I wasn’t certain, but I didn’t remember saying that time is money.
‘Could it be… Did they investigate my background?’
Count Frederick’s brows furrowed slightly.
‘If so, why would they do that?’
While Count Frederick was lost in various thoughts, Jieselgrante spoke up.
“Especially for someone like you who earns an enormous amount of gold coins every hour, I know well that the value of that time is also high. So I’ll make it worth the precious time of yours that I wasted.”
“How will you do that, make it worth it?”
To Count Frederick’s question, Jieselgrante replied.
“You’ve been buying and storing large quantities of Semper roots, right?”
Blinking for a moment at the unexpected topic, Count Frederick stood up from his seat.
Then he walked around the large office desk and stood in front of it.
“Wait a moment… Why the sudden talk about Semper roots?”
How did she know I have large quantities of Semper roots and come here?
“That’s right. You probably won’t believe me if I say this… Then how about this?”
Jieselgrante spread out all five fingers and continued speaking.
“By sunset tomorrow, the price of Semper roots will be formed like this.”
At that moment, Count Frederick’s expression became curious.
It was true that the price of Semper roots was rising day by day.
So there was no one in the empire who could be certain about what price they would be tomorrow.
So that must surely be a bluff.
“Whether you believe it or not, you’ll be able to check tomorrow if what I said was right or wrong.”
But Jieselgrante’s voice and expression were full of confidence.
“Fine. Let’s say it turns out as you said. Then what?”
“If it does, sell all of them before Semper blooms.”
“…Are you joking?”
Count Frederick’s expression became even more severe.
He seemed to have concluded that Jieselgrante had come to take away the quantity of Semper roots he possessed or to trade with them.
“I don’t have the slightest intention of profiting from Semper roots. I just want compensation in return for providing information.”
At Jieselgrante’s words, Count Frederick, who seemed to be thinking about something while lowering his gaze for a moment, soon opened his mouth.
“Compensation… Alright. Then what do you want from me in return for the information?”
He seemed to have judged that this was better than wasting time arguing over an uncertain future.
The Count Frederick she knew would cling to an issue until it was resolved once he got ahold of it.
Although she didn’t know the exact reason why he was doing so, he was still trying to dig into the death of Princess Trinity.
It was written so in the diary of the future as well.
“If you have any new information related to Princess Trinity’s case, please tell me too.”
“Why should I do that?”
“That… Let’s talk about it again after tomorrow.”
With those words, Jieselgrante stood up from her seat. And just as she was about to leave the office.
“Are you leaving already?”
She encountered the butler standing in front of the door holding a tray.
Jieselgrante picked up the teacup placed on the tray. And drained the cup in one gulp.
“Thank you. I enjoyed it.”
Smiling brightly as she placed a silver coin on the tray, she left Count Frederick’s office.
“…What a generous person.”
The butler muttered softly while looking at the retreating figure of Duke Amaterasu’s daughter.
Likewise, Count Frederick watched her departing figure.
The butler placed the tray he was holding on an empty spot on the office desk and offered tea.
“Why don’t you take a breather now, Count.”
Count Frederick, who had been sitting on the edge of the office desk with his arms folded, looked at the tray.
Two teacups were placed on the tray.
After briefly looking at the empty teacup, Count Frederick soon picked up the cup next to it.
And he took a sip of tea.
‘…Was it not hot?’
As Count Frederick raised one eyebrow while looking at the teacup, the butler bowed deeply.
“I apologize, Count. She said she had an urgent matter to discuss that would surely be helpful to you…”
It was an excuse for not stopping Duke Amaterasu’s daughter who had barged into the office earlier.
“I’ll dock your pay for a week.”
At Count Frederick’s nonchalant words, the butler flinched and then bowed with a resigned expression.
‘But why did I…’
Count Frederick questioned his own actions and thoughts from a moment ago.
He was a person who acted like a mirror. Returning exactly what the other person did.
Originally, if Duke Amaterasu’s daughter had acted recklessly, he should have done the same.
But he had acted politely towards her.
‘Why on earth did I do that?’
[This is the timeline separator]“Interesting.”
Cabelased flatly spat out a word with an expressionless face.
Then, the young man sitting across from him sighed lowly and said.
“It seems Duke Cardia has a good hand?”
