Chapter 7

Reyes clenched his fist so tight his nails dug into his palm.

“I am Reyes Brinita, Prince of the Kingdom of Brinita.”

“Prince?”

As expected, Ashton picked up on the unusual title. Reyes’s lips twitched. Ashton raised both hands, signaling he meant no harm.

“…The brother of His Majesty Kenneth Brinita, the radiant King, blessed by the Sun.”

“Ah. Ahhh, I see.”

Even though he now knew Reyes was royalty, Ashton remained seated and snapped his fingers.

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry. My home country, Retona, is a republic. I know nothing about royal family trees.”

Reyes watched Ashton with a displeased expression, curious how far he would go.

“Please forgive my ignorance. I’ve only been in Brinita for less than a week. I’ve made many mistakes.”

Only then did Ashton stand and bow. He wasn’t completely oblivious.

Still, Reyes’s mood didn’t improve.

“…You have quite a tongue.”

“Again, I apologize. I did study the Brinita dynasty, but…”

Reyes could guess what would come next. It was common for royal siblings to receive titles and change their honorifics, so he hadn’t expected there to be a ‘prince.’

In the Kingdom of Brinita, no one poked at Reyes’s ‘special’ status so freely. People whispered about it behind his back, but it had never hurt Reyes’s feelings.

After all, they never said it to his face. That was how Reyes felt his power.

But this man kept poking at Reyes’s inferiority complex. Just as Reyes was about to snap, Ashton slipped away like an eel, offering a sheepish smile and bowing his head again.

“Sorry.”

…It was a polite apology, but it still felt unpleasant. Why did it feel like he was being played with?

Meanwhile, Ashton seemed ready to wrap up his encounter with Reyes. He sat back down at the table and turned his attention to Sabina, who had been watching the situation.

“Prince…”

He hesitated, as if unsure what to say next.

“Your Highness,” Sabina whispered helpfully. Ashton’s eyes softened.

“Thank you. I don’t mind proceeding with His Highness present. Let’s continue.”

He meant to ignore Reyes’s presence completely.

Reyes glared at Ashton’s back, burning with humiliation.

‘That guy… He’s cunning. Not your average fox.’

Ashton was certainly crossing lines and being rude. But he skillfully stayed just outside the range of what Reyes could punish. Reyes wanted to get rid of him immediately, but he didn’t have the authority. He wasn’t King.

If Reyes reported Ashton, the verdict would go to his brother Kenneth. Kenneth would just treat Reyes as oversensitive and let Ashton off with a warning.

That was Kenneth’s way of undermining Reyes.

Reyes turned roughly, the door swinging open and slamming shut.

Ashton clicked his tongue at the sight of Reyes storming out of the parlor in anger.

“Wow.”

Sabina murmured quietly as she watched.

“That’s the first time I’ve seen him so openly angry.”

Only then did Ashton seem to realize Reyes was gone, glancing back.

“Is he your friend?”

“Not at all.”

Sabina was serious. She didn’t want to be mistaken for Reyes’s friend, even as a joke. Ashton let out a relieved laugh.

“That’s a relief.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re not close to him.”

Sabina’s brow furrowed.

“That’s not a reason. Let’s get back to the main point. I don’t like riddles.”

“Ah, does that mean I get points off for the interview?”

“…No.”

Sabina could have played hard to get, but she answered honestly. Her lack of social finesse was endearing. Ashton covered his crumbling smile with his hand, trying to compose himself.

A moment later, his hand fell from his face, but his eyes still sparkled with laughter.

Sabina looked puzzled.

“What’s so funny?”

With a faint smile, Ashton gazed at the small, pretty, expressionless lady. Sabina treated him as a subordinate, but he didn’t mind. In fact, he was used to being treated this way.

When the man just smiled and said nothing, Sabina grew a little dissatisfied. But she didn’t want to interrogate him. She straightened her back regally and extended her hand to Ashton. He blinked and placed his hand on hers.

Suddenly, she felt a prick. Sabina shook his hand off.

“Not your hand. Your self-introduction letter. The ad said to bring one.”

“Oh, right.”

Ashton shamelessly smiled and pulled a small envelope from his jacket pocket. Sabina took it and set it in front of her, meeting Ashton’s eyes.

