[Our princess has not had her ears pierced.]

Sinelliburn looked at Milla’s sign language with puzzled eyes. It seemed like some kind of gesture telling her to stop, but she could not make out the exact meaning. Ajean explained on Milla’s behalf to the bewildered Sinelliburn.

“I don’t have pierced ears. Even so, I do quite like those black pearl earrings.”

Sinelliburn carefully set the earrings back into the jewelry box, and almost at the same moment Ajean got to the point.

“Madam, dismiss the servants. Zella, go prepare tea and refreshments.”

Sinelliburn gestured to the servants with an expression that said she had been expecting this. The servants withdrew from the room with polite bows, and Zella followed them out to run the errand.

The probing was over. The friendly small talk between them was set aside, and now came the push and pull of negotiation.

The witch of Aisha, the imperial princess who shone like the morning star, looked at Decan’s seasoned merchant and curled her lips into a wicked smile.

It had never been easy for Sinelliburn, a commoner with nothing to her name, to succeed as a merchant. Yet she knew how to betray, and she was skilled at meticulous deception.

“The qualification to have grown into a branch leader, had she been raised in the Red Stork.”

That was the assessment Mephisto had given of Sinelliburn, and she was truly a remarkable woman.

A short while later, Zella came in carrying a tray. The girl attended to the guest with a fairly proper manner. It was a great improvement.

“Your Highness, black tea and cherries. I’ll take my leave now. Please ring the bell if you need anything.”

Ajean and Madam Sinelliburn sat facing each other. Milla and Netty remained by their sides.

Sinelliburn took a sip of tea with an elegant motion, and Ajean asked.

“Does it suit your palate?”

Sinelliburn was not an honest person, but she decided to be honest today. To her, someone who enjoyed only high-grade teas imported from abroad, it was a cheap and unremarkable tea.

The imperial palace must be overflowing with fine teas, yet only something of this inferior quality was being served at Belrang Castle. There was reason to consider the circumstances behind that.

Sinelliburn turned the teacup slowly in her hands.

“The tea does not suit my palate, but I believe a conversation with Your Highness will.”

Ajean laughed openly and freely.

Who was she? A person who had a tutor and maid who were two of Aisha Empire’s great scholars.

Could the twenty years of life spent under their protection have been easy? Not in the slightest.

Young Ajean, whenever she tried to tell even a single lie, had to persuade Milla, who was armed with logic. And that was not all. The principles and rules she had heard to exhaustion while learning herbology from Netty.

A power struggle initiated by an older woman.

That could never intimidate Ajean.

Tap tap.

After drumming her fingers on the table a few times, Ajean finally spoke.

“Hmm, it seems you have decided to be straightforward. Then I will speak plainly as well. Sell everything except the black pearl earrings. At full price, naturally, not at a loss.”

At her demand, not only Sinelliburn but even Netty and Milla were shocked.

What? She intends to sell the jewels sent by the Crown Prince the moment she receives them? Is this woman in her right mind?

Even the formidable Sinelliburn seemed flustered, shifting in her seat and asking again.

“You mean all of this?”

“Everything except the black pearl earrings.”

“What are you saying? I truly cannot grasp Your Highness’s intent. Selling all of this at once is by no means a simple matter either.”

Surely someone who understands should know better.

Ajean made no effort to hide her disappointment and spoke in a somewhat gentle tone.

“What do you think is the reason His Highness the Crown Prince sent you here? And what do you suppose is the reason I am speaking to you with honorifics?”

“…… That would be.”

Ajean raised a hand to stop Sinelliburn’s answer.

“Ah, there is no need to answer. I did not ask expecting a reply.”

Ajean finished speaking and smiled coldly.

An odd manner that was neither condescending nor respectful, but somewhere in between.

Sinelliburn did not know the full weight of the Turandeus name, but she thought she could understand why this woman had been called a witch. Trying to hold a battle of wills with those black eyes left her feeling an unease throughout her entire body.

Sinelliburn spread her feathered fan, pretending not to be tense. It was a calculated motion, composed enough to appear sufficiently at ease.

It was Ajean who broke the suffocating silence.

