“You’re here.”
Selena greeted Karina in a soft voice.
Hasten, who was with her, also nodded to Karina.
Karina and Mikhail came to the place where Selena and Hasten were staying.
It was the bar where they first met.
As it turned out, this bar was run by a married couple.
The husband ran the bar on the first floor, and the wife ran the inn on the second floor.
Karina allowed Selena and Hasten to use this place freely.
Since she got involved, she somehow felt more like an information dealer than the dark side of the past.
However, she thought, 'What if I’m an information dealer?'
'As long as I do my job well, that’s enough.'
Karina decided to think positively.
“How have you been? Selena, Hasten.”
Karina smiled and greeted them both.
“We’ve been doing well. The Grand Duchess almost had a bigger problem than us. I’m glad it went well.”
Karina smiled at Selena’s words.
“It’s because the two of you did a good job with my request.”
The reason Karina came to them today was to give them a new request and to hear the results of the investigation on Revals Lamberda, which she had requested to investigate last time.
Karina took out the request form she had prepared in advance.
“Here is the request form with the new request details. Check it out and tell Mikhail later if you have any questions.”
Mikhail was acting as a bridge between them and Karina.
Mikhail, who was standing next to Karina, made a confident expression as if he was telling her to leave it to him.
Selena, who received the request form, handed Karina the report on the investigation of Revals.
Karina decided to think positively.
“How have you been? Selena, Hasten.”
Karina smiled and greeted them both.
“We’ve been doing well. The Grand Duchess almost had a bigger problem than us. I’m glad it went well.”
Karina smiled at Selena’s words.
“It’s because the two of you did a good job with my request.”
The reason Karina came to them today was to give them a new request and to hear the results of the investigation on Revals Lamberda, which she had requested to investigate last time.
Karina took out the request form she had prepared in advance.
“Here is the request form with the new request details. Check it out and tell Mikhail later if you have any questions.”
Mikhail was acting as a bridge between them and Karina.
Mikhail, who was standing next to Karina, made a confident expression as if he was telling her to leave it to him.
Selena, who received the request form, handed Karina the report on the investigation of Revals.
"It was the story of Lady Caroline herself that she had a government behind her."
“What?”
Selena added an explanation.
“It seems like the two of them have been secretly in a deep relationship for quite some time. That’s all I’ve found out since we don’t have much time.”
Karina slowly read through the report she was given.
Karina had already learned that Caroline had frequent contact with Revals, the second son of the Lamberda family, before the charity event.
So she had expected that Caroline might have some connection to embezzling money and scheming.
In fact, she even found out that Revals was the one who brought up the topic of Lord Genon to Caroline.
As she read the report, a sneer formed on Karina’s lips.
She had hoped, but she never thought that this was really the case.
‘They say things like ‘class difference’ and act like they only care about the King or successor of a country. How absurd.’
Caroline had already decided on a marriage partner.
In other words, she was not free in her love life.
The Emperor didn't just force Jeremiah to marry.
Selena added an explanation.
“It seems like the two of them have been secretly in a deep relationship for quite some time. That’s all I’ve found out since we don’t have much time.”
Karina slowly read through the report she was given.
Karina had already learned that Caroline had frequent contact with Revals, the second son of the Lamberda family, before the charity event.
So she had expected that Caroline might have some connection to embezzling money and scheming.
In fact, she even found out that Revals was the one who brought up the topic of Lord Genon to Caroline.
As she read the report, a sneer formed on Karina’s lips.
She had hoped, but she never thought that this was really the case.
‘They say things like ‘class difference’ and act like they only care about the King or successor of a country. How absurd.’
Caroline had already decided on a marriage partner.
In other words, she was not free in her love life.
The Emperor didn't just force Jeremiah to marry.
Before Jeremiah, he tried to force Caroline to marry by designating her a marriage partner.
It was annoying to people who dreamed of rising status by using Caroline or seeking power from the Grand Duke. He intended to use Caroline as a hostage and put a leash on the Colesberg family.
However, at that time, the marriage ended with an engagement, not a marriage, because Caroline was too young compared to the other head of the family, and the other northern families opposed it. No matter what the situation was at the time, Caroline hated her marriage partner so much that her teeth chattered. Not only was she not on the same level as him, but she also couldn't accept that she had to marry an old man.
However, after realizing that it would be difficult to break off the engagement, she kept postponing the wedding day after day, using the excuse that the man was in poor health and weak.
