letters, but they were all ignored.

And now he comes to congratulate?

“Don’t you think there’s some kind of hidden agenda?”

Cassar asked his knight guard Anas, waving the letter. Anas took the letter, read it carefully, and said,

“If a demon beast byproduct auction is held in Kanta, many people will gather from other countries. If at that time, Grand Duke Ratean colludes with Kanta’s rebels to cause trouble, it could lead to a big commotion.”

“That’s possible. But I don’t think Grand Duke Ratean would pull such an obvious trick.”

“That’s true. If Grand Duke Ratean wanted, he could massacre all the troops my lord currently has with just his knights.”

“A massacre, not even a war.”

Cassar tapped the desk with his index finger, deep in thought.

“Right, that’s right. With the current troops, we’d be massacred. Grand Duke Ratean must know that too. So he wouldn’t be thinking of swallowing up Kanta with such troublesome actions. There must be another reason…”

“Could it be because of a woman?”

At Anas’s cautious words, Cassar pointed his index finger at him.

“Yes, a woman. I was just thinking the same thing…”

The envoy from the Hoburn Islands said that the king couldn’t receive ‘that woman’ and because of that, relations with Floyd had deteriorated.

That woman. Roxiana Evelyn Franche.

Rumors about the woman who occupied the Lily Palace inside the Grand Duchy were now so widespread that there was hardly anyone who didn’t know about her.

She has a slave’s brand on her collarbone. She’s an amazing magician. She’s a priestess who escaped from the temple. She’s actually Floyd’s fiancée. She’s a female warrior from some island. They say she’s called ‘Rozel’. No, they say she’s called ‘Jelina’. She creates whirlpools. She controls water at will. She’s an elf thought to have gone extinct long ago…

There were so many stories circulating about one woman that none of them could be believed. Anyway, the important thing was that there was indeed a woman in the Lily Palace.

Cassar was convinced that woman would be Roxiana Evelyn Franche.

“As far as I know, Grand Duke Ratean is said to despise women terribly. In fact, when I saw him at the imperial party last time, he would make a disgusted face and back away whenever ladies came near. He didn’t even try to hide his unpleasant and irritated expression, so the women who were aiming for Grand Duke Ratean that day must have felt quite humiliated.”

Cassar, who had been giggling as he recalled that day, suddenly lost his smile.

“But if the woman in the Lily Palace is Roxiana Evelyn Franche, Grand Duke Ratean might endure the nausea since they share the same goal. After all, both Roxiana Evelyn Franche and Grand Duke Ratean must despise our Gania terribly.”

“Assuming that woman is Roxiana Evelyn Franche, what do you think Grand Duke Ratean is trying to do?”

“Well, what could it be? It would be useless for him to show that woman to me. Wouldn’t it be better to keep her well and present her to Lucas? That way, Lucas would boil with anger inside and make a fool of himself.”

But Floyd’s letter didn’t contain even a single ‘L’ of Lucas.

‘Is it because of the Franche family corpses thrown into the well?’

This was an issue he couldn’t even discuss with Anas, his most trusted confidant.

The fact that an entire family was killed and thrown into a well wasn’t just Lucas’s problem, but a disgrace to the entire Pelur royal family.

‘And Floyd is coming to expose that disgrace. What should I do…’

He had no intention of retrieving the corpses from the well for Lucas’s sake, but if Floyd stepped in, it would be a different story. Of course, even if that disgrace was exposed, it wouldn’t completely bring down the Kingdom of Gania or the Pelur royal family, but it was uncertain how Floyd would use it.

‘Should I search the well right now to find the corpses? But it would be difficult to find the corpses while keeping people quiet… If I act rashly, I might end up taking the blame.’

For Cassar, who had only planned to spend his time quietly as regent and then return, Floyd’s visit was like a disaster.

‘But someone’s disaster can be fortune for others. Should I try to use this opportunity well? I need to think about it.’

