Abandoned Empress's Survival Manual Beside the Male Lead - Chapter 85

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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 85
* * *
The work progressed quickly.
There was a reason for the speed.
“You’ve hired a hundred workers? Is that really wise?”
Erichi tilted his head in question, but I answered him with grim determination.
“You don’t understand yet.”
Gonet didn’t have much time left before bankruptcy.
Since I was doing this, I had to finish the work as quickly as possible, recover my investment, and earn enough to cover the debts.
For all my bravado, I was bleeding inside.
But what choice did I have? I had to do it.
‘Besides, this is guaranteed to succeed.’
In my past life, coal was established as a fuel used by all humanity across the world, and it was the same in the original story.
If something’s success was guaranteed, there was only one answer: bring it to market as quickly as possible.
Dragging things out would only extend the period of poverty.
Bankruptcy, be gone!
“Let’s use this largest building as an anthracite coal storage facility.”
“Understood, Grand Duchess. We’ll need to use the strongest locks available.”
The shops along the street were nearly all built flush against one another in a row.
Right in the center stood the largest building of all, apparently once used as a grain warehouse.
I designated this largest structure as the storage facility for finished anthracite coal products.
I had every other building renovated as well. We tore down the buildings clustered like barnacles and spaced them roughly a hundred meters apart.
‘Distance is the best security.’
And so a week passed.
After deploying a hundred workers, and Gabin and the laundry facility personnel besides—often, in fact, quite often—twenty buildings had been constructed.
All the buildings stood independent, and with distance between each, you had to step outside to move from one to another.
Only ten of these buildings would actually be used.
I intended to leave the remaining ten empty.
‘That way, anyone trying to spy will have to check all twenty buildings.’
I would install identical locks on the empty buildings and post guards there as well. Only Erichi and I knew they were hollow inside.
‘This entire street is mine!’
Though no one ventured down this desolate thoroughfare, there was something inexplicably satisfying about being a building owner.
“We should call this Gonet Workshop Street.”
“Isn’t that rather common?”
Erichi immediately raised an objection.
“Then what would be good?”
“Noble Solar Spirit District…….”
“Briget!”
I called out to Briget loudly and moved forward.
“Have the workers make twenty signs. Write ‘Gonet Workshop Street’ on all of them, and attach a number to each one. One through twenty.”
“Your wish is my command, Grand Duchess.”
Erichi trailed after me with a sigh.
I pretended not to hear and continued thinking.
Numbering each building would be convenient later.
It would make managing people easier too.
‘If information leaks, I can quickly figure out whether it came from building three or building seven.’
* * *
“Have you heard? The abandoned mine district has been completely transformed.”
“Of course I’ve heard. What on earth is happening there?”
The common folk of the Grand Duke’s domain were consumed with curiosity.
“Was a new mineral vein discovered in the abandoned mine?”
“What else could it be? Why else would anyone restore it?”
“But which wealthy merchant bought it?”
“That’s what I’m saying. It looks like a waste of money to me. Still, when it’s finished, it’ll become as fine a street as it was before.”
The Council of Elders had also pricked up their ears.
When Council of Elders Chairman Oswald, the Earl, heard about the coal mine district, his brow furrowed.
“Didn’t we search it thoroughly? Nothing came up.”
“That’s correct. No matter how thoroughly we searched, we found no mineral vein whatsoever.”
“Then what is the intention behind purchasing that entire old district?”
The Council of Elders naturally knew that the person who had bought the entire street was none other than the Grand Duchess of Gonet.
“Tsk, tsk. How luxurious for someone on the brink of bankruptcy.”
“It’s hardly what I’d call truly extravagant, is it?”
One of the nobles replied, raising his teacup.
“Even if you bought everything there, you’d struggle to afford a single building in the New District.”
“What on earth is she trying to accomplish…….”
“Why concern ourselves with it? She must be attempting some sort of business venture.”
Another noble scoffed.
“Obvious enough, isn’t it? Northern Kingdom delicacies, perhaps—or more likely, jewelry and clothing from her days as a minor concubine in Pasa. Court pieces the Imperial concubines used to wear.”
“There’s merit to that theory. Though it’s surely the quickest path to ruin.”
“She’s still young, and everyone indulges her as Grand Duchess without question. The girl doesn’t know the meaning of caution.”
Laughter rippled through the parlor.
“Who would bother shopping in the Old District when the New District exists? None of the nobility have any interest in the Grand Duchess anyway.”
The Council of Elders nobles laughed themselves hoarse and dismissed Lorelthiana from their minds entirely.
Only Earl Oswald frowned.
‘That was no ordinary display of competence.’
His pride stung, he kept that day’s conversation from the other nobles.
But when he’d sipped tea in the parlor, he’d realized it: Lorelthiana was not as weak as she appeared, and her mind was sharp.
Frankly, even he had felt outmaneuvered.
“I should send people to gather information, just to be safe.”
“Ha. You’re always so meticulous, Chairman.”
The Council of Elders harbored deep contempt for Sherkan Gonet—a half-breed outsider bastard.
When the Grand Duke’s House fell into bankruptcy, after a few years of grace, Earl Oswald would acquire Gonet with help from various quarters.
Only Earl Oswald could manage the purchase.
By law, acquiring a bankrupt noble house required blood kinship. Money alone could not buy it.
Therefore, only Earl Oswald—the Previous Grand Duchess’s brother and guardian of the legitimate heir Gaisel Gonet—could acquire Gonet.
The other retainers were simply not qualified.
They believed this with absolute certainty.
If they invested now, they might one day gain a foothold in the Grand Duke’s House, so they all vied for Earl Oswald’s favor.
Earl Oswald offered a measured smile, then boarded his carriage home.
And he gave his order.
“Set someone to watch her. I need to know what that Abandoned Concubine is preparing in the Old District.”
* * *
At the same time, in the Suppression Zone.
“Your Grace! You must come out now!”
“You’ve been down far too long!”
The Gonet knights checked the time and shouted urgently.
Sherkan cut down the creatures surging toward him one last time and vaulted upward.
“Your Grace, are you hurt?”
“Any bites……?”
“None. See to Aslan.”
“At once!”
The Gonet knights moved with haste. As Sherkan walked forward in his armor, even the other knight orders gazed upon him with reverence.
Today, this young Grand Duke had eliminated yet another nest of the creatures.
“Your Grace, you’ve returned?”
The knight guarding the barracks hastened to greet Sherkan as he arrived.
“Your bath water is already prepared. It may have cooled a bit—shall I have it reheated?”
“That’s fine.”
The barracks housed the highest-ranking man in the Suppression Zone, so its interior was quite spacious.
A carpet, rough-woven though it was, lay broad across the earthen floor, and wooden partitions divided the space into orderly sections.
Sherkan stripped off his armor and clothes, then stepped directly into the steaming tub.
As he wiped his wet face with both hands, his body slowly relaxed. The water had cooled somewhat as the knight had said, but it mattered little.
Since childhood, he had barely ever washed in warm water; cold water, even ice-cold, was no hardship if commanded.
For a half-breed outsider bastard, even warm water was a luxury.
As Sherkan washed, he felt something hard against his chest and looked down.
A red Spirit Stone was embedded in his hard chest, clinging like a blood-drinking leech—its appearance far more grotesque than he’d expected.
Sherkan stared at the Spirit Stone for a moment, then exhaled a low sigh.
After leaving the tub, Sherkan dried himself with a towel, casually swept back his wet hair, and walked toward the bed.
Just then, the tent flap stirred.
A slender female silhouette entered.
It was Beate.

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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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