Abandoned Empress's Survival Manual Beside the Male Lead - Chapter 79

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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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Episode 79
I rolled the Spirit Stone slowly across my palm. Each rotation made the red wick flicker like a candle flame.
Spirit Stones were ordinarily inexpensive.
But some Spirit Stones were difficult to use, leaving them treated as white elephants—and this Tracking Spirit Stone was one such rarity.
The price one paid for it was simply too steep.
An activated Spirit Stone allowed its pair to sense each other’s location at any time, but one of them required the host’s blood daily to sustain it.
For this reason, even laying eyes on a Tracking Spirit Stone was uncommon.
Demand was so minimal that no merchant house pursued them actively.
And so this was my first time seeing a Tracking Spirit Stone in the flesh.
“Even if it’s relatively cheap compared to other Spirit Stones, it’s still objectively not what I’d call affordable.”
“Ratku.”
After all, a Spirit Stone itself was treated as a precious jewel.
Add to that the considerable price of blood one had to pay throughout its use—this cursed Stone.
How many people on this continent could stitch such a thing into someone else’s clothing?
“The ministers of the Northern Kingdom wouldn’t waste money this carelessly at this late stage, and besides, if it were them, they’d have driven it into my body instead.”
Not sewn into the hem of my One-piece Dress like this.
With the Spirit Stone resting on the fabric of my dress, I hugged my knees and stared quietly at the wavering light.
Why had Sherkan embedded this Spirit Stone in my clothes?
“And this dress, too—it’s my favorite…….”
I muttered to myself, adrift in thought.
All I possessed were the extravagantly brilliant fabrics torn from the Dresses in Parsa, and the formal gown I’d made from that cloth.
This moderately elegant and comfortable everyday wear had become far more precious to me now.
“It’s just so pretty. I can wear it comfortably, and when I go out, I don’t draw much attention…….”
No matter how hard the servants tried, there was nothing to be done about this.
Asking them to fashion comfortable everyday clothes from fabrics looted from a fallen empire’s treasury was rather like asking someone to make caviar into rice porridge.
The Dresses suitable for the Imperial Court were all stored separately in the Dressing Room, while my Bedroom wardrobe held only this One-piece Dress and Sherkan’s Fur Cloak.
Which meant that man had stood before this sparse wardrobe and chosen this one from just two options.
Why?
“Let us embed the Tracking Spirit Stone into the First Princess’s body.”
The red Spirit Stone echoed on without pause.
That meant the other half was drinking Sherkan’s blood.
This Spirit Stone sewn into my clothes required no such price.
To be even more blunt about it.
I could throw this Spirit Stone away whenever I chose.
It wasn’t embedded in my body.
It wasn’t feeding on my blood.
Like a mere stone rolling about, Sherkan would have no way of knowing if I simply discarded it somewhere.
And yet he had sewn together this impossibly unequal pair, feeding it his own blood all the while.
Without telling me.
Into my only everyday dress.
For what reason?
“I thought it was the best way to keep you from running…….”
“…….”
Something creaked somewhere in my chest.
This felt almost like he was refusing to abandon me.
As though he meant to hold on to me no matter what price he had to pay…….
When I lowered my head, several pale platinum strands fell forward. I slowly brushed them aside and, as if enchanted, lifted my gaze.
Inside the open wardrobe, only a single garment now hung.
That fur cloak—the very one Sherkan had dressed me in on our first day together.
So heavy, so warm, so oversized.
It felt almost like being cradled in Sherkan’s feverish arms.
I straightened my folded knees and reached out my hand.
When I pulled Sherkan’s Fur Cloak from where it hung in the wardrobe, the garment cascaded down like winter snow.
Crushed beneath the heavy fur, I exhaled for a moment. Had the weather been any colder, my breath would likely have emerged as white vapor.
But winter had not yet grown that bitter.
“Ratku.”
“Ratku?”
Ratku, who had been buried in the fur along with me, popped out suddenly.
I lifted Ratku’s ears with both hands and opened my mouth slowly.
“Sherkan…….”
That male protagonist.
That boy, the Grand Duke whose fate is bound to love Ayu.
My young husband who throws me into confusion I cannot count.
What does he want me to feel?
No, before that.
What on earth does that boy feel for me?
“Ratku?”
Ratku tilted his round face, puzzled.
I smiled and asked him.
“You won’t abandon me, will you, Ratku?”
“Ratku will only love Relei forever and ever.”
