Dale listened intently as he spoke.
Enya must have told him about it once.
He remembered Enya telling him a story about a noble woman and a ghost man, and how she was lamenting that it had not been completed.
“Is there any way I can find this author’s book?”
Dale asked Getty with a stern look on his face, as if testing his abilities.
“I did some approximations, of course.”
Dale's eyebrows rose slightly as Getty held up the papers again.
It was an interesting gift.
It was different than before, that's for sure.
“By the way.”
Dale tapped his fingers lazily on the desk.
“I'm not sure anything that's not jeweled is really appropriate for the princess's 21st birthday.”
His tone was experimental.
You only get one chance to make a gift, once a year.
For Dale, it was a moment of choice.
Getty chuckled, as if he had been anticipating the question.
“I'm sure of it, Your Majesty.”
"Jewelry can be tiring.
I don't think there is a piece of jewelery that His Noble Highness the Duke does not own.
While designs may go out of style, books never go out of style."
Jetty said confidently.
"Books stand the test of time, and most importantly, the princess loves them.
They are no less valuable than jewelry: out-of-print books have higher prices, and there are people who collect them for that very purpose."
“…….”
"And most of all, the heart.
She'll think of you whenever she looks at that book.
She'll think of you whenever she lies in bed, whether it's rain or shine.
She'll think of you when she sleeps.
She reads a lot, a lot, doesn't she?"
“In other words, this is a very good opportunity to win the princess’s heart, Your Majesty.”
It was a very loud talk that did not take into account the Emperor's tendency to make noise.
Suho thought he should stop Getty.
He was sure that the Emperor would be angry.
“Very well.”
But the moment the words of approval left his lips, the assistants' reactions split in half.
Some were terrified, others were amazed.
Then Dale turned to Getty, who was smiling confidently, and gave the order.
“Know the exact location of the author.”
* * *
Bang!
I cringed as the books suddenly fell off the shelves at home.
The house was always clean, but I loved organizing my precious collection myself.
Actually, that was an excuse, there were some high level things in the books and I didn't want anyone to find out.
"embarrassed".
I put the books back in their place.
'But did you buy these books?'
I hadn't realized I'd bought some because I'd collect them every time I went to the library and slowly flip through them as if I'd never seen them before.
For hours.
What I intended to be a quick read turned out to be a lot of fun and I ended up reading several books.
She stopped arranging the bookshelves and sat cross-legged on the floor, leaning against the bookshelves.
'What's next?'
I asked myself as I pushed the book out of my head and picked up another one.
The title looked familiar.
The title was similar to the title of the original novel, and the main character happened to be an empress.
But I haven't seen it, so why not?
It was a new idea for a book.
Incarnation.
I closed the book and looked at the title and author's name again.
It was a strange setup that I had never seen before in my life.
'...I'm not the only one reincarnated, is Madame Cosette also reincarnated?'
It was a setup that had me scratching my head, but I started reading anyway.
“The female protagonist comes from another world…… she is adopted by a ducal family…… and meets the male protagonist who is an emperor…….”
My eyes got bigger and bigger as I read.
“When the male hero begins to become obsessed with the female hero, he kills the Duke.”
I tilted my head more and more.
Was this by the Madame Cosette I know?
I looked at the author, and yes, it was.
It was a pity, but Madame Cosette was a writer of exquisite taste.
“The reason the Duke was killed……was because the female protagonist loved the Duke more than the male protagonist.”
Even this was similar.
I was feeling afraid.
I felt like I wasn't reading a book, but consulting in a store.
Somehow, the pace of the story seemed too fast.
That was only about 20 pages into the book.
Maybe this is where the story really begins.
“The heroine of the novel, who dreamed of all these misfortunes, thought it was just a dream, but……one day, she actually moves and falls into an unknown world.”
I stopped again.
“Then she is adopted by a duke, lives as a princess, and meets the protagonist she knows.”
I closed the book, took a deep breath, and read again.
“Then the heroine discovers that she has been reincarnated.
When she is about to marry the Emperor, she leaves her family.”
Did I see that correctly?
It was so similar that I wondered if she had actually written my story.
What is this?
“The heroine runs away from home for a few years, meets a man, and….”
Then nothing else was written.
"What is this!"
I closed the book and quickly put it back in its place.
There was only one book, and even that book was not completed.
Will this book be published?
My heart was pounding with excitement.
And if it didn't stop there, it was so painful that I wondered if my future was written there.
“This is strange……”
“Ma’am, is something wrong, are you okay?”
“Lady Mary, I would like a cup of tea, please.
Something soothing.”
I quickly drank the tea the maid brought and calmed my trembling breaths.
No matter how much I think about it, it doesn't seem like it's the imagination of someone living in this world.
Was Madame Cosette from the future?
Or an incarnated person like me?
I couldn't even figure out why Madame Cosette's unfinished book was on my bookshelf in the first place.
I calmed myself with the tea Madame Marie had brought.
'I must find Madame Cosette, there's a good chance she knows what I know.'
She was a strange person.
'But where can I find an irresponsible writer who disappeared without finishing her ghost story, leaving behind a single book about an imprisoned empress?'
A writer of Madame Cosette's caliber would have returned to finish the story.
'Not only is she good at writing, she's also very good at hiding.'
She sighed and let the hot tea cool down.
The fragrant smell of tea calmed me a little.
Does it have any soothing properties?
“It smells nice.”
I sipped my tea, trying to stay calm.
"but."
Suddenly, I realized that the smell of this tea was familiar.
“What was the name of this tea……?”
“It's my first tea, ma'am, and it was a gift from the last time you were in Salou.”
replied Madame Marie, muttering something
This was the tea I got for carrying the luggage to the man's house.
This wasn't my first time drinking it, but I wondered what the familiarity was about.
I smelled him again.