Chapter 6
I'm a Homebody, But I Possessed a Dark Captivity Novel
Episode 6
The incident where 'unidentified' assailants infiltrated the very heart of the Kingdom of Salt spread throughout the entire country in an instant.
King Salt considered the incident the act of those who harbored treasonous intentions against the country and ordered a pursuit, but he did not reveal the details.
For instance, not even the identity of the person who was kidnapped.
Clang!
A top-quality ceramic, painstakingly crafted by a master artisan, toppled over with a single gesture and shattered into pieces.
It was clearly intentional, yet no one noticed.
The maid, startled, raised her head and asked with a worried expression.
“…Princess, are you alright?”
Rumeia, brushing back her abundant brown hair that resembled a wheat field ripe for harvest, raised her head a moment later.
“Ah, I think I’m just a little tired. I felt a bit dizzy for a moment.”
“You’re going to collapse like this. The atmosphere in the royal palace is already unsettling, and if something were to happen to you…”
“Amber.”
“…Yes?”
“I’m fine. So, could you please clean up the floor?”
“Ah, yes, yes. I’m sorry, Princess. I was just worried…”
“I know, thank you.”
Rumeia, a gentle smile gracing her pale face, remained consistently benevolent and kind even amidst the tense situation.
‘She’s such a good person.’
The maid, gathering the shards of glass scattered on the office floor, couldn’t hide her pity.
How shocked she had been when the news of assailants infiltrating the royal palace reached them.
Although everyone was keeping quiet, rumors were openly circulating that the Crown Prince of Cletan had sent people to kidnap Rumeia.
If such a thing were to happen, and the kind-hearted Princess were captured by the unscrupulous Crown Prince of the Empire, the Kingdom of Salt would be plunged into great sorrow.
Maid Amber prayed that such a thing would never happen.
“Then, please call me when you need me.”
The maid withdrew silently and closed the door.
As soon as the observer disappeared, Rumeia’s soft expression hardened.
Honestly, she felt like she was going crazy from stress lately.
‘It’s all April’s fault.’
It was customary for the King’s legitimate heir, regardless of gender, to actively participate in state affairs.
In the Kingdom of Salt, which had grown through commerce and trade, the capabilities of royalty were also an important qualification.
Unfortunately, however, Rumeia’s abilities were distributed too extremely.
For example, when it came to appearance management, rhetoric, dance, and image control—things that were outwardly visible—she boasted an unparalleled, thorough management ability… but her ‘academic brain’ was inherently poor.
It was so severe that if she read text for more than ten minutes a day, she would get a splitting headache.
Her comprehension was also below average, so it took a considerable amount of time to process and draw conclusions from work-related reports.
If her siblings hadn’t died one after another before they were even weaned, Rumeia, who had absolutely no talent for state affairs, wouldn’t have been so doted upon.
‘If it weren’t for that girl, things wouldn’t have escalated like this!’
However, King Salt did not want to reveal that the missing person was April.
He seemed concerned that the circumstances of her being kidnapped while acting as Rumeia’s proxy might be exposed.
Hiding his troubled expression, he summoned Rumeia and sternly commanded her.
“Now it is time for you to play your part. You’ve had enough time, so it shouldn’t be too difficult, should it?”
“Yes, Father. I will try my best.”
Rumeia could only bow her head, unable to refuse the command.
But.
To reiterate, Rumeia was foolish, and all problems started from there.
Therefore, it was perhaps natural that Rumeia directed all her resentment towards April.
Despite her best efforts, Rumeia simply could not fill April’s void.
Even if she stayed up all night reviewing documents and organizing her thoughts, they became useless scraps of paper the next day.
King Salt’s look of disdain was an added bonus.
If she had fallen behind simply because she didn’t try hard enough or because she took the work lightly, she wouldn’t have been this angry.
Creak.
Rumeia opened a drawer and took out a letter.
The thin, gold-leafed paper bore a clear imprint of the Cletan royal family’s symbol, depicting a soaring dragon.
“Raiden….”
As she reread the letter she had read several times, her face, filled with indignation, turned wistful as if it had never been otherwise.