That's how it has continued up to this day.
Caroline hoped that the head of the family would die while postponing the wedding, thus invalidating the engagement itself, since he was old.
The Emperor's purpose was to prevent the expansion of the Colesberg family's power rather than to marry Caroline, so he left the situation alone.
The Emperor seemed uninterested in their marriage unless Caroline came forward to marry another man.
'If this charity event reveals Caroline's affair, Caroline will have no choice but to marry the man she so dreaded.'
Karina decided to plan how she could expose this to Caroline in the most damaging way possible. She also looked at the other contents of the report.
"The second son, Revals, is in charge of the copper mine business and frequently participates in auctions..."
The report said there was a problem with the mining business.
“What exactly is the problem?”
“I found out that part of the mine shaft collapsed. It seems that the mining operation is being disrupted because of that...”
Karina listened quietly to Selena’s explanation and recalled what she had heard at the charity event.
“You said you had found a distributor to supply copper, right?”
She thought that they were keeping quiet because they were afraid that if this was known, it would affect the supply to their business partners.
“I didn’t know that Revals Lamberda and Caroline were in this kind of relationship in the past...”
Now that she knew that they were in this kind of relationship, she had no intention of leaving it alone.
From what she had experienced, Revals would never operate the mine in a good way.
“Since the two of them conspired to get me in trouble, they should receive a price for it.”
Karina’s eyes sparkled.
“But recently, there has been some activity that has never been seen before.”
“What is that?”
“They started a volunteer service that gives free food to street children.”
“To the children?”
“Yes, they said you couldn’t stand to see children starve to death, so they don’t discriminate against orphans.”
“...”
A somewhat uneasy feeling came over her.
‘You’re not the kind of person who would do such service for no reason. Are you trying to fool people because you’re so grateful?’
“Just keep watching closely and report any strange behavior.”
“Yes, I understand.”
***
After Karina and Mikhail left.
“Huh? In this case, wouldn’t it be better to leave it to a local expert?”
Hasten, who was looking over the request form, said with a puzzled expression.
One of the requests was for Karina to find a house where she could live after her divorce.
That’s why she was asked to find a good piece of land in the Weln region, which had no investment value.
That area was known to have a large amount of the highest grade diamonds in the future, and the price of the land would skyrocket.
However, no one but Karina knew about this fact.
“Or is it because you’re the flower of the precious Grand Duke’s family that you don’t know who to entrust with what kind of work?”
Hasten, who had been looking over the request form, scratched the back of his head and said,
“Is it right to work here while accepting requests like this? And the other party is the Grand Duchess of the Grand Duke’s family?”
“...”
“What do you think?”
Hasten asked Selena, but Selena seemed to have a complicated mind.
“What’s with your expression? Is there something bothering you?”
“Something is bothering me...”
Hasten asked, frustrated with Selena’s trailing off.
“Why? What is it?”
Selena quivered for a moment before saying.
“This request form. There are some completely unrelated requests mixed in, but it feels like she knew what we were good at. That’s why it’s strange.”
“What do you mean? The Grand Duchess first saw us at the bar that day.”
“That’s right. That’s why it’s strange.”
Hasten's mouth tightened with a serious expression at her words.
‘Do you really know where we came from?’
Selena shook her head at the absurd assumption, shaking off the thoughts in her head.
“No, it’s just my feeling. Don’t worry about it. We just do what we’re asked to do.”
Selena concluded and quickly cut off her worries.
***
Mikhail suddenly stopped walking.
“What’s wrong?”
Karina looked at where Mikhail’s eyes had landed. She saw a sign in the shape of a reptile’s head, indicating a place selling leather.
“What does that look like?”
Mikhail asked, pointing his finger at the sign.
“Well. A lizard?”
Karina answered lightly.
“Not a dragon?”
Karina looked up at Mikhail at the word dragon.
“Dragon?”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe in the existence of dragons?”
When Karina asked again, Mikhail shrugged instead of answering.
“They appear in the empire’s founding myths.”
“That’s right. Dragons are fantastical creatures that only appear in founding myths.”
“Do you think so?”
“No?”
Mikhail smiled meaningfully. Judging from his expression, it seemed that he had different thoughts than her.
“If you wander around here and there, you will hear a lot of stories related to dragons.”
“...”
