The World Mistakes Me for Terminally Ill - Chapter 3

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The World Thinks I’m Terminally Ill Episode 003

“Didn’t you say Finance Minister? Why are you here…?”

“We don’t have the money to hire such professional personnel.”

Ugh, seriously that damn money!

“Besides, the territory’s finances aren’t complicated enough to be impressive. Since the former Finance Minister resigned, Mother has been managing them.”

I buried my face in both hands.

“…Please just tell me you’re joking.”

“Unfortunately, it’s the truth, my lady.”

Shubel patted my shoulder with a pitying face, telling me to just accept it.

I coldly brushed away his hand and raised my head.

“Then there’s no choice.”

“Shall we go back?”

“No? If I want to invest, I need to meet the Finance Minister.”

Shubel blinked repeatedly.

“Investment…”

“Yes, investment. All of this is a bribe. It’s a gift meaning ‘let’s get along well,’ so remember that.”

“Do people talk about bribes so openly these days?”

“Didn’t you know? It’s the age of self-promotion. If you don’t say it, who would know?”

It was while we were chatting.

“Madam says you may enter.”

Click, the door opened.

I looked at the stern-faced maid and quietly turned to Shubel.

Shubel smiled gracefully.

“We don’t have money for soundproofing.”

I squeezed my eyes shut.

‘Father, Mother. This is the first time in my life I’ve resented money…’

Sigh.

It’s going to be a long road.

“So. Would you prefer I call you Investor, or would you prefer Daughter-in-law?”

I looked at the noble lady sitting upright at the office desk.

She had an elegant and dignified appearance, but her clothing was simple, clearly showing their finances weren’t abundant.

She was even wearing winter clothes, as if spring hadn’t arrived yet.

“I’d like you to call me Elisia.”

After finishing my brief assessment, I sat on the guest sofa with a bright smile, and Shubel sat across from me.

The Duchess’s gaze, which had been focused on documents, turned to the two of us.

As if she was dumbfounded.

“Or how about Lisha?”

“You’re quite something, aren’t you.”

“I am rather special.”

“And shameless too.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

At the sight of this strong-willed daughter-in-law who wouldn’t back down once, Duchess Bella Lunein of Lunein shook her head.

“Let’s hear it then.”

She sat on the sofa.

I smiled slyly as the first gateway of negotiation – ‘getting the other party to the negotiation table’ – succeeded.

“I’m thinking of building a new train station.”

“The reason?”

“Because the Northern Region is isolated. The current train station is so outdated that modern trains can’t enter. Even the Grand Duke’s Castle, which should be most prosperous, doesn’t have a direct train to the Capital.”

“…”

“Unlike 100 years ago when the Millennium War ended and the train station, an important facility, was built second only to the Capital.”

“…That’s right.”

The noble lady’s eyes seemed to deepen with regret.

However, the Finance Minister managing the Northern Region’s finances was not easy to deal with.

“I won’t deny there’s no direct train. But do you think that’s simply because the train station facilities are outdated?”

“I think there’s a misunderstanding.”

“Misunderstanding?”

“I said the Northern Region is isolated, but I never said I would personally establish a direct train connecting the Capital and the Northern Region, did I?”

“You clearly said there’s no direct train…”

“Ah, that’s right. There’s no direct train, so it’s inconvenient. There are so many things I need to bring from the Seten Estate, but in the current state, it seems like it won’t work even after three years.”

“So you’re saying you want to build a train station privately for yourself, with no relation to the territory?”

Bingo.

“It wouldn’t be completely unrelated. Since it’s a public facility, everyone can use the new train station once it’s built.”

“…Why are you speaking so indirectly?”

In the end, doesn’t this mean building a train station to expand transportation infrastructure and increase floating population?

“Mother.”

“Who’s your mother?”

“Oh, Mother, please listen. As Mother said, the disconnection from the Capital probably isn’t simply a facility problem.”

There are probably various political factors involved. Something related to how the Northern Region has fallen into such decline.