At Ratku’s earnest words, laughter burst from me. I drew him out from beneath Sherkan’s Fur Cloak and held him tight against my chest.
“I’ll love you forever too, Ratku.”
“Ratku!”
I couldn’t tell what was growing within my heart.
Or rather, I didn’t want to know.
When I pressed my palm against the leather cloak, it sank in perfectly where my hand lay.
I draped the cloak over my raised knees like a blanket and rested my forehead against it.
My eyes closed of their own accord at the heavy, musky scent peculiar to beast fur.
The King, cradling Ayu in his arms and soothing her.
The Crown Prince, plucking flowers to bring to Ayu.
The King, apologizing tenderly that he hadn’t known what a good daughter I was.
The Crown Prince, handing me a box, saying he’d thought of me while choosing a gift for Ayu.
“I’m so sorry and sad for you, Lorelthiana. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have been dragged off as a concubine to Parsa…!”
The King and Crown Prince, consoling Ayu as she wept without end.
I watched them from very far away, then turned and walked back without a word.
It was only a few months ago that I swore I would never rely on anything in this world again.
Such is my trauma.
Still so vivid.
No matter how I struggled, fixed destiny overwhelmed my desperation dozens of times over.
So why do you shake me like this, when you’re someone who will love Ayu in the end?
“Relei, Relei. Only Ratku loves you the most.”
Ratku whispered. I smiled and embraced him.
I felt grateful.
Because Ratku was the one being unconnected to anyone in the original story.
My precious Spirit Stone who could never be stolen away by the female lead or the male lead.
We fell asleep like that, wrapped in Sherkan’s Fur Cloak and my only outdoor dress, in front of the wardrobe.
With no idea what would unfold the next day.
* * *
The next day.
After eating lunch earlier than usual, I stopped by to check on Atil, then headed toward the coal mine.
Before leaving for the Gaiard Imperial Palace, I’d ordered that at least the wooden palisade be erected, and that work was progressing smoothly.
The reason for building the palisade was to make it difficult for outsiders to spy in from beyond.
The abandoned mines I’d purchased weren’t all attached to one another, but they weren’t far apart either.
‘And I won’t be extracting from multiple coal mines all at once.’
For now, I planned to begin with the largest abandoned mine—three shafts connected in a row.
When I saw the three-layer-high wooden palisade walls erected according to my specifications, I felt genuinely pleased.
Is this what it feels like to build a castle?
The palisade gate creaked open.
A breeze tinged with coal dust seeped through the gap and swept my hair back. A few platinum strands scattered before my eyes, then resettled over my shoulder.
“The Council of Elders certainly turned this place inside out,” Erichi said with a click of his tongue as he stepped in ahead of me.
“Really?”
I followed him in and burst out laughing.
Indeed.
The Council of Elders had been industrious.
During my absence, three mine shafts had been torn open like a honeycomb.
Word was they’d even brought in professional workers to search for gold veins, and heaps of black anthracite coal were piled before each mine shaft entrance. The excavated earth still hadn’t settled, and the cart wheel tracks lay hardened into the mud.
Because of the three-layer-high palisade enclosing us, the ground was covered in streaks of light and shadow like a trellis.
I walked forward, stepping through that pattern of bars one by one. The temperature against my cheeks alternated sharply. Even light gets trapped here, I thought.

“Hmm.”
At the entrance to the abandoned mine shaft lay scattered shovels and pickaxes.
Dew had settled on their handles, turning them dark and corroded. The moment they’d confirmed there was no gold, they’d abandoned them without hesitation and left.
‘You’ve all worked hard.’
Wasted effort.
The wages for the laborers, the excavation costs—all came from someone else’s pocket. And yet here lay such a vast heap of coal, mined with another’s money.
I gathered up the hem of my skirt and crouched before the black coal pile.
Platinum hair cascaded over my shoulder, tumbling across it.
Wherever the light touched, the strands rose like silver scales. The delicate ruffles at my cuff fluttered along my wrist before settling softly onto the coal dust.
I picked up a chunk of coal at my feet and turned it over in my palm.
Cool and heavy, the black stone settled into my hand. I rubbed the surface with my thumb, and fine black powder settled evenly along every ridge of my fingerprints.
To the people of this world, it was just a useless lump of rock.
To me, it was treasure.
‘Fuel is the most important resource in any era, after all.’

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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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