“You said you’re from Retona. Your Brinita is perfect.”

“Really? No one I’ve spoken to for more than two sentences has failed to notice I’m from the south.”

“Your accent and pronunciation have clear southern traces. But your vocabulary and grammar are perfect. It’s flawless. You’ve only been in Brinita a week, you said.”

If his Brinita had been poor, he wouldn’t have been able to provoke Reyes so much. Sabina, rarely, added compliment upon compliment. She felt a bit refreshed.

“You’re too kind.”

Sabina looked Ashton over carefully. He didn’t seem bad. His clothes and manner were loose and a bit unruly, but it wasn’t as if Sabina had ever chosen only proper men. She was almost ready to pass him.

“Alright. Let’s start the interview. I’ll look at your documents later. Introduce yourself.”

Sabina calmly folded her right hand over her left and spoke gently. Ashton watched her lips move, then spoke at a pace that was neither too fast nor too slow.

“I’m Ashton Bryant, from Retona. As for something unusual…”

A faint smile appeared on his lips.

“I’m rich.”

“Huh?”

Sabina reacted instantly to the claim of wealth.

She looked confused.

If he introduced himself as ‘rich,’ he must be confident in his finances.

‘Then why… Why bother?’

Sabina asked, puzzled.

“If you’re rich… why do you need a hundred thousand rium a month?”

A hundred thousand rium was just enough for a family of three to scrape by in the capital. For someone who claimed to be ‘rich,’ it wasn’t a desperate amount. Ashton waggled his finger at Sabina, whose face was full of question marks.

“The ad said ‘at least’ a hundred thousand rium. That means there’s room to negotiate, isn’t there?”

“That’s true.”

She agreed easily, but still tilted her head. How much could he hope to negotiate?

Not only that, but introducing himself as rich in front of Sabina D’Vialis, Brinita’s wealthiest woman, was odd.

“What do you do that you can call yourself rich?”

“I sell and broker jewels, and I extract and sell solvent ore and sand from my land.”

“Solvent ore and sand?”

Those were substances imbued with neutral magic, used as magical solvents. They were essential materials for making things like scrolls, which anyone could tear to use magic. They were expensive, too. Solvent sand traded for the same weight as gold. Pure ore was worth much more than gold.

Sabina widened her eyes and nodded.

“Then you really are rich.”

Ashton grinned.

“Can I consider myself recognized by D’Vialis as wealthy?”

“Yes. I recognize it. You’re rich enough for D’Vialis to acknowledge.”

“Thanks to Sir Walter D’Vialis.”

At the mention of Walter, a rare smile appeared on Sabina’s face. Her grandfather Walter had discovered the use for solvent, which had been worthless until then. He was the inventor of the scroll. After Walter’s invention, those who owned solvent-rich wastelands became fabulously wealthy.

“So you came to meet the granddaughter out of curiosity? Is a hundred thousand rium just an excuse?”

“Oh, no.”

Ashton cut in, rolling his eyes and grinning oddly.

“I won’t deny I wanted to see the granddaughter at least once, but if that were all, there would have been plenty of other opportunities.”

“So you really do need a hundred thousand rium a month?”

Ashton shrugged and shamelessly replied,

“Well, it’s always good to scrape up every bit of money you can.”

He seemed to have a very different attitude toward money than Sabina, who made so much she spent freely and hardly thought about earning more. There were people like this around her, too—never satisfied with the money they had, always saving and earning more aggressively…

But this man didn’t have the frantic air that those people usually did.

‘He’s a really odd one.’

Sabina gave him some sincere advice.

“If you need money, why not use your time to open up new solvent markets instead of dating me?”

“Hm.”

Ashton leaned sideways, resting his chin on his hand. Then he tilted his head and smiled.

“Do I not appeal to you?”

“That’s not it.”

“Then why do you seem to be trying to talk me out of this job?”

“That’s not it. You said you wanted money, so I’m just recommending ways to earn more.”

Sabina’s clear eyes looked at Ashton with complete seriousness.

Ashton shook his head.

“You’re right. In fact, I came to Brinita for business. Right now, I’m trading solvent through a Brinita broker, but honestly… I can’t trust leaving everything to a foreign middleman.”

Sabina nodded at Ashton’s words. If it was about solvent, she understood why he came to Brinita.