Abandoned Empress's Survival Manual Beside the Male Lead - Chapter 54

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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 54
The people of this world chopped firewood or bought charcoal.
Chopping firewood was exhausting; charcoal was expensive.
Commoners breathed acrid smoke all night burning wood, while nobles rationed their charcoal carefully.
Expensive or grueling. There was nothing in between.
‘It would be ideal to make smokeless coal, but for now, producing briquette coal would be more than enough.’
When you pressed coal dust mixed with clay, it burned far longer than wood. The difference was incomparable.
Moreover, smokeless coal produced almost no smoke, as its name suggested. It could be burned in a room without degrading the air quality.
I smiled, recalling the agricultural knowledge I’d gleaned from my sickbed and the memories from the original narrative.
Eggs wouldn’t earn me enough coin in a thousand years, but this black stone—I could have a fortune in my hands within a single season.
And there was a world of difference between selling raw ore and selling something made from that ore.
Buildings here cost only ten livre each now, didn’t they?
Soon enough, every handspan of land in this place would fetch ten livre—a genuine goldmine!
“Please, would you wait just a moment, Your Highness?”
Everyone knew the Grand Duke’s House was running a deficit.
The stewards especially would have known it well.
Of course, if the Grand Duchess were truly ruthless, she might squander funds wildly to maintain discipline in the territory.
But I was not that sort.
A destitute Grand Duke’s House, and me—a deposed imperial concubine turned Grand Duchess—throwing money around to spite others?
Impossible.
They must have suspected that my buying up the entire Abandoned Mine held some other purpose.
“Your Highness, there’s little more to see here. Shall we visit the Iron Mine instead?”
“Hmm… yes, why not?”
I nodded, arranging my face into an expression of interest.
‘They’re eager to search for hidden jewels in the Abandoned Mine while they can,’ I mused.
I saw through their intent, but I feigned ignorance and boarded the carriage.
“This is still a working mine!”
At each tunnel entrance where whole mountainsides had been excavated, miners streamed in and out like ants, while carts laden with iron ore climbed and descended the slopes.
The sound of pickaxes, grinding wheels, and miners’ shouts tangled into a single roar that shook the earth. Acrid smoke rose from every chimney, blackening one corner of the sky.
Money moved through this land, and the land itself thrummed with life!
Miners wielding pickaxes and boys with baskets strapped to their backs hurried back and forth.
That was when one small shadow caught my eye amid the crowd—distinctly small among them all.
“…?”
Could the child be five years old? In a place where children didn’t belong, the presence stood out starkly.
Its face was completely blackened, eyes alone huge and round, and beneath tattered clothes, bones protruded as if the child were mere skin and skeleton.
“Move it, you pathetic wretch!”
A nearby miner barked at the child.
The small shoulders flinched, and another miner cut in.
“Leave the kid alone. We already promised the chimney sweep he could buy it tomorrow.”
The angry miner let out a bitter laugh.
“Hmph. Acting happy as if it’s found a father now. Tch. We’re just going to work it to the bone anyway.”
Then the steward beside me, belatedly aware of my presence, shouted sharply at the miner.
“You there! How dare you speak so carelessly! Get out of my sight!”
Only then did the miner notice me, and his face drained of color as he fled hastily into the tunnel.
The child, too, caught my eye and bolted from the spot.
Erichi whispered softly.
“Your Highness, would you perhaps like to take that child in? I have savings set aside—you could take the child, and if you wish, I could adopt him as my…”
“No. Did you see? The child’s eyes lit up at what that miner said. It’s already grown attached. I won’t rob it of that.”
Erichi suddenly turned his head.
“…Are you crying right now?”
I’m not.
I wouldn’t be.
“Absolutely not. Why would I cry?”
I wanted to tell him to wipe the tears clinging to his lashes before he spoke.
Erichi opened his eyes wide as if nothing were wrong, feigned an expressionless face, and cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Indeed, Your Highness has truly remarkable thoughts.”
‘Is this really the same one who wanted to send me to prison on the first day…?’
People truly are multidimensional.
I had no idea he could be soft-hearted like this.
A hollow laugh escaped me, and I turned my head away.
* * *
The next morning.
“Grand Duchess, we have news.”
