CH 24

Chapter 24 – The Crown Prince’s Call (2)

Translator: Lioness

Alice didn’t set out to make money from scratch; her first real business venture was when debtors took over the Marquess of Hamilton. She could no longer stay in her room as the house was stripped of its ornaments and furniture, one by one.

Servants in the house were clamoring for their wages, and the knights were in a frenzy for lack of supplies. She went to the Marquis’s office and looked through all the papers of her business. That he was almost out of business, adding that her money was also small, not making him sell her goods.

‘I should have developed something that didn’t exist.’

Fortunately, this country was full of flowers. She developed a perfume by extracting the scent of flowers, and the perfume became a necessity for aristocratic women. In the Erha Empire, there were only scent bags that dried flower petals and carried around, and there was no concept of perfume.

Having developed her perfume, she dedicated it to the Empress, the highest woman of the Erha Empire, and the Empress fell in love with her fragrance, stopped debtors from visiting the Marquis. Although the range has grown, it was still the Marquise of Hamilton’s job to present new scents to the empress when they are released.

“You paid?”

Lawrence, who heard her muttering, asked back.

“Of course.”

Alice’s mouth watered as she recounted all the things she had done to get the Marquis of Hamilton to this position. One of those things was the imperial court. The first thing she did after paying off her debtors was to give money to the imperial court.

‘I got a good one.’

As she spoke her words, Alice casually praised the empress. She said that because the empress used their perfume, the value of their product went up.

Pleased with that, the empress asked the emperor to elevate the Hamilton to the rank of marquesses, which they are today.

“How much?”

“It’s a secret.”

Even if Lawrence asked, no, she couldn’t tell even if the Marquis of Hamilton asked. Perfume was the main product of the Hamilton family, and the sales generated there were substantial. Alice shut her mouth as she was just telling the sales figures.

Even the Marquess of Hamilton did not know the exact amount. He only knew that she was giving money to the imperial palace. As an aristocrat to the bone, the Marquis took his tribute to the imperial family for granted, and Alice didn’t mind.

‘Wait, come to think of it, there was an empress?’

As long as she offered money and perfume, there was an empress who would stand by her side no matter what. She didn’t know what the Crown Prince thought of calling her, but if it there was a problem, it could be solved by the empress.

Because no one wants to slit the goose she lays gold on. In particular, if the gold was given to the empress, she would be all the more on Alice’s side.

“I don’t think Your Grace should go with me.”

Her eyes sparkled and Lawrence persisted despite her momentum as she seemed to have found her solution.

“No. We have to go together.”

“No, I really think I can go alone.”

“Then, I will wait outside the Crown prince’s palace.”

Lawrence came up with a way to make sure that if something happened to Alice, he would move in the shortest way possible.

“May I ask why you are doing that?”

Eyes full of questions turned to him. For a moment Lawrence couldn’t make a sound as if someone had blocked his mouth. It was because Alice’s face, which filled her field of vision, captured his heart.

Just like the tearful face he once saw.

“… Because I have to get the diamonds.”

“I can give it to you now!”

“Did you ever think that giving me that diamond could change my attitude?”

The corner of his mouth twitched up at Alice, who shoved her hand back into her pocket. Alice pouted her lips in displeasure, but Lawrence didn’t even pretend to hear her.

“Don’t trust the contract too much. There are many powerful people in this world who can turn a contract into a piece of paper.”

“…  I’ll keep that in mind.”

It was a fact Alice was well aware of. A similar thing happened frequently in dealings with the Duke of Shellington. There were cases where the quantity and amount specified in the contract did not match, and when arguing, the agent she sent would return empty-handed every time.

So, she would deliberately set a high price in her dealings with Shellington. That was how she got the price she wants. She did not forget the tyranny of the high-ranking nobles. But Lawrence didn’t feel like a high-ranking nobleman.

‘Just by looking at it, he is a model of a high-ranking aristocrat…’

The occasional clumsy appearance lowered her vigilance. She couldn’t carelessly talk to him about the lofty atmosphere and the sense of intimidation that emanated from standing still. His blonde hair and blue eyes that glistened in the light were the symbols of the Duke of Littenverk, and his sculpture-like face overflowed with sternness.

