Chapter 50
Riina returned to her room, leaving Jane behind, and tilted her head at the sight of a large gift box.
It had been a long time since she had returned or discarded most of the gifts that came her way after her regression.
“Becky.”
At her call, Becky promptly replied.
“It’s a gift sent by His Highness the Second Prince.”
“Einar?”
“Yes!”
Unlike the puzzled Riina, Becky was smiling brightly as she pushed the gift box a little closer to her.
Wasn’t it the Second Prince who had unhesitatingly blocked her path at the hunting competition?
To protect the young lady without even a moment’s hesitation in a life-threatening situation!
She couldn’t dare comment on someone else’s love affair, especially her lady’s.
But to Becky, the Second Prince seemed to suit her lady much, much better! Incomparably better than the previous Third Prince.
Seeing Becky’s excessively sparkling eyes and beaming smile, Riina chuckled, clearly understanding what she was thinking.
The happy marriage that round head was imagining wouldn’t happen, but anyway, she had to play the role of a happy lover for now.
“Give it here.”
As Riina untied the ribbon of the box herself and saw what was inside, an expression difficult to describe settled on her face.
“Oh my, it’s the same dress.”
Becky, who was neatly arranging the box, ribbon, and wrapping material, also opened her eyes wide.
Yes. The gift Einar had sent was none other than the same dress she had worn at the tea party where she had been drenched in water.
That dress had long since been discarded, soaked and stained with blue water.
“Why this?”
Tilting her head just as she had when she heard a gift had come from him, Riina suddenly blinked.
“Could it be…”
Just before getting into the carriage to return to the Bolshevik residence without properly entering the outdoor hall where the tea party was held.
‘This should be enough. It was quite a troublesome situation, but it was resolved well thanks to you coming.’
‘Troublesome… not painful or difficult?’
Einar’s gaze lingered on the ends of Riina’s hair where water droplets dangled, but she just shrugged lightly.
‘Getting wet doesn’t hurt or make things difficult. More importantly, I’m glad I didn’t get more entangled with Young Master Bartorio.’
‘Bartorio, you say.’
Einar’s ash-colored eyes flickered for a moment, but Riina didn’t see it as she was busy pulling up his oversized jacket that was slipping off her shoulders.
As the jacket slipped, her ruined dress was briefly revealed.
‘Your dress is a mess.’
‘If it had just gotten wet, it would be fine, but the blue dye from the rose petals also stained it. I quite liked it.’
It was just a casual remark, something so trivial she would forget as soon as she turned away.
“My lady, over here.”
Becky discovered a small card sticking out from the middle of the dress’s skirt.
[For my consort.]
After reading the card, which contained just one sentence, too brief to be called a letter, Riina tilted her head with an ambiguous expression.
The reason he sent the dress was probably very simple.
The dress she liked was ruined, so he sent the same dress.
That’s probably it.
She couldn’t imagine Einar considering the complex and exciting emotions of lovers.
Was there really a need to use the term ‘my consort’ again?
“My consort… he says.”
It’s a phrase he had used quite a few times.
A temporary position obtained as the price of a bet.
For a moment, Einar’s voice, smiling with his eyes crinkled, echoed in her ears.
‘My consort.’
Unfamiliar emotions rushed in, making her heart flutter, but Riina didn’t try to dig into what they were.
It’s probably just an emotion that will pass.
Something that will dilute with time and eventually be forgotten.
As Riina fingered the delicate lace, she spoke.
“Send the jacket. The exact same one he gave me.”
“Yes.”
“And for the card…”
Pausing briefly, Riina conveyed the message to be written on the card with a faint smile.
* * *
The imperial capital was overflowing with people.
For the tea party season, nobles who had been in their territories came to stay in the capital, and at the same time, it was the period when merchants and envoys from countries across the continent flocked to the empire for trade negotiations.
When there are more new people, there are more new encounters.
“Ah, over there. How are things these days?”
“Good and bad, always up and down like climbing a mountain.”
“Haha, that’s truly a fine answer. Come now, instead of standing here, let me treat you to a drink.”
“Then I won’t refuse.”
Those who came from the west and north of the continent broke the ice with small talk, exploring each other while building connections.
