Abandoned Empress's Survival Manual Beside the Male Lead - Chapter 23

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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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Chapter 23
The Spirit Stone had been right in front of Ayu and me. I was already losing my balance trying to shield her…….
So I tumbled down with Ayu and the Spirit Stone both.
“Lorel!”
It was almost simultaneous—Sherkan roughly pushing Ayu aside and grabbing my arm.
Whoosh.
A brilliant blue flame erupted like a pillar of fire, completely filling the interior.
“F-fire!”
“Someone help!”
“Don’t push! Please, everyone calm down!”
“It’s a Spirit! It’s not fire—the Sun Spirit has Manifested!”
At those frantic words, the panicked crowd froze.
No doubt it helped that the vast flames filling the space weren’t hot at all.
And beyond that…….
The ‘Spirit’ suffusing the entire ceiling was so sacred, so beautiful.
Everyone forgot to flee, standing transfixed.
A massive blue dragon, breathtakingly elegant and enormous, emerged and locked eyes with me.
‘Is it my imagination? Just now…….’
The Spirit seemed to smile at me.
“The Sun Spirit?”
As I murmured those words, I felt the blue dragon being drawn into my forehead.
It was like waking up while dreaming with my eyes open.
“Truly, truly—a new Contractor for the Spirit has appeared!”
“The Sun of Pasa has changed hands!”
Amid the excited crowd, I found myself cradled firmly in Sherkan’s embrace.
It wasn’t a gesture of affection—it was as though he were shielding me from the outside world.
Without thinking, I patted his back.
To assure him I was all right.
“Sherkan, I’m fine, really——”
That was when it happened.
“Aaaah!”
“Ahh!”
Screams erupted from every direction.
I looked up in alarm too.
It was raining.
In this enclosed hall with a sealed ceiling.
Sherkan laughed, exasperated, his hair dripping wet.
“Pasa really was disgustingly wealthy.”
I laughed alongside him.
“I suppose so.”
At three-story height, the ceiling was studded every span with Magical Devices serving as sprinklers.
Attendants outside must have heard the commotion about a fire and frantically activated them.
In the dense spray, Sherkan and I were soaked through.
The rest of the crowd was no better—the Emperor himself was drenched to the bone.
His carefully groomed hair, his ornate robes, his proud bearing—all of it hung limp and pathetic from the water.
In a single moment, the dignity of the Imperial Coronation Ceremony was washed away by the rain.
The Emperor approached amid the chaos and asked me,
“Grand Duchess of Gonet. Will you bestow a new name upon the Spirit?”
Ah.
I glanced at Sherkan, then bowed without hesitation.
“I shall call it ‘the Noble Sun,’ Your Majesty. May you eternally bask in such noble radiance.”
The Emperor’s eyes, which had looked like a soggy bun, widened with delight before he burst into hearty laughter.
“Excellent, excellent indeed!”
The Emperor then asked thoughtfully,
“But I confess one curiosity troubles me. The Sun Spirit—did it not perhaps impart some words or guidance to the Grand Duchess?”
“Words?”
I frowned reflexively. But concentrating intently, I heard nothing particularly distinct.
When I shook my head, the Emperor’s face fell with disappointment.
“According to records, the Sun Spirit manifests only rarely, and sometimes offers brief counsel to its Contractor. It happens scarcely once a decade, if that. But should such an occurrence befall you, do inform me at once.”
“Understood, Your Majesty. I’m rather curious myself.”
“Don’t burden yourself with worry. If the Spirit takes offense, it would be most troublesome.”
“That’s impossible, surely.”
I clasped my hands together at once and spoke with utmost deference.
“Would the Spirit truly take displeasure at the attention of someone as noble as Your Majesty?”
Will you accept my flattery?
The Emperor, drenched through and through, straightened his spine with a great laugh.
I shall accept it!
“Ha! The Grand Duchess has made me laugh! I cannot simply receive without giving thanks in return — I shall bestow a proper reward upon you!”
* * *
‘The Emperor is quite a good person, isn’t he?’
In the original story he’d barely featured, but now he presented me with a substantial reward, claiming I’d rendered him great service.
‘A hundred thousand Libel — he actually gave it!’
My heart felt as though it might burst.
It was the exact sum Sherkan had once valued my body at!
I transferred the entire amount to Sherkan without hesitation, and boasted that I’d already paid off my debt to him in full — though he’d never actually demanded it.
