A Fortune-telling Princess - Chapter 113

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Seasonal goods that the entire Gracia Empire would need to purchase!
If one person alone held the exclusive right to supply such massive quantities of goods?
‘I’m going to do Father a tremendous favor.’
Whether it was the Gracia Empire or the Faebler Empire, everyone with an interest in this matter would be knocking eagerly on the Sorpel Family’s door.
“You’re really going to make a deal like this?”
Crown Prince Edsen, who had maintained his silence until now, finally interjected with a tone of disbelief. But my answer remained unwavering.
“Yes. What do you think? Will you make the deal?”
I turned to Duke Escra with my final question.
“…It’s a condition that holds no disadvantage for us.”
This was a gamble.
What if this winter didn’t end even after I revealed the diary’s contents to Aislah?
‘Then I’d just be selling the mana stones at a loss.’
If that happened, I would curse this wretched Gracia Empire and Empress Mariana alongside Aislah and that winter Spirit King for years to come.
At least I wouldn’t be alone in my misery.
“Then the deal is sealed?”
Without thinking, I extended my hand in the habitual gesture—the same way I used to shake hands with sponsors when signing contracts.
But since handshakes weren’t yet a common greeting in this world, I began to lower my extended hand.
Whoosh!
However, Duke Escra swiftly caught my hand before I could withdraw it.
Wondering what was happening, I looked at him only to find his gaze fixed on my hand.
“Where did this ring come from?”
‘What? Does he still suspect me of being a thief?’
A ruby ring adorned my finger. I’d worn it because it matched well with my crimson dress.
“It’s a keepsake from my mother.”
That ring—the ruby ring the servants had hidden in the Rose Garden.
“A keepsake?”
“Yes, it belonged to my mother.”
I emphasized once more and withdrew my hand with a somewhat cunning expression. Yet his gaze remained fixed on the ring.
What’s wrong with him? Does he still not believe me?
“It really is my ring, you know? Father said he gave it to Mother.”
“Father? Duke Sorpel gave it to her?”
“That’s not… Why are you doing this?”
I was growing irritated. Suspicion should have its limits. Did he need to pry into every detail of my family affairs?
“May I leave now?”
I rose from my seat immediately.
Duke Escra seemed to have more to say, but I simply turned and left. Crown Prince Edsen followed quietly behind me.
Click.
“What is the matter?”
The moment the door closed, Count Alton carefully observed Duke Escra’s expression. He looked unusually bewildered.
“That ring… what could it be….”
I could immediately tell the cause—it was the ring that Camilla possessed.
“That ring.”
Only after a long pause did a soft voice escape his lips.
“The ring I lost.”
“Surely… you’re not referring to the Ersha Family’s crimson ring?”
The Ersha Family’s crimson ring.
A ring that only the head of the Ersha Family could possess, and simultaneously the very ring that Kaise had lost in an accident long ago.
“Might you have been mistaken?”
To Count Alton’s eyes, it appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary ruby ring.
“Investigate that child more thoroughly.”
“Understood.”
Yet he offered no further objection to Duke Escra’s command. His lord was not one to speak carelessly.
‘Her father gave it to her?’
Afterward, Duke Escra continued to gaze silently at the space where Camilla had vanished.
Chapter. Spring Found Again
“Miss, did you not sleep well last night?”
As Dorman entered the room, he tilted his head repeatedly at the sight of Camilla with dark circles beneath her eyes.
“I’d say a melodramatic drama has completely drained your energy.”
“A melodramatic drama?”
“Such things exist.”
Camilla gazed at Empress Mariana’s diary, which lay scattered atop the table, and shook her head slightly.
“I have a feeling I’ve wagered my money poorly.”
Perhaps gambling truly wasn’t for me? What should I do? I’ve already signed the contract?
“Why on earth did I do that…”
I should have confirmed the entire diary before signing the contract! What was the rush to sign it immediately?
And would revealing the diary’s contents truly appease Aislah’s anger? I suspect she’d only grow more furious.
“Sigh, I don’t know.”
Sitting here won’t yield any clever solution anyway.
‘In any case, I should meet with her, shouldn’t I?’
Camilla rose from her seat after gazing out the window, where the wind still blew fiercely.
“Where are you going?”
“The Greenhouse.”
Camilla headed straight for the Greenhouse where the three Spirit Kings resided.
[Huh? You came.]
[What happened?]
They too seemed to have been waiting for me, as they rushed over the moment I stepped into the Greenhouse.
[Do you think you can calm Aislah’s anger… or rather, get Aislah to regain her senses?]
So you all know your brother isn’t in his right mind either.
“Well…”
[What? Did that woman lie?]
[She said my anger would disappear if Aislah saw what I possessed!]
[I shouldn’t have trusted that woman after all!]
“I think I need to have a conversation with her. How do I meet Aislah?”
[Follow us.]