The content, as always, was filled with praise for the wise and beautiful Rumeia.
Even though it took a long time to reread the letter, which had been reused several times, wouldn’t kind Raiden understand even if he knew Rumeia’s truth?
Lost in fantasy, Rumeia took out the letter she had been writing yesterday.
This was the letter she had been writing for three days now.
As soon as she wrote more than two lines, her brain felt like it would shatter, so even though she wrote with great difficulty, the volume didn’t even fill one page.
Even though it wasn’t raining at all and the sun was shining brightly, Raiden in the Empire wouldn’t know anyway.
Knock knock—
At the sound of the knock, Rumeia, who had been pouting, hastily hid the letter.
“Come in.”
“Um, Princess… I apologize for disturbing you while you’re busy.”
The young administrator, who entered the tidy office cautiously, bowed deeply and spoke.
“Um… the document I submitted a few days ago has not yet been approved.”
“A document submitted a few days ago?”
“Um… it’s that document.”
She checked the document on the desk indicated by the administrator, but her head already started to ache, so she put the document down shortly after.
Nevertheless, thanks to her superhuman concentration, she was able to discern just one thing from this complex document.
“Cletan Empire is requesting a grain trade.”
“Ah, yes. That’s correct. However…”
The administrator, scratching the back of his head with a troubled look, continued.
“It’s the grain we purchased from the Empire, and it’s a bit strange that the Empire wants to buy it back. I came to confirm.”
Huh?
What’s strange about that?
Rumeia tilted her head inwardly.
‘Don’t Cletan people need to eat grain too? They can’t just eat bread.’
Reaching a conclusion, she replied casually.
“Give them as much grain as they want.”
“Pardon?”
“Instead, we can charge a higher price, can’t we?”
“How much should we charge?”
“Hmm. Double? Or is triple better?”
“Ah…”
The administrator sensed something was off but didn’t show it.
‘The Princess must have her reasons. She’s been doing excellently so far, so…’
Having concluded this, he swallowed the remaining doubts like dregs and bowed.
“Then, I will quote triple the price.”
“No, wait a moment.”
Rumeia, after some thought, said in a slightly lowered voice.
“Between double and triple…?”
“Are you referring to 2.5 times the price?”
Between double and triple means four times, doesn’t it?
Rumeia tilted her head, but for some reason, she felt like she shouldn’t voice that thought, so she quietly nodded.
“We will proceed accordingly.”
The document in the administrator’s hand as he left the office bore the Princess’s seal.
Soon, Rumeia, left alone, took out the letter again.
She couldn’t remember where she had left off, and rereading what she had written made her head throb again.
‘Hold on! Let’s finish writing just four more lines by tomorrow and send it.’
She had to contact Raiden quickly.
The nib of the pen in her white hand was fully dipped in black ink.
Rumeia’s reply writing, which began thus, concluded an hour later, after precisely adding two more lines to the original amount.
\ \ *
“…Honestly, I thought it was a lie.”
“What?”
After April was dragged away, Liam, who had remained silent for a long time, spoke while observing the Grand Duke.
“That April Solt is Princess Rumeia’s proxy.”
“We can’t be entirely sure yet.”
“If she is the Princess’s proxy, will you keep her alive?”
Kaiyan did not place much value on human life. He took it if necessary, and discarded it without hesitation if not. Liam, who had witnessed countless sinners perish in the underground prison of the Grand Duke’s residence, was proof of this.
However, if April was indeed Rumeia’s proxy, she would at least have the value to survive and live within the Grand Duke’s residence.
“I intend to. She will be useful in many ways.”
If they just kept her alive, she would work like a slave, and there was no need to discard such a slave.
Furthermore, April had thwarted Raiden’s plans one by one, as if she had known them in advance. He needed to keep her by his side to ascertain the source of that information.
“To the Crown Prince… yes. It would be better to report that it failed.”
It was regrettable that the deal he intended to make with Raiden through Princess Rumeia had fallen through, but it wasn’t an immediate emergency.
It would be wiser to monitor the Crown Prince’s next move instead.
“I will send a dispatch to the Imperial Palace.”
Liam, bowing deeply, turned and hurried away.
