The Concubine’s Circumstances - ✿ dusk blossoms ✿

Chapter 2.10

The mechanism for lowering the bridge over the Imperial moat broke, and once again, Emperor Aristide summoned Lucia to the palace.

Although he didn’t admit it outright, it was clear that Aristide had enthusiastically raised and lowered the bridge repeatedly from dawn until it broke.

Lucia took one look at the mechanism and said, “Your Majesty, you broke it,” leaving him unable to deny it.

Within an hour, Lucia repaired the bridge.

Aristide exclaimed,

“As expected, Miss Bianchi, your engineering skills are remarkable! They seem to rival my exceptional ability to break things at a similar level!”

He smiled slyly and winked.

Lucia simply stared at him in silence.

“…Why are you looking at me like that?”

He had expected her to grimace, but her piercing gaze was entirely unexpected.

“It suddenly feels like I’m participating in a play.”

The creaking sound of the bridge lowering spared Aristide from having to respond.

“Pretending to be part of the harem when you’re not—is that why it feels like a false life?”

Lucia reached her own conclusion in the meantime.

“Yes! You’re unusually honest, so living this kind of deceitful life must weigh on your conscience, leading to those thoughts. It’s unfortunate to feel guilt, but it’s not my concern. Well then, goodbye!”

Without looking back, Aristide fled.

Before he knew it, he had entered his study. Aristide sank heavily into his chair and sighed deeply.

He asked the man nearby,

“Did I seem like I was acting, Enzo?”

“From my perspective, you behaved as you normally do.”

“Right?”

Then why had Lucia made such a pointless remark?

“Speaking of Miss Lucia, we need to reapprove her research funding.”

The research funding request that Aristide had already approved had “disappeared” due to a “delivery accident,” and Enzo had discovered the “error” today.

Matia Sidoti, the accounting officer overseeing the Imperial household finances, often interfered in this manner. He was someone who aimed to eliminate even the harem’s budget for the sake of the nation.

Aristide frowned as he signed Lucia’s research funding request again.

‘I feel like I’m participating in a play.’

Perhaps because he had relaxed in front of her recently, she was misunderstanding him as a decent person.

“Enzo, I need to return to my original mindset. How long will it take for the research funding to be processed?”

“It could take more than a week.”

“Perfect.”

‘I’ll show her just how insignificant I truly am.’

***

Lucia repeatedly pressed the circular glass attached to the wooden panel.

The needle of the barometer rose and fell each time.

Resting her chin on her hand, she gazed out the window.

She decided to uproot all the wildflowers growing unevenly around the gate tomorrow.

Even if Thea said, “All life is precious, even weeds,” she wouldn’t care.

It had been over a month, and her research funding still hadn’t been approved.

She felt bored and restless.

While she was lost in such thoughts, Celeste returned from the palace, where she had visited to discuss the musical program for the National Day Ball.

Removing her gloves, Celeste said,

“Lucia, His Majesty mentioned he wants to discuss your research funding. He asked to meet you today at 3 o’clock. I already told him you’re available.”

Lucia jumped up.

“My research funding?!”

“That’s what he said.”

Lucia flailed about like a broken wind-up toy, unable to find her bearings.

Reselda and Celeste silently observed her, and Julietta joined them, carrying cookies from the kitchen.

“The price of tools must have gone up by now. I need to check the catalog that arrived yesterday. Thank you for letting me know!”

Lucia dashed off to her room.

Julietta remarked,

“I didn’t expect her to be like this when I first met her.”

Reselda replied,

“She grew up without the luxury of being innocent. Now she can afford to be. But she’ll only act this way in front of us.”

At that moment, Thea entered, carrying a bundle of uprooted wildflowers with dirt clinging to their roots.

Sweat glistened on her face under her straw hat, and her cheeks were flushed.

Reselda asked,

“What are you doing now?”

“Lucia seemed eager to uproot my flowers.”

