On the day they rode in a carriage around the capital and nearby areas, Idren couldn’t take his eyes off her all day. And the same was true for the people on the streets.
Of course, even before that, Ophelia had started many small trends. Ophelia’s spending habits and appearance were very famous in Aglante.
People criticized the foreign queen’s luxurious lifestyle while still keeping a keen eye on what she wore and adorned herself with.
Salode had said this about it:
“It’s rare to find someone who is both high enough to be revered and flawed enough to be criticized.”
In that sense, Ophelia always brought attention wherever she went, but even so, that year’s red trend was excessive. Regardless of social status, every household had at least one red outfit.
The trend didn’t even last half a year.
Half a year later, when it was time for another tour, Ophelia appeared wearing white.
That color, which might have seemed plain at first glance, was adorned with spring flowers imported from the neighboring Egelbamot Empire, creating an elegant and graceful atmosphere.
So much so that the red color that had been trendy until then suddenly felt vulgar in comparison.
“If it had only been a change in fashion, it wouldn’t have been such a blow. But Her Highness the Crown Princess suddenly started buying all pigments, including red, from elsewhere.”
The official said that around that time, a prince of Egelbamot had started a business extracting pigments from flowers, and Ophelia had switched her business dealings to him. The already declining economy of Leden, due to the end of the red trend, completely sank.
As he listened, Idren started to get irritated. It wasn’t even that serious of an issue.
The royal family should have prevented such overheating of speculation in the first place.
But from what the official was saying, it seemed the Leden royal family had actually led the investment in pigments.
Idren raised his hand to stop the official and asked:
“Isn’t that more the fault of those who abandoned their livelihoods to speculate and the royal family that encouraged it, rather than my wife’s?”
Red pigment was a luxury item. Leden was a place with strong royal authority despite the many problems in the royal family, so if the royal family wanted to control the economy, it was entirely possible.
But the Leden royal family didn’t do that, did they?
Of course, Idren didn’t think it was a coincidence that Ophelia started importing pigments from elsewhere. In fact, he already knew that Ophelia engaged in such money games.
He just didn’t bother to dig into it or interfere because the scale wasn’t large and it didn’t directly affect Aglante’s economy.
He hadn’t thought she would meddle with her home country’s economy to such an extent.
But it was his job to figure that out, and it was a separate issue for others to gossip about her actions. Especially when Aglante’s internal affairs were in disarray after accepting refugees from Leden.
Idren flicked his hand. The executioner who understood the signal approached. The official, realizing his head would soon be rolling on the ground, cried out:
“It was all because of the Crown Princess that the prince died!”
And he began to ramble on about things he wasn’t even asked about.
He said it was the last investment led by the royal family.
By then, all the usable reclaimed land in Leden had been sold to foreigners. It was the aftermath of failed mining investments.
Farmers were driven out onto the streets, and the royal family suffered from poverty, unable to properly collect taxes, he said. Idren realized this happened just before Ophelia’s death.
“Her Highness the Crown Princess had promised to buy all the flowers from Leden. But when the flowers were ready, she flooded the market with the same species of flowers. At much cheaper prices than what we had prepared! She borrowed the name of a merchant group pretending to be someone else, but the prince eventually found out.”
At that time, he was focused on the northern region due to issues with Brinwell. He knew that Ophelia was interested in collecting flowers, but he only regulated the Aglante market and didn’t look into it further.
Prince Mahanas, who had led the speculation – Idren didn’t know any other term to describe the phenomenon – even mortgaging national treasures, was completely disgraced because of this incident, he said.
With the country in such a state, perhaps unable to stand by any longer, King Dares of Leden sought help from various places. One of those was the letter Idren had confirmed after Ophelia’s funeral.
The official, who said he wasn’t of very high rank, didn’t seem to know whose hands the mortgaged national treasures had fallen into.
After hearing his story, Idren lightly moved his tongue and had the man’s head cut off. Then he sent people to investigate why Ophelia had brought Leden to ruin.
