CH 79

Since receiving the invitation letter from the Anas Empire, Xia Zuoyi has been thinking about what kind of birthday present he should prepare for the queen.

—This should be a gift that has never been seen before but can make any woman feel excited about it.

It must also be a gift that makes all women mesmerized, envious and jealous, and will certainly make the queen the focus of the whole dinner party and attract the attention of everyone.

A brand-new experience of unparalleled beauty.

Therefore, Xia Zuoyi intends to give the royal queen a full-length customized gift; makeup, perfume, couture evening gown… From head to toe change.

He believes that no woman can refuse this gift.

He wanted to contact and make friends with the queen of the empire.

One is to contact the people concerned, and the other is to rely on the existence of this gift—it has an irresistible charm for every woman.

For now, Xia Zuoyi’s situation in the empire is definitely not good.

After all, he holds a secret sugar recipe that can generate huge profits in his hand.

His Majesty the King, from the highest position, has a prying mind, not to mention the various nobles around him.

Just as Boris said, he doesn’t know how many people are waiting for the opportunity to reach out to peel and bone him and share the broth.

Since the opening of the booths in the port, people in the open and in the dark have been going back and forth, beating around the bush and sniffing around.

But in the end, what they brought back was nothing more than a box of processed lemon candy, rose jam, sugar paintings, or fruits wrapped in syrup.

A steady stream of gold coins was all put into Xia Zuoyi’s pocket, and these people’s faces all showed painful but helpless expressions.

Xia Zuoyi received the money very happily. At the same time, he also used the convenience of the booths to gather a lot of news about the imperial aristocracy.

That day, the man who talked to Tosi Cavendish in front of the lemon candy booth was one of the people Xia Zuoyi was paying attention to.

—The financial counselor of the Anas Empire, Marquis Darnell of the Laurie family, and is also the queen’s nephew.

No wonder he’s extremely displeased with the king’s illegitimate son, Tosi.

Xia Zuoyi had spied on imperial news—the queen had made many efforts to save the king’s heart at the beginning, but it was of no use.

The king still gallants everywhere, not giving the queen any face at all.

So, she’s probably discouraged. The queen gradually fell silent and no longer paid attention to the king’s absurdity.

Even one of the king’s beautiful mistresses mocked the queen in public, saying that the reason she wasn’t liked by the king was that even if she had a prominent family background, she had no beauty. She wasn’t even a beautiful vase1.

This sentence was spread out.

Although the mistress who said these words was immediately retaliated and dealt with by the Laurie family, the queen never came forward to refute the rumors.

She hadn’t appeared in the palace for a long time, so long that even the royal family members had almost forgotten her existence. That’s why the rumor that the queen wasn’t even as good as a vase has been spread to this day.

Xia Zuoyi didn’t know why the queen didn’t come out to speak.

But the queen’s last name is Laurie.

Behind her is an established nobility in the empire who cannot be ignored, supporting her. It’s precisely because of this that even if the king doesn’t pay much attention to the queen, he won’t totally ignore her.

But that’s all.

Otherwise, the king wouldn’t sit back and ignore rumors that were unfavorable to the queen.

They don’t even count as “seemingly divorced”. It can be seen that the king and queen didn’t even do any superficial effort.

After knowing the identity of Darnell Laurie from Grand Duke Orville, Xia Zuoyi planned to send someone to contact him, trying to meet the queen through the Laurie family.

Not long after he returned to Duke Archiayoli’s residence, he opened the box he had brought back from the ship, which contained a small and exquisite perfume bottle.

—Its length is about half the size of a palm. The bottle is flat and the cap is exquisite. It’s actually a glazed glass molded to look like a rose.

Such a delicate small object, whether used for one’s own use or given to others, is undoubtedly a very considerate and pleasing gift.

Xia Zuoyi pulled off the cork of the perfume bottle, and a deep and refreshing scent passed from the bottle to his nose and then volatilized into the air.

There are obviously no roses around, but it seems that people are in the middle of a rose field, with radiant petals constantly falling. The scent that permeates the air isn’t strong and pungent, but a rich and intoxicating smell.

Xia Zuoyi thought for a while, poured out a little perfume on his fingertips, then smeared it behind his ears and inside his elbows.

He had just put the cork back and planned to put the perfume back in the box when an attendant suddenly appeared and knocked on the door.

When Udit goes to open it.

The attendant said, “Lord, a guest has come to see you. His Grace invites you to come and have a look.”

Xia Zuoyi was a little confused. He followed the attendant to the reception hall. Unexpectedly, he saw an acquaintance there, Paul, the archbishop of the Holy See.

Paul put his right hand on his chest, “Good day, Lord.” 

Xia Zuoyi nodded to him and asked, “What can I do for you?”

Orville knew how to respect the privacy of his guests.

Although Desinia lives in his place, he has freedom of movement.

So after Xia Zuoyi met Paul, Orville thoughtfully left and went to see the beasts in the large paddock enclosed in the backyard.

Paul bowed his head respectfully, “Lord, mianxia wants to see you.” 

For the time being, it’s still a secret that the Pope himself came to the Anas Empire.

But now that there are no outsiders here, Paul just directly said it.

