Chapter 8
Since only a limited number of people knew of this place, I opened the door without much hesitation.
There stood a man who looked like a bear, holding a large box.
“Manu?”
“Yes, Lady Maribel. I returned from Altina today. I even brought diamonds from the Hikan continent, fresh off the Scarmeta ship. I exchanged them with the box you gave me beforehand.”
Manu spoke as he carefully opened the box.
Through the gap, a dazzling brilliance burst forth, so bright it hurt the eyes—a breathtaking spectacle of light.
So many high-quality diamonds.
My hands trembled, perhaps because of the years I had worked as a jewelry designer.
If I were to plunge my hand inside and scoop some up, it would feel like grasping a handful of stars.
But of course, I couldn’t risk being consumed to death by the jewels’ allure. Holding back tears, I sighed.
“Manu, take these back to where they belong. From now on, you’ll be doing something else.”
“What? Something else? L–Lady Maribel!”
At my words, Manu suddenly flung himself flat on the floor as though in desperate supplication. His large body trembled all over.
Seeing him, wide-eyed, I heard Manu’s voice quake:
“I have never once whispered a word of this business to anyone. Please trust me. To dismiss me so suddenly… I beg you, Lady Maribel…”
“Hm?”
“Just… please, not my tongue…”
“…Did I say something like that?”
When Manu nodded, his face deathly pale, I realized without much effort just how much he had been terrorized.
Maribel, you really were disgustingly thorough in playing the villainess role.
I sighed inwardly.
“Your tongue will remain right where it is, Manu, so don’t worry too much.”
“Th–thank you, Lady Maribel.”
“There’s nothing to thank me for. Instead, do you remember the jeweled pieces we sold? Especially the ones I secretly swapped with fakes. I’ll write down a list of them. With it, I’ll give you a letter. Can you deliver it to each distributor and tell them to pass it on to the buyers?”
“Uh… wha–what?”
I had spoken too many complicated things at once, so Manu just blinked.
“I’ll send a letter saying that Mua will manage the jewels and ornaments. If they send them to us, we’ll replace them with genuine stones. We’re going to stop cheating with counterfeit gems.”
“So… you’re going to turn the fakes into real ones? But would anyone readily hand over jewels they already bought? It’s not as though Lady Maribel—or rather, Mua—will personally visit to oversee them right before their eyes…”
“Of course there will be people who won’t trust it. That’s why we’ll send a deposit along with the letter. For each piece, this much.”
I picked up a pen and wrote down a figure. Manu’s jaw dropped when he saw it.
“That’s nearly higher than the original selling price! That much money as a deposit?”
“Wouldn’t that be enough for them to trust us? They’d have nothing to lose. And be sure to emphasize that the management is free of charge. Say that Mua, out of pure love for gems, is doing it as an act of craftsmanship. Doesn’t that sound convincing?”
Even in my real-world brand, I’d never gone so far as to offer free after-sales service like this.
But this wasn’t really my money. And if I ended up leaving this world someday, it would probably be better that the wicked Maribel had no wealth left in her hands anyway. So I didn’t feel too regretful.
“That… will take quite some time, Lady Maribel.”
“We’ll start with the big pieces and proceed step by step. I can’t prepare all this money at once, after all.”
“Y–yes… at once, then… understood.”
“And wait, Manu.”
“Yes? Is there something else?”
“Just a question. Since you travel around a lot, you’d know. Has Naparo stabilized now? What’s it like?”
“Oh, it couldn’t be better. Ships arrive constantly from the New Continent. Thanks to that, even commoners are finding ways to amass influence through trade and seamanship. Why, even I, once a mere sailor, now walk in and out of the palace—of course, only thanks to you, Lady Maribel. People’s appearances have become so extravagant that you can hardly tell nobles from commoners anymore.”
Okay.
The business dream that had barely begun in my real world might just bloom here.
First, I had to clean up the mess of counterfeit jewels. Otherwise, furious nobles might have my head.
But using the name to make money—that wasn’t really illegal, was it?
Though “Mua” was a fictitious identity invented by Maribel, it had grown into a gemstone brand of its own in this world.
