Chapter 87

Upon arriving at the Imperial Palace, me and Duke Icard dispersed to our respective places

“Princess”

Before I was even overwhelmed by the splendor of the imperial palace, where I had come for the first time in my life, I was escorted to Elanie

“Lady Icard has arrived”

“Oh, tell her to come in”

She was already sitting in the room boasting a vast presence as I quietly entered with the maid

“Greetings, Princess Elanie, the beautiful star of the Empire

”

When I greeted her according to etiquette, she smiled before replying softly, “It’s been a while, Lady Icard”

“Yes, Princess Please feel free to call me Laria”

“Of course, Laria”

While giving a brief greeting, the maid came and served refreshments Elanie poured me the tea herself and then dismissed everyone around

‘…I’m nervous’

I knew what she would ask of me because I had read this scene before However, the only difference was that Seymour had to sit in my seat originally…

I sat with an innocent face as if I don’t know anything, and Elanie spoke her words with difficulty

“Did you give good excuses to others?”

“Actually, nothing really came to mind, so I just said it had to do with Avonitar’s ruby ​​necklace”

“It’s okay because everyone else knows it”

As I handed the ruby ​​necklace I had brought with me to her, I spoke calmly

“But, in case someone asks…”

“…Yes?”

“You wanted to make a custom order for a new emerald necklace for the next foundation festival, though you suddenly remembered that necklace from six years ago and wanted to do it with the same design, so you called me”

Elaine’s eyes widened in surprise at my words

“Oh, my God How could you think of that…”

It was nothing… Conspiracies, tactics, schemes, public opinion wars, and others I was strong enough at them to come up with excuses like this

What kind of jewelry Elanie wore at the foundation festival and what kind of clothes she wore were of utmost interest She also never took fashion lightly, and she used to think about it several months ago So, the excuse I gave was quite plausible

“Laria, contrary to my impression, you are very clever”

…Did that mean I look stupid? Still, it was difficult to deny because I looked like I was going to be picked on by scammers It was a face that appeared as a representative face in phrases like ‘scammers, please choose your fool!’

“Anyway, thank you Well, let’s get it right With all due respect, I am so glad that I coincidentally meet you in Avonitar”

I smiled vaguely It was because the coincidence was no coincidence

“I was very surprised to see the assassins suddenly come”

“Ah… What has happened since then? Were they all executed?”

I had no idea what happened after that That was because I didn’t want Elanie to get caught up, and she even kept the attack a secret Since it was an imperial affair, it wasn’t even in the Bestian Intelligence Guild

“I couldn’t catch them and even put them to death because I wasn’t the target until the very end There was no evidence, and they never knew I was there”

Well, that was true…

“How can you believe that they were called mercenaries with no background and were just practicing raids?”

That was not true What kind of excuse was there to have a raid practice…? It was really an excuse like a beggar’s shoe, and it seemed that it was just that way for the Imperial Knights

“So, very lightly, they were sentenced to five years in prison and their ankles cut Now, mercenaries and assassins are not allowed”

To say it was light, it seemed that the future had been cut along with their ankle Needless to say, I had no idea how Medor, who lacked one ankle, degenerated as a villain

‘If it’s five years in prison, he must already have been out a year ago’

However, nothing had happened so far, and seeing that Duke Icard was winning more than the original, I thought it was still okay

‘It’d been two months anyway It’s nothing special, maybe he ran…?’

While I was thinking about it, Elanie let out a deep sigh She then wiggled her fingers as if she was in trouble again After hesitating for a long time, she cautiously opened her mouth

“Actually, there is another reason why I asked to meet It’s a personal matter, so I want you to keep it a secret”

“Yes, please tell me”

“Do you remember the auction six years ago? It was at the time of founding day…”

“Six years ago?”

Knowing everything, I pretended to count the numbers for nothing

“Then…”

“Miss Laria won a successful bid A music box from Ronald”

“Oh, right”

“Do you still have it?”

“Yes, it’s in the Duke’s residence I didn’t bring it to the villa”

Elaine’s eyes twinkled at my answer She continued her words as she grabbed my hand, “Can you sell it back to me?”

“Yes…?”

“I’ll give you twice as much Didn’t you win the bid around seven hundred gold back then?”

I was caught up in a moment of conflict

Seymour just gave it away without asking anything to win her favor Of course, I had no intention of doing that Rather, what I was worried about was how much I could receive

“Is that so… I can’t remember the exact price It seems to be around that time…”

“Yes?”

“To be certain, it was in Duchy Icard’s at the time My budget was not established because I was a minor…”

I answered in a dismal voice

“Even though I had money from the horse racing, it was very tight because I decided to donate it”

Obviously, I said I decided to, but I didn’t say I really did it

“As you know, my family is ruined, and I have no private property…”

“…”

“At the time, it was something I was really excited about Can you compare that to an exact price?”

And, with a sad expression on my face, I quickly added

“Of course, but it has to be expressed in terms of price”

Elanie said cautiously, rolling her eyes around

“How about three…three times?”

“…It was the day the Duke was awarded the Medal of Honor, so me and the family were sitting in a special seat together”

Saying that, I sighed and closed my eyes I added, “Since then, we haven’t gone to see the foundation festival with my family… So, to sell the music box is to sell my memories of that time, too…”

Although my words were slow, they continued to the end

“Memories are things that cannot be converted into money Of course, but if I have no choice but to express it in terms of price”

“Four times, four times”

“At that time, there were four people in my family…”

“Would it be okay for five times as much?”

In the end, it was decided to hand over the music box back to Elanie at six times the price

“I can’t do it anymore No matter how much money Seymour gave, I always need money for politics”

“Ah, Baron Litshua, will he finance the politics?”

“Yes He was more resourceful than I thought”

In the past six years, Seymour and Elanie have met a few more times There were only two times that I was forced to get involved and ruined the meeting

So, the first meeting in Avonitar, and the present meeting where I was called to the Imperial Palace to give her the music box Since they were two people who kept getting entangled by fate, they had already known each other

“Besides, he said he was friendly with you”

“It’s just a little, little friendship It’s in the same Southwest area”

I didn’t think there was such a word in the original story about providing political funds, though it seemed that it had developed into more true love because Seymour’s paying for it was a huge deal

“Anyway, thank you so much, Laria”

Even though Elanie had a slight frown on her face, she still grinned

“It would be really amusing to find it again after six years, but… Thank you so much For keeping it”

If I had lost the music box or sold it somewhere, she would have been more in trouble Therefore, she could accept six times the price Besides, to get this money, it was to deal with a difficult opponent, so of course, I has to get the most out of it

“My sister tells me this, but I want you to keep this a secret”

“Yes, I will”

“It’s actually my mother’s keepsake”

At her words, I blinked in surprise

In the original, the reason was not given It was only stated that Elanie found this music box to Seymour belatedly and that he gave it without receiving any money So I, too, without much thought, just expected it to the extent of, ‘Elanie will look for this later and give him the money’

‘By the way, it’s a posthumous memento I didn’t know that at all That’s why she searched for it so desperately…’