Chapter 35: Her Own Way

【I will teach you the comprehensive knowledge needed to govern a territory.】

Bliss thought she would feel better once Echo told her what it would teach. But things just got more complicated.

“Wait a moment.”

Bliss held her head and lowered it deeply. Her mind was already tangled from meeting Caelan, but now it was even more so.

“I need to earn money right now, but knowledge about governing territory? That’s not what I need right now.”

Bliss expressed her frustration openly. Why would it teach her something that would take so long?

“I need knowledge that can show results in the short term.”

【Instead of saying thank you, you dare make demands as you please?】

“I’m in a hurry, that’s why. Please teach me something simpler rather than knowledge about governing territory.”

【You’re looking for alternatives without even properly listening.】

“I don’t have that luxury.”

【My decision is final.】

Bliss let her arms drop lifelessly. Realizing she couldn’t find a solution even from Echo, her last hope, all her energy drained away.

“Now that my last ray of hope is gone, what should I do?”

She needed to think of something soon…

***

“Mmm.”

She didn’t know when she had fallen asleep. As her distant consciousness returned, Bliss slowly opened her tightly closed eyelids. An unfamiliar curtain caught her eye first, making her blink several times to check again. When the curtain still remained unchanged, Bliss turned her head to look at the ceiling.

“I… slept here.”

After storming out of the room saying she needed to think, she had entered a random room and fallen asleep. Slowly rising, Bliss stretched to loosen her stiff body.

“I haven’t even thought of a solution yet…”

The strength left her body even as she stretched her arms out. The lack of refreshment probably had more to do with something other than her stiff body. Then, struck by an odd thought, Bliss looked back at where she had been lying.

“I don’t remember getting up from the sofa, how did this happen?”

The room seemed unchanged, but she had woken up in a bed rather than on the sofa.

Did she move to the bed while half-asleep?

While Bliss was tilting her head in confusion, there was a knock and the door opened.

“My lady?”

“Ah, Jackie.”

When Bliss called her name, Jackie’s face brightened as she approached.

“I was surprised when you weren’t in your room.”

“Really?”

Bliss got off the bed and sat at the vanity. Though it felt a bit unfamiliar since it wasn’t her usual chair, Jackie’s familiar touch as she took hold of her hair soon made her feel comfortable.

“I came in here because I had something to think about, but I fell asleep.”

“I see.”

While Jackie was brushing her hair, Bliss was looking at her reflection in the mirror when a thought suddenly occurred to her and she spoke.

“It’s not for any other reason.”

Worried that others might think something was wrong between the Marquis and his wife, she quickly spoke up. But Jackie’s expression remained bright, seemingly unaware of Bliss’s concerns.

“Of course. The Marquis told us you were here.”

“Caelan… did?”

“Yes. And that’s not all.”

Jackie, who had lightly styled Bliss’s hair, went to get clothes that had been hanging on one side.

“He also told me to help you dress in these clothes today.”

“The clothes?”

“Yes, isn’t it pretty?”

As Jackie lifted the skirt with a smile, Bliss responded with an awkward smile. Though it didn’t look particularly comfortable at first glance, she couldn’t bring herself to say she wanted to wear something else.

***

“Did you have a good night?”

Bliss, who had just entered the room, hesitated at Imperial Princess Jasmin’s greeting. Unnecessarily scanning the floor pattern, Bliss forced a smile.

“Good morning, Your Highness.”

“Hmm. You don’t look very well. Perhaps you didn’t have a good night?”

After a moment’s silence, Bliss sat down across from Imperial Princess Jasmin. Seeing her dress float up, Bliss pressed it down. After doing this several times, Bliss shook her head under the Imperial Princess’s gaze.

“It’s not like that.”

“Oh?”

She had just been fidgeting with her skirt out of embarrassment from the Imperial Princess’s gaze, but she couldn’t just let it pass naturally. Bliss gave an awkward smile.

“It’s not what Your Highness is thinking… about.”

As Imperial Princess Jasmin tilted her head, not understanding what she meant, Bliss covered her face with both hands.

The Imperial Princess asked with a strange expression, wondering if it could be. If what she thought was right, because of Bliss’s misunderstanding about the baby…

“Did it become awkward?”

“Not that, just a bit embarrassing.”

Imperial Princess Jasmin covered her mouth. Yet her eyes were sparkling as if she wanted to hear more details.

