Queen of Revenge - Chapter 99

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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 99
“You would know well. You’ve had plenty of it in Levia, haven’t you?”
Iolet spoke casually as she moistened her throat with tea.
“I’ve never been to the Levia Kingdom myself, but my mother was quite fond of Levia tea leaves. To my young palate, it was merely bitter and astringent. Which way do your tastes lean, Your Highness?”
A question masked as courtesy is a trap designed to elicit a desired answer.
Anastasia maintained an attitude that was neither affirmation nor denial.
“Of course I’m quite fond of Levia tea as well. There was a time when I drank it daily.”
“During your time as Crown Prince of Lebia’s consort. Until three years ago.”
Yet the Princess did not allow Anastasia to slip away evasively. Her intention in pointedly mentioning Levia was unmistakably clear.
Anastasia merely smiled faintly. It was no secret that she bore the record of one marriage and divorce.
That her first husband had been the Crown Prince of Levia was a fact anyone could discover with minimal investigation.
“You take quite an interest in me, Iolet. It seems you’re curious about Levia, but I must apologize for disappointing your expectations. I was such an inconsequential Crown Princess in that royal house that I know very little of substance.”
“It’s true I’m interested in Anastasia, but not solely because of Levia.”
Iolet’s attention returned to her teacup.
As she turned the cup’s pattern this way and that, Iolet suddenly spoke.
“You’re the one who designed the crucial trade route connecting Levia and Kalande from Bilebach, aren’t you, Anastasia?”
The smile faded from Anastasia’s lips.
“What are you talking about?”
Iolet set down her teacup and began rummaging through the pastry plate.
“It’s merely my conjecture, but information about Bilebach is remarkably scarce.”
“I’m quite curious about the basis for that conjecture.”
“Would you like to hear it?”
Iolet picked up a cookie and regarded her.
After a moment of gathering her thoughts, she finally spoke.
“Bilebach is an island nation and a maritime power. It already maintains relations with the island nations of the southern Continent, but has relatively little contact with continental nations like Levia and Kalande. So it would have wanted to expand its diplomatic relations, beginning with Levia and extending to Kalande.”
“….”
“To actually implement such a designed trade route, you would have needed a method. So it seems you chose matrimonial alliances. To advance into the Continent, you needed a foothold, and the easiest method was to form marriage alliances with the Continent’s great powers. That’s why you yourself stepped forward as a diplomatic card.”
Iolet placed a well-baked cookie into her mouth.
As she slowly chewed, Anastasia found herself unable to speak readily. She felt caught off guard, her vulnerabilities exposed.
“I suspect your first marriage to the Levia Royal Family was also a contractual marriage between royal houses. You maintained the marriage for about three years, then divorced, and afterward remarried to one of Kalande’s princes. Am I wrong?”
Did I just underestimate the princess before me? Looking at those eyes that seem to strip away one’s innermost thoughts?
“You’re making quite a few assumptions, Iolet.”
“Perhaps. As I said, Bilebach is an island nation. It desperately needs the Continent’s granaries, and while its navy is formidable, it could lose dominance to Levia and Kalande at any time, both of which border the sea. To negotiate as equals with continental nations, you would have needed to play a card of royal marriage. You, Anastasia, the King of Bilebach’s twin sister, were perfectly suited for the role.”
Anastasia exhaled softly.
“How does a princess who has lived her entire life in Elovis understand the inner workings of our royal house so thoroughly?”
“I merely made educated guesses based on geographical characteristics. It seems I hit the mark quite well.”
“Don’t sidestep this. What basis do you have for claiming that I designed the trade route?”
“That part was actually rather difficult.”
Iolet tilted her head thoughtfully.
Through materials that could be gathered from the Command Tower and the various newspapers and bulletins from Kalande that Lucian had sent, it was not difficult to infer the circumstances of Bilebach’s situation.
Yet at this very juncture, I found myself blocked repeatedly.
Who could have conceived such a plan—to advance inland through two strategic marriages?
I discovered the answer the moment I sat before this tea table.
“You and the King of Bilebach are twins, but you were born first, making you the elder sister. Strictly speaking, Anastasia, you should have become queen, yet your younger brother ascended the throne instead. I began to wonder why.”
“…And?”
