Chapter 30
“Oh my, what a beautiful room!”
“There are so many tulips!”
The young ladies attending the tea party hosted by the Fourth Princess, Susanna, let out cries of admiration the moment they laid eyes on the drawing room.
The room was filled with tulips. There were easily over 2,000 blooms.
And they weren’t ordinary tulips, either—they were double pink tulips.
Tulips were already large and luxurious flowers, and these double-bloom varieties looked so lavish it was as if the room had been transformed into a rose-filled garden.
“Hehe, Father gave them to me as a gift.”
“His Majesty the Emperor?”
“Yes. When I told him I was hosting a tea party, he gladly offered them as decorations. Honestly, I told him something this extravagant wasn’t necessary…”
Susanna spoke modestly, and the young ladies responded with awe.
“As expected, His Majesty dotes on Princess Susanna!”
“Of course he does! Princess Susanna is so talented and beautiful!”
“I heard you even made a huge profit last month by successfully investing in a trade route with the Duchy of Helvetia!”
Princess Susanna, the Fourth Princess. Despite being only seventeen, she had already made her mark in the commercial world.
She had started her own business at age eleven, and by seventeen, she owned two companies and one merchant guild. With exceptional talent for investment, she had once been named the youngest stock millionaire, and currently held the largest personal fortune among the royal siblings.
Thanks to her extraordinary skills, Susanna was one of the so-called Children of the Emperor, a term used for the Emperor’s most favored offspring.
She took immense pride in her abilities—and in being one of the Emperor’s children.
It was a position coveted by nobles and desperately sought after by her siblings. Susanna had no intention of missing even a single taste of the superiority and influence that came with it.
The glory of absolute power was just that sweet.
But…
“Lady Harris, what are those tulips?!”
With the arrival of a late guest, Susanna’s mood was completely ruined.
Lady Harris, the daughter of Marquis Harris, had adorned her hat and dress with just a few tulips.
And yet, those few tulips were stunning and mysterious in a way that made it impossible to look away.
The petals were bluish and translucent, as if made of glass, with fine crack-like veins resembling shattered crystal, giving off a fragile and otherworldly aura.
At first, Susanna thought they were artificial flowers made of glass.
But they weren’t. Despite their glass-like transparency, the dewy freshness of the petals was unmistakably that of real flowers.
“Heavens, they’re so beautiful!”
“I can’t believe tulips like that exist!”
“Lady Harris, where did you get those tulips? Please, you must tell us!”
The mood changed in an instant. The young ladies, who had been fawning over the room full of tulips, now swarmed around Lady Harris, asking about her and her flowers.
This, despite the thousands of gorgeous tulips filling the room.
I knew it…
The glory may be sweet, but it never lasts.
Susanna hadn’t always been a favored daughter.
Until she was thirteen and her business took off, she’d been just another powerless princess barely scraping by.
One day, not long after becoming one of the Emperor’s Children, she witnessed a sister being thrown out of the palace.
“Father! It’s me! Christine! The daughter you once cherished!”
It was the Second Princess, Christine, who had shown great talent in swordsmanship since the age of six and had once been loved as one of the Emperor’s Children.
The Emperor looked at his once-beloved daughter with a cold gaze.
“Covered in scars and crippled—how could she possibly secure a good marriage?”
Christine had been gravely injured in battle and lost the use of her leg. The Emperor completely turned his back on her after that.
Susanna had watched that pitiful scene, trembling.
Then, she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. It was the Emperor.
“Susanna, thank goodness. Your commercial talent can’t be taken from you so easily.”
Even then, she didn’t feel reassured by her father’s touch. Rather, it felt like the jaws of a beast brushing the back of her neck.
After that day, Christine was never seen again.
Such was the fate of a fallen Child of the Emperor.
From then on, Susanna had worked herself to the bone to survive.
She sharpened her business talents, maintained her social influence, and crushed any siblings who showed potential.
In the royal family, the Emperor’s favor directly translated to social power.
That’s why, even though she had received 500 tulips from the Emperor, she had bought 1,500 more with her own money—just to show off his favor.
And yet… she had been upstaged by just a few mysterious flowers.
Susanna clenched her teeth in frustration.
But she couldn’t afford to simply sulk.
“Lady Harris, may I ask where you got those tulips?”
“Oh my!”
“Even Princess Susanna…!”
Susanna, who had always led fashion trends with her imported goods, was now the one asking the questions—and the young ladies were stunned.
Her pride took a massive hit, but there was no helping it.
Lady Harris shyly lowered her gaze, but Susanna could see the smug satisfaction playing at the corners of her mouth.
Only after making Susanna squirm a bit did she speak.
“Of course, Your Highness. As for where I found them…”
* * *
[Tulips are selling like hotcakes!]
Cecil leaned against a wall, counting her money.
Right now, she had tied her long brown hair back in a sleek ponytail and was dressed in tailored trousers, looking every bit a tall, elegant woman in men’s clothing.
“Well, obviously—they’re my invention.”
She said it casually, but the pleased expression on her face said it all.
Lately, Cecil had been using a growth accelerator and color-changing potion to turn ordinary red tulip bulbs into rare, beautiful flowers to sell to the nobility.
At first, nobles were suspicious of her lack of credentials. But the moment they saw the stunning tulips, their eyes widened and they eagerly handed over their coin.
And while even that alone brought in profits far beyond the cost of the original bulbs, Cecil had her eye on something bigger.
“Well, today’s quota is filled. Time to head back before Anne finds out.”
[Agreed.]
Just as Cecil was about to leave—
A group of men blocked her path.
“Are you Miss Gerda?”
That was the alias she used while selling the tulips. Cecil nodded.
“I am. And you are?”
“You’ll need to come with us.”
“Without telling me where? Who’s asking for me?”
As the men surrounded her in a threatening manner, Cecil asked calmly.
“He’s waiting for you at the Star Palace.”
The sun symbolized the Emperor, the moon symbolized the Empress—and the stars symbolized the Emperor’s many children.
It’s finally here.
Realizing the opportunity she’d been waiting for had arrived, Cecil smiled inwardly.
A short while later, Cecil was seated in the drawing room of the Star Palace.
The one who had summoned her arrived a bit late.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Gerda. I’m the Fourth Princess, Susanna d’Obedien.”
I thought it’d be you.
Making others wait to assert dominance was Susanna’s specialty.
And given how much she prides herself on setting trends and maintaining social influence, I knew she’d hunt down whoever was selling these tulips once she saw them circulating.
Even so, Cecil feigned surprise on the outside.
“It’s an honor to meet the Empire’s precious star, Princess Susanna.”
She bowed and kissed her older sister’s hand.
[Be careful, Cecil. Traveling here took up most of the time. You’ve only got 30 minutes left. Wrap it up quickly.]