Erichi arrived late in the night and delivered his report, barely suppressing a wry smile.
“Just as we suspected, the Council of Elders inspected the Abandoned Mine several times throughout the night. They even brought in experts to verify whether there were any hidden veins of ore, I’m told.”
“And the result?”
“Nothing, they concluded.”
I rested my chin in my hand and let out a soft laugh.
“So they’ll be willing to sell all those mines without complaint, then?”
“Yes. They seem quite anxious at the moment, worried your mind might change, Grand Duchess.”
“Is that so?”
I paused to consider. Should I play hard to get and drive the price down further?
No. Even if I haggle, they won’t drop it much. A mountain is a mountain, after all.
Besides, what I really wanted was to extract the anthracite quickly and get my hands on the money.
‘The word bankruptcy is far too violent…….’
“Let’s prepare. Contact the mine administrators ahead of time.”
“Yes. Safe travels, Grand Duchess. Oh, and one more thing.”
Erichi pulled a small pouch from his pocket.
“After a day at the mines, my throat gets terribly parched. Please take some of these candies with you, Grand Duchess.”
Inside the pouch were candies made with peppermint and a touch of sugar.
As I looked up, I caught the gleam of satisfaction in Erichi’s eyes.
“Grand Duchess, I’m quite prepared, aren’t I?”
“Thank you.”
As I reached for the pouch, Erichi’s eyes widened and he stepped back half a pace.
“You’re not taking me with you?”
“Don’t you hate mines?”
“How did you know?”
Erichi exclaimed softly and asked at once.
“Did the spirit tell you?”
Ratku?
Ratku, circling lazily above my head, barely spared Erichi a grain’s worth of attention…….
“Yesterday you were coughing the whole time at the mine. You looked thoroughly miserable.”
“You noticed that?”
I spoke with a hint of pride.
“I’ve always had a keen eye for these things.”
…….
Erichi’s expression suddenly darkened.
“I was shortsighted. I knew your recent life has been difficult, and yet…….”
“No…….”
Is that true?
No, it’s not.
I did have a keen eye for things.
Even if I spent my years as a princess in a back room and a lowly concubine, I was originally talented and observant, wasn’t I?
Yet ever since yesterday, Erichi seemed to regard me as little more than the spirit’s copy…….
So I decided to let it be.
“I want to go with you too!”
Erichi followed along behind me, pattering quickly.
* * *
“Oh my, you’ve arrived! We’ve been waiting! Grand Duchess!”
“Today we’ve prepared all the documents for you! You won’t have the slightest inconvenience, Grand Duchess!”
The moment we reached the Abandoned Mine, the administrators rushed over, wringing their hands and lavishing flattery.
The desperation to push a fraudulent property!
The zealous enthusiasm of those trying to unload a worthless asset!
Such a different demeanor from yesterday!
I too cried out with delight!
“I’ve changed my mind. I’m not buying.”
“I’m sorry?”
“I hear the news has already spread—that the new Grand Duchess is an imbecile, and all the ladies of Gonet have been mocking and making quite a fuss?”
A complete fabrication.
I don’t know a single noblewoman.
“I doubt anyone would come even if I held a tea party. Why should I waste money buying up abandoned mines? I won’t. I simply won’t.”
Today being the day she sold the abandoned mines, a retainer from the Council of Elders had naturally come as well.
His lips twitched slightly, but he quickly denied it.
“What misunderstanding, Your Grace? Who would dare mock the Grand Duchess?”
“No? Then your wife would naturally accept if I extended an invitation to her?”
“I beg your pardon?”
The retainer faltered for a moment. He cleared his throat and spoke.
“Forgive my boldness, Your Grace. My wife is rather frail and cannot walk for extended periods, I’m afraid…….”
“Look here.”
I rested my chin in one hand and sighed.
“The other ladies of Gonet are probably the same, aren’t they? The princesses of the Northern Kingdom enjoyed climbing to high places, but Gonet may be different.”
I spoke with an exasperated tone.
“Never mind the money anyway. It would be more fitting to use those funds to repair the castle instead. Oh, and what is your wife’s name? I think I’ll invite her to the tea party this week as a special guest—I do hope she’ll attend.”
“…….”
“Well? Surely she’s not so delicate she can’t even walk through the castle?”

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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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