Naturally, Xia Zuoyi didn’t expect the arrival of Segalot, and he couldn’t help showing a bit of surprise on his face, “The Pope is in the empire?”

“Yes.”

Paul asked again.

Xia Zuoyi agreed to follow him. Before leaving the duke’s residence, he ordered his attendant to tell Archduke Orville that he had something to do outside.

When he walked to the door, Xia Zuoyi had just realized that he’s still holding the perfume bottle. But now there was no time to put it back, so he just simply put it in his pocket.

…

The carriage stopped in front of a door with green flowers on the wall.

Paul led the way, passing by the green courtyard, and into the living room, “Lord, mianxia is waiting for you on the second floor. Please go up alone…” 

He looked awkwardly at the butler, Udit, who was following Xia Zuoyi. 

Xia Zuoyi: “Udit, just wait for me here.”

Udit said yes, and sat on a chair.

Xia Zuoyi climbed the stairs, stepped on the soft carpet laid on the second floor, and slowly turned around the corner…

With his hands behind his back, he looked at the window on one side of the corridor. Finally, he saw a flash of light on one of the windows, and the movement came—

Xia Zuoyi immediately turned around when Segalot approached quietly. With a small triumphant expression for being observant, he saw the Pope showing surprise and his smile deepening.

He grabbed the pope’s sleeve with one hand, trying to stop the other party from reaching out to hug him, but had his palm wrapped around…

Segalot’s other hand was wrapped around his waist when Xia Zuoyi didn’t react in time, and he immediately picked him up. Taking a few steps forward, he placed him on the spacious window ledge.

Xia Zuoyi couldn’t help but puff up his cheeks, depressed.

He got scared twice in a row, and he really doesn’t want it to happen again2. But in fact, the biggest difference lies in their heights and physical strength, which is really incomparable.

He sat on the windowsill, kicked his legs, and said with a pursed mouth, “Please make way mianxia, I’ll get off.”

But Segalot swiftly approached and sniffed suspiciously, “I’ve been smelling the scent of roses since just now… Wouldn’t you, Little Rose, really be a rose?”

He was not very close, keeping a proper distance, but the faint smell of roses was like an attractive hook.

Segalot couldn’t help but approach. His gilded eyes darkened, like bright molten gold. With one hand, he gently lifted the hair from Xia Zuoyi’s ear.

Xia Zuoyi grasped his hand and pulled the perfume bottle out of his pocket. He explained, “Mianxia, the smell of rose came from this perfume.”

“I have just made it, and I intend to give it to the queen as a birthday gift.”

“But this hasn’t been tested yet, I don’t know how long it will last on the body. When you asked Paul to invite me, I tried it myself.”

“Now it seems that the result is fairly good.”

As he spoke, he raised his wrist and sniffed gently, and then turned his wrist in front of Segalot, “Smell it, mianxia, there’s here too.”

Segalot’s eyes deepened.

He looked at the person in front of him with a serious and innocent expression, and suddenly the corners of his mouth were raised. He chuckled, “More than that, you’re covered with the smell of roses.” 

What a little rose.

Xia Zuoyi counted the time from the grand duke’s house to here, and couldn’t help nodding.

He said that the scent is maintained well. Next, it depends on when it fades and disappears and how long it will last.

Segalot put one hand on the window ledge next to Xia Zuoyi and took a close look at the perfume bottle in his hand.

The Pope’s long and supple black curly hair fell from his shoulders, with a few strands of hair lying loosely on Xia Zuoyi’s arm. Some of them fell into his palm after a few bends, making it a little itchy.

Xia Zuoyi moved his fingers, grabbed the hair, and gathered it all back to Segalot’s back. His movements were incomparably natural.

The curvature of the corners of Segalot’s lips became deeper and deeper, his gilt-golden eyes were full of radiance, and there’s a peal of uncontrollable laughter from his throat.

He slightly shook the bottle, watching the beautiful liquid flowing back and forth, and slowly said, “This is another money-making idea you have come up with, selling perfumes using the queen’s identity and the timing of the banquet?”

Xia Zuoyi gave the pope a thumbs up, “Smart, right, but not just perfume.”

“What else?”

“It’s a secret for the time being.”

Seeing that he stopped questioning, Xia Zuoyi said, “Why did you come to the Anas Empire?”

“I remember that even if it’s the queen’s banquet, it should be attended by a cardinal according to the specifications of the Holy See…”

But he only saw one archbishop, Paul.

Segalot: “The two cardinals are busy and don’t really want to waste time attending the queen’s birthday dinner.”

“Oh.”

Xia Zuoyi nodded, “Then you are…”

“I have something to do.”

Xia Zuoyi thought to himself: It turned out that he came to the Anas Empire to do business. It seems that the Pope attending the party was just a matter of convenience.

Translator’s Notes:

About the title, it’s this in the raws: 夏夏缺根筋.

The last 3 characters mean this: 缺根筋 [shǎo gēn jīn] – Lack of the ability to think about problems, do things without turning around, they are too direct. There’s still a more detailed explanation but I won’t write that down anymore. I don’t know if it’s the right translation, but it seems more befitting right??? XD