***

After finishing tea time with Parmes and heading home, I found Duchess Alens waiting for me in front of the Marquis’s residence.

“Oh, Duchess. You’re here already? It hasn’t been long since I contacted you.”

She was wearing an extravagant hair clip studded with numerous jewels and a blue dress that appeared to be made of goose feathers.

“Arinel!!”

The Duchess, perhaps having heard about what happened at the imperial palace, rushed over to me with quick steps and placed her hands on both my cheeks.

“Oh my goodness, are you alright? Oh… My!!”

And with careful hands, she turned my small face this way and that.

Only after confirming that I was perfectly fine without a single scratch did the Duchess pull me into her embrace.

“I’m fi- cough. I’m fine, Duchess.”

I pulled away from the Duchess while barely managing to spit out the goose feathers that had gotten into my mouth.

“Let’s go inside and talk first.”

And I suggested to Duchess Alens.

“About what I absolutely needed to ask you today.”

***

<I will no longer be the Tyrant’s lover>.

This is the title of the original work I was transmigrated into.

The genre of this work is a tragic romance fantasy, in other words, it’s about the female protagonist and the male lead Parmes doing this and that… You could say it’s roughly an R-rated novel!

While I abandoned the original plot and chose the path of expanding my business and saving people from famine, this raises one big question.

Where is Amelia, the original female protagonist?

And what happens to Amelia?

Having read the diary multiple times, I remembered the information I had recorded about the original story as I recalled it.

The point when Amelia met the tyrant Parmes Aslet was after Parmes’s ascension to the throne.

In other words, less than 2 years from now.

The time when the famine begins.

Parmes, who had come out with his armored cavalry to suppress rebellion, meets Amelia who is about to be sold into slavery.

Captivated by her beautiful appearance, he takes Amelia to the imperial palace.

True to tragic romance fantasy form, Amelia refuses Parmes’s love, but this only makes Parmes fall deeper for her.

“Amelia?”

“Yes. Whether noble or commoner… Have you heard of such a name? I don’t know her family name, but her given name is definitely Amelia.”

Parmes would send soldiers to uproot all the blue flowers in the empire just because Amelia muttered that they were pretty.

When Amelia expressed gratitude for a jewel gifted by a young jeweler, he would do ruthless things to him and confiscate all his jewels.

Although Amelia doesn’t love Parmes, the cruel tyrant, he makes her his concubine and confines her in the imperial palace.

Set against the backdrop of continuing famine, the tragic love of the increasingly mad tyrant Parmes becomes more intense and dramatic…

[Author, the relationship dynamics are so delicious.]

Like anyone else, I too had posted fangirling comments as someone who harbored a bit of perversion in their heart.

“No. It’s a name I’ve never heard before. There hasn’t been anyone by that name among noble ladies or upper-class commoner women, at least not in the past 20 years.”

“What about among the women around the Second Prince?”

The reason I urgently called for Duchess Alens was because I heard that the name ‘Amelia’ had come from the mouth of the Second Prince’s remnant forces during their interrogation with Briton.

“Their last words… were ‘Amelia.'”

‘Strangely, right after saying that, poison suddenly spread through their body and they died on the spot.’

Amelia which I know is the female protagonist of the original work, so why did her name come from the mouth of the Second Prince’s remnants?

The situation felt too suspicious to be just a case of someone sharing the same name.

“Women around the Second Prince… Well, I’m not sure. The Second Prince wasn’t the type to keep women close to him anyway.”

“What about slaves then?”

“Slaves? Ah, there was a time when the slave law almost passed, but His Majesty’s rebellion succeeded during that period, so it fizzled out. Besides, there’s no need to introduce such a base system. Hohoho.”

“Then…”

I stared blankly at Duchess Alens with a confused expression and muttered.

Has the very opportunity for Amelia to meet Parmes disappeared?

There wasn’t much detail about Amelia before she met Parmes.

“How do people currently repay their debts when they can’t handle them?”

“Well, I suppose they end up taking jobs that pay well despite being difficult work?”

‘That’s more humane than being sold into slavery.’

Parmes’s romantic relationships were still following the original story so far.

