Chapter 63
‘It is certainly unique, but… it lacks the practicality to appeal to buyers, so submitting it to the World Expo would be difficult.’
What her father was looking for was agricultural machinery that could be deployed immediately into real life, not a coffee machine that looked like a child’s toy.
Something like this might pique people’s interest for a moment, but it would be hard to convert that into actual sales. The same went for the other inventions lined up in a row, waiting for the landlord’s evaluation.
“Lottie. Would you like a sip? I think your evaluation would be a great help to them as well.”
Her soft-hearted father turned the focus to Lottie instead of awakening the naive mechanics to the harshness of reality. Lottie stared at the cast-iron cup her father held out and then glanced at him.
“…….”
As their eyes met, both of them subtly avoided each other’s gaze, neither wanting to be the first. It was because the lingering resentment from that day had not yet been resolved.
Before the mechanics could notice the awkward tension between the landlord and his daughter, Lottie quickly took the cup. Unlike her father, who was still more accustomed to tea than coffee, Lottie did not mind coffee.
As Lottie tilted the cup back and drank refreshingly, the young man who made the coffee machine let out a gasp of admiration.
‘If I never find Tom Philson… what will happen from now on?’
Without ever revealing the truth that the attempted assassination of the Crown Prince was a self-staged farce, her father and her family would have to live with a stigma for the rest of their lives.
In the end, she would have no choice but to marry Padrick. Marriage to her was something the Queen desired so desperately, and it might mean her father would no longer be held accountable for his alleged crimes.
‘No. I can find him. The living expenses he’s been receiving will run out soon anyway, so how long can he keep running through foreign lands?’
The problem was time. How could she divert the Queen’s attention elsewhere while the shadows searched for Tom Philson?
Lost in thought, Lottie belatedly noticed the gazes fixed on her. They were the silent eyes of the mechanics, asking for a review now that she had tasted the coffee.
“Um. May I ask why you decided to invent a machine like this?”
Instead of giving a blunt critique like her father, Lottie posed a question to the young man. Her intention was to indirectly address the issue of marketability—a point her father hadn’t quite been able to bring himself to make.
After a moment’s thought, the young man replied with an unexpectedly serious tone.
“Because if it’s not a ridiculous machine like this, no one would even spare a glance at a product made by a mechanic from Dempis.”
The mechanics standing in line nodded their heads in agreement. Their expressions were solemn and sorrowful.
Both Lottie and her father realized the meaning behind those words before long.
If the “barbaric” Kingdom of Trie said they were building a transcontinental railroad, people would worry about train derailments first; if the “gentlemanly” nation of Matila declared war against the great Empire of Deisnoia, no one would place a bet on Matila.
The situation was no different for Dempis.
The foundational industries of Dempis were agriculture, mining, and tourism.
No matter how sophisticated and practical a weaving machine a mechanic from Dempis produced, what buyer would ever trust it?
In her first life, Lottie remembered vividly how her homeland, failing to adapt to a society developing by the day, had eventually fallen into decline.
“I was going to offer some advice, but it seems I’ve been the one put in my place instead,” Lottie said brightly.
The young man, who had been startled for a moment thinking he might have offended the landlord’s daughter, relaxed upon seeing Lottie’s smile.
Lottie walked slowly along the line of inventions, scanning them, unaware that her father was shaken by her choice of the word ‘advice.’
A mannequin that rotated automatically to create voluminous pleats on a dress; ‘Angel Wings’ that were said to create a halo effect when draped over the shoulders; the ‘Hand of God’ that automatically turned newspaper pages or tilted teacups for you…
Lottie’s pace slowed as she scanned the machines, whose names were just as eccentric as their functions. Her eyes, which had initially been filled only with curiosity, turned quite serious.
“This is……”
Lottie, having looked at the inventions until the end of the line, murmured blankly. She seemed so dazed that all the mechanics, and even her father, focused all their attention on her next words.
‘This is impossible.’
Looking at the machines standing under the sunlight, Lottie let out a short gasp.
These machines… they were far too sophisticated to be dismissed as mere eccentricities.
“This mannequin… it maintains a constant rotation speed, yet the wooden ribs haven’t broken. A fairly complex design must have gone into this……”
Lottie shifted her gaze to the Angel Wings hanging on the mannequin.
“The same goes for this. How can a heavy glass plate move at such a fine angle? Not to mention this Hand of God… and a panorama machine that moves automatically at this size……”
“…….”
“It’s amazing. Truly, I’m not just saying this. There were very few machines this sophisticated even at the 10th World Expo. Even the haughty Volchair Company couldn’t produce a product of this caliber. It’s a waste to let them rot under the name of Dempis……”
Lottie, who had been pouring out words as if possessed, faltered as she belatedly felt the gazes landing on her. The mechanics lined up were all looking at her with identical, bewildered expressions.
“The… 10th? Isn’t this year only the 7th World Expo……?”
