Abandoned Empress's Survival Manual Beside the Male Lead - Chapter 87

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

Episode 87
* * *
‘Well, well. I’m a pauper now.’
All I had left in hand was twenty livre.
‘Twenty million won.’
And that was only because I’d set it aside for the workers’ wages—once the factory truly got running, I’d be fortunate if a few silver coins remained in my pocket.
Even a common merchant’s household, no—even a common child probably had more money than this.
I had truly returned to beggary.
I sat at my desk, heaving long sighs as I pored over the ledgers, when Gabin knocked and entered.
“Grand Duchess.”
He bowed his head lightly before continuing.
“It appears the Council of Elders has sent another spy.”
“Again?”
I let out a mirthless laugh.
“They’re truly persistent as gnats.”
Why don’t I just line the ground beneath their feet with iron skewers so thickly they can never walk again?
Three hundred brutal and vicious torture methods from my days as a concubine flickered through my mind, but I held back.
Of course, Briget would have welcomed it.
But with the business venture on the horizon, it was best to avoid unnecessary friction.
“They’ve been keeping watch from a distance, but they haven’t attempted entry. They lingered briefly and then left.”
“Good. For now, leave it at that.”
Gabin bowed and withdrew. I turned my gaze to Erichi, who sat across from me.
“So let me get this straight—not a single applicant? It’s been nearly a week since we posted the announcement, and still nothing?”
When Ayu first began making briquette coal, she failed several times.
It was only after bringing in a potter that she succeeded.
I didn’t have the money or time to absorb those failures, so I’d planned to hire a potter directly and begin work immediately.
Yet no one came.
“Really no one at all?”
“None.”
Erichi answered carefully.
“Why?”
“If I may be so bold, Grand Duchess, I suspect the Council of Elders has intervened.”
“The Council again? What did they do?”
“Several of the Council’s retainers have suddenly opened several large ventures. The wages they’re offering are all considerably higher than ours.”
‘These bastards…!’
Such a petty tactic!
Genuine fury rose in me.
I wanted to scream, but I barely restrained myself because Briget was nearby.
Even in circumstances like this, I had to remain elegant and ruthless.
I lifted my teacup and smiled.
“They’ve truly lost their minds.”
“Grand Duchess, shall this Briget slip poison into the Council’s tea?”
“Kind of you, Briget, but there’s no need. Wouldn’t mere poisoning be too light a punishment for treason?”
“Ah! This Briget’s thinking was too shallow, Grand Duchess!”
……
Erichi looked at our exchange as though we were quite peculiar, but it was no concern of mine.
“What I originally needed were potters. And laborers who could handle repetitive simple work under a contract lasting at least a year.”
The process of making briquette coal wasn’t complex.
I could produce large quantities within two weeks, even a month.
I could pay the workers’ wages from my current funds, and the following month, more of Sherkan’s personal funds would come in, allowing me to pay them again.
Once briquette coal began selling in earnest, I’d be able to return Sherkan’s investment many times over—dozens of times, even hundreds.
I’d asked the notice be posted in the Slums.
It was the method Ayu had used in the original story when she was short on capital, and I thought it was sound.
Even getting a decent position in the mines required under-the-table payments.
People who’d spent their whole lives at the entrance of someone else’s mine shaft because they had no money. Potters who’d never received proper training because they couldn’t afford to pay a master.
‘But this dirty, underhanded interference from the Council—that wasn’t part of the plan.’
Moreover, in the original story, Ayu had opened her business after Sherkan repurchased and restored the bankrupt Grand Duke’s House.
Now was a time when rumors swirled about when bankruptcy might come.
And above all.
I was someone who’d just recently contracted with the Sun Spirit, and the Saint had been descended for over thirty years.
The impact was naturally bound to differ.
Of course, as the original story unfolded at a slightly accelerated pace, Ayu couldn’t shake her childish mannerisms, which earned her mockery from the noble circles.
But the corrupted version of Ayu later becomes such a formidable power that she ultimately defeats the Empress Dowager in their final confrontation.
As for me…….
My status as a spirit contractor wasn’t widely known.
All the territory’s people know are the malicious rumors the Council of Elders deliberately spread.
‘Well, not even malicious, really. It’s all true, after all.’
A deposed princess, a retired imperial concubine from a fallen empire, and on top of that, the mistress of a crumbling Grand Duke’s House.
They say you counter rumors with rumors, but that also requires money.
I don’t have that kind of money.
I clenched my teeth.
If the Council of Elders intends to obstruct me with money, then I’ll obstruct them with money too!