As far as he knew, Ophelia had quite a good relationship with her family. Mahanas had come to Aglante several times to meet her.
But even though he sent quite a few people, Idren couldn’t get proper information. Those who knew well about or belonged to the royal family were already dead due to the uprising that had occurred.
[This is the timeline separator]If there had been more time, he might have found out something. However, Idren returned to the past just a month after Ophelia’s death.
Still, he knew one thing for certain.
Ophelia didn’t like her family or her home country very much. Enough to ruin them all.
He could take his time to find out her motives from now on.
What was important to him right now was to appear as an attractive option to her. Idren distinctly remembered Ophelia jumping from the balcony.
As long as she didn’t do the same thing and married him, Idren didn’t care what Ophelia wanted.
He was the king of Aglante, not Leden, and he wanted to marry Ophelia, not the Mebasa royal family.
Even if Ophelia did something that everyone would condemn, Idren could be on her side as much as she wanted.
Moreover, the current Ophelia needed someone who would become her new foundation and support her.
Marriage was the best way to gain such an ally, and given her status, even if she rejected him, she would have to enter into a political marriage with someone.
Wouldn’t it be better to live with him, someone she had already lived with once?
Idren was confident that this time he could match her desires well. If she would just be honest with him, he could easily give her whatever she wanted.
But Ophelia didn’t answer his words. Instead, she just looked at him with her bright blue eyes. Under that obvious gaze, Idren felt a bit embarrassed and at the same time uneasy.
It was then that Ophelia let out a small sigh.
“I understand why you think I need marriage, but you’re wrong.”
And Ophelia looked at the man in front of her. Perhaps because she had denied it outright, his ears, which were already flushing, turned completely red.
Why is this man acting like this?
Another sigh escaped her. Ophelia barely suppressed it. She didn’t have any special feelings for Idren, but she didn’t want to make him feel openly insulted either.
Idren wasn’t a bad person. Even though she had been angry at him just two days ago, Ophelia knew there was no malice in his words.
He even came to apologize the very next day.
He was just oblivious and knew nothing.
Ophelia decided to treat him kindly. They wouldn’t be seeing each other much anyway soon.
It was true that she had made good use of the wealth he had given her in her past life, so it wasn’t difficult to be kind to him one last time.
Trying to ignore the fact that everything she had done with that wealth had become nothing, Ophelia continued speaking.
“How much longer were you in the past after I died?”
Idren hesitated, not expecting his counterpart to mention her own death so directly. He still remembered the shock he had received on the day Ophelia had died.
Regardless, Ophelia seemed completely unbothered.
She raised an eyebrow as if urging him to answer. It was an action so nonchalant that it was disarming.
Finally, Idren replied in a slightly smaller voice.
“I lived for one more month.”
He had no intention of ever mentioning that on exactly the thirtieth day, he had stupidly fallen into a well while doing something ridiculous.
Fortunately, Ophelia didn’t ask for details. Instead, she continued speaking very gently.
“Then you must have received all the assets I seized from the Mebasa dynasty. I understand why you think this way.”
Idren blinked at her incredibly kind tone.
To be honest, he had been quite angry at Ophelia’s actions. It was natural since she had abandoned him and taken her own life.
But when Ophelia treated him so kindly like this… It made all those emotions feel like lies.
The last bit of reason left warned him not to be swayed, but it didn’t matter.
To Idren, who was sitting quietly as if he had no pride at all, Ophelia added an explanation in a soft tone.
“You’re right. I deliberately ruined Leden and my family because I hated them. It’s also true that the wealth you gave me was a great help in that.”
However, knowing that fact doesn’t mean knowing everything.
Ophelia told him a fact that even she had only learned after some time had passed.
“But I don’t need to marry you to ruin Leden.”
Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me
One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.
Synopsis:
Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.
But this is still far from enough.
He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.
_____
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