Chapter 31
‘I know. That much is nothing to me.’
With an air of elegance, Susanna accepted the kiss on her hand.
“You may have guessed already, but I want to buy your tulips.”
“Your Highness, Princess Susanna—the renowned Susanna herself wishing to purchase my tulips… It’s an honor for my family,”
Cecil replied, plastering a merchant’s grin across her face.
“How many would you like? My storage is nearby, so I can fetch them immediately.”
“I don’t want just a few. I want to buy all your tulips.”
Susanna’s eyes curved slyly.
“And the cultivation method and exclusive rights too. I intend to purchase everything.”
Upon hearing those words, Cecil couldn’t hide the genuine smile that crept onto her lips.
‘Susanna, you really are greedy.’
She thought with quiet joy.
‘I love your greed. Because one day, it’ll be the very thing that destroys you.’
It wasn’t just because of the petty grievances Susanna had flung at her after Cecil’s regression.
In the imperial court, where the strong devoured the weak, everyone trampled those below them—but Susanna had always been especially cruel to her siblings.
To avoid falling from grace among the emperor’s favored children, Susanna would do anything.
Anyone who showed even a hint of talent—if they were her sibling—she crushed them before they could bloom.
Before her regression, at least a handful of Cecil’s siblings had been rendered crippled by mysterious “accidents.”
Rumors circulated that Susanna had orchestrated it all, but no one dared investigate too deeply.
Cecil, known as the infamous “Lost Cause,” didn’t seem like someone worth checking—yet Susanna often singled her out for torment.
Maybe Susanna had recognized her potential early on, or maybe she just didn’t like Cecil’s personality. Either way, the malice was real.
When Cecil was ten, one such incident occurred.
For some unknown reason, the supply of goods to the lesser royal children’s wing was cut off for three weeks.
Food deliveries stopped too. In the end, Cecil survived on one cabbage leaf and three corn kernels per day.
The lower-ranking princes and princesses starved, while those with powerful backers—like the Crown Prince or Susanna—remained untouched.
As Cecil clung to her leaf and kernels, the Crown Prince’s palace threw lavish balls nightly and discarded banquet food in heaps.
Eventually, some of the struggling royal children turned to their powerful siblings.
“Sister, please have mercy. If you’d share just one dish from the banquet, I’ll repay the favor someday, I swear…”
The 18th Prince, Arnold, decided to rely on Susanna, the wealthiest among them. Afraid to go alone, he dragged Cecil with him.
Susanna looked down at Arnold’s kneeling figure with smug satisfaction and said,
“Well, I don’t waste a penny on worthless investments. And I’ve got no money to spend on someone like the 18th Prince.”
“Sister!”
Arnold cried desperately. Susanna chuckled softly.
“Well, I suppose seeing corpses in the palace wouldn’t be very dignified. How about a trade? The basic rule of commerce is equivalent exchange, dear. The currency or goods exchanged must be of equal value.”
“Equivalent… exchange?”
“Yes. I’ll share banquet food—if you dance for me. Naked, of course.”
The shocking proposal left both Arnold and Cecil speechless.
“There’s nothing else of value you can offer me, is there? Other than a brief moment of entertainment.”
Arnold paused in deep thought before replying.
“I’ll do it.”
“What?! Are you insane, Arnold? You’re throwing away your pride for one meal?!”
“At least you had cabbage and corn, Cecil. I haven’t had anything but sawdust for the past three days.”
His eyes were hollow.
“I’d rather be a well-fed pig than a starving philosopher.”
“Well said, Arnold! That attitude suits someone as worthless as you perfectly.”
Susanna burst into gleeful laughter.
“Cecil, how about you join him? You need food just as much…”
But she couldn’t finish her sentence.
Cecil had flung a half-eaten banquet plate right at Susanna’s face.
“Eat this, you gold-crazed devil hag!”
As punishment, Cecil was thrown into solitary confinement for four months.
“Looking back, it’s a miracle I escaped the palace in one piece with a personality like mine.”
Cecil now hid her cold hatred behind a sweet smile directed at Susanna.
“To think a variety I bred has won Your Highness’s heart—I’m beyond honored.”
“Then you agree to the deal?”
“Of course. I have 1,100 tulips remaining after my sales to the nobles. I’ll also provide the full cultivation method.”
Cecil placed a hand over her heart and bowed gracefully, smiling.
“However, my tulips are expensive. But I trust that a lady of Your Highness’s discerning taste will recognize their true value.”
“Price is no obstacle to me. What are you asking?”
“Sixty thousand gold coins, Your Highness.”
Sixty thousand gold!
Enough to purchase multiple buildings in Eliza Street, the capital’s most affluent district.
Even for Susanna, that was not an amount to be handed over lightly.
Though skilled at maintaining her composure, Cecil could clearly see the subtle tremor in Susanna’s pupils.
‘Still, with the cultivation method and exclusive rights, she can make it back. This variety will cause a stir in high society. The price of tulips is only rising—by next year, they’ll be even more valuable.’
With that thought, Susanna nodded coolly.
“I expected you to demand something outrageous, but this is… not so bad.”
“Then would Your Highness like to offer more?”
“…But perhaps that is the fair price for those tulips.”
Cecil could practically read Susanna’s nervousness and had to stifle a chuckle.
“Well then, I’d like to inspect the goods. You said your warehouse is nearby?”
“Yes. If you’ll lend me a few workers, I’ll have them brought at once.”
Soon, they stood in a drawing room filled with 1,100 tulips.
Susanna had been irritated by the steep price, but the moment she saw them, all irritation melted away.
‘They look like ice sculptures.’
The tulips had a blue shimmer, with petals that faded to translucent tips like ice or glass.
A vein-like crack pattern ran through the center of the petals, giving them an ethereal fragility—like they might shatter with a touch.
Yet when touched, the petals felt soft and dewy, unmistakably alive.
Surrounded by such beauty, it was like dreaming. Susanna stared in a daze before regaining her senses.
“I’ll have them appraised—make sure they’re genuine and not colored or enchanted. You don’t mind?”
“Not at all.”
At her signal, an appraiser entered from the adjoining room and began examining the tulips through a portable microscope.
A few minutes later, he lifted his eye from the lens and spoke.
“No issues. They’re genuine.”
‘Of course they are. Who do you think brewed the potion? I was the continent’s top alchemy expert. A mere appraiser won’t catch anything.’
Cecil gave a warm, friendly smile.
“And here is the document detailing my cultivation methods and research. Shall we finalize the transaction now?”
“Of course. Wait just a moment—I’ll have them bring the checkbook.”
[Cecil, only two minutes left!]
Nibelung’s urgent voice echoed.
Though the court official fetching the checkbook would only be gone a moment, it felt like an eternity to Cecil.
“Your Highness, could you please sign quickly? I have an urgent appointment.”
“Is it more important than a sixty-thousand-gold transaction? Just a moment, I need to read the documents.”
As Susanna read the documents and signed the check, Cecil’s mana hit rock bottom. If her mana were a field, the soil would have cracked dry by now.
‘Damn it, I have to hold on! No matter what, I can’t let the disguise spell break!’
Sitting stiffly, Cecil clenched her fists, gritted her teeth, and mustered every ounce of willpower. Her toes wriggled inside her shoes.
[Endure, Cecil!]
Nibelung cheered her on desperately.
