“Hah…….”
The morning sun was shining bright.
'The bed is so thin!'
I felt like I was melting into ice cream.
She sat up stiffly and stretched.
'Mmm, Dale's still there, didn't he say he was going out?'
I shook him to wake him up, then stopped.
Dale's face was bathed in the morning sun.
handsome.
“Dale…….”
Can a human being look like this?
Then I saw his shirt was unbuttoned.
I clicked my tongue at the sight of Dale sleeping upright.
I carefully buttoned it up.
It looked like a fish lying next to a cat.
“I wish you had done that in front of someone other than me.”
The day was bright, and I could see Dale's face better.
His face was too pure and clean for this cruel world.
I couldn't take my eyes off him.
I pushed myself to my feet and lay down, admiring his features.
“It is cheating to be handsome.”
I moved a little closer to observe.
I didn't want to touch it, but I couldn't help but admire it.
I leaned over and looked at Dale.
"He has beautiful eyes, luscious lips, and a beautiful body.
Dale seems to have it all."
It was as if the ruler had given him all the good things when he created him.
I stared at Dale.
I didn't think I would find a husband so nice, so handsome, even after the contract was over.
“We've been together for dozens of days, Dale.”
Many of the originally promised 364 days have disappeared.
“Take care until then……eh?”
I staggered.
I tried to get up, but my legs got stuck in the blanket.
I turned sideways, nearly rolling out of bed.
Bajik!
Dale caught me.
My heart pounded in my chest as I nearly hit the ground.
He pulled me into a sudden hug.
"Are you well?"
“Thanks……I wouldn’t have survived if it wasn’t for Dale.”
While I was thanking him, I suddenly noticed something strange.
Did he really just wake up?
He moved quickly?
“Huh?”
I opened my frozen lips, which were as white as paper.
“Have you woken up……since then?”
Dale's face was red and he couldn't look at me.
Did he hear all the nonsense I said?
“Oh, no…….i
* * *
“You mean you haven't dealt with this yet?”
“I'm working on it, but it will take more time.”
“Winter is coming, have we secured the secondary sites for each country?”
Kiloveldt Peak.
The Lord was running his calculations in his troubled head.
“I didn’t realize that the lack of rain this year would be a problem.”
Buying glow-in-the-dark stones was a very important matter.
After being used in holiday decorations, it was collected and distributed free of charge to those in need, replacing expensive kerosene for lighting at night.
It was also a great source of firewood, as it was easy to catch fire and difficult to extinguish.
It wasn't just decoration.
Rather, it was a necessity to survive the harsh winter cold, and an annual interest for the common people in the empire.
“The Emperor hasn’t said anything yet, but the first examination will come soon.”
“I looked elsewhere, but they smelled it and asked a price well above market value.”
"with you?"
“Four times the market value.”
“What a bunch of crooks.”
“Where is the cheapest?”
“About three times as much, but I checked, and the quality is not good.”
“And there is nowhere to get it from within the empire, not even one?”
When asked, the head of the capital branch, a member of the Supreme Council and supervisor of local distribution, shook his head.
“We consumed a lot of it during the recent monster extermination, so it's difficult to get enough of it.
However, Count Kidson has imposed a condition.”
"condition?"
Jack Kiloveldt's brow furrowed deeply.
His usual supplier, Count Kidson, was beginning to reduce his cooperation with Kilofeldt, which meant he had found someone else.
Count Kidson was one of the main factions of the ancient nobility.
This meant that Duke Hexagon would be released from house arrest.
It was preparation for this.
The whole situation within the empire was heading towards resolution.
“I didn't tell you because it was a no-brainer.”
The head of the capital branch handed over the papers.
“In exchange for the glowing stones, he offered to transfer the Southern Branch of the Upper South to his territory, 3,000 remicillin roots, a cure for seasonal diseases, and tiles to repair the palace…….”
“Tell him to stop.”
Jack clicked his tongue in disbelief.
“A passing dog will laugh.”
How did he know he was planning to move the Southern Branch anyway?
Jack frowned.
“First, bring some glowing stones from abroad, His Majesty wants good quality.”
“But if that happens, we will lose, not win, in the union.”
“Even if we lose, we still have someone to catch.”
This is the current emperor.
It should never be overlooked.
Oh, my God!
Just then, the office door opened and an employee came to Jack.
"What?"
“There is a special guest.”
Jack understood the signal.
His Majesty the Emperor was here. personally.
And without warning?
“Are you sure this is a special guest?”
The Emperor he had seen over the past ten years was not that kind of person.
If the story of the Southern Branch was any indication, someone had learned of his dealings with the Emperor and was trying to impersonate him.
Jack wondered for a moment if he should call in a private.
Then he heard someone approaching.
Jack frowned and glanced at the door, and was surprised to see an unfamiliar face without a mask.
“Long time no see”
Is this the emperor?
But isn't His Majesty blond?
This young man had black hair.
But he was emitting a terrifying aura.
His voice was identical to the emperor's voice.
So why.
“See you again, Lord.”
Why does he use honorific words?
* * *
“I almost didn't recognize you.
Heh…….”
“I'm here to see you again, as I told you the other day.”
Jack focused all his attention on the tone of his voice.
He couldn't figure out why he was suddenly showing his face and using his nickname.
He wondered if this was a new test, but if so.
“Dale, we're inside, so take off your robe.”
It was impossible for him to appear with a young woman by his side.
But he had the credentials, the voice, and the identity of the Emperor he knew.
No, he should do the opposite.
It may have been a trick of the trader's intuition that was leading him there.
If so, who was this woman who was commanding the Emperor so easily……?
Jack smelled money and quickly rolled his eyes.
No, something bigger than money.
the future.
“Haha, you mean that deal, I know.
I remembered and was waiting.”
He didn't know what he was talking about, really, unlike the last time he came.
“It's time to prepare the Luminous Stones.”
He doesn't think there was any pressure other than that.
But he had a 40-year-old dealer's instinct that this woman held the key.
“Yes.
About that.”
“…….”
“……?”
Jack quickly guessed what Dale was referring to.
“Glowing stones.”
He leaned back in his chair, trying not to look confused, and wondered if there was a bugging device in this office, and it had entered at the time he was talking about it.
Jack relied on all the intuition he had honed as a professional.
'She's not his girlfriend.'
He tried to remember where he had seen that face before.
A dictionary of tens of thousands of informal pronouns raced through his mind.
'Princess of the House of Lockhart.'
Enya Lockhart.
She had brown eyes and brown hair, which made him nervous, but there was no other woman who could be this close to the Emperor, no other princess had been formally asked to marry him, she was the only one.
The fact that she came in disguise revealed her identity.
Jack finished his calculations.
“Do you have a large amount of glow-in-the-dark stones?”