Chapter 55
A Man Bows to His In-Laws' Fence Posts If His Wife Is Beautiful
"If we made this... I mean, if the Rockenhardt territory residents made and sold it, wouldn't their livelihoods improve a bit?"
Yuan had been observing the White Forest, which was barren and remote, with few visitors, resulting in an abundance of rare herbs.
Moreover, green dandelions were so plentiful they were practically underfoot, making them sufficient for Cleaning Potion ingredients.
In addition, she and Hille had researched and added a few more herbs, and these minor auxiliary herbs were also abundant in the White Forest, if nowhere else.
Klaud scrutinized the neat handwriting, which resembled hers, with a subtle expression.
Judging by the white paper patches and the layers of corrections, it was clear that a great deal of effort had been put into it.
"Why are you giving this to me? Do you want me to tell you to get a job and earn money?"
"No!"
"Then?"
"Why would it be like that...? It's not like that at all! I just want to help..."
"So, why."
Why?
Klaud wasn't blaming her, nor was he angry.
Yuan groped for his low voice, which asked so casually, and racked her brains trying to guess what answer he wanted.
Could it be that he felt uncomfortable at the thought of making Yuan earn money, judging by the way he seemed reluctant to utter each word in the phrase 'tell you to get a job and earn money'?
Even though he knew that she was the one who gave the orders, not the one who did the work herself?
'It was like this before, too.'
When he asked why she wanted to endure the pain and sleep with him.
When he asked why she was so diligently cleaning the West Annex without being asked.
He always asked with that expression.
Always a languid face as if facing something boring, yet persistently as if there was an answer he wanted.
Yuan's head became complicated, and she rolled her eyes before focusing on his grape-flavored candy eyes and answering.
Strangely, her mouth felt dry. She had to swallow the urge to gulp down that seemingly refreshing and sweet thing and roll it around in her mouth.
"I want Your Highness to be happy."
"..."
"I'm happy when Your Highness is happy."
"..."
"Is that not a good enough reason?"
For some reason, a suffocating silence fell.
It was always like this when she was with him.
There were moments of comfortable silence where it felt like they had everything just by being together without a word, and then there were moments of unexpected, suffocating silence that made her wonder if her heart was attached to her ears.
After a long silence, Klaud opened his mouth just before Yuan's heart was about to burst.
"I said you could do whatever you want."
"Then...!"
"But the person in charge should be Hille or that wooden skewer, use him."
With those words, Klaud got up.
"You're allowing it?"
"Do I have to say it again? I said you can do whatever you want."
"As long as I don't die?"
When Yuan said with a grin, Klaud frowned very briefly and then lightly ruffled her hair.
At that sudden action, Yuan stood there blankly, wondering what had just happened to her again.
Klaud, who had already reached the door, opened it and waited.
"What are you doing."
Making space for her to go out first.
"You said we were going for a walk."
Yuan took Klaud's hand and went outside, feeling like she was walking on clouds.
As the perfectly cleaned West Annex revealed its presence before them, almost blindingly, Klaud stopped abruptly before reaching the entrance.
Yuan, who had let go of his hand and was about to open the fence gate and enter, looked up at him with wide eyes when she saw that he hadn't let go of her hand, her gaze shifting from their still-clasped hands to his face.
And she watched the owner of this mansion, who had reclaimed a part of what was once called the Red Brick Mansion, quietly admiring it.
Between their unreleased palms, a ticklish and hot sensation that made her tremble once again surged like a tidal wave and then subsided repeatedly.
****
One month later.
News that the <Cleaning Potion>, which had advanced to the capital through the Lev Marquess family's trading company, was gaining widespread popularity in Euphris was briefly reported in the newspaper.
It was inevitable that the rumor that the dull trading company, which maintained the dignity of the nobility and only sold moderately high-end goods, was making a fortune by hitting it big with an unheard-of <Cleaning Potion> would eventually reach the Pellieresse Mansion, located on the outskirts of the capital.
***
Count Geret Pellieze was barely holding back his anger at the continuous stream of news.
[Lev Trading Company Achieves Highest First Quarter Profit! A Pro-Commoner Move by a Great Family]
Until he saw the Lev Marquess family's trading company, which was incomparable in size to his wife's family's Felt Trading Company - although he had severed ties with them now - sweeping up gold with its sluggish business operations.
More precisely, until the very reasonable suspicion arose that Yuan Pellieresse had created this suddenly appearing <Cleaning Potion>.
"That's impossible!"
