The Fake Wife of the Strongest Husband Wants to Survive - Chapter 38

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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 38
“Sold out already?”
Pesha had anticipated the necklaces would prove popular, but not to this degree. Her face flushed with astonishment.
“Orders for the Poliana Necklace are flooding in from across the Capital as we speak. Since the theatrical performance, interest has spread beyond the nobility to the wives of the merchant class as well.”
For a moment she was too startled to speak, though it passed quickly.
The plan had succeeded beyond her wildest hopes. She couldn’t help but feel joy rise in her chest.
The servant delivering the report nodded vigorously, breathing heavily.
“Tremendous orders are pouring in from the Capital. Supply can’t keep up with the demand.”
Pesha made a swift decision.
“Quickly—gather more craftsmen! Right now, I need as many as we can find!”
At her command, the servants rushed off, and soon twenty of the Estate’s finest gem-cutters stood before her. Their faces betrayed obvious confusion at this sudden summons.
The eldest among them, an old man, stepped forward hesitantly.
“Madam, might I ask why you’ve gathered us all so suddenly?”
Pesha opened the storage room door at once, gesturing for them to enter.
“Look at this.”
The storage was piled high with Beryl rough stones in every hue imaginable. The craftsmen’s eyes widened in astonishment.
“Aren’t these just the rough stones left over after sorting out the Emeralds?”
Pesha smiled and nodded.
“Exactly. And now they’re going to become the Estate’s new source of revenue.”
“Revenue? From these?”
“The colorful ‘rough stones’ you mentioned are proving wildly popular in the Capital. If we don’t move quickly, we’ll lose the market entirely. We must begin processing them at once.”
The craftsman’s eyes grew wide as he examined the order forms she showed him.
“Such quantities of rough stone…”
Pesha smiled in response.
“The Estate’s future rests in your hands. Give it your very best.”
From that day forward, the craftsmen’s workshop burned with light day and night.
The sound of hammers and the scrape of whetstones echoed endlessly, as did the careful work of polishing hands.
Seated at their individual workbenches, the artisans concentrated on their hands’ every movement, gradually shaving the roughly mined stones and bringing out their luster.
Pesha visited the workshop daily to oversee their progress.
The carefully refined Beryls gleamed with pink, pale green, sky blue, and crystal-clear light.
Now no one called them Emerald byproducts.
“These really are beautiful. Should we create some new designs based on what Rosa Hardy wore at the performance?”
The craftsmen nodded at Pesha’s suggestion.
The designs she had conceived and proposed had quickly become the talk of Capital nobility, and unprecedented orders were pouring in from actual buyers.
The finished jewels were carefully packed in boxes and sent to the Capital.
The demand from Capital nobility was explosive.
The Beryls mentioned in the columns sparked a fever among those who wanted to possess them, and once the trend caught fire, there seemed no end to it.
“They’re all sold out.”
Pesha turned to Jane after receiving the report.
Jane’s expression was somewhat subdued.
“Yes, madam. The Merchant Guild Alliance in the Capital has already submitted additional orders, and the price has risen to at least 1.5 times the original.”
The revenue was incomparable to what they’d earned from the Sidoroca Medicine.
It was truly remarkable profit.
* * *
When this news reached Owen, he arrived at Pesha’s research chamber looking dazed.
“What in the world is happening at the Estate?”
Seeing his bewilderment, Pesha smiled mischievously.
“You shouldn’t be surprised already.”
The business venture had begun very smoothly.
If nothing major went wrong, they could generate much larger revenues and expand into new ventures.
“There’s more to be surprised about?”
“I’m planning to use most of the profits to purchase Purification Herbs. I wanted to ask your permission on that.”
At the word “permission,” Owen’s brow furrowed slightly.
“Why would my permission be necessary? That’s entirely your personal property.”
“No, it’s not. The Beryl belongs to Swarf’s assets. What I did was simply present stones that were already there in an attractive package to the world.”
Owen fell silent for a moment, struck by the resolute expression on Pesha’s face.
‘Good, good. So that’s how it is.’
Whether shock or joy or gratitude—he wanted her to feel it deeply, very deeply.
If he considered that the debt he erased today would preserve his own life in the future, the money before him was not wasted at all.
“Is there a reason you need to purchase such quantities?”
At his words, Pesha spoke with firm conviction.
“If we plant Purification Herb densely beneath the shrubs, the contaminated soil will be cleansed. Once that’s done, we can generate far greater profits over the long term.”
At that, Jane, who had been standing behind Owen, sensed an opening and interjected.
“You’re talking about Webus, aren’t you?”
“Exactly.”
She’d nearly written him off as a fool for almost falling prey to Tompkins’s price manipulation, but it seemed he had more sense than she’d given him credit for.
‘So why is he grinning like that? What objection is he cooking up now?’
Masking her irritation—she was tempted to pinch that smug mouth of his—and arranging her features into the benevolent expression of one who knew nothing, she watched as Jane lifted his shoulders in a shrug.
“Sigh, what else? It’s not as though we haven’t tried planting it ourselves. But the effects are minimal, you understand. I’m concerned that spending so much money on it might be rather wasteful.”
Pesha had to work hard not to regard Jane with the contempt he deserved as he made his objection with that patronizing tone.
‘Kind eyes. Keep the kind eyes.’
Mimicking a devoted lady of the house so that her sly calculation—one that had an eye toward future recompense—wouldn’t be exposed, she opened her mouth to speak.
“I’m planning to push through with sheer volume.”
“Volume? Are you suggesting that enough grains of sand might eventually form a mountain?”
“What’s impossible about that?”
Having listened to the exchange, Rebecca raised her hand and asked.
“Should we call the soldiers back together, then?”
“No. Keep the soldiers planting trees. I have other people to plant the Webus.”
At that moment, Owen, who had been staring intently at the Beryl sales report with a grave expression the entire time, spoke.
“My lady, isn’t it rather reckless to pour all your profits into medicinal herbs? With that expense, you could undertake ventures far more certain of success.”
“That may be true. But I believe the long-term foundation of the Estate is more important than short-term gain. The purification efforts must not stop—they must continue.”
Her eyes shone with clarity as she spoke with the textbook correctness and excellence of her convictions.
Pesha prayed that this appearance would read as resolve filled with dedication to the greater good.
‘If the Estate thrives, then I thrive!’
Unable to voice such a thing directly, Owen swallowed hard as he observed Pesha maintaining nothing but a stern and solemn expression.
Since when had it been?
Even if Pesha was a watcher sent in the Emperor’s stead, even if hidden intentions lay behind her eyes, it no longer mattered to him.
He had once thought that it was enough merely to have her at his side, but Pesha not only adapted to the Estate in ways he could never have predicted—she was advancing it, making it flourish.
Pesha observed Owen, who seemed unable to find words and had fallen silent, and pressed her point once more.
“All the money we’re earning now comes from the Estate. If the Estate isn’t healthy, this prosperity won’t last. Only when the Estate itself thrives can we truly grow in the long term.”
Of course, this statement wasn’t entirely false.
She wanted these jewels to be more than mere instruments of wealth creation—she wanted them to be the means of reviving the very land where people lived and catalyzing genuine change in their lives.
If they were going to achieve their purpose anyway, wasn’t it better that everyone benefited?
‘Isn’t a good thing just a good thing?’

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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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