However, his flirtatious personality and caring nature made him seem more human. He did, at least to Alice. It was nice to visit her like this and check her condition when something difficult happened.

‘No one has ever been worried about me.’

Although the Marquis Hamilton occasionally looked at her with worried eyes, she said nothing. Alice took it as a sense of distance because she was his adopted child. No one cared about her properly in this household of his.

It was not that she didn’t understand aristocratic society. How many years have she been in this world? However, she still could not adopt. For her, who lived a free-spirited life, this place was too stuffy. When she was at lost at her thoughts and no answer came to him, he spoke to her.

“Just say thank you.”

“Thank you.”

She replied hastily since she was grateful. Their first encounter might be unlucky, but he had helped her in many ways until now. He was very benevolent to her after all of her struggles in this world.

“So, when is the date you enter the palace?”

****

The Crown Prince’s palace was busy from morning. Stella had been visiting since early morning and she was disrupting the drawing room of the Crown Prince’s palace.

“The flowers are over there!”

At her gestures, the attendants and maids moved busily. She had already changed the location of the flowers several times. Everyone who knew the reason why the drawing room was decorated with such fervor and soul knew.

The fact that Stella, who was disgraced by Alice at the banquet hall, was grinding her teeth spread widely throughout the imperial palace. The people in the imperial palace held a grudge against Alice, saying that Stella’s personality changed because of Alice. After all, this situation made Alice tired.

“What are these curtains!”

A shrill voice echoed through the drawing room. The attendants hurriedly climbed up and draped a new cloth. White, purple, pink. Stella, enjoying the colorful feast, crossed her arms and lifted her chin.

“The first one was better.”

The attendant, who almost missed the cloth in an instant, barely maintained her expression with her superhuman endurance. Her hand holding the cloth trembled, but Stella, who immediately turned her head away, didn’t notice.

“I don’t like the tablecloth. Decorate it with gold thread at the end.”

The ladies-in-waiting picked up the cloth on the table and worked diligently with their hands. The moment Stella, who had been watching her, was about to open her mouth again, the Crown Prince appeared.

“You look good today.”

“Gail.”

“It’s an honor to hear you call me by name.”

Cheered by Stella’s call, Gail puffed himself up and bowed ridiculously. It was a bit much for a lady’s greeting, but the servants and maids turned their heads as if they didn’t see it.

“Since you like it this much, I think it was a good thing to call the daughter of the Hamilton family.”

“I didn’t know Gail thought of me that much.”

“This, Stella. You mean you thought of me that way? I can’t be without you.”

(TN: I wanna poke this Stella so bad…)

As if they were in love of the century, the two of them whispered whispers like a pair of cockroaches. However, while Gail’s eyes were full of intense affection, Stella’s eyes were infinitely cold.

“You should have told me if you were that angry.”

“How could I do that? His Highness accepted an apology on my behalf already.”

“Ah, I did. What about that? We are royalty, Stella. Nobles are subordinates, so of course I do as what I please.”

The aide who was guarding his side lowered his head at the words of Gail, who was speechless. He had a hunch that things would get bigger if the Duke of Shellington knew that a Crown Prince had such thoughts.

Even in the imperial palace, there were many eyes and ears that Karus had planted. Those eyes and ears ran to Karus and conveyed Gail’s words. What happens after that was a future that has yet to come. Alice’s visit was right in front of her eyes.

“I want you to come soon.”

Stella muttered as she looked at the lavishly decorated drawing room. Her enchanting voice was so sweet that it would make anyone happy to hear it that made Gail smile beside her. Gail exclaimed, delighted that Stella was in such a good mood.

“Give rewards to the attendants and maids who decorated the drawing room!”

“Your Highness! That….!”

“Get off!”

The imperial treasury was dwindling because of Gail. The Empress had put a stop to his distribution, but Gail, in his euphoria, didn’t remember and opened the treasury again. The aide’s expression grew darker and darker, but Gail, intoxicated by his mood, didn’t realize it.

“Your Highness, Miss Alice was said to have entered the palace.”

“Yes, yes.”

Next to Gail, who smiled and nodded, Stella’s eyes shone cruelly. However, the expression on his face changed after that.

“But they said she went to the empress’ palace!”

“What?!”

(TN: Well~ )