Count Pellieze finally threw down the newspaper as soon as he read the passage that inquiries were flooding into the Lev Trading Company from the great noble families of the capital, Cielo, who were even trying to receive regular deliveries.
'Yuan. Yuan Pellieresse... It can only be Yuan Pellieresse.'
Trading companies run by noble families only handle valuables that they alone share, and they only acquire and support or invest in trading companies run by commoners for such miscellaneous goods.
Could it be that Yuan Pellieresse has nothing to do with the Lev Marquess family selling such miscellaneous goods - but profitable ones?
'When would the high-nosed Lev Marquess family have researched and created such a potion? That's absurd!'
Geret Pellieze, who was so frustrated that he repeatedly drank cold water, stomped on the thrown newspaper and circled around the drawing room before suddenly glaring at the paper that Priscilla was reading with a pleased expression.
It was a reply containing the content that the Lev Marquess family and the Monster Deposed Emperor were willing to comply with his unreasonable demand for a bridal payment.
"Why did they give it all, anyway?"
While writing the list, Geret Pellieze himself had confidently demanded, 'Even if a beauty capable of toppling a kingdom came as a bride, she couldn't give this much, I'm sure.'
Naturally, the groom's side should have sent someone saying that the demands were excessive, and Count Pellieresse was going to stubbornly insist that if they couldn't provide this much dowry, they should return Yuan and get a divorce.
"A man bows to his in-laws' fence posts if his wife is beautiful, they say."
Priscilla replied with a pleased smile, her mouth reaching her ears.
With Yuan gone and the coffers, which had been emptying as if cursed, now full, she had temporarily stopped nagging her husband or selling the name of the First Prince Bolonico to her parents' Felt Trading Company and borrowing money.
Count Pellieze immediately sneered at his wife, who was smiling without a care in the world, even though his insides were burning.
"Ah. So you're saying Yuan was that beautiful?"
"She was good enough to look at. She was gloomy and tearful, but she was quite... You used to threaten her to be good at entertaining guests with that pretty face of hers."
"So. Has that Monster Deposed Emperor stopped doing the crazy things that people are talking about and settled down with Yuan?"
"That's how men and women are, what. If it was predictable, who would read novels and watch plays and say they're interesting? Look at us. A noble man without a title like you and I, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, met and are now married and living with money and titles? Who knows. Maybe Yuan, that timid girl, acted like a hundred-year-old fox in front of a man. Think about how she left home without looking back to find her own way. That sly girl."
"The Deposed Emperor was once engaged to 'that' Grand Duchess Ariesta! Can you imagine how high his standards are? And what about the girls who suffered misfortunes after entering that ominous mansion? Do you think the Imperial Family only sent girls with flaws? He has an eye for beauty!"
"Anyway, it's a relief that things have turned out this way. Thanks to this bridal payment, we can breathe a little easier now. It's a hundred or a thousand times better than giving nothing, what."
Priscilla smiled contentedly, looking at the rings glittering on her fingers.
It was gold that had poured in just as the family was declining, as if Yuan had cast a curse on her way out.
She was about to pretend to forgive her husband's nephew, who had ungratefully left home and created a hole in the workforce.
"Regina is getting along well with His Highness the First Prince. Frederick is about to graduate from the military academy. Now our warehouse is so full that we don't have to worry about making a living for a few years, so let's increase it and prepare a dowry to take to the Imperial Family when Regina gets married."
"Are you still having such vain dreams?"
Count Pellieze frowned and scoffed as if he was pathetic.
It was true that he could breathe a little easier thanks to that ridiculous bridal payment.
He didn't have to see his wife communicating with his uncomfortable in-laws. He could pay more attention to Regina's Debutante, and he didn't have to pull his eldest son, who was at least decent at swordsmanship, out of the military academy, which required a huge amount of tuition.
Moreover, he could show the great nobles who were pressing him to produce research results on good medicine as much as he had invested, saying, "I have your money and I'm not using it for nothing," so how fortunate.
But what he truly wanted was not the gold in front of him, but the goose that laid the golden eggs, Yuan Pellieresse.
If only Yuan was locked in the side room, everything would be in his hands.
The gold to marry Regina to a suitable man from a suitable family who could bring the territory as a bridal payment.
The gold to bring a daughter from a noble family - who could also bring even a small piece of land as a dowry - to support Frederick when he graduated from the military academy and officially received the title of knight, and later became Count Pellieresse.
It wasn't an absurd wish if he had Yuan.