“She won’t want to anymore. Her research funding is finally coming through.”

Thea froze momentarily before heading back outside with the wildflowers.

Reselda called after her,

“What are you doing now?”

“I’m returning the babies to their home.”

“You’d better clean up the mess you made!”

But the door had already closed.

Reselda sighed and went to fetch a broom.

***

Lucia entered the Imperial study.

Emperor Aristide was behind his desk, eating profiteroles piled high with cream.

Seeing Lucia, he greeted her cheerfully and wiped his cream-covered hands on the curtains.

What she had thought was part of the curtain’s pattern turned out to be blackened spots where Aristide’s hands had touched.

Aristide beamed.

“You’ve been waiting long? My apologies.”

Lucia assured him it was fine and took a step away from the curtains.

“So, the research proposal?”

“…Pardon?”

“The research proposal. The detailed plan outlining the significance of your research, the breakdown of expenses, the desired amount, all that tedious stuff that makes me tired just thinking about it.”

Lucia blinked several times before lowering her head, her face flushed.

“I apologize, Your Majesty. I failed to prepare the proposal.”

‘Why didn’t the ladies tell me I needed to submit a research proposal?’

Well, they must have had their reasons.

She didn’t want to blame them for not informing her, nor did she want to put them in even the slightest difficult situation.

Aristide gave her a benevolent smile.

“Don’t worry. Can you have it ready by tomorrow morning?”

“Of course.”

With his permission to leave, Lucia darted out of the room.

***

Aristide scraped the gold-rimmed red plate with his spoon before tearing flatbread to wipe up the remaining sauce.

Slurp.

He tilted his head.

“Enzo, don’t you feel something prickling?”

Aristide rubbed his cheek and looked around.

Then he met Lucia’s piercing gaze from across the table.

Aristide clapped his hands, delighted to have identified the source of the prickling sensation.

“Bored, aren’t you? My apologies. I enjoy hearty breakfasts. Haha!”

‘If I’d known I’d be waiting for an hour, I would have drawn another blueprint.’

Lucia thought to herself.

Aristide extended his hand, and Lucia finally handed over the heavy research proposal.

“It looks thick—must be an impressive proposal!”

But Aristide didn’t even read it. He casually dropped it next to his plate.

“Now, explain it to me.”

‘If I have to explain it, why did he ask me to write this?’

Lucia thought.

Though frustrated, she needed to secure the funding.

Taking a deep breath, Lucia began explaining the contents of her proposal.

“Our empire is not an agricultural nation. However, over the past three years, due to droughts in the Raznia Empire—our primary importer of agricultural products—exports have surged. This has led to a severe shortage of agricultural goods within the empire, increasing the hardships of our citizens. I aim to invent agricultural machinery to enable efficient cultivation and harvesting of crops.”

In truth, agriculture wasn’t Lucia’s favorite field.

She didn’t have a particular area of interest.

From toys to sewing machines to heavy equipment, the joy of transferring knowledge from books into machines and devices was all that mattered to her.

Still, if she had to choose, agriculture wasn’t particularly appealing.

She had chosen to develop agricultural machinery because of its practicality.

She believed that inventions that were genuinely helpful and widely used would have a better chance of approval.

After finishing her explanation, Lucia awaited Aristide’s feedback.

Aristide finally skimmed through the proposal and spoke gravely.

“There’s a problem.”

Lucia’s heart sank.

“What’s the problem?”

“The drawings aren’t pretty.”

“…Pardon?”

“I like colorful, aesthetically pleasing designs. But these are all black and white!”

All designs in the world were black and white. From pocket knives to ships, it was standard practice to draw designs in either black and white or solely blue ink.

Lucia informed the Emperor that black and white were the standard for designs.

His reply was:

“What does that matter? I don’t like it. Add color and come back. How about tomorrow at 5 p.m.?”

‘He must be joking.’

Lucia studied Aristide’s face.

