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Episode 48: Curious Heart
‘Huh!’
I was taken aback instantly once I was in front of the grand banquet hall.
This was because the decoration of the entrance to the grand banquet hall was quite burdensome.
Nude statues of a woman and a man holding each other and kissing passionately were displayed on a large scale.
If you looked closely, they were the ‘Goddess of Love’ and ‘God of Passion’ respectively.
The goddess was gently rubbing the buttocks of the male god.
‘It is necessary for a male god to have firm buttocks…?’
Ppong! Around the statue, ppong! A little baby angel was running around.
The baby angel that looked like a hologram was an illusion created with magic tools.
“Your Majesty, congratulations on your first night of the engagement.”
“Yes…”
As expected, it was a celebration. But, ahem! As a native of Spinel with a scholar’s sensibility, it was very burdensome.
It felt like my inner Confucian girl was strongly resisting.
(TL/N: from my search, ‘유교’ is a Korean joke for when content opposes ‘traditional’ Korean values. I’d explain more but that might take up ⅓ of the page so please google if you’re curious!)
It was when I was awkwardly congratulated by people at the entrance.
“Your Majesty the Queen!”
A very lively voice came from inside.
“You’re here! I’ve been waiting for you!”
It was the quokka. He looked at me and smiled broadly, showing his front teeth.
He was like a squirrel who was excited to meet a fellow squirrel while collecting chestnuts in the garden.
“Come this way! We were just talking about Your Majesty’s activities…!”
Count Quokka led me to his group.
Occasionally, there were people with exceptional DNA who were not afraid of my cold expression and adapted quickly, and Count Quokka was one of them. It was so good he stuck to it.
“Count Blanche Metheus, were you talking about me behind my back?”
“What do you mean ‘behind your back’! Your Majesty, we were talking about the new shaved ice.”
“Really?”
“We were also talking about Your Majesty’s amazing archery skills.”
The old nobleman who was standing next to Count Quokka added.
Was it the effect of delicious shaved ice? I could feel the nobles I met at the salon treating me in quite a friendly manner.
I felt like I had benefited a lot from going to the salon.
Friendships had been made, and more than anything else, the relationships between the nobles could now be seen at a glance.
It was the moment where my understanding of Aktoum’s society increased.
It was a moment when I was spending a rather friendly time with the nobles I made friends with at the salon.
There were words that got caught and stuck in my ears.
“Lady Mavis, is it true that you are selling 1/100 of Terra mining rights?”
…Terra Mine?
It was a voice that came from not far away.
When I turned my gaze, I saw Yuria, who was surrounded by nobles.
She wore a pale pink dress, and she looked just like a fairy surrounded by pure petals.
A face as soft as if it would be swept away.
She opened her mouth hesitantly.
“It’s true that I’ve been thinking of selling the mining rights for Terra mine.”
She’s selling the Terra mine? My ears stretched out a little more.
The magic stone called ‘Terra’ was a top-notch magic stone with concentrated high-quality magic.
It was only mined in a region called Rimwell, which was in a neutral country.
The Duke of Mavis had owned the land before Breathbridge became neutral, but it was originally intended to be used as a family grave.
But recently, he discovered the Terra mine.
‘It’s like a situation where oil suddenly burst in your grandfather’s orchard. Or it’s like the mountain where your ancestors were buried suddenly became Gangnam?’
It was a jackpot with that kind of emotion.
As soon as Terra was discovered, it heated up the country.
There was some magic research with high important value that could not be conducted without Terra.
Naturally, those who were most interested were those at the forefront of magic research.
‘The Magic Tower and my private research institute in the Spinel royal family.’
The two constantly sent love calls to the Mavis family, but they never sold the mining rights.
The problem was that Terra was tricky to mine. The Terra’s mining technology was only possessed by the Magic Tower and Spinel royal family.
So, in the current market, only a very small amount of Terra, mined at a very slow speed by the Mavis family, was circulated.
And it was terribly expensive. Terribly.
‘If I had the mining rights, even 1/100, I would make an astronomical amount of money.’
In addition to money, I would be able to line the Magic Tower with the Spinel royal family. Many would covet it.
It was a mine that was a jackpot just by holding it.
