Chapter 34
Blanche fluttered his wings in puzzlement as he watched me diligently stamping documents.
He must have grown used to staying in bird form, because even though no one else was around, he addressed me without taking his true shape.
My king, didn’t you say your goal was revenge?
No one understood my rage toward Pamel Ashinov better than Blanche.
Perhaps he even hated Pamel Ashinov more than I did.
“Yeah. I’m going to ruin that entire family.”
Then why are you working so hard like this?
“First I need the Grand Duke’s trust, so I can gain more authority.
Authority strong enough to shake the family to its core.”
I don’t get it. Isn’t there a simpler, more certain way than clinging to scraps of paper, my king?
“And what would that be?”
Just kill them all. If no one survives, the family collapses.
If you simply let the barrier fall, the demon army will gladly do it for you.
Still dreaming of devouring the continent, huh?
Seeing my brow furrow, Blanche quickly changed his tone.
If that’s too much, you could just kill the Grand Duke.
Then you’d become Grand Duke immediately and could rule the family as you please.
Surely one life can be taken for a great cause?
“Honestly—typical demon thinking. For you, every problem ends in a bloodbath, doesn’t it?”
I clicked my tongue and scolded him.
It’s not like I don’t know there’s an easier way.
When it comes to revenge, of course the first thought is blood.
But my master taught me differently.
“Answering blood with blood is an animal instinct,” she always said.
I’m a higher being; my revenge should be carried out with elegance.
And besides, I hate blood—smelly, stubborn to clean, and sure to haunt my dreams.
Even killing a single beast in the Misty Mountains left me unsettled.
If I killed a person, nightmares would plague me for life.
Sigh. My soft heart is such a problem.
So for now, I need to hunker down and focus on becoming a highly competent young Grand Duke.
I’m not sure how I reached such a ridiculous conclusion, but that’s how it is.
How can I win the Grand Duke’s favor?
The easiest way to look capable would be to make another big profit like last time.
But earning money without start-up capital is hard.
I could sell a few items from the treasure vault the Grand Duke gave me…
But that was my money.
He said it was a gift for me, Danae, not for the heir of the family—so it’s mine.
I planned to save it for the glamorous life I’d enjoy after the family collapsed.
Hmm… a way to grow money without capital…
Unless a gold vein suddenly surfaced underfoot, that was a tall order.
If not gold, maybe something else profitable?
I tapped the table, searching for an idea, while Blanche rustled his wings annoyingly beside me.
Ugh. This noisy ex–Demon King.
Should I send him on another tough errand to get him out of the way?
When I’d once sent him to gather my master’s herbs, life had been so peaceful.
Wait… herbs?
A sudden thought flashed through my mind.
Right! That!
I sent Blanche back to the Misty Mountains to fetch my master’s herbs.
To my eyes, those herbs—with their roots perfectly intact—looked like bundles of cash.
A medicine made from them grants a temporary surge of energy.
Combine that with my master’s training method and one gains great strength—like me.
I can’t teach the training method lightly…
But simply making and selling the medicine should be fine.
A tonic that restores energy. Sounds like a hot seller.
The problem is mass production.
Mass production is key to sales.
Even if I started small and sold a few test batches, I’d need plenty of stock to earn real money.
But these herbs grew only in the Misty Mountains, home to fierce beasts and all sorts of other races—
not a place one could casually enter just for a few herbs.
I can’t keep sending Blanche there forever, either.
So to become an herbal merchant, I first had to cultivate these herbs outside the Misty Mountains and scale up production.
Which is why I now found myself…
“Hedin, you dug too shallowly.”
…squatting in the garden with an iced tea in hand, ordering a Sword Master to keep digging.
“Is this deep enough, milady?”
“Hmm, a little deeper, I think.”
“Yes, understood.”
Despite the odd request, Hedin obediently dug.
I planned to plant the herbs here and see whether they could thrive outside their native mountains.
As far as I remembered, the Misty Mountains’ soil and climate weren’t special.
Aside from the terrifying creatures, it was an ordinary part of the continent.
And the Winter Estate lay close to the mountains anyway—how different could the soil be?
So they should grow well in this garden too, right?
The herb was listed in a guidebook under the name Melovin.
But little else was known about it; only the barest information on its natural habitat was recorded.
Of course, there were no detailed cultivation instructions.
Still, if it thrived alone for 500 years after its caretaker died, it can’t be too hard to grow.
“By the way, where did you get these flowers?”
Marina, holding a parasol beside me, watched as the Melovin plants settled into the freshly dug earth.
In autumn, Melovin blooms bright red.
If you didn’t know it was medicinal, you’d think it purely ornamental.
The part used for medicine was the leaves, so the flowers themselves didn’t matter much.
“A bluebird brought them to me.”
“Bluey did?”
“Yes.”
I had ordered it, but Blanche had indeed brought them, so it wasn’t a lie.
“Young miss, perhaps it wanted to repay your kindness with a gift.
The more I see that bird, the cleverer it seems.”
“So I’m going to nurture this gift well.”
“Indeed. Perhaps it really is a mysterious herb if such a clever bird delivered it!”
Marina echoed me in a gentle, storybook voice.
Of course, she probably didn’t truly believe this unknown plant was “mysterious.”
She just wanted to protect the childlike wonder of someone raising a gift from a bird.
“Why not ask the gardener for help?
He’s the Winter Estate’s top plant expert.”
“Oh!”
That hadn’t occurred to me.
Tending garden flowers and cultivating herbs might differ, but since this plant also bloomed, his help could be useful.
“If the gardener helps, the flowers will grow strong, right?”
“Of course. I’ll speak to him for you.”
As Marina and I cheerfully discussed the herb project,
Hedin suddenly stopped digging and looked toward the garden entrance.
I followed his gaze to see Baratheon standing there, mouth agape at the upturned soil.
“Why the sudden digging?”
“To grow flowers.”
“Flowers? What for—”
“What for, to grow a plant’s reproductive organs?”
I cut him off, shrugging, and glanced at Marina and Hedin.
“See? He’s so unromantic.”
“Hey, I can be romantic, you know!”
“Teon, truly romantic people don’t call themselves romantic.”
“Man, it’s tough becoming a romantic guy.”
Grumbling, Baratheon strode over and swept me up into his arms.
By now I was so used to the men of this household picking me up that it barely surprised me.
I rested a steadying hand on his shoulder and asked,
“So, what brings you here?”
“You really need me to say it?”
He narrowed his eyes.
“Think carefully—didn’t you forget something while planting flowers?”
“Forget something? I don’t think—oh!”
Tilting my head casually, I suddenly realized what I’d overlooked and cried out.
Class!
To prepare for the upcoming social season, I’d increased my dance lessons with Sisé from once a week to twice—
and completely forgotten today’s.
“Marina, what time is it?”
“It’s 3:30 p.m.,” she replied after checking her pocket watch.
Dance class was at three.
I was already thirty minutes late.
“Totally late…”