…He wasn’t joking.

Lucia felt her thoughts grind to a halt.

Clenching her lips tightly, she left with only a formal farewell.

***

Thud!

A pile of documents landed heavily in front of Aristide, who had been dozing off.

He yawned and wiped the drool from his mouth.

Through gritted teeth, she said,

“Please check the proposal.”

Having to commit the sacrilegious act of coloring designs just to receive research funding had left Lucia nearly in tears the previous day.

Aristide skimmed through the designs.

“Oh, they’ve turned out beautifully! Don’t you agree, Miss Bianchi?”

Her gaze burned with even more intensity.

“…So, does this mean the research funding is approved?”

“Wait. There’s one more request. You said you chose this topic because of the drought in Raznia?”

The Emperor then asked her to include detailed information about the causes and scale of the drought in Raznia. Since the research was related to agriculture, he also instructed her to compile recipes for delicious ways to eat agricultural products.

Furthermore, he complained that the agricultural machinery looked too intimidating and demanded that she repaint them in soft, pastoral colors….

“Ugh!”

Lucia screamed while coloring the design for a seedling machine. She threw her brush and clutched her head with both hands.

She felt nauseous just from seeing the word “agriculture” in “agricultural machinery.”

But at this point, it was too late to change the topic….

…Wasn’t it?

Lucia pulled out several notebooks containing her invention designs from the drawer and flipped through them.

Some had been successful, while others were so fundamentally flawed that they were embarrassing to look at. There were also designs she had abandoned midway.

Among her successful inventions, she was most proud of the thermometer, sextant, and barometer….

She found the process of representing invisible phenomena as numbers the most fascinating.

Pushing aside the colorful drawings, Lucia began to write.

***

Lucia arrived at the Imperial dining hall, dragging a carpet-made travel bag.

Aristide smiled expectantly as he unfolded the documents she handed him.

“Hello, Miss Bianchi! Did you color the designs beautifully?”

Then, with a look of disbelief, he skimmed through the documents.

“My beautiful drawings! Why aren’t there any?!“

The documents were filled with text again, and the few included designs were back to dull black and white.

“I’ve changed the research topic.”

“What does that have to do with my beautiful drawings?”

“Your Majesty, you mentioned that agricultural machinery looked intimidating and asked me to paint them in colorful tones. Since the machinery has been downsized, there’s no need for coloring anymore.”

Aristide leaned back gloomily.

“What’s the new research topic?”

Lucia pointed to the first page of the proposal, where the topic was summarized in two lines.

“Explain it—”

“You prefer verbal explanations, correct? I’ve prepared something for that.”

She pulled out an easel from her travel bag, set it up, and placed a stack of papers the size of a small dining table on it.

Large text and vivid illustrations adorned the sheets.

“From now on, I will explain the research plan using words and pictures.”

“Oh!”

***

After Lucia’s presentation, Aristide clapped enthusiastically.

“Bravo! Bravissimo!”

He then patted Enzo, who had been forcibly made to sit through the presentation, on the shoulder.

“What a fascinating way to present, Enzo! At first, I didn’t understand a thing, but now I feel like I understand everything!”

Aristide turned to Lucia.

“So, you’re planning to create machines to measure things that are difficult to quantify?”

Lucia had proposed methods to measure phenomena that were invisible and previously immeasurable, such as the intensity of light, the area of the country, and the volume of air.

“Even someone as clueless as I can see that it’s an excellent research plan!”

“…Really?”

Lucia had been doubtful while preparing the presentation materials, wondering if such an impractical and unimpressive topic could gain approval.

But things had gone so smoothly.

“Does this mean it’s approved?”

“Of course!

Thus, her first presentation concluded successfully.

***

“Cheers!”

The sound of clinking glass echoed through the harem’s dining hall.

Valeria asked Lucia,

“Now, hurry up and tell us, Lucia. Why did you want to throw a party?”