The identity was certain.

He was the fourth generation working in the hereditary Hussey Merchants that was as big as the Felona Merchants.

Even now, most of the family relatives were working in the business. With the exception of his younger brother, who is still in school, and his cousin, who has gone on to become an official, almost all of them were high-profile employees.

To search even the most distant relatives, there would be no room for doubt about this.

Despite this, the head of Felona could not erase the feeling of discomfort whenever she faced this man.

Maybe it was because she was getting stubborn and older. The head of Felona has recently learned that she places too much emphasis on impressions when evaluating people.

However, it was unlikely that this man could come up with a ploy, filled with analysis and keen intuition, even to little-known facts about international relations.

Look at him even now. He was anxious with a face that was not confident. Like a kid worried that he might be caught stealing.

‘The Crown Prince has already adopted it. And the response of Prince Cadriol, the response of the Duchy of Riagan, and the prediction that Grand Duke Roygar would come down as a special envoy were correct.’

There were some minor mistakes. However, when viewed from a broad perspective, the world was moving according to Izar’s thesis.

If this man had such a talent, it would have appeared like an awl in his pocket earlier.

The Kingdom of Iantz prided itself on being the most meritocratic than anywhere else in the world.

He started working at the age of twenty, but there was no way he could have been an assistant store owner at Hussey by the time he reached the age of thirty-five.

If he had tried to hide himself, he would never have written such a ploy.

The head of Felona stared at the man with a gaze that seemed to pierce through.

He curled up like a frog standing before a snake.

She closes her eyes now. Neither the Crown Prince nor the Associations simply accepted the argument with any dispute.

After a head-to-head discussion between the wisest people in the Iantz Kingdom and the most experienced Merchant heads, they came to the conclusion that this was a reasonable ploy.

Supporting Grand Duke of Roygar and expanding trade in the future had been considered for a long time.

He was greedy, though. However, from the point of view of the Iantz Kingdom, an emperor greedy for profit and money was much better than an arrogant and aristocratic emperor.

They were able to get along well with Grand Duke Roygar. It was far better to offer gold and silver to Grand Duke Roygar than to lose the vast market known as the Empire.

It was good to use this as an opportunity to even obtain an agreement.

The head of Felona turned her gaze away to the worker. And she asked,

“Are the working-level negotiations going well?”

“If an agreement is reached in a broad framework, there is no problem in practice. The budget that the Crown Prince allowed is huge.”

“Don’t even think about using it all. Because what the Crown Prince was saying was to make sure that, in any case, the agreement would never be broken.”

“Yes.”

The worker felt sweat dripping down his back.

“The gift?”

“I have it ready.”

The head of Felona tried to open the box provided by the worker in advance.

Inside was a jewel box. She opened it.

“Good. For now, you can go back.”

“Yes?”

“There is nothing good about staying in this Palace for a long time. Or are you going to see Grand Duchess Roygar?”

“Oh, no. How dare I?”

“Go back.”

“Yes.”

The worker bowed his head in a sullen attitude and stepped back.

***

The ploy was not his own, as the head of Felona thought. His brother, who was studying in the Imperial Capital, came home and threw it to him.

“It doesn’t matter whether Brother analyzed it or I analyzed it by collecting rumors floating around in the Capital. Don’t be too cheeky.”

“What do you mean by cheeky?”

“I’m saying this because I knew that Brother wanted to get ahead of the cousins? Anyway, it wasn’t written by Brother, so if it goes on for too long, it’s going to show. Such a ploy, if I read it correctly, I thought you might be able to come up with it, but it’s not something just anyone can come up with. First of all, the amount of information required is huge.”

His pride was hurt. His younger brother studied well and went to the Empire to study abroad. However, he wasn’t even a brilliant genius.

But now he is a bit regretful. He was going to say it belonged to his brother.

So far he’s been doing so well. He memorized it and worked hard to analyze the situation in his own way.

It was similar to studying to put together a solution with the answer sheet, so he was able to do it, too.

Looking at it, he felt like he could see a world he had never thought of before.

But he went too high. That’s what his brother had said on purpose, and it’s only becoming a situation because he’s naive.

When he returned after finishing this job, he decided that he would have to confess the truth before the second working-level negotiations.

He has already sent a letter to his brother telling him to come back.

But in his eyes, he could not comprehend that it could not have been his brother who really wrote the ploy.

It’s also true when his brother said that it wasn’t something anyone could come up with with pride.

***

The head of Felona took the jewelry box and headed to Garnet’s bedroom.

It was after Garnet had removed her makeup and changed her clothes.

If she hadn’t been a maid over the past few weeks, she would have been considered a guest and she wouldn’t have been welcomed at all.

But now the head of Felona wasn’t entirely her guest.

The maids and ladies-in-waiting got to know her and vice versa for weeks. They felt a sense of intimacy as they huddled together in the cramped cabin.

One of the ladies-in-waiting brought the news to Garnet. Garnet led her into the bedroom.

“Is the talk over?”

“Yes. Thanks to Your Grace, I was able to complete my mission and return home safely.”

“It must be because the talk brought by Head, not me, was also important to my husband.”

