novel
| ← Ch.056 | Ch.058 → |
"Ha..."
There was no time to breathe out in this place. She leaned against the wall with a worried look.
"Hm?"
Suddenly there was a slight aura next to her, and there was Carl. Unexpectedly, Sienna held her heart and shouted, "Mommy!"
"Your Royal Highness! What's going on?"
She heard Hain's voice outside. Carl put the index finger on her lips and indicated to be quiet.
"No. It's just, it's a sigh. Sigh!"
"You must have been tired today. Can I get you some hot tea?"
"No! I'm sleepy today, so I'm just going to sleep. Go home early and take a rest I'm going to sleep like a log from now on, so please don't wake me up until tomorrow morning!"
She heard an answer from outside that she knew. No matter how old she was, the bedroom was a no-one else's place except for scheduled cleaning time, so it almost became known that Carl had returned to the capital.
"I was surprised! How can you surprise someone like this every time you show up? It'll be better if you could pretend to be there physically sometimes."
"Should I have come in politely knocking in the room where no one was?"
"At least, you shouldn't surprise me like this. You could let me know you're here by coughing or something."
She grumbled and sat on the green sofa embroidered with gold thread.
"It's been a long day, by the way. Where have you been? I don't think you've been to the River Hegea already..."
"There are things to be prepared for before we get to work."
"You bought a secret purchase ticket?"
He didn't answer her sharp question, but he just smiled.
"I believe you, but I don't believe you, " he said, "and you've lost your temper. Shouldn't you give me a commission if I make a lot of profit from the purchase?"
Carl looked at her with a stiff look. He looked at her in a funny way and she felt embarrassed.
"No thanks. I'm just joking, so don't stare at me like that. I have to buy a lot of buy-in tickets at any rate."
"I didn't stare."
"What?"
"I didn't stare. I was just thinking about how much I should give to you if you can do as you say."
In an unexpected answer, Sienna asked with her eyes wide open.
"Are you really going to give me a commission?"
"How much do you want?"
"How much did you buy to ask that?"
"I couldn't do as much as I thought, so I signed about thirty gold bars worth of contracts."
"Oh, my God. Thirty gold bars worth of contracts isn't a lot already? In case of breach of contract, the penalty is usually twice the principal..."
"I've signed it three times. I was afraid if I called the shots too high, it would seem suspicious."
"If it's three times from thirty gold, ninety bars..."
Sienna's jaw dropped at the unnoticed amount.
"That's the amount I signed personally, and it's more than that in the name of the military."
"You're really planning to let the South go bankrupt."
"It's not going to be ruined right away if it's funded properly there. It's going to be a pretty big blow. How much should I pay for it? Do you mind if I give you ten gold pieces?"
"No thanks. I was joking. I'm sure you'll get hurt if you take such a large sum of money. If you really want to reciprocate, just buy me a gift."
"Gift? What do you want?"
She shouted reflexively at his words.
"The sapphire necklace..."
She felt sorry for what she said. If it was the blue sapphire necklace... It was the necklace that Carl had given to Bluebell as a baby shower gift. She didn't think much of it really, but had she been feeling jealousy due to Bluebell?
"The sapphire necklace?"
"No! I said it wrong. Sapphire, you've heard it wrong. I don't need a gift either. I was just joking, so never mind it. And what do you mean about a fee? I'm making a big profit just by making Queen Arya's financial power flourish downwards."
Carl said with a strange look at her words.
"The rumor has been circulating in the capital recently."
Sienna didn't answer but moistened her dry lips.
"About the brown-haired minstrel who stayed in the Panacio family. That's all I've heard in every bar. It's a fascinating story to be complacent with. But it's weird. This story without a source is spreading too fast. High-end information that didn't even come and go among the information merchants. Of course, no one's saying this is the story of Queen Arya of the Panacio family, but everyone knows it. Who is the woman who has a huge farm in the south and has taken over the position of a lady in the real world for the first time in four years?"
Sienna was a different woman, and Carl followed the horse, thrusting his face into hers.
"But it's too much of a coincidence for this time. It wasn't long after I heard the story from you that the rumor spread."
When he stared at her, she could not see her as she lowered her eyes.
"Indeed, you are the source of the rumor."
"It's hard to say that I'm the source, but it's true that I helped the rumor spread quickly."
"Why? This rumor could provoke Empress Arya, but it wouldn't get any bigger. It was hasty. It would have been better to hold onto this information and strangle her at the right time."
What Carl meant was that after the emperor's accession, this would have been a great advantage over the coming battle of Valore against the emperor and Carl and that it would have been a big weapon in the situation where he would be fighting over the throne. If a team picks up their cards too early, it would give the opponent time to prepare for a counterattack, which meant it would have been better to use them as a dagger when the time came instead.
Sienna shook her head.
"It's not good for Carl to bring this up. Carl is more in the position of power than anyone else. In the eyes of the public, it is possible that Carl might be using the rumor to persecute the king by kicking Empress Arya out of the way."
"..."
"More than that, His Majesty has already hit his finish line. If Carl brings up the story, it may seem as if you are going against the emperor's will."
Carl nodded his head. In fact, he didn't intend to take advantage of the rumor. Such things were not suitable for his own taste. He intended to take over the throne in a dignified manner, not in a cowardly way.
"More than that, Sir Carl!"
As Sienna sang in a desperate voice, Carl tilted his head and looked at her.
"Please help me figure out how to save people. I'll be greatly humiliated if I keep going on like this. And in front of Empress Arya... I really don't want to die for that."
Carl, who offered to help her with her earnest request, had no choice but to ask back at the wrong request.
"Is this what you want me to help you with?"
Carl grabbed Sienna's waist with his hand and her hands were on his shoulder.
"Tomorrow is my debut banquet."
"Already?"
It usually took three months or as much as half a year, so Carl thought Sienna had a long way to go before her debut.
"I had a little argument with Arya, and she was so cheaply revengeful about it. I've been familiar with another etiquette, but I've never improved enough to dance."
Carl pulled Sienna's waist into himself tight and closely. Sienna, who was trying to count the beat, breathed and hummed, 'oh, da, da-!' and on the third beat, she would breathe out, 'humph!'
She begged him to teach her how to dance with a straight posture to keep her from being humiliated, but when she tried to stay close to him, she felt strange. As Sienna tried to pull her butt out, Carl gave more strength to pull her in even more.
"When you dance, the closer you are to the opponent, the more stable your posture is. If you pull your butt out and dance like you do, you'll be laughed at for being like a hunchback."
"Yes, I got it."
"Then let's get started."
| ← Ch. 056 | Ch. 058 → |