“It occurred to me that the Levia and Kalande Royal Houses contain only princes. Kalande has three princes, and Levia has only the Crown Prince.”
“…”
“So naturally, the younger brother would ascend to the throne and rule the kingdom, while the elder sister would forge a path abroad through marriage alliances. Such a plan could not be executed without your direct initiative or at least your consent, Anastasia. I thought it must have been a scheme born partly from your own will—or am I mistaken?”
Anastasia let out a somewhat irritable laugh.
“That’s a plausible story, and I appreciate the flattery, but deliberately divorcing to remarry into another kingdom’s royal family? I’m not that audacious. Would Levia have even agreed to such an absurd condition in the first place?”
“Yet you seem to have received favorable treatment from Levia. You yourself appear to long for Levia. Everything was pre-arranged with them, wasn’t it?”
“What sort of ridiculous speculation is that?”
“Speculation?”
I allowed a faint smile to play across my lips.
It was a serene smile, yet Anastasia felt as though pricked by thorns. An ominous premonition seized her.
I lifted the teacup I had been fingering all along.
The pattern on the cup gleamed a deep blue in the sunlight’s reflection.
“This teacup—it belongs to the Levia Royal House, doesn’t it?”
My intuition struck true.
Anastasia’s heart sank.
“In Levia, there exists a color used exclusively by the royal family. They call it Tyrian Blue.”
“…”
“The manufacturing method of Tyrian Blue is shrouded in absolute secrecy—only dye artisans descended from the Levia Royal House know it. The most distinctive characteristic of Tyrian Blue is that it glows increasingly blue the more light it receives…”
I held the teacup toward the window. The black pattern carved into it shimmered with an ethereal blue hue as the angle of sunlight shifted.
“It matches exactly the color I know.”
“…”
“Tyrian Blue is inseparable from the honor of the Levia Royal House. It is far too precious a color to bestow upon those who are no longer of royal blood.”
“That is…”
“More than three years have passed since your divorce, and now you are the Princess Consort of Kalande, yet you still possess items from the Levia Royal House—a teacup, a teapot, a plate, all as a set, Anastasia. Did the Crown Prince of Levia truly permit such things to remain with the wife he cast aside?”
“…Ah.”
Anastasia released a stifled gasp.
“How could…”
A mistake. Trivial yet unmistakable.
Yet had my opponent been anyone but me, it would scarcely have registered as an error at all.
Had I not been the daughter of a queen born of Levia.
I pushed the remaining cookie fragment into my mouth.
‘Tyrian Blue. It has been ages since I last beheld it, save for my wedding dress.’
When I heard that the First Prince had married the Princess of Bilebach, I resolved to learn more of her—of Anastasia. After all, once I arrived in Kalande, I would inevitably encounter her.
Moreover, her history of one divorce troubled me. Two strategic marriages in succession was hardly commonplace. Could there be political calculation on Bilebach’s part lurking beneath the surface?
As I caressed the teacup identical to the one my mother once used, I found myself inwardly marveling at Anastasia’s audacity.
‘Anastasia is no diplomatic sacrifice offered to Prince Leonhilt. If anything, it’s the reverse.’
Anastasia must have remarried after seeing the possibility of Prince Leonhilt ascending to Kalande’s throne. To become Queen of Kalande and strengthen the alliance with Bilebach even further.
‘Yet the fact that she still keeps items belonging to the Levia Royal Family means her relationship with her ex-husband, the Crown Prince of Lebia, hasn’t completely fallen apart. If anything, it’s more likely the opposite is true.’
In any case, through this second marriage, Anastasia secured the grain export rights of Kalande from Prince Leonhilt, and in return, she paid him an enormous sum that would fill Kalande’s treasury.
A portion of that money undoubtedly flowed into Prince Leonhilt’s private coffers.
To conceal that covert transaction, he preemptively declared a sweeping financial audit. Weakening the Second and Third Princes’ factions by squeezing out their hidden funds was merely a bonus.
So Anastasia was Prince Leonhilt’s reliable ally. Simultaneously, she was a business partner who held his fatal weakness in her hands.
Iolet set down her teacup soundlessly.
She had shaken Prince Leonhilt’s strategist. Now it was time to cut off his purse strings.
“What will you do if Prince Leonhilt never becomes King of Kalande, Anastasia?”

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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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