The Fake Wife of the Strongest Husband Wants to Survive - Chapter 33

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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 33
The soldiers fell silent at her words.
Their hands, which had been grumbling as they carried soil, gradually steadied, and the pace of planting began to hold constant.
Though they didn’t know whether the trees planted today would ever see light, they understood well enough that it was for the Territory, and so they began to follow Pesha’s orders with increasing docility.
Meanwhile, Jane watched the scene unfold beside her, seized by an odd emotion.
At first, she’d thought it nothing but a senseless command, but the work had begun to unfold in a strangely coherent way.
The soldiers moved, Rebecca coordinated them, and Pesha stood at the forefront, sketching something like a blueprint.
‘……She really means to grow plants in this poisoned earth?’
Perhaps this work was not merely about planting trees at all.
If it succeeded, it would be the signal that changed the future of the entire Territory.
It happened in the midst of the bustle of soldiers’ shoveling.
Clang!
A sudden metallic, sharp impact rang out, and one of the working soldiers let out an irritated voice.
“Damn it, not these stones again.”
He set down his shovel and kicked at a round lump buried in the earth, rolling it loose.
As the dust cleared, what emerged were translucent stones of a subtle hue within the earthy tones.
“These aren’t just ordinary rocks, are they?”
Another soldier tilted his head in puzzlement and drew near, rolling the stones with his shovel.
“Never mind—just move them and throw them out. I’ve said this place is common ground a dozen times, but they keep dumping stuff here!”
At those words, Pesha, who had been surveying the area for planting, lifted her head.
“Dumping?”
The soldier, startled at the sudden appearance of his lady while complaining, quickly straightened his posture.
“Ah, madam. It seems the miners dumped stones here again.”
“Stones? They dumped stones?”
“Well, byproducts left over from mining Emeralds, you see.”
“Emeralds…… byproducts?”
Pesha’s brow furrowed.
The pairing of the words “Emerald” and “byproduct” didn’t easily make sense to her.
She walked toward where the soldiers had cleared away the stones and looked down at the cluster of rocks gathered in one place.
Struck by sunlight, it was clearly different from an ordinary stone at first glance.
Within the opaque gray, a faint blue-green glimmer shimmered.
“……It’s blue though.”
Pesha murmured the words to herself absently.
If this really were a byproduct of Emerald mining, shouldn’t it be tinged with green?
Yet among the stones were some that appeared pale blue or colorless and transparent, and others with a yellowish hue.
Her fingertips slowly traced the surface of the stone.
Rough-textured, yet the weight that registered at her fingertips was quite substantial and solid.
“This is truly what’s left over from mining Emeralds?”
“Yes, madam. When the miners dig for Emeralds near the Abyss, they can’t stay long for fear of being overwhelmed by monsters. It’s hard to sort quickly, so they bring everything back at once and discard the non-Emerald stones like this. I’ve told them not to, but……”
Pesha’s eyes narrowed.
It would require considerable labor and time to haul everything to a proper disposal site.
With no immediate dumping ground, they’d likely made use of empty land like this hill.
But the problem lay with the stones themselves.
They appeared like ordinary rocks on the surface, yet when struck by light, a faint blue radiance shimmered across them.
Pesha, drawing her fingertips close almost without thinking, intuited that these were no mere rubble.
‘If my guess is right, then this is…….’
Emerald is a green variety of the mineral Beryl.
Its grade is determined by transparency, the depth of color, and the nature of impurities, but typically its most distinctive feature is a deep green hue.
And if the color differed, it would be called by an entirely different name.
When Beryl exhibits a blue tint, it is called Aquamarine; yellow becomes Heliodor; and colorless is Goshenite.
Pesha gazed once more at the translucent blue stone scattered across the ground.
The surface, luminous in the light, gleamed like glass, and when held in hand, it conveyed a weighty feel with solid resistance.
‘This is being discarded. That can’t be right. Never mind the rest, do they not know what Aquamarine is?’
In fact, Pesha had seen jewelry set with Aquamarine in this place a few times before.
She’d let it pass without thought then, but what was happening now? She needed to verify it directly.
“I need to return to Earl’s Castle.”
“Pardon?”
Pesha spoke curtly and turned her body.
A single piece of the blue stone remained clutched in her hand.
“Right now?”
Jane’s eyes widened.
“But there are still work orders left to complete.”
“I’ll be back. First, I need to determine exactly what this stone is.”
On the ride back to the castle, Pesha remained silent.
It had been over a decade since she’d seen a raw stone—unset in jewelry, unpolished.
‘I thought I’d grown tired of gemstones by now.’
Before her possession, Pesha had studied Gemstone Appraisal.
More precisely, she’d earned a living from it for a brief time.
Not long after she’d started, she’d encountered various practical limitations and abandoned the trade, but even so, her knowledge of gemstones remained far richer than that of most people.
Combining that knowledge with what she’d heard from the soldier, no matter how she turned it over in her mind, this stone seemed unmistakably to be an Aquamarine.
‘Still, I should verify it properly first.’
Upon arriving at Earl’s Castle, Pesha immediately summoned a servant.
“Bring me a gem cutter. Someone with experience and genuine skill.”
“Yes, of course.”
Before long, a middle-aged gem cutter arrived at the castle.
On a table draped with cloth lay several ore samples that Pesha had personally selected.
All had been discovered either near the coal mine or while the land was being planted.
The gem cutter carefully lifted each piece one by one, examining its surface.
Rotating them beneath dim light to study their crystal structure, he nodded and spoke.
“Yes… my lady. This stone is indeed Beryl.”
Pesha leaned forward.
Her heart quickened.
“You’re certain?”
“Yes. Based on the crystal structure, color distribution, and transparency, I’m certain.”
He lifted the blue stone he held and continued.
“This appears to be Aquamarine.”
Her breath caught.
‘So I was right.’
That ethereal blue luminescence created by the delicate refraction of light.
Properly cut, this would certainly become a high-quality rough Aquamarine.
If her Territory produced not only Aquamarine but various Beryls, it might just be possible to solve the severe financial crisis that Swaf was facing.
But the gem cutter soon fell silent, and then spoke carefully.
“However… unfortunately, this stone has little value.”
“What? You just said it was Aquamarine.”
Pesha’s voice sharpened.
“You’re telling me an Aquamarine of this size is worthless?”
“Yes. To be precise, it has no value ‘in the gemstone market.'”

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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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