[Aislah is always in the same place.]
[It’s not far from here.]
“…Can’t you bring her here instead?”
Do I really have to go out there myself? I nearly froze to death in just the short time it took to get here.
[Hurry! Hurry!]
Camilla’s words seemed to fall on deaf ears as the three Spirit Kings urged her forward.
“You’re sure it’s nearby?”
Either way, I need to see this through to the end—whether that means leaving this place or cursing it.
Camilla wrapped her coat tighter around herself and quickly followed them.
[There!]
Their words were not a lie. The three Spirit Kings arrived at the Lakeside, not far from the Main Palace, and pointed simultaneously to one location.
Someone stood motionless in the middle of the frozen Lake. It was that woman I’d seen at the coronation ceremony before.
[….]
Sensing their presence, she slowly turned around.
When Camilla saw the gaze as cold as ice directed toward her, she cautiously took a step closer.
“I’ve come at the request of someone named Mariana.”
Whoooosh!
Though I’d anticipated it to some degree, the moment the name Mariana was spoken, her expressionless face transformed. The blizzard intensified as well.
“She says she didn’t kill him!”
Whoosh!
Camilla hurried to continue, but her anger only grew fiercer.
[Camilla!]
Just as I thought I would truly freeze to death, Zeno stepped in front of her and urgently called her name.
Zeno, a ghost blocking the way won’t stop the wind.
Stop!
Yet remarkably, the wind ceased. The wind that had been so fierce I couldn’t even open my eyes gradually subsided.
When Camilla cautiously lifted her head to assess the situation, Aislah was gazing at Zeno with a somewhat dazed expression.
[The Guardian Sword….]
Her lips opened for the first time.
[So you are the sword’s final master. Why are you here?]
Mars—she recognized the sword he had wielded. It seemed she already knew who had last drawn the blade.
“He took his own life.”
[…What?]
Camilla seized the moment while the wind had calmed and spoke rapidly.
“Mars. He took his own life.”
[…!]
“It wasn’t Empress Mariana who orchestrated this.”
Camilla relayed to the wide-eyed woman exactly what she had read in the diary.
* * *
“Ma… Mariana.”
“I’m sorry, Mars.”
A dagger gleamed in Empress Mariana’s grip, pointed directly at Mars. The man seemed utterly devastated by the fact that she was aiming a blade at him.
Empress Mariana, having witnessed his every reaction, continued speaking in a trembling voice.
“It’s His Majesty’s command.”
She bit her lips hard, tears streaming down her face.
“He says he’ll kill Father, Mother… our entire family.”
With her free hand, she wrapped her arms around her own abdomen.
“Even this child.”
Watching Mars’s eyes widen, fresh tears rolled down her cheeks.
“I’m sorry. Truly…”
Mars gazed at her in silence for a long moment, then a faint smile crossed his lips.
“Do as you must.”
“Ma… Mars…”
“I have always stood by your side.”
Seeing him make no move to defend himself, Empress Mariana’s eyes wavered ceaselessly.
“Ugh…”
Finally, the hand holding the dagger fell limply to her side.
“Run, Mars. Run now. He… His Majesty will never let you go. So please, hurry…!”
But instead of fleeing, he stepped closer to Mariana.
“I will not go anywhere.”
“Mars…”
Whoosh! Thud!
“…!”
The man, smiling brightly at her one last time, guided her blade-wielding hand forward.
Toward his own chest.
[Mars… Mars!]
In that moment, Aislah sensed something amiss in Mars’s aura and revealed herself, only to discover Mars dying from the blade Empress Mariana had driven through him.
“I… Aislah, forgive me…”
[Mars!]
That was their end.
* * *
[That’s impossible. You’re lying.]
Aislah could not immediately accept Camilla’s words. Mars had taken his own life?
[Why… why…! For that woman! Why!]
Seeing the storm of tears erupt again, Camilla hastily spoke the next words.
“The child is Mars’s!”
[…What did you just say?]
The air around us seemed to freeze.
“The child Empress Mariana carried—he was Mars’s son.”
[….]
Absurd, isn’t it? Yes, I understand that feeling well. I spent the entire night yesterday in that same state of shock.
[That child… was Mars’s offspring?]
“Yes.”
Empress Mariana’s diary made it abundantly clear—the child in her womb was Mars’s son.
And she was determined to make that child the Emperor.
[Then….]
“Which means all the Emperors who have led the Gracia Empire until now have been descended from Mars’s bloodline.”
According to Empress Mariana’s will, that child became the next Emperor, and his blood continues to flow through the imperial line even now.
‘Am I the only one who finds the Emperor pitiable in all this?’
For them, it was a love worth dying for, but it was still infidelity! He inherited the throne thinking the child was his own, only to discover it belonged to another?
Is that Emperor so embittered that he cannot ascend to heaven and instead wanders endlessly?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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