Volume IV

Chapter 2. It Started with a Contract, but How Will It End?

“Damn it……”

Left alone, the Emperor was muttering curses while emitting killing intent far more intense than before.

Earlier, he had somewhat restrained himself for Lucian and Adelia’s sake. Once they disappeared, the Emperor began unleashing his killing intent uncontrollably, as if he had lost his restraining device.

Even the Shadows hiding in the room fled outside, prepared to face pay cuts.

“What am I supposed to do……”

The Emperor was now in the greatest dilemma of his life.

He had never reversed his decisions before. His decisions were always right and brought good results. Raising Ariana in the palace was also something he had never doubted.

Ariana was small and fragile. Unlike his sons who had been healthy as colts since birth.

After losing his wife who withered away after giving birth to Ariana, the Emperor, sunk in despair, vowed to preciously protect his lovely daughter.

— Dad, I really hate you! I won’t play with you!

But the moment he heard those words from his daughter, all his resolutions seemed to crumble.

He had always shown her only good things, fed her only good food, let her hear only good words, and always placed precious things in her hands.

What had he done wrong?

“Raising her preciously in the palace……”

Was it really impossible to raise her only in the palace, as Adelia said?

The Emperor’s gaze had already turned to the book sprawled on the floor. The cover was miserably crumpled by his hands and covered in dust from rolling on the floor.

The book that had been neatly wrapped just moments ago was now in ruins.

The Emperor slowly rose from his seat. He approached the book with measured steps.

“A method to make her run away……”

The Emperor bent down and picked up the book. As he dusted it off, an absurd title caught his eye.

He slowly turned the book’s cover.

On the very first page, a short sentence was written in elaborate calligraphy.

[Children are not dolls. Nor are they animals that need to be caged.]

The moment he read that sentence, the Emperor couldn’t let go of the book.

* * *

“Your Highness the Crown Princess. The princess will not attend dinner today.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, and His Majesty the Emperor will also not attend. His Highness the Crown Prince asked about your dinner preferences.”

“I don’t have much appetite either. Tell him I’ll have something simple in my room.”

“Yes, understood. Have a peaceful evening.”

The servant from the Crown Prince’s palace bowed his head and left the room.

As soon as he left, Adelia took out what she had been working on.

After returning from the Emperor, Adelia had immersed herself in work. Work was not only a special remedy for clearing her mind of distracting thoughts, but she also had too much to do.

The room was filled with rustling sounds.

“The colored glass making is going better than expected.”

Adelia said while touching the glass pieces in a small pouch. The transparent glass pieces with various colors were colored glass that Adelia was carefully developing.

She had gathered the empire’s glass craft masters to create beautiful and transparent colored glass.

Though it was still somewhat cloudy, it could be resolved with a little more time.

“Let’s increase the budget.”

Surely with enough use, at least one of them would make the glass transparent.

Adelia moved her pen to modify the budget. It was quite a large sum for product development investment. Nevertheless, Adelia increased the budget without hesitation.

The colored glass, under the name of stained glass, would be the first trade item connecting the Eileen Merchant Guild with the Holy Kingdom.

If they put beautiful stained glass in the temples to make them symbols of the Holy Kingdom, people would flock to see the beautiful sight, generating numerous benefits.

If the stained glass became famous and increased temple visitors, the priests would be pleased saying religious faith had increased, and the Holy Kingdom would receive more donations, increasing their usable budget.

Adelia’s plan was to rake in money by selling accessories incorporating stained glass at that timing.

“It’s beneficial for both sides. Incidentally, our guild’s image will improve and we can have more exchanges with the Holy Kingdom.”

Adelia hummed a tune while putting the documents in an envelope. She sealed the envelope’s opening with the guild master’s seal she always used.

Having finished her work to some extent, Adelia organized her desk. It was already almost dinner time.

Just then, there was a knock from outside followed by a familiar voice.

“Your Highness the Crown Princess. I’ve brought dinner. And there are several letters that you need to see.”

“Alright, come in.”

The door opened and Gina gave a light bow. She neatly set the food on the table and approached Adelia.