Thus, with that said, even the nobles who were not interested in magic research had gathered around Yuria.
The nobleman who was waiting for Yuria’s answer asked, unable to hide his impatience.
“…Are you planning to put it up for auction?”
I was also very curious about the answer Yuria would give.
“No, I thought about it, but I decided to keep it.”
“……”
“Because my father passed it down to me to use it preciously.”
I was startled and asked Count Quokka next to me in a low voice.
“Has Lady Mavis already inherited the mining rights?”
Count Quokka whispered.
“Yes, she said the day before yesterday that the inheritance had been transferred.”
Sadness and regret flowed through my chest.
‘I won’t have a chance.’
She already hates me, so would she hand over her mining rights?
By the way, there was logic behind Duke Mavis’ decision to let her inherit it early.
It could be presumed that he let his weak daughter inherit it in advance so that she could have even a little bit more strength in the social world.
‘How much he cared for his daughter.’
In fact, looking back on the memories of the original story, I remembered that not only her father, but also everyone in the family, loved Yuria.
After possession, I only knew Mavis as the ‘mining family’…
Now it felt like the memories of the original were coming together one by one.
‘Anyway, there’s nothing good about being enemies with Yuria.’
From now on, I must do well… But somewhere, I felt a stinging gaze. It was ominous.
“……”
It was Yuria.
She was looking at me with her angelic face, which was full of hatred, as if she was looking at some kind of devil.
‘…Let’s pretend I don’t know.’
It was a time when I was deliberately holding champagne and looking elsewhere.
Yuria came up to me and talked to me.
“I see you, Your Majesty.”
“Oh yes, Lady Mavis.”
“It’s okay to call me Yuria.”
“Lady Yuria.”
I called her name in quite a friendly way. Though I was a little worried about what else this small but willful woman would pick on.
“I tried to ask Your Majesty a question in the salon, but I wasn’t able to…”
“……”
“Can I say it here?”
She skipped all the small talk and directly went to the main point.
It was a bit arrogant… In other words, it was rude.
‘Look at this.’
I looked down at her with slightly chilled eyes.
“Seeing that you interrupt my time and ask a question first, I’m sure…”
“……”
“It must be an important question.”
I could feel that she was startled by the look in my eyes and the way I spoke.
Then, soon after, the trembling light blue eyes were steadied and she said,
“It’s an important question.”
Dozens, maybe more than a hundred, were paying attention to us.
Even the nobles who asked Yuria about the Terra mines.
Even the nobles who participated in the salon, their focus towards us could be felt.
‘Would it be a fun and thrilling spectacle?’
A lady who loved Rixus was in a situation where she ran into the woman who would become his wife.
How obviously Yuria admired Rixus. There was no one here who did not know her heart.
I slowly swirled my glass of champagne and gazed down at her… then finally said,
“You may ask.”
She slapped me in the back with an unexpected question.
“Your Majesty, do you love the Crown Prince?”
“……Oh!”
The woman standing closest to me was even more surprised and covered her mouth with a fan.
“!”
Then the nobles roared.
This was because it was obviously a question for a rival. But how dare she say that so openly to the King of Spinel!
“…….”
I naturally frowned. For what purpose did she ask this question?
If I answered ‘yes’ here…
On the subject of marrying for political purposes, they would insult me from behind as a pretentious and ridiculous woman.
However, it was very difficult to answer ‘no’.
In this chaotic situation, the crown prince and his wife-to-be had to be in harmony.
At this point in time when his uncle’s seal wasn’t even stamped, there was no need to emphasize that it was a marriage without love.
‘The question itself is a trap…’
Either way, it was a scary trap to cut off one of my ankles.
But it didn’t seem like it was calculated and thrown.
Yuria’s eyes toward me were shining purely.
‘She’s really curious. Purely.’
Yuria seemed to be really curious about my heart.
Her innocence made her face slightly flushed, which made me a little bit annoyed…… I stared at her intently and opened my mouth.
“I’m going to ask you a question too.”
“As much as you want.”
Eventually, when I asked my question, the noisy nobles all shut their mouths with shocked eyes, and did not make a single sound.
“Does Lady Mavis love the Crown Prince?”
Yuria’s face crumpled in a gray hue.