“And what is the Volchair Company? It’s the first time I’ve heard of such a company……”
“Could you be… talking about the Volchairs of Chesternon? Have that father and son already started a company?”
The moment she locked eyes with her father, who was looking at her with an expression no less stunned than theirs, Lottie let out a groan.
‘In my excitement, I blurted out things from the future…….’
The 10th World Expo Lottie mentioned was held in Deisnoia in 1852, on the largest scale in history.
Lottie, who was still the Queen of Matila at the time, had visited Deisnoia with her husband and felt a sense of awe that went beyond mere shock.
The Crystal Palace revealed at the opening ceremony, the light bulbs that illuminated all directions in five brilliant colors, the machines like fireflies embroidering the sky, and the appearance of automobiles…
But now, it was 1846, years before that.
The World Expo was marking its 7th year this year, and the Volchair Company, which would grow rapidly into a global enterprise alongside the construction of the transcontinental railroad, was still nothing more than a small shop run by a father and son.
“I…… must have been mistaken for a moment.”
Glossing it over with ambiguous words, Lottie quelled the mechanics’ doubts by acting the part of a young lady who knew nothing. Her father’s suspicious gaze remained fixed on her, but he soon withdrew it as the mechanics scrambled to speak to him.
Standing a step away from them, Lottie looked carefully at the machines lined up behind the mechanics.
Treasures that could no longer be confined by notions of practicality or marketability were sparkling brilliantly in the sunlight.
Whatever the case, it was clear that a turning point was needed.
The carriage bearing the crest of House of Count Ix turned onto the poplar-lined forest road.
Sunlight filtered through the bright green poplar leaves. Lottie sighed, narrowing her eyes at a shaft of light that pierced through the window.
“How do you know of the Volchair family?”
Her father, who had been lost in thought with his gaze lowered, spoke first. As his dark green eyes stared intently at her, Lottie hiccuped as if her inner thoughts had been caught.
“I heard about them… while I was staying in the Capital. That their products are quite useful.”
Squeezing out a reasonable answer, Lottie cautiously observed her father. His expression remained an unreadable mask.
“Father. About earlier……”
“To my knowledge, you do not have a talent for design to the extent of being able to see through the principles of a machine at a glance.”
“……!”
“You glossed it over as a mistake, but you spoke as if you had clearly seen and heard it yourself at the 10th World Expo.”
Her father’s voice was calm, which made it all the more frightening. It felt as if he had returned to his days as a lawyer and she was being interrogated.
“Just what are you hiding? Lottie.”
Silence followed the pointed question.
— Your job is to meet a good match and form a family, not to do such dangerous things! Just how much do you have to disappoint this father to be satisfied?
— May… because of you…….
Even though she knew those weren’t her father’s true feelings, she couldn’t help but have miserable thoughts.
In the end, she had lost Tom Philson because of her own mistake, and that meant no matter how hard she tried, she could be nothing but a disappointment to her father.
Lottie looked at her father with reddened eyes, clutching the fabric of her dress. Taking Lottie’s silence as an answer, her father let out a heavy breath.
“I gave you a choice.”
“……Father.”
“You know better than anyone that the situation is not good. So, you must know what choice needs to be made, even if I don’t say it.”
Her father’s green eyes were wishing for Lottie to marry the Crown Prince. Now that Tom Philson was gone, he wanted her to become a member of the Royal Family before any harm could come to her. Only then, even if the worst happened later, would Lottie be protected under the aegis of the Royal Family.
Lottie pressed her hand to her forehead in frustration, caught between a rock and a hard place. Her father watched his daughter with an expression more solemn than stone.
— I have kept my promise, so you, Count, must keep yours as well.
It was around the time that a memory he had forced into the back of his mind suddenly flashed through Robert’s brain.
They felt the carriage, which had been traveling at a steady pace, slowly come to a halt.
“Jonas! What is happening?”
“I-I’m sorry, milord. A man in uniform suddenly blocked the way……”
Before the flustered Jonas could even finish his sentence, someone pounded on the carriage door. It was a man in a navy military uniform with his hat pulled low.
As her father opened the window to assess the situation, the man in uniform slightly tipped his hat.
“What is the meaning of this?”
“Excuse me. A few days ago, we received a report that prohibited goods crossed the border through a smuggler.”
The attitude of the man, who appeared to be a guard from the Border Checkpoint, was strangely light. There was also a peculiar accent in his speech.
Did he intend to search the inside of the carriage? The carriage of the ruling family of the County?
Lottie and her father, thinking the same thing at the same time, glanced at each other briefly.
“Regarding the smuggler, our family will also cooperate to the best of our ability in the search. If you describe the smuggler’s appearance, I will return to my house and send out men to……”
“Searching the carriage is official business following the strict command of Her Majesty the Queen.”
The man spoke with a cynical tone and glanced at the carriage’s crest. Her father’s face hardened, anticipating the words that would follow.
“Surely you aren’t saying that in this County, the landlord’s command stands above the Royal command?”