If they stand in my way with reputation, I’ll win over people with tangible benefits.
I’ll open a workshop even if it means emptying every last reserve I have.
Grinding my teeth internally, I set down the teacup.
“Erichi. Post the notice again.”
“How should I post it again?”
Truthfully, I would have loved to play a game of chicken.
I wanted to boldly announce an even higher wage and recruit workers that way!
‘But I don’t have the money…….’
Unable to compete on wages, I thought of another incentive instead.
“Tell them they’ll receive their daily wages every day. Whatever they earn that day gets paid out as soon as the sun sets.”
In that instant, Erichi’s eyes widened.
“Grand Duchess. Are you certain? If you’re paying daily wages, the expenses…….”
“It can be done. It’s tight, that’s all.”
Once we start turning a real profit, this precarious balance sheet will improve.
In any case, the plan itself hadn’t changed.
I had to hire people as quickly as possible and complete the briquette coal production to earn money.
The thought of seeing who would prevail kindled my fighting spirit.
“And change one condition of the notice.”
“What should I change it to?”
“Recruit only women.”
Erichi was momentarily flustered.
“Grand Duchess. You mean potters too, only women? But the potters don’t accept female apprentices, do they?”
“I know.”
“You know, but why…….”
“Because it irritates me.”
“Pardon?”
I had already posted a notice targeting men.
Because all the things we had to move were heavy.
Coal and clay and furnace bricks—all the sort of work where one misstep with your back meant you’d be flat on your face.
But no one came.
I didn’t need to waste my own money and feel worse about it.
Besides, I’d been following Ayu’s successful method so closely that I hadn’t thought broader myself.
Men experienced in mining work are the sort who’ll go anywhere when called—they leave the moment someone offers more.
But women were different.
For them, there were few places to earn money outside of mending clothes or kitchen work.
‘That’s right. Let’s hire women.’
I’d be providing them with work.
I continued with a sly smile.
“No matter how rare female potters are supposed to be, if we search thoroughly, we’ll turn up one or two. And even if we don’t, this isn’t about making pottery—a close imitation will do, so find an apprentice or two.”
Erichi nodded but then spoke with concern.
“But female potters are truly rare. Will there really be anyone who’s received formal training?”
“I don’t know either, so go find out. Either way, we absolutely need one potter to run the workshop.”
“Grand Duchess.”
Erichi’s eyes grew misty as he spoke.
“Why is serving the Grand Duchess so much harder than serving the Grand Duke?”
“Because the Grand Duke is bright and wise and handles everything himself, while I’m lacking and foolish and need everyone’s help. There—satisfied?”
“No, but then what does that make me…….”
Erichi glanced at Briget before awkwardly getting to his feet with an uncomfortable laugh.
“Then I’ll go take care of it right away!”
“Go on.”
After Erichi left, I sat with my tea, lost in thought.
In truth, even if we could gather female workers that way, I remained skeptical about female potters.
The Potter’s Guild existed, but they were rigid and exclusionary—they never took women as apprentices.
Even if female potters did exist somewhere, they were extraordinarily rare, and I’d never heard of any in the Gonet domain.
But bringing in commoners from other domains wasn’t exactly appropriate either…
‘Damn it. I won’t let the Council of Elders get away with this.’
I genuinely despised the Council of Elders enough to kill them.
‘Once I make my fortune, I’ll have my revenge.’
For now I had no money and no influence with the Council, so I was biding my time. But let me become wealthy.
I’d buy them all with gold and then tear the Council of Elders to pieces.
‘If nothing else works, I’ll become a potter myself.’
Since Emperor Gaiad favors me, I should send a letter asking to borrow just one Imperial Court potter.
Of course, to do that I’d have to show my sincerity, which would cost me something.
I prayed and prayed.
Please, let just one work out.
* * *
A few days later.
“Grand Duchess! I found her! There’s exactly one female potter!”
“Excellent!”
I shot up from my seat.
“Erichi! You’re more useful than I thought!”
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
“Bring her here at once! I want to interview her!”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t bring her.”
“…What?”
Erichi stepped back slightly and carefully handed me a document with both hands.
“She’s a prisoner in the Prison.”
“What?”
“She was sentenced to life imprisonment seven years ago for murdering her own father.”
“What did you just say?”
“…I can’t release her of my own authority, so I need your help. I need you to seal the document with the Grand Duchess Seal. Without it, I can’t bring her out. What do you say?”
I clenched my teeth and spoke to Briget.
“Briget, go fetch the Grand Duchess Seal.”

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