“Meeting a dragon cured all my illnesses, or the world turned upside down because of the dragon’s wrath, or a dragon came down to a land that was in a drought and brought rain, or a dragon’s tears granted my wish.”
“...”
Honestly, Karina wasn’t interested in dragon stories, but when she heard Mikhail’s last words, she thought of the wishing potion.
She didn’t know exactly what the wishing potion was, but she went back in time.
She thought it couldn’t be, but she quickly shook off that guess.
‘I didn’t get my wish.’
The dark statue from which she had obtained the wishing potion in the past.
She had planned to investigate the wishing potion when the dark statue appeared.
That was also why Karina tried to bring Selena and Hasten, who had been part of the dark statue in the past, into her own.
‘I’m also creating my own information network and preparing for the divorce.’
Karina smiled with satisfaction.
‘I wish that dark statue would come to the North soon.’
That way, she could figure out why she had returned to the past.
While Karina was lost in thought, Mikhail was watching Karina closely.
Mikhail fixed his gaze on Karina and soon asked.
“Aren’t there any stories like that around the Grand Duchess?”
“Yes?”
“Stories related to dragons.”
“Nothing like that.”
Karina shook her head.
“Even something very trivial.”
Mikhail asked seriously.
Karina was a little taken aback by his expression as if he was saying that there must be something. She unconsciously thought, “Was there?”
But there really wasn’t.
“No, really, there isn’t...”
“...”
Karina blinked.
There was a moment of awkwardness between them.
“I see.”
Mikhail smiled faintly, saying he understood, and changed the subject.
“Grand Duchess. Aren’t you hungry?”
“Right now?”
It was still a bit too early for dinner.
“You haven’t had lunch?”
“I did, but I suddenly wanted to eat chicken skewers.”
“Chicken skewers?”
“Yes. Come to think of it, I went downtown last time to buy chicken skewers. I was so out of it that I forgot.”
Mikhail made a really regretful expression.
“If you have time, would you like to go eat together now?”
“Yes.”
She readily accepted Mikhail’s offer.
Karina and Mikhail arrived in the town.
The two passed the place where the explosion occurred and went deep into the city.
“It’s not open yet.”
The place Mikhail had taken Karina to, saying it was a delicious restaurant, was not open yet.
Looking at the stalls folded up on the street, it was a street food restaurant that opened in the evening.
“The street food you said we were going to eat was?”
“Yes. It’s not open yet. I was looking forward to it, but it’s disappointing.”
Mikhail licked his lips as if he was regretting it.
“Isn’t there anywhere else you wanted to go?”
“Hmm.”
Mikhail opened his mouth after thinking for a moment.
“How about donuts?”
“Donuts?”
“Fried bread.”
“Is that street food too?”
“Yes. It’s delicious.”
Karina took out a pouch of gold coins from her bosom and handed it to Mikhail.
“Go buy some and come back.”
“...?”
Mikhail accepted the pouch with a puzzled expression.
“Me alone? What about the Grand Duchess?”
“I’m a picky eater, so I can’t eat anything but the best.”
Karina said dryly.
“Your Highness, no way.”
Mikhail called Karina with a serious expression.
“Why?”
“Have you never tried street food?”
“...Why is that?”
Instead of agreeing, Karina asked back what the problem was.
“Ha, you still don’t know the charm of street food.”
Mikhail shook his head.
“I’ll tell you, so just trust me and follow me.”
“What?”
Karina was taken aback by Mikhail’s determined tone.
“Isn’t there anywhere else you wanted to go?”
“Hmm.”
Mikhail opened his mouth after thinking for a moment.
“How about donuts?”
“Donuts?”
“Fried bread.”
“Is that street food too?”
“Yes. It’s delicious.”
Karina took out a pouch of gold coins from her bosom and handed it to Mikhail.
“Go buy some and come back.”
“...?”
Mikhail accepted the pouch with a puzzled expression.
“Me alone? What about the Grand Duchess?”
“I’m a picky eater, so I can’t eat anything but the best.”
Karina said dryly.
“Your Highness, no way.”
Mikhail called Karina with a serious expression.
“Why?”
“Have you never tried street food?”
“...Why is that?”
Instead of agreeing, Karina asked back what the problem was.
“Ha, you still don’t know the charm of street food.”
Mikhail shook his head.
“I’ll tell you, so just trust me and follow me.”
“What?”
Karina was taken aback by Mikhail’s determined tone.
Support Novellate!
Comments
Post a Comment