Even if it got revealed later, there didn’t seem to be any law forbidding a duke’s daughter from making money.
Smiling to myself, I handed Manu a bundle I had set aside—round glass ornaments and instructions.
“Then, before you put away the diamonds, could you help Luisa decorate the garden with this? It has to be arranged exactly as I’ve written, by tomorrow morning. And you’ll say it’s a gift from another noble, not from me.”
“Of course. With all the fuss over Rocio, gifts have been pouring in from everywhere anyway.”
“That’s a relief. I’m counting on you.”
“Leave it to me, Lady Maribel.”
Manu took the bundle in his arms and headed out.
Even burdened with an armful of goods, the big man turned back, shouting in a voice full of emotion:
“I cannot express how glad I am that Lady Maribel has come to have such a conscience! Do you know how many nights I prayed to Saint Rocio for this?”
He must have suffered a lot. Though his workload had surely increased tremendously, Manu’s face now shone with joy.
“All right, then hurry and help Luisa.”
Feeling guilty, I couldn’t help but smile back at that loyal expression.
Because if it came to light, Manu would likely be punished before me, the duke’s daughter.
Even knowing that, he had no choice but to obey, out of fear of threats like having his tongue cut out…
“Your sins are great, Maribel.”
I exhaled deeply.
No matter that I wasn’t truly her, I was stuck cleaning up her wicked deeds.
“Yoon Gabi, this is really irritating.”
All I could do was blame the original author, already dead and gone.
Still, I ended up crying a little while organizing the ledgers and searching through the goods, because I missed my younger sibling.
* * *
Right. And the next day—at the tea time Gabriella had invited me to.
Just before that, the Puerto incensewood I had been burning in my younger sibling’s room went out.
The round glass ornament—supposedly sent by some noble—focused the sunlight and set fire to the awning.
The man who put it out was someone with eyes resembling peridot, using a water bucket the gardener had left behind.
“The incensewood you were burning got completely soaked! Will it be all right? What should we do?”
Luisa, who had been dressing me up for tea time, spoke in a worried voice.
I awkwardly smiled, secretly pulling a leaf from my hair that must have stuck there while I ran in a rush.
Really, would it be all right? What should I do?
Meeting someone like that was a mistake.
Who was he? From his clothes and speech, he seemed to be someone of high rank.
“The duchess was furious, saying the wedding would have to be postponed. She had brought the Puerto incensewood on purpose, being Puerto-born herself.”
I half-listened to Luisa’s words, still distracted.
He had been tall. I hadn’t seen him clearly, but his voice had been low and pleasant.
Didn’t seem like a bad person…
“…Aren’t you worried?”
“Huh? What did you say?”
I blinked at Luisa’s question.
Seeing my reaction, she hesitated, then continued.
“People are saying that even if they try to bring another relic to purify the place, it’ll take forever to get the pope’s permission and transport it all the way to Sephardi. Among the maids, rumors are going around that the duke will hand over the Sephardi rosary.”
“No. The duke won’t do that.”
It wasn’t easy to create a relic.
Every relic could only be made after receiving papal approval, and only one or two were completed in several years. Once made, it had to be sent to the pope to receive certification of his blessing.
That whole process was painfully long.
“Really? But from the duke’s standpoint, he has no other choice.”
“The Sephardi pearl rosary is far too precious. To purify the place, he’d have to transfer ownership to Gabriella. And if he gives it away, who knows when he could get it back?”
No relic was as valuable as the Sephardi pearl rosary.
It required discovering the rare pearls of Marcus, and having Moorish artisans craft them into a rosary.
But now the Moorish artisans were scattered, living as nomads, so it was uncertain whether new ones could even be made.
There was no way the Sephardi duke would easily hand such a treasure over for a daughter who was soon to belong to the Bernau family.
I didn’t even need to meet him to know. If Yoon Gabi had modeled the Sephardi duke after our own father, then especially so.
“Then… will your younger sister’s marriage be delayed?”
“Who knows.”
“Lady Maribel, please don’t worry too much.”
Luisa gave me a determined look again. I smiled faintly at her.
“I’m not worried.”
Because everything was proceeding according to plan.