Briton was born from an obligatory marriage ordered by the Emperor, and after Briton’s mother died shortly after childbirth, he hadn’t been with any other woman until meeting Amelia.

“Do you have any hunches?”

There was nothing I could be certain of yet.

“No. But if the future has changed…”

The Second Prince. And Amelia.

The connection seemed to be there, yet not quite.

“Hmm, you look like you’ve encountered an unexpected worry. Some things in life don’t have easily unraveled threads, that’s unavoidable. Sometimes the truth becomes visible when you take a step back and relax, so don’t think too hastily.”

Duchess Alens observed my expression while massaging my small shoulders, as if telling me to take it easy.

***

“My lady, Hugo Brint Bank wants to create an investment product linked to sugar beet prices. How should we handle this?”

Adam approached from behind and asked while I was reading my diary again in the garden.

‘Hugo Brint Bank?’

The face of that performance-obsessed man who tried to sell me investment products flashed through my mind.

“Please decline.”

“Ah, but they say we could gain significant profits. We’ve received documentation confirming a structure where we only receive fees without risk of loss.”

I closed my diary and looked at Adam as I spoke.

“They say you can know ten things by looking at one. These were people who tried to gloss over the risks of their investments when recommending them to me. Can investment products from such a bank really be sound?”

“Hmm, now that you mention it, you’re right.”

“While investment might be spare money for some, for others it’s their life savings they’re pouring in. If these people create unethical investment products with red sugar beets, our Mylar Shop’s image…”

“Ah…”

“Yes, it could negatively impact our business.”

Adam looked at me with admiring eyes for a long while, as if impressed that I had thought that far ahead.

“Above all, I don’t want to create an atmosphere of speculation in the sugar beet business when we’re facing a famine.”

And this is the second reason. If sugar beet prices are linked to investments, people will try to artificially inflate prices.

This directly contradicts my goal of overcoming the famine.

‘We could make a lot of money, but not that way.’

“You’re admirable, my lady.”

Adam smiled with warm eyes.

“Then I’ll inform them of your firm rejection and have them leave.”

Adam, who had stepped outside briefly, returned to the study after a few minutes.

“Did they leave?”

Adam shook his head at my question.

Huh? These performance-obsessed people again!

Just as I was about to raise my eyebrows in annoyance, Adam lowered himself to match my small height and spoke in a whisper.

“But another guest has arrived at an opportune time.”

“Another guest?”

Huh? Did I have an appointment with someone today?

“The Hugo Brint Bank people were refusing to leave and insisting on meeting you, but as soon as this person appeared, they immediately bowed their heads and whimpered.”

“…Who is it?”

“The young duke Siegfried, son of the Minister of Economy, has come to see you.”

***

A deep silence fell in the drawing room.

The teacups were filled quietly, but Eden didn’t pick his one up.

“How did you chase away the Hugo Brint Bank employees?”

I spoke first, uncomfortable with the long silence.

Eden moved his lips with an expressionless face.

“I assist with my father’s work, and I know several things about Hugo Brint Bank. I know about certain questionable practices they might be using that could be reported to the Ministry of Justice, and the difficulties their business would face without the cooperation of the Ministry of Economy.”

The sharp analyst’s eyes, resembling Uncle Amrus, no, Duke Siegfried, sparkled.

“So…”

Eden said as he picked up his teacup.

“I advised them that it would become troublesome if they didn’t withdraw quietly. Along with some sensitive information I know.”

Eden called it advice, but it’s obvious they took it as a threat.

Even from what little I heard, it was definitely a threat. The sensitive information must have been their weaknesses.

No matter how performance-obsessed these people were with their desire for sugar beet investment profits, they wouldn’t want to get on the bad side of Eden Siegfried, the promising future Minister of Economy, this early on.

“If those guys bother you again, let me know. I’ll help. Though judging by their reaction, the probability of them returning is less than 2 percent.”

“…Thank you.”

I thought he was just a strange guy, but he turned out to be quite useful.

“By the way, what business brings you here today?”

At my words, Eden took a sip of tea and placed the cup back on the table.