“…so they say it will be difficult to bring it into the empire.”
“Tsk, you must be facing quite a loss this time.”
The empire is the largest market on the continent and controls the entire logistics landscape of the continent.
If rejected by such an empire, one loses a huge market primarily, and secondarily, people don’t seek out goods that aren’t visible in the empire.
“Well… what can we do? If the empire says no.”
“That’s true. What can we powerless ones do? By the way, I heard the commission is going up again this time.”
“Yes. I heard the commission has jumped for several items.”
“I wonder if we’ll all wither away because of these commissions.”
“What can we do about it?”
The merchants sighed, but as the last words suggested, there was nothing they could do.
Even if they turned their backs on the empire in protest of the commissions, there were plenty of other merchants to take their place.
Even if, miraculously, all merchants turned their backs in protest of the empire’s oppressive commissions, how much profit could that many merchants make in markets outside the empire?
Moreover, the empire has its own merchants, so they wouldn’t have much reason to regret it.
“If this continues, we’ll have to cut more from the raw material costs…”
“How much are these commissions that you’re saying this?”
Before the words about having to reduce the share given to the original producers could finish, accompanied by a deep sigh, someone abruptly joined their conversation.
It was someone with their face half-hidden by a hood, but judging by their voice and jawline, they didn’t seem very old.
It was rude to interrupt the conversation, and suspicious with their face hidden, so they could have just ignored it, but.
“It’s enough to make your mouth hurt just talking about it.”
“It’s not the first or second time we’ve had headaches because of the commissions.”
The complaints they had been suppressing inside burst out like fish meeting water.
“If they could just lower it a bit here, it feels like we could breathe!”
“That’s right! Even if they lowered it by just five fingers’ worth!”
Not just the merchants who were initially talking, but all the foreign merchants around added their own words, and in an instant, the atmosphere ignited.
Einar, who had first thrown out the question, rubbed his chin and didn’t miss a single word of the merchants’ jumbled and hard-to-understand stories.
Originally, this wouldn’t have been a conversation he’d show interest in.
It was the annual trade season, and there were such stories every year.
‘That’s why you’re stupid.’
‘You’re the one just spinning a pen at a desk, how much do you think you can do well with the solutions you come up with!’
Even last year, the First Prince and Third Prince, who were aiming for the Crown Prince position, had argued about this.
Of course, at that time, Einar was just looking at passing clouds while suppressing a yawn.
But now he couldn’t do that.
He couldn’t just watch the clouds and let the ‘test’ proclaimed by His Majesty the Emperor pass by.
He still has no desire for the position above the Emperor.
But he couldn’t just stand by and watch Smith sit in that seat either.
If by any chance Smith becomes the Crown Prince, there would be no end to the problems.
“Hey, are you listening!”
As someone drunk on alcohol heavily patted his shoulder, Einar nodded greatly with a good-natured smile on his face.
“Yes. You were saying that because there’s too much at stake to give up the incomparably huge market that is the empire, you have no choice but to endure the commissions.”
“That’s right! That’s it! Who would like to be foolishly taken advantage of like this! But the ideal world we talk about and reality are clearly different.”
Whether pleased with Einar’s concise answer, or lost in his own thoughts after mumbling a reply.
The merchant, drunk to his hair roots, soon left Einar alone and grabbed his glass again.
Einar, who picked up the glass of cheap rum that the merchant had pushed towards him, half spilling it, also continued his thoughts that had been briefly interrupted.
Honestly, he could protect Riina no matter what Smith did if he became Crown Prince.
It had already been proven that her terrible misfortune was somewhat neutralized when she was with him, so luck wouldn’t be much of a problem.
But the real problem is…
“Will she even want it?”
Hadn’t Riina drawn a clear line from the start of the bet?
She hadn’t been fond of the bet from the beginning.
If she didn’t need him even a little, Riina would have rejected him mercilessly and left.
Even if he wanted to and kept drawing Riina to his side with his luck, would it really…
“She would hate me tremendously.”
I don’t like that.
The latter words didn’t leave his mouth and only lingered on his tongue, disappearing with the rum that burned his throat.