“Then what was the Marquis trying to say?”

“That…”

Bliss, who was about to answer the Imperial Princess’s question, belatedly closed her mouth.

“I’ll tell you later. It won’t take long anyway.”

“Now I’m even more curious when you say that, but since it’s my fault, I’ll wait. I’m sorry for saying strange things…”

“No, it’s not.”

Bliss shook her head. Though she had misunderstood because of the Imperial Princess’s words, she couldn’t blame her.

“Your Highness only listened to my story and shared your own thoughts. It was entirely up to me to judge whether that was right.”

And even though Bliss thought it wasn’t right, she had been swayed by the Imperial Princess’s words.

“Actually, when Your Highness said those things, I didn’t think that was it. Um… I can’t tell you everything, but at least I thought that wasn’t the reason, but when Caelan came close, I fell for it.”

“Fell for it? Where to? The bed? The sofa?”

“No, that’s not what I mean…”

Bliss waved both hands. She was about to explain that she meant she had been swayed by the situation despite thinking it wasn’t true, but stopped.

“Anyway, that wasn’t it. I left almost like I was running away because I was embarrassed, and ended up sleeping in another room.”

“Really?”

Imperial Princess Jasmin burst into laughter, apparently able to imagine the situation.

“Your Highness, marriage is like that. It’s a series of unpredictable events.”

Bliss shook her head with a faint smile. Her complicated thoughts were becoming organized as she talked with the Imperial Princess now.

A quiet atmosphere settled as they each became lost in their own thoughts. Then, as if she had finished thinking first, the Imperial Princess propped her face up and looked at Bliss.

“Watching you has really changed my thoughts about marriage.”

“Because of me?”

The Imperial Princess nodded.

“Just listening to your worries and embarrassing situations from the side makes my heart flutter.”

That was truly something someone could say only from observing from the side.

Bliss covered it with a smile and greeted her.

“And thank you for talking with me. My thoughts were complicated, but having a conversation like this with someone is really helpful.”

“Is that so?”

The Imperial Princess accepted it with a pleased expression. As if infected by that mood, Bliss also smiled while handling her cup.

“What item shall we discuss today?”

“This.”

The Imperial Princess held out a rolled-up cloth. Just as Bliss wondered if she was going to talk about the cloth, the Imperial Princess unfolded it herself to show her. Inside, needles were stuck at regular intervals.

“I had all the metal I mentioned before made into needles. I couldn’t wait, so I experimented first.”

The Imperial Princess took out a particularly white-looking needle.

“This one had very high hardness. It’s strong enough to pierce stone, so it would be good for making swords, but the problem is it breaks easily. So I’m worried.”

“So it’s hard but weak against impact.”

“Right. So I’m wondering what use it could have.”

The Imperial Princess put the needle back down. She seemed disappointed that she couldn’t use its strengths despite finding them. Seeing the Imperial Princess’s concern, Bliss also looked at the needle with serious eyes.

She said this was the first thing the princess had obtained. Because it wasn’t an ordinary stone, they called it metal arbitrarily, but they didn’t know much about this metal.

‘Does this world not have alloys?’

【They’re having an interesting conversation.】

Bliss found her answer in Echo’s words. It seemed they were limiting sword-making materials to iron, but if they used alloys, they could complement each other’s weaknesses and enhance their strengths.

‘Then I can’t carelessly offer my opinion.’

【Are you afraid it will be meaningless?】

Though she couldn’t nod because the Imperial Princess was there, Echo was right.

【How amusing.】

Bliss’s brow furrowed at Echo’s sarcastic words.

【Didn’t you say you would try various experiments? You don’t need to succeed unconditionally, so where else would you find conditions this perfect?】

“Ah…”

Bliss let out a sound as realization struck her.

“What’s wrong?”

“…Should we try mixing them?”

“Surely you’re not suggesting mixing different metals together?”

Imperial Princess Jasmin asked, thinking that iron should be refined as is to maintain its value. However, Bliss continued speaking despite the princess’s rejection.

“We’re just playing around… so we can do things others haven’t tried, right?”

Understanding what Bliss was trying to say, the Imperial Princess looked at the needle with serious eyes. Instead of speaking to the princess, Bliss quietly picked up her teacup.

This realization seemed like it could help with other things that had been troubling her as well.