CHAPTER 41……………………………………………..
“It’s late, but I wanted to at least express my thanks.”
“Hmm. Alright.”
“…….”
“First, have a seat.”
They say humans are adaptable creatures.
Ariana had fully adopted the posture and demeanor of a noble young lady over the past nine months.
The notion that she was nervous existed only in Ariana’s mind.
Her nervousness was completely imperceptible to others.
Seeing Ariana so composed, the two princes exchanged curious looks.
“I thought you didn’t like us.”
“……?”
“So I guess that’s not the case.”
“…I thought my brothers disliked me.”
“Me?”
“Us?”
Cherdikas asked first, apparently flustered, and then it was Alessandro’s turn.
‘This feels like it’s developing similarly to how things went with Adrian…’
Upon reflection, perhaps the one who was least aware was Ariana herself.
She was ambitious, that was true.
Even as a reader, she had enjoyed girl-crush romance novels more than parenting stories.
She had been temporarily frustrated when she first realized the difficulty level of “The Tyrant King” was rated SSS, but it hadn’t really bothered her in the long run.
‘It felt good in a way, because it meant I had to immerse myself fully to survive.’
Rather than a mediocre difficulty, it was better if things were either very easy or extremely challenging.
Even if it was forced immersion from the outside, Ariana had spent the past nine months studying intensely—and she had been happy doing so.
Studying was, of course, difficult and exhausting.
But the beginning is always the hardest; once she was in the process of studying, all idle thoughts vanished, and she could enjoy it.
Admittedly, there had been a degree of escapism involved.
A defense mechanism, in fact.
To avoid facing her father or brothers, she had studied relentlessly, grinding her teeth so that no one would even dare to speak to her.
Ariana watched her flustered brothers in silence.
“…….”
Ariana had always found it hard to get close to people.
Her worry about being disliked by her brothers had been genuine.
But seeing their expressions now, it seemed her worries had been unnecessary.
“I even got a message from Father, which he never used to send. He said to take better care of you.”
Technically, it was just a short note written in his curt tone, saying, “Take care of Ppojak,” but since Cherdikas wasn’t very close to Ariana, it felt awkward to even say the word “Ppojak.”
Ariana averted her eyes as she spoke.
“…I promised Father too. That when I return to the Grand Duchy, I’d visit my brothers first to greet them.”
“…….”
“Even though it’s already been two weeks past the promised day.”
It had taken her some time to summon the courage.
‘If I hadn’t had that nightmare, I could have come sooner…’
Silence lingered in Cherdikas’s room.
It was awkward.
Ariana felt her breath catch, but she finally managed to break the silence with courage.
“…You really don’t hate me?”
“Why would we hate you?”
“I thought you did because you never came to me even once.”
“You didn’t come to us either.”
“…….”
“No, I’m not trying to scold you.”
Ariana blinked.
‘Was I not the only one flustered by suddenly having siblings?’
“Then it’s fine if you don’t hate me.”
“…….”
It seemed they didn’t think that her mother, Moltke, had committed suicide because of Ariana.
Realizing this wasn’t one of the most pressing concerns she had overheard during tea time, Ariana felt a little more at ease.
Cherdikas looked at the adorably shaped princess with a strange expression.
‘I’ve been receiving reports from Ariana all along… should I mention this, or will it make her feel worse?’
In fact, Cherdikas had already been thoroughly informed about Ariana’s debut at tea time.
Even though he was young, being a direct descendant of Berkshire meant he already had a loyal network of informants.
‘I heard he refused to invest in Viscount Ponz just because the name wasn’t pretty. Coincidence?’
From the moment he realized the tulips Ariana cultivated were steadily increasing in value, Cherdikas began to suspect his younger sister might be a genius.
Apart from being his sister, he was also paying attention to her as a valuable asset for Berkshire.
Tulips were still a strong trend in the neighboring Terran Empire.
‘Soon the tulip craze will spread to Ettenhofer, our homeland.’
This was Cherdikas’s intuition.
“Ariana has chosen the red diamond from the four gemstones proposed by His Highness the Grand Duke.”
“My younger sister?”
“Yes.”
Recently, Duke Schwaben had sent a box containing four gemstones to the direct descendants of Berkshire’s third generation, allowing each to select just one for the creation of a brooch.
Red stone: Red Diamond.
Blue stone: Aquamarine.
Yellow stone: Topaz.
Green stone: Emerald.
‘Officially, it’s to create a brooch as a gift, but it’s actually the head of the family testing the candidates for the imperial succession.’
Each prominent heir had a symbolic color: blue for the Prince of Blue, red for the Prince of Red, and so on.
The four proposed gemstones matched these symbolic colors perfectly; it wasn’t a coincidence.
So the third-generation heirs implicitly understood that this was a test from the head of the family.
‘It’s to see if they have foresight. Whoever correctly identifies the future emperor will gain favor from His Highness.’
No matter how powerful money became, political influence couldn’t be ignored, especially in matters like determining the next emperor.
Different factions had varying interpretations of the law, which could affect business.
Cherdikas chose the red stone, Alessandro the yellow, Christina the blue, and Dandolo the green—no overlaps.
But yesterday, he heard that Ariana had chosen the same red diamond as him.
“Ariana, can I ask why you chose the red diamond for the brooch?”
‘Well, because it’s obvious who will become emperor.’
In romance fantasy stories, the emperor does appear, and Ariana remembered the name.
The red stone symbolized the Fifth Prince, Kale of Ettenhofer.
But honestly, Ariana hesitated to answer.
The young ladies she had encountered at tea time were all not on her side, so she held back.
But her brothers…
‘It’s not that I feel I have to hide my abilities because they’re not on my side. I might seem defensive, but I’m just worried the original story might twist too much.’
Regardless of intent, Father had felt paternal affection, and Chloe had fallen tragically.
Even if the story was originally like Cinderella, Ariana being a viscount’s daughter would still allow the story to progress.
‘Still, the lives Chloe and Ariana will live in the future will inevitably be completely different.’
Ariana’s answer now could even interfere with the crown prince becoming emperor.
‘On this matter, it’s safer to explain my reasons in front of Grandfather.’
“Simply… because the color is pretty. The red diamond looked the prettiest to me.”
Recalling Ariana’s comment about not wanting to invest in Viscount Ponz because the name wasn’t pretty, Cherdikas frowned slightly at the similarity.
“Then the reason you grew tulips was… because they were pretty?”
Cherdikas’s casual remark made Ariana’s expression peculiar.
‘How much did he read into this?’
Ariana stayed silent to be cautious.
Alessandro tilted his head, puzzled.
Cherdikas, seeing Ariana silent after his seemingly unconscious question, paused.
‘Let’s just let it go naturally.’
Ariana nodded awkwardly and averted her gaze.
“Yes, brother. I started growing tulips because they were pretty. I like flowers.”
“…Ariana, your taste is remarkably consistent.”
Her brother’s comment sounded pointed, and Ariana flinched.
