The Fake Wife of the Strongest Husband Wants to Survive - Chapter 19

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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 19
She couldn’t confront Tomkins without concrete evidence in hand.
“For now, please inform the Merchant Union before any greater damage occurs. I think it would be best to proceed with the wheat purchase once the Triticale circulating in the market has been collected to some extent.”
“Of course.”
Yet Owen, whom she’d expected to answer and leave, lingered instead, watching Pesha with a steady gaze.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“The matter with the roses aside, you seem to have considerable knowledge of plants—yet you haven’t made use of that talent. Why?”
“Make use of it?”
“You might have pursued it more deeply, established a name for yourself.”
……
A name.
She’d never wanted it less—to study Herbalism to her heart’s content, earn credentials, be recognized.
But what good would it do to pour out her regrets to this man, who was husband in name alone?
She managed a weary smile and deflected with something suitable.
“I wasn’t really that fond of it, to be honest.”
Not so desperately as to defy her father and leave home.
She had to convince herself of that lie to bear the bitterness of it.
Yet Owen, watching Pesha’s smile, did not return it.
Instead, his face only hardened.
* * *
Owen reported the matter to the Merchant Union at once. The Union’s representatives, skeptical at first, began their investigation and soon discovered that counterfeit wheat was indeed circulating in the market, distributed by a shell merchant company that existed only on paper.
By the time they raided the company’s headquarters, everyone had already fled.
‘The trail’s gone cold, so pursuing it further will be difficult—but Count Tomkins must be feeling considerable pressure now.’
He’d succeeded in thwarting the man’s scheme, so his quarry would be stung and wary.
If the Union had informants, they’d soon learn that it was Count Owen Namo who had warned them about the Triticale.
By now, Tomkins was likely grinding his teeth or concocting some fresh villainy.
“Still, I have my part to play.”
Pesha slapped her cheeks sharply and rose from her seat.
“Cheap, cheap! Green Beans from Chaelom Territory, so cheap!”
“Try some Oat Bread, won’t you? Fresh and warm from the oven!”
The commercial district of Swap was alive with clamor.
Pesha stood among it, threading her way down the center of the street, casting suspicious glances this way and that with every step.
Her maid Bri hurried close behind her, breathing hard.
“M-ma’am! You mustn’t walk so quickly ahead!”
Of late, Pesha had been lost in thought so often that her attendants worried deeply about her.
Bri, among them, had been preparing to go out in search of sweets her mistress had once favored, when she was caught by a bright-eyed Pesha and dragged along instead.
“You’re going out? Perfect timing. Lend me some of your clothes.”
Bri, who had been about to arrange for a carriage with an escort, was stunned by words she’d never expected to hear.
Yet there was no stopping a mistress determined to see the market with her own eyes.
While Bri caught her breath, Pesha spotted something and paused before a stall.
“My goodness, Bri. Look at this.”
Past the greengrocer’s lusty calls and the savory scent of bread, Pesha stopped before a vendor’s stand crammed with odds and ends.
It was a jewelry stall of sorts—bracelets strung with raw gems threaded on cords, necklaces with beads secured by leather straps.
What caught her eye most was a silver earring set with a translucent amber-colored stone.
“For glass, the color really does look like brandy.”
Pesha lifted the earring and murmured softly in wonder.
Though the cutting was somewhat crude, it carried the bearing of a proper ornament, which was surprising.
It made sense, after all—in a poor market where vegetable carts sold green beans and celery, and bakeries baked cheap oat bread, a glass ornament looked unusually convincing.
But the merchant, overhearing Pesha’s murmur, suddenly flew into a rage.
“Glass! Miss, you’ll cause trouble if anyone hears you say such a thing!”
“Pardon?”
“What glassworker could craft colored glass so exquisitely? This earring is genuine. It’s a real Topaz Earring.”
“A real topaz?”
At those words, Pesha’s eyes widened.
Most topaz in circulation bore a colorless, transparent light.
Its clarity and purity were so visually similar that it was often used as a substitute for diamond—this was the nature of topaz.
Colored topaz, by contrast, was relatively rare.
Rarity meant expense—yet……
This realization puzzled Pesha.
What reason could colored topaz have to be lying on a street stall in this remote eastern territory, much less in a place where the count’s finances were an open book?
As Pesha examined the earring she’d been holding and tilted her head in confusion, the merchant added something, as if to protest his innocence.
“I’m telling you, it’s real! A miner I know dug it up near the Abyss along with some Emeralds! Miss, you must be from another territory, but Swap is a region that lives by mining. Why would I lie?”
“Hmm.”
“If you’re not buying, don’t waste my space—move along!”
Pesha stood there, uncertain, before calling out to Bri.
“Bri, pay for this earring.”
“You’re buying it?”
Bri’s face was full of doubt—she clearly didn’t trust the merchant’s word—but she obeyed Pesha’s command and drew out her coin purse.
“Oh, thank you so much, madam!”
The merchant’s face brightened at once, bowing respectfully, but Pesha walked on without a backward glance, rolling the earring in her palm.
If this really was a Topaz Earring, she was surprised at how reasonably priced it was.
“A jewel, then……”
There’s always a reason why people stay in a land where the soil is poisoned and farming impossible.
Swap’s specialty was, surprisingly, gems.
‘The problem was simply that the tainted soil kept production levels low.’
Things improved considerably once Io purified the mining regions.
It seemed they’d undertaken some kind of business venture with the increased gem production, though she couldn’t quite recall the details.
That made sense, really—the Original Work focused mainly on the abuse Io suffered and her abilities, the process of purifying the poisoned land. Swap’s finances and business dealings never took up much space in the narrative.
‘Besides, increasing mineral production without a Purification Magic user would be impossible.’
Only Io, who received the full Protagonist Buff, could accomplish such a thing. Without access to that information, it was nothing more than castles in the air.
Bri, who had followed Pesha after paying, kept glancing sideways at the Topaz Earring and finally spoke.
“Do you really think that earring is authentic?”
“Who knows. Even if that merchant was lying, the technique of applying color to glass so skillfully would be worth collecting.”
Pesha slipped the earring into the pouch Bri was carrying and continued.
“Still, I never thought the ‘Emerald of the Abyss’ was actually real.”

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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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