CH 64

If it really was the first time that Amber had met Count Freya in person, she would have reprimanded Count Freya for daring to be suspicious of her and comparing her to Bella while demanding subservience. Well, if it really was the first time.

‘I don’t want to deal with having a fight of willpower with him.’

She knew very well just how Count Freya really acted.

In her previous life, Count Freya was loyal to Kalix as well as the Dukes of Thales. Though Count Freya’s family had no power or authority and therefore not useful to Kalix, he was still quite a good natured person.

And more than anything, he was someone that greatly cherished his daughter.

When the king’s army invaded, he risked everything that the family’s name had in order to let Lariatte escape to the Mage’s Tower. He was then captured by the king’s knights and immediately killed.

Amber calmly smiled at Count Freya as she stared at him. “I’ve called you here for a very important matter.”

“An important matter?” Count Freya looked confused.

Amber glanced towards Kalix, and he gave a slight nod.

Before calling for Count Freya and his daughter to come in, Amber and Kalix discussed how much of the truth they could diverge. In any case, since they definitely needed Count Freya’s cooperation for this matter, they couldn’t hide any of the facts and only give him biased recaps.

After a debate, they agreed upon giving them a part of the truth..

“We were planning to invest some wealth into your household.”

“Invest some wealth?” Count Freya still looked as if he couldn’t understand at all. He then soon gave a dejected laugh as he spoke again. “I apologize for being blunt, Your Excellency, but the Freya family name doesn’t have anything impressive enough to warrant an investment of any kind.” Though he was surprised, he assumed that Amber’s nonsensical words and proposals were simply due to Amber’s imagination. The fact that she suggested , and thought that Amber, who had just arrived in the Eastern lands just yesterday, was suggesting a strange proposal and because she didn’t know any better.

“But you do have one, do you not? Something that your family household would proudly boast about.” Amber smiled widely as she refuted Count Freya’s claim.

“Our household has no such…”

“What I wish to do is invest in your esteemed daughter, Lariatte Freya.”

“What…?”

Count Freya’s eyes widened in surprise atAmber’s statement. Lariatte, who was standing behind him with shy blushing cheeks also looked surprised.

“Miss Lariatte is quite the talented botanist, is she not?”

Amber continued without any hesitation while Count Freya and his daughter were still in shock. Amber’s eyes were directed firmly on Lariatte.

“Miss Lariatte, I’ve read the paper you’ve contributed to the Medirian household that was related to horticulture. The paper detailed about the shapes of roots and its leaves, and categorized the plants according to those shapes.”

Lariatte’s face became bright red hearing what Amber said.

“Y-Your Excellency, you’ve read my insignificant paper?” She even raised her voice, forgetting all of her previous silence.

“Insignificant? Nonsense, it was excellent.” Amber spoke with a gentle smile on her face. “I believe that it hasn’t been long since that paper was published, so how were you able to…”

Lariatte’s face became so red that Amber was actually worried that she would burst. In the end, she couldn’t help but bury her face in her two hands. Though it didn’t seem like she felt bad about the chosen times, she wasn’t too fussed up about the words she heard. There was no way she would be.

She was a passionate botanist, and was extremely thankful and happy that someone had read the results of her research and judged it to be excellent.

“It’s just something that’s put on the back of the book, but th-thank  you for reading it.” Lariatte spoke with a shaky and thrilled voice. She was so happy about it that it even poked away at Amber’s conscience.

‘Though to be precise, I wasn’t the one who found it and read the thing.