“I can tell right away that your hand isn’t good.”
As Cabelased snorted, the young man sitting across from him held his forehead and said.
“Hah… Was it that obvious already?”
While the young men sitting around the poker table were each checking their hands, a young man carrying a glass of wine approached and asked.
“By the way, everyone’s been going crazy about not being able to buy Semper roots, how many have you bought, Duke Cardia?”
As the young man said, recently buying Semper roots had become like a trend among the nobles.
Under certain conditions, Semper flowers bloom in a striped pattern, and because that appearance was considered marvelous, they were traded at much higher prices than ordinary Semper flowers.
Although it was somewhat of a gamble since the pattern couldn’t be confirmed until blooming, the more roots one possessed, the higher the chance of obtaining a special Semper flower.
Thus, the nobles of the imperial capital were desperate to buy Semper roots.
Especially this year, for some reason, the phenomenon of buying today and seeing the price rise tomorrow continued.
But Cabelased judged that this unprecedented phenomenon should be viewed with caution.
Currently, the supply of Semper roots was not enough to satisfy those who wanted them.
It seemed that this strange phenomenon was created by a situation where demand far exceeded supply.
It was certainly closer to gambling than investment.
Moreover, it was impossible to know how long the price of Semper roots would continue to rise. Unless one had a special ability to see the future.
“I’m of the principle not to invest in unpredictable things.”
Cabelased said flatly after taking a sip of red wine.
But the general trend was different from his thoughts.
Seeing how the topic of Semper roots kept coming up even at this gathering of academy classmates.
“Come on. Won’t you regret it? It’s an opportunity to easily gain great wealth.”
Another young man said, and soon the young man sitting next to him chimed in.
“What would Duke Cardia have to regret? And it’s better this way. If Duke Cardia bought up all the Semper roots, we wouldn’t even have a chance.”
The young men nodded, agreeing that he was right.
“What about you, Mikhail?”
Cabelased looked towards Mikhail who was sitting next to him, looking at his cards.
“I’m not particularly interested in beauty that fades with time.”
Mikhail shook his head as he spoke.
“But it seems your sister thinks differently.”
Mikhail, who had been focusing intently on predicting the cards by observing the expressions and actions of the other young men until just now, finally turned his head towards Cabelased.
“My sister? Why Jiesel?”
“Didn’t you hear anything from the young lady about Semper roots?”
As Mikhail looked at him with an expression that said ‘what are you talking about’, another young man interrupted their conversation.
“Are you talking about Duke Amaterasu’s daughter?”
Mikhail made no particular reply or reaction.
But by now, the topic of the young men’s conversation had shifted to Jieselgrante.
“I saw her up close at the Crown Prince’s investiture ceremony before, and she was extremely beautiful…”
Mikhail’s brows furrowed slightly, seemingly displeased with the topic of conversation turning to his sister.
But the young men were too busy talking about Jieselgrante to notice Mikhail.
“I heard she hasn’t returned to Amaterasu territory since the investiture ceremony and is still staying in the imperial capital?”
One young man who had been subtly observing Mikhail’s reaction added.
Then a young man who had been somewhat insensitive since their academy days finally crossed a line that shouldn’t be crossed.
“I heard her fiancé hasn’t been decided yet, would it be alright if I put my name forward?”
“Shut that mouth.”
As Mikhail coldly spat out those words, the young man who had mentioned putting his name forward as Duke Amaterasu’s daughter’s fiancé immediately surrendered.
He raised both hands spread wide to his face.
With that, the topic of Duke Amaterasu’s daughter that had briefly come up disappeared.
Mikhail usually had a relaxed personality and didn’t often get angry.
But none of the academy classmates gathered here wanted to see Mikhail truly angry.
In the past, when Duke Amaterasu’s daughter stayed in the imperial capital, unfavorable rumors followed her.
That unlike people of the Amaterasu ducal family, she was clear-headed.
Naturally, the same topic circulated within the academy, and at a dinner gathering where everyone was present, Mikhail beat the young man who insulted Jieselgrante by calling her ‘Amaterasu’s fool’ until he lost consciousness.
Although he received a suspension for that.
In any case, after that day, the academy classmates saw the young Marquis of Amaterasu in a new light.
That he was a guy who could be quite vicious when provoked.
__________
Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me (Female-dominant)
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.