Sherkan protested with an incredulous expression, but I paid him no mind.
‘Even so, it’s still nowhere near enough to stave off Gonet Castle’s bankruptcy.’
But there was no time to argue further.
Bridget spirited me away, insisting that continuing our conversation in soaking clothes would catch me a cold.
“Phew.”
The Imperial Palace hastily arranged a makeshift dressing room, and I changed into dry clothes there.
Bridget was equally drenched, so I sent her off to change as well.
The waiting attendants helped us dress with remarkable speed and efficiency.
The moment the cold, clinging fabric peeled away from my shoulders, I felt some semblance of relief return.
I caught my reflection in the mirror hanging in the dressing room and touched my forehead lightly.
I could sense the Spirit had entered there, but nothing visibly had changed.
‘It felt incredibly warm, though.’
Was that because it was the Sun Spirit?
Information about the Sun — whether the old form or the current noble one — was exceedingly scarce.
Legend had it that after the Divine created the Sun, He fashioned a being to govern it, and that being was called the Sun Spirit, but little beyond that mythology existed.
I gazed at my reflection and gave my own shoulders an encouraging pat.
‘You had power in you all along, Lorel!’
The Royal House’s abilities might be somewhat lacking!
You might even be disregarded in Larund!
‘But you’ve become a Contractor to a named Spirit — the Sun Spirit itself!’
I’d just spun around with a dizzy smile when—
Bang!
A white dress rustled through the door as it burst open roughly.
“Lorel! Are you here?”
“Ayu?”
“Sister!”
Ayu too had changed into fresh clothes — another gown that had belonged to the saint, likely called the Spring Dress.
It was still an overwhelmingly white and holy garment that didn’t suit Ayu’s face at all.
Suddenly tears welled up in Ayu’s eyes as she stared at me.
“Sister, actually… I came to apologize.”
She seized both my hands abruptly.
“I never meant to trouble you! I was simply too confused about everything. You wouldn’t understand, but the Royal House went bankrupt. Everything was strange and frightening, and Mother’s clothes were so heavy, and so I… I…”
I watched Ayu sob quietly.
Her face was like a peach — lovely and flushed with color.
Her reddened eyes looked so pitiful that even passing servants would halt in their steps to comfort her.
‘How does such a pure child end up corrupted?’
Though I’d read the novel through to the end, faced with a face this innocent, I couldn’t quite imagine it.
“Very well. Don’t make any more mistakes from now on.”
Ayu’s head snapped up at once.
“You’re forgiving me?”
Before I could even nod, Ayu broke into a brilliant smile.
“Thank you, sister! I’ll never make another mistake!”
Ayu’s smile faltered slightly as she hesitated.
“But sister, there’s actually something I need to tell you.”
“Something you need to tell me?”
Ayu clung to me desperately.
“Please, please take me to Gonet Castle!”
“……?”
I blinked slowly at her unexpected plea.
I was bewildered.
I knew the fates of Ayu and Sherkan well enough, naturally. Even if I tore apart this entire world, there was no one who understood it better than I did.
But the timing was all wrong. Ayu had no business being in Sherkan’s castle now.
According to the original story, Gonet Castle would fall into bankruptcy before long, and all the servants would be sold off.
‘I’m working tirelessly to prevent that very thing.’
It wasn’t that I wanted to pave Ayu’s path with flowers—it was purely because I wanted to live comfortably myself.
Not insignificant in this calculation was my gratitude toward Sherkan, who had saved my life. I felt genuine affection for the servants who cared for me so faithfully.
So the moment Ayu asked me to take her to the castle, one thought crystallized in my mind.
‘Why should I?’
I couldn’t shower Ayu with boundless favor like the king could, and besides, Gonet didn’t have the funds for that.
If I brought Ayu to Gonet now and still had to stick to my original plan of preventing the castle’s bankruptcy, I would have to exert twice, three times the effort.
Providing a living standard befitting a holy maiden like Ayu would require enormous expenditure.
I looked down at Ayu in silence, then asked her:
“Aren’t you supposed to be served at the Temple of the Great Saints? Why do you want to go to Gonet?”
“Well, actually…….”
Ayu hesitated instead of answering right away. At that moment, the thin door burst open.
The sight of a man barging uninvited into the dressing room startled me.
‘Duke Baetan?’

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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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