The head of Felona had a smile on her face.

“I want to give a gift as a token of my gratitude.”

“What do you mean gift? I don’t need that.”

“Please don’t deny my sincerity. If I left without showing any sincerity, even our King will rebuke me.”

Viscountess Weave took the jewelry box from the head of Felona’s hands and set it down in front of Garnet.

Garnet opened the jewelry box. Inside were several cameos with all kinds of beautiful craftsmanship. The master artisan’s signature was also engraved on the back.

“Because you had all the precious gems with you. Just think of it as sincerity and accept it.”

“It was made by the masters of the Iantz, and I can’t say it’s just for sincerity.”

Garnet said in a dignified manner.

“Thank you. However…….”

The head of Felona bowed her head.

Garnet fiddled with the lid of the jewelry box.

In fact, the most valuable thing was the jewelry box itself. It was carved out of translucent green jade.

When it came to this size, it was a huge price for even a rare gem.

Needless to say, the craftsmanship was superb. It was no exaggeration to say that this was a jewel in itself.

But it wasn’t because it was too expensive that Garnet hesitated. In terms of expensive things, she was given a gift more expensive than this on several occasions.

The moon with three stars was engraved on the lid of the jewelry box. Even the moonlight shining on the mountains and rivers was embossed with delicate touches.

And the writing was inlaid with gold.

『“Long live the Moon, illuminate the whole world.”』

Moon and star patterns are common.

However, the imperial moon means the Empress. ‘Long live’ is a blessing dedicated only to the Emperor and Empress.

It took little knowledge or reasoning to understand that the moon with the three stars meant Garnet herself and her children.

Garnet covered the lid.

“Isn’t it too early…….”

“It is a gift given in advance. In the sense that we are convinced that there is a glorious future for Grand Duke Roygar and Your Grace.”

The head of Felona smiled.

“Thank you.”

Garnet answered and closed the lid of the jewelry box. And she gave a gift in return to the Head of Felona.

＊＊＊

Skyla wanted to stop, but Cadriol didn’t let go of her hand and danced with her four songs in a row.

The fourth dance was a fast-tempo polka. By then, she was exhausted.

“Your Highness, please.”

“Oh my, Lady doesn’t have much stamina.”

“How many people, hoo, dance four times without a break, haa?”

At first, no one was very interested. Because Cadriol wasn’t the type of person who didn’t want to dance.

But he had never danced four times with a single woman before.

When they found out that the other person was the Marquisate Lady of the Empire, the attention was even more focused.

Skyla couldn’t even afford to pay attention to such interest.

Cadriol’s lead was excellent, and Skyla was also a good dancer. But she was wearing high heels today, and her dress was quite heavy.

It was even more difficult because the tension didn’t go out from her body.

It was not until the end of the fourth dance that Cadriol stopped.

Clap, clap, clap!

Applause echoed through the hall. Cadriol held Skyla’s hand like a dancer and greeted the applause.

“The prince greeted, but you’re standing still.”

Cadriol said in a sultry voice.

Skyla had no choice but to bow after him.

Cadriol led her towards the table. Skyla had finished it and wanted to drink cold water first.

“Did you have enough time?”

Skyla quenched her throat and then said sharply.

Cadriol said leisurely,

“I thought I did enough to be considerate of Lady. Grand Duchess Roygar, too.”

“Considerate?”

Skyla’s words were not a question, but a criticism.

Cardriol laughed.

“If Lady goes to the Grand Duchess and tells her that something suspicious is going on, the Grand Duchess will go and tell the Grand Duke, in the midst of an escalating armed conflict, either the Grand Duchess or Lady may get hurt.”

“An armed conflict?”

Skyla asked in surprise.

That was the moment.

Bang!

A gunshot rang outside.

“Kyaaak!”

Several of the ladies in the ballroom screamed and fell to the floor. There were many people like that.

Some tried to tear off the heavy decorations and run outside.

But they were blocked at the entrance.

Skyla looked at Cadriol in astonishment.

“What are you going to do?!”

“It is very unfortunate. Father, along with the late Queen, were involved with the coarse salt business of the Krates Empire.”

Cadriol stroked his chin with a serious expression on his face.

“You must have heard from somewhere that an ignorant child was trying to tell His Majesty the Emperor.”

“Is that a scenario written by Your Highness? Who believes that?”

“The consistency of the scenario is not important.”

The question is whether or not it is a story worth writing to Emperor Gregor.

And it is probably true that King Eimmel is involved in coarse salt.

Skyla took a breath.

“Lady is special. I’ve heard that you’re talented……. Come to think of it, Lady was the daughter of Marchioness Camellia.”

Cadriol said. Then he looked at Skyla and said,

“Come to me when you have nowhere to go.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You’re the future Marquis of Camellia, so I can’t seduce you with a title, so I’ll try to recruit you if anything fails.”

Skyla looked at him in a bewildered way.

Cadriol laughed.

“It’s not a joke. Eimmel is still a country with a lot of room to expand. We need a lot of talent. It will not be swept into the grave and rotted in needless strife like in Krates.”

Having said that, he left Skyla behind and went out to check what was going on.