+++

Elise was too busy to pay attention to rumors about the ‘Lily Palace guest’. The fact of Roxiana’s survival once shook Elise and ignited hostility towards Grand Duke Ratean who had saved Roxiana, but now it had become a matter of indifference. Elise was too busy to care about such things.

The road construction plan, which was originally intended to connect with one major city in Gania and gradually expand based on results, underwent a major change when Joseph V showed interest. With the king’s support, roads connecting three cities were being built simultaneously, with many workers deployed.

‘This is why connections are important for people.’

Thanks to Elise’s quick moves so far, she had made a few acquaintances among the nobles in the capital. Some of them had a voice in the royal palace, and they must have put in good words to Joseph V.

‘But there’s still not enough money.’

The funds received from Joseph V couldn’t be used elsewhere. She had set aside some of the money invested so far for her own use, but she couldn’t touch the king’s assets carelessly, not knowing what might happen.

‘What’s the use of being a lord if I have to live on just a salary in the end?’

When she was at Ider Palace in Kanta, she could have 3 or 4 dresses made each season. It was thanks to Roxiana, who had no interest in dresses, allowing all of the princess’s dignity maintenance expenses to be used for Elise.

−”Wow, it’s really wonderful. No one could wear those luxurious laces as well as you, Elise.”

Suddenly, Roxiana’s cheerful voice came to mind. A brief pain throbbed in her chest and then disappeared.

‘Roxy…’

Elise clenched her fist tightly.

When she first learned that her father, Duke Hailis, had embezzled, she resented her father for committing such an act. When the Hailis family lost everything and was exiled, she resented Victian IV for imposing such harsh punishment without any leniency.

When only Elise was spared from that exile due to Roxiana’s pleading, she was genuinely grateful to Roxiana.

And when she heard the news that her family had been killed by bandits on the way to exile, she harbored unspeakable hatred towards the Franche royal family.

Both Victian IV, who apologized saying this wasn’t what he had intended, and Roxiana, who cried together asking what to do, all looked detestable. All the members of the Franche royal family who tried to consider the feelings of Elise, who had suddenly lost her family, were terribly disgusting.

As time passed, the Franche royal family forgot about the death of the Hailis family, but the resentment remained intact in Elise’s heart. On the other hand, she couldn’t stop the affection growing for the Franche royal family who treated her like their own daughter, like their own sister.

There were times when she despised herself for loving her family’s enemies.

‘Yes, I loved them. But you know what? Even that love was terrible. It was disgusting. When you laughed, I laughed along, but I couldn’t bear the self-loathing of laughing together with my family’s enemies. So!’

She had no choice but to kill them. When the opportunity called Lucas Pelur arose, she had to seize it.

And she killed them and threw them into the well. It felt like only then could she atone to her family for the fact that she had harbored affection for them, even if only for a moment. The more horrific the treatment inflicted on them, the more it seemed her family would forgive her for surviving alone and living happily.

“Excuse me, my lady. Are you alright?”

Elise snapped out of her reverie and stared at the man sitting in front of her.

This man named ‘Puccino’, who had entered King Turin city about a month ago as the vice-leader of the Karan merchant group, had been frequenting Elise’s mansion recently. The reason was that he wanted to secure a good spot in the ‘New Market Street’ that would be built in King Turin city in the future.

The Karan merchant group was large enough that even Elise had heard of its name, so she accepted every request for a meeting, thinking it might be useful someday. Moreover, Puccino brought quite interesting information every time he visited.

For example, which countess had an affair with which knight, or which baron was frequenting places he shouldn’t, and such things.

“Yes, I’m fine. It’s a bit cold.”

It wasn’t just to change the subject; it really was cold. Winter had come too quickly in Gania.

No sooner had she spoken than Hunter, standing behind her, brought a warm fur coat and draped it over Elise’s shoulders. Elise pulled the white ermine fur coat close and said to Puccino,

“There’s one piece of information I’d like to know…”