“So simply building a new train station won’t immediately increase the number of people coming and going. Someone who envies the Northern Region’s success might interfere.”

“…Yes, you understand well.”

“But what if I use it privately? What if it’s the whim of an extravagant heiress who has so much money that life is boring?”

“What?”

“There’s a saying in the Capital. Seton’s heiress has lots of money but her head is full of flowers, so she likes to stir up trouble.”

When I tapped my head while speaking, Bella showed a flustered expression for the first time.

“There are quite a few rumors about me, you know? What was it again? That I change the interior of my house every season. That I never use anything twice, and change dresses five times a day…”

I deliberately made a mischievous eye-smile like a villain plotting something.

“So I’m going to make those rumors come true.”

“It’s the first time I’ve heard someone say they’ll make rumors come true instead of wishes.”

“I’m quite remarkable. Anyway, the Capital will have to send merchant guilds every day to meet this extravagant heiress’s demands. But oh my?”

I clapped my hands dramatically!

“A new train station just happened to be built? There’s a train directly connected to the Capital?”

Could they really not use it?

Logistics is absolutely about distribution. And distribution depends on transportation infrastructure.

The fewer stations they have to go through, the more transportation costs decrease, and merchants obsessed with money and efficiency couldn’t possibly leave that alone.

‘I know well since I’m a merchant guild manager.’

I looked straight at Bella and said.

“The new train station will prosper.”

Definitely.

Bella’s eyes trembled slightly at my conviction.

Shubel opened his eyes narrowly as if something was dazzling.

When I looked at him again wondering if I saw wrong, Shubel, who had returned to his languid expression, opened his mouth.

“It’s an ‘opportunity,’ Mother.”

“…Shubel.”

“Mother’s daughter-in-law is giving Lunein an opportunity as a gift. Don’t you think I married very well?”

My eyes met his.

“Don’t you think so, my lady?”

Opportunity.

As Shubel said, what I’m trying to do isn’t simply building a train station.

Transportation hubs inevitably attract people, and the more people there are, the more markets prosper.

The larger the market grows and the higher the population density becomes, the more the territory prospers and the lord’s power becomes formidable.

The beginning.

The opportunity for that beginning lies at the train station.

“But… will that go according to plan?”

The woman who had watched over the Northern Region, which had remained quietly submerged without any ripples, couldn’t help but feel both welcoming and fearful of change.

“There might be momentary changes. But in the end, it’s not a stone you artificially threw into the pond. How long will that trembling really last?”

I smiled confidently in the face of anxious expectations.

“I’m Elisia. Mother.”

Both mother and son looked at me simultaneously.

“The Empire’s greatest celebrity, that’s me. Everyone looks up to me, is curious about my private life, and follows my example.”

What I threw wasn’t just a simple stone.

It was a typhoon.

Just as Lunein had become an indelible mark on me, Elisia was a name that would make this place the center of a storm.

The Northern Region would soon suffer from the chaos of crowds. Whether in a positive or negative sense.

Bella, who had been staring at me blankly at my words, asked.

“…Why are you going this far for us?”

A question anyone would be curious about.

This time, I didn’t smile.

“Because now I’m also a Lunein.”

While it was true that I was struggling to survive, I had this thought in a corner of my heart.

Perhaps this was the price for the kindness you showed me.

‘Let’s get married.’

‘Shall we?’

I looked at Shubel, who was gazing at me quietly.

We started with a contract.

You protected Seten, which was about to be torn apart, under the name of Lunein.

In that process, you could have certainly played games, but you didn’t. You returned Seten to me intact.

‘So this time, I’ll help you. So that your Lunein remains whole.’

A small stream can be blocked with pebbles, but the sea cannot be stopped even with rocky islands.

No matter how much someone from above tries to block it, as the number of direct train passengers increases, it becomes an inevitable flow that cannot be artificially controlled.

Creating ripples in the sea called the Northern Region that had been isolated and stagnant.

Thus bringing to the surface what had been sunken at the bottom of that sea.

That was the first gift I was giving to Lunein.

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