Abandoned Empress's Survival Manual Beside the Male Lead - Chapter 80

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

Chapter 80
In a way, it might become as precious as gold itself.
On the other hand, it was absurd.
“If there really was a gold vein, why would they dig it out like this only to cover it back up again?”
Erichi busily arranged the fallen shovel and tools at my feet before answering.
“I suspect they bribed all the miners and extracted the gold vein secretly every night.”
“Bribed the miners? All of them?”
“Yes. The Council of Elders would have more than enough resources for that.”
At those words, I raised my eyebrows.
If I let Erichi’s remark pass without comment, the month I’d survived as a lowly concubine would be nothing short of shameful.
“Erichi.”
“Yes, Grand Duchess?”
“The miners are subjects of Gonet, and yet they’re under the Council of Elders’ authority?”
Erichi nodded.
“That’s correct, Grand Duchess.”
“That’s odd.”
Iron ore was a special mineral used to forge weapons, so the refined product naturally fell under Imperial Court supervision.
But the miners were plainly subjects of Gonet.
Therefore, authority over them should rightfully belong to the Grand Duke of Gonet.
“Why does the Council of Elders even have authority over the miners?”
“The Previous Grand Duke sold that right to the Council of Elders.”
……
“Grand Duchess?”
A bitter laugh escaped me.
“It seems he didn’t sell anything except his own skin.”
Erichi couldn’t bring himself to answer and looked away.
I was left speechless and glanced up at the sky once.
Of course, since we stood before the mine entrance, all that was visible was a sliver of ashen sky cut off beyond the wooden palisade.
As my field of vision narrowed, so did my patience.
“How much did he squander?”
How much had he consumed, selling away every right he possessed?
And on top of that, he’d left behind an astronomical debt?
Erichi managed an awkward smile.
“I believe it was… quite substantial.”
“Quite?”
“Quite… a lot.”
“Erichi. Where is the Previous Grand Duke’s tomb?”
“Why, it’s enshrined in the Ancestral Shrine, naturally.”
“Pity.”
I selected one of the more usable shovels from the heap of tools and tapped the handle against my palm as I spoke.
“I’ll have to put off the grave robbery for later.”
“Pardon?”
“Once I’ve earned enough money, I’ll have to assemble a tomb-raiding crew.”
At my words, Erichi pressed his hand to his chest with a grave expression.
“Grand Duchess! I think I must call a physician at once! I’ve been hearing evil spirits speak since just now!”
“…Are you saying I’m an evil spirit? Me, who was chosen by a spirit?”
“No.”
Erichi immediately took on a reverent expression.
“There could not exist an evil spirit so pious and beautiful. Rather, the grave robbery—or in other words…”
Erichi lowered his voice and whispered urgently.
“You’re saying you’ll rob the Previous Grand Duke’s tomb?”
When I said nothing and merely fiddled with the shovel, Erichi’s eyes trembled.
‘Should I really not do it? When it’s this infuriating?’
But I couldn’t say that aloud, so I let out a laugh instead.
“I was joking.”
Though half of it was sincere.
“Phew. I was quite tense for a moment there.”
Erichi let out a relieved sigh and smiled again before gathering the shovel.
Of course, grave robbery in this era was truly an enormous sacrilege.
Especially desecrating the tombs of nobility was a capital crime.
But I can’t help the bad feeling.
The Previous Grand Duke—there was no way to describe him except as utterly irresponsible.
He’d sold off even the smallest rights, reveled in extravagance, and then simply dropped dead.
One person plays, another person cleans up.
Where in the world does such injustice exist?
‘Someday I’ll grave-rob this place and have my revenge.’
You’ve left future generations far too grim a legacy.
Honestly, if it weren’t for me, not even looking beyond the original staff—there wouldn’t be a single usable servant left in this castle.
Even the maids who serve me so well now had all been sold away.
‘Ugh.’
The truth was, whenever I saw the maids, I felt something like responsibility.
Why would pretty, young girls be the only servants left in this castle?
The answer lay with the Previous Grand Duke.
He’d always been fond of women, but it grew far worse after the Previous Grand Duchess bore him a son.
A half-breed bastard eldest son from a wildling.
A second son confirmed to have malformed legs.
To secure a legitimate heir, the Previous Grand Duke took a new mistress every week.
These were women chosen with succession in mind—at minimum, daughters of minor nobility.
Naturally, the Previous Grand Duchess did not sit idle.
Rather than tear the mistresses to pieces as she longed to do, she dismissed all the servants and hired only beautiful, young girls in their place.
She delighted in watching the proud mistresses pushed aside by ambitious maids, chewing their handkerchiefs in humiliation.
In the end, both came to ruin.
Through the Previous Grand Duchess’s schemes, the Previous Grand Duke had already become useless.
Near the end, drowning in wine, he beat his lower half against his chair, wailing ‘Worthless! Worthless thing!’ or so the story goes.
The Previous Grand Duchess followed him in death, claimed by heartbreak.
‘At least the couple had one thing in common—their destruction.’
I smirked bitterly to myself.
The current maids were, in a manner of speaking, the last “generation” born from the Previous Grand Duke’s foolishness.
So they were all either my age or very young, and every single one had particularly beautiful features.
Moreover, they were all uniformly timid in character, and that was because of an order the Previous Grand Duchess had given before her death.
Every maid who’d harbored ambition and climbed into the Grand Duke’s bed was to be sold away to harsh places without exception.
You might call it an unexpected filtering mechanism.
As a result, the maids remaining in the Main Castle now had no ambitions whatsoever, no schemes—they were only girls who feared even the thought of the Previous Grand Duke’s bed, hiding away in the Detached Palace and working in silence.
With fifty or so girls all, there had to be a reason their personalities were so similar.
Just then, Ratku, who’d been coiled around my neck like a ferret the whole time, suddenly lifted his head with a bounce.
“Relei, Relei. Want me to switch this from a Gold Vein to a Silver Vein instead?”
‘A Silver Vein?’
This was no choice between a golden axe and a silver axe—what was this about?
But I was a little intrigued.
I asked quietly, away from Erichi.
“Then how much longer could I live?”
“One month!”
“Done.”
“Ratku!”
Ratku buried his face in my neck again.
“You love Spirit Stones that much?”
“I do!”
I shrugged.
Whether it was because I was wearing the Spirit Stone Sherkan had hidden, Ratku coiled tightly around my neck and refused to let go.
I found myself growing conscious of the necklace too.
It wasn’t something visible to everyone—and since it was late autumn, my clothes were thick enough that I’d hidden it underneath.
So others wouldn’t be able to see it.
But Ratku alone sensed the Spirit Stone’s aura and clung to it.
‘So adorable.’
When I became incredibly wealthy later, I’d build a house out of Spirit Stones and cook with Spirit Stones and give Ratku water in a Spirit Stone cup.
‘Should I try the Reproduction Spell first, then?’
I sent Erichi and the knights out of the tunnel first.
“As your master, I have something to attend to. Wait outside.”
“However much you say that, it’s dangerous for you to be alone.”
“Ah, the Spirit would hate it if I ignored her orders, I think. Oh, what ever shall I do?”
“I’m leaving!”
It was a convenient spell to use.
Left alone in the mine, I took another look around the place.
The oil lamp in my hand cast long shadows across the dim mine.
The mine was vast enough that at least it didn’t feel claustrophobic.
“Huh.”
I exhaled deeply.
“Shall we begin?”
This Abandoned Mine.
From here on, I would pour out Reproduction Spells generation after generation.

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