“When what blocks your path is nothing more than a fragile weed, you simply trample it underfoot. But what if it is a predator? Then the right approach is to tame it. That is what the study of emperorship is.”

It was an unmistakable threat.

It was the declaration of a predator saying: you are “something that blocks my path,” but you are not insignificant, so I will try to tame you.

A taut tension, like two hands pulling a single thread from either end, seized the space.

Having received a threat to her face, Sinelliburn boldly lifted her chin.

This was not a fight between royalty and commoner, but between a beast and a predator. Yielding even a single step was entirely out of the question.

Sinelliburn, who had spent her life buying and selling information, could not possibly be ignorant of Ajean’s past.

If she struck the most painful spot, she would find out whether the imperial princess’s bearing was genuine or mere bluster.

“Since you appear to already be aware of my information network, I will speak plainly. The accuracy of the information I hold is quite high. A pitiful imperial princess who squandered the best years of her life in the imperial library of Aisha…… or so I hear. Are you telling me that a discarded imperial princess actually read works on emperorship in the archives?”

Bang, Milla crumpled the wrinkled corners of her eyes mercilessly and slammed the table. Netty issued a cold warning to the insolent Sinelliburn.

“That is enough. We will not tolerate further insults.”

“Pfft.”

Sinelliburn laughed openly as though it were no concern of hers.

What business did servants have interfering in a fight between predators who had stripped away all rank?

“Enough.”

Ajean raised a hand and stopped her attendants.

Sinelliburn is a seasoned negotiator and merchant. There may be a difference in status, but that does not mean she has any reason to simply comply with Ajean’s unreasonable demands.

Sinelliburn asked point-blank.

“Are you a person of sufficient means to be worth my time and effort? What can you offer me?”

Ajean studied Sinelliburn’s expression slowly. Sinelliburn was a woman who had mastered the art of dealing with people. Reading her was not easy, but it was not impossible either.

Ajean picked up a cherry from the refreshment plate with her fingertips. It gleamed with a glossy sheen, red as a ruby.

“I can give you what you want most.”

Ajean finished speaking and placed the cherry in her mouth. The thin cherry stem fell away from between her lips with a small pop. Each movement she made was captivating, as though it belonged to someone not of this world.

Sinelliburn asked again.

“Please tell me what that is. What is it that I want most?”

“Every vassal family has a title, does it not. ‘Whitton of Information,’ ‘Bardum of the Arts,’ ‘Tuspian of Silence,’ ‘Sikama of Force,’ ‘Anatos of Education’…… But in the near future, ‘Whitton of Information’ will have to yield that position. Because ‘Sinelliburn of Information’ will emerge. I will give you a key post in the imperial court.”

Grind. Sinelliburn clenched her back teeth hard. The cruel inferiority complex that had tormented her all her life.

The ambition for advancement she had forced herself to ignore.

The imperial princess had seized upon exactly that.

“Are you deceiving me right now? Did you think that because I am of commoner birth, I would rush toward that lie like a moth to a flame? Me?”

“Madam, how much more do you intend to disappoint me? You met with His Highness beforehand, so you must know. That there is no affection between us to be exchanging jewels. And yet you claim not to understand the intent behind sending these expensive jewels. Let me ask you this. Were you paid for the jewels in gold coins? Or in kind?”

“…… The payment was made with a portion of the fief territory in the lower reaches of the Hinesis River.”

Sinelliburn clenched her fist so tightly she forgot the pain of her nails digging into her palm.

A bitter smile settled on Ajean’s lips. She slowly flicked the cherry juice from her fingertips.

Sinelliburn felt a chill run across her skin, as though those fingers were flicking at her own heart.

“Convert all of it into gold coins and bring it before me.”

Money laundering? Now it makes sense.

Sinelliburn’s eyes narrowed for a moment.

“Furthermore, what I said about giving you a key post in the imperial court is not an empty promise.”

Ajean’s gaze turned abruptly to Netty and Milla.

“My tutor and maid were appointed as imperial administrators through the ‘Diltai System.’ And if His Highness Kaiden, who will one day become Emperor, takes a great interest in the Diltai System…… will you believe my words now?”