“Who are the letters from?”

“Well……”

Gina trailed off hesitantly. After a moment’s hesitation, she held out the letters.

“Letters from Count Vita, Countess Vita, and the young count.”

Hearing this, Adelia’s face crumpled. Gina, who had come from the Count’s residence with her, knew well how much Adelia despised them. That’s why she had specially cleaned the envelopes before bringing them.

Adelia sighed and took the letters. She carefully held them with her thumb and index finger as if she’s picking up something dirty.

“Was there nothing else with them?”

“No. Only the letters arrived.”

“I see, you may go now.”

Gina bowed her head and left the room with the tray she had brought.

Adelia clicked her tongue. Even when sending just a letter, it was courtesy to include at least a small ornament. While it might be different between equals, sending just a letter to a nation’s Crown Princess from a Count was highly discourteous.

‘They still don’t want to acknowledge that I’m above them.’

Adelia opened the envelopes and took out the letters inside. However, all three envelopes contained another envelope and a single sheet of paper.

“For His Highness the Crown Prince?”

More elegant and refined than the outer envelopes, they were boldly marked as letters for the Crown Prince.

Adelia threw them on the desk in disbelief.

“My, how alike the family is. The elegant and thick envelopes are for His Highness the Crown Prince, and these miserable single sheets are for me.”

Adelia contemplated while looking at them. Perhaps such trash could be burned.

If it were midwinter now and the fireplace was blazing, Adelia would have unhesitatingly used the letters as fuel.

“I expected they would send letters…. Let’s see what nonsense they’ve written.”

Actually, Adelia had rejected all letters from the Count’s family until now. But after dealing with the saintess, she had tipped off Gina to bring any letters that arrived.

“I wonder…. Are they regretting abusing me who received divine will? Or are they still not coming to their senses?”

This was their last chance. If they showed regret, she might spare their lives, but if they still spouted nonsense, her revenge plans would proceed unchanged.

Pushing aside the letters for the Crown Prince, she unfolded the letter addressed to her.

A sneer bloomed on Adelia’s face as she read the Count’s letter.

[To think you carried divine will. This father is so happy. I did well giving birth to you after all. Now that you’ve become more precious, shouldn’t you care about your birth family too? And I heard you have connections with the Eileen Merchant Guild. We thought our family had no connection, but how fortunate thanks to you. Our family wants to invest in the guild’s business. It would be the greatest honor for the guild to have the Crown Princess’s birth family invest. Ah yes, you haven’t visited home once. Come visit, the mansion has improved a lot.]

It was a blatant letter that didn’t even bother with pleasantries. The Countess’s and young count’s letters were no different.

They needed money. Make connections with the guild, send gifts.

The phrasing and tone might have varied slightly, but the meaning remained essentially the same.

Before throwing away that garbage, Adelia looked at the Count’s letter again.

[Still no news of an heir? You shouldn’t trust a man’s love. Our family won’t be cast aside by the imperial family only if you have an heir quickly. Your pretty face is just for a moment. It’s all useless when you get old. So have an heir as soon as possible.]

“He’s gone senile.”

Adelia threw the letters. More precisely, she threw the Countess’s and young count’s letters toward where the candlestick was, but quietly placed the Count’s letter in front of her.

Even nonsense had its limits. No matter if they were blood relations, such letters to the Crown Princess were far beyond courtesy. It was enough to charge them with insulting the imperial family.

“Instead of money, I’ll return your letter with a fine.”

Adelia stuffed the letter into a corner of her drawer. Though it was completely crumpled, it was fine as long as the writing was intact.

“And let’s burn these.”

As Adelia flicked her hand, a small flame appeared on the letters for the Crown Prince. The flame grew larger and finally devoured the letters.

“Trash should be incinerated.”

Even without looking, it was obvious the letters would be full of flattery for the Crown Prince. After burning the trash, Adelia could eat dinner with satisfaction.

No, it was when she picked up her spoon to eat dinner…

Knock knock—

There was a dull sound like someone knocking on the door with a stone. She lifted her head that had been lowered to taste the food.