# 77
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“How did you end up outside?”
Bianca asked in a surprised voice, and the Archduchess answered in a tired voice.
“His Highness sincerely asked me to walk because it is a beautiful day.”
“I understand, well done.”
Bianca's face brightened noticeably.
She was surprised and happy that the Archduchess, who usually slept while drugged or stayed in her bedroom with empty eyes, came out for the first time in a while.
“If you want to go to the park, I will guide you...”
"but."
"Yes?"
The pale-skinned Archduchess gently tilted her head as she held Bianca, who seemed ready to move forward at any moment.
Her pink hair, braided to one side, flowed down her shoulders.
“What are you holding in your hand? I saw you standing there looking at him for a while.”
". … Yes."
Only then did Bianca realize the existence of the letter she was carrying, and hurriedly placed it in an envelope and took it into her arms.
“It's not a big deal, I received a message from the Empire and I only saw her briefly.”
“Empire?”
*For those who have forgotten, the Grand Duchy is an emirate independent of the empire.*
The Archduchess's eyelids blinked slowly, then fluttered.
“Maybe the Archduke or Askart...”
“No, no, Your Highness Elad.”
The light of hope that shone for a moment was quickly faded by Bianca's quick denial.
“Then, what kind of message did you receive from the empire?”
Bianca looked embarrassed by the helpless question and explained.
“Maybe you know that I recently visited the empire on behalf of Duke Elade. At that time, I got to know a child who was taking care of the princess in the orphanage. They say that Duke Elade took her over and now she works as a maid in the Duke’s house. She is a very kind and intelligent girl...”
As soon as she mentioned what happened at Elad's house last time, Bianca saw the Archduchess's expression become cloudy and kept her mouth shut.
The Archduchess, who was silent for a moment, narrowed her eyes.
“Duke Elad seems to be aging as well, why is this person only known to my family?”
Bianca secretly smiled at the Duke's harsh tone of voice.
That was when I was heading to the garden, following the Archduchess, who was moving normally.
“So how old is she?”
“Ah… She seems to be about nine years old. Her birthday wasn’t accurate, so the orphanage center said she was getting older every year by one year when the new year came.”
The Archduchess suddenly stopped walking and frowned.
“You said she works as a maid, isn't that too young? I thought she was at least fourteen, well then, for some reason I was acting like an adult, now...”
The Archduchess, clicking her tongue and shouting angrily, staggered.
“Your Highness!”
Bianca and the maid next to her immediately helped her up, but the Grand Duchess held her forehead with a white face.
“I have a headache again, I have to go in now.”
“Yes, I will take care of you.”
"no."
The Archduchess shook off Bianca's arm, who was about to follow her, and waved her hand.
“You don't have to follow me.”
She spoke in a clear voice.
“Since you two are exchanging letters, I wonder if you know it well enough to care about it, but...she seems to be very young, so if she is having difficulty or needs help, please let me know at any time.”
“Yes, don't worry.”
When Bianca spoke in the affirmative, the Archduchess nodded slightly.
She was different from the person who usually seemed to still be alive, but her heart was actually dead.
But her bright eyes quickly diminished.
The Archduchess staggered, looking as if she might collapse at any moment, and headed for the castle with the support of her maid.
Bianca stood and stared at the figure for a long time, as if she were attached to it.
* * *
Time passed quickly.
The end of the hot summer is approaching, and a lot has happened in the Duchy of Elad in the meantime.
The most important of these was that, thanks to Ascart's help, research on the cultivation of Spellisia, which had been slow, made rapid progress.
Spliceia, which had been in a state of complete arrest, had already flowered, produced fruit, and even put out new buds.
Soon, not only will agriculture begin in earnest, but so will research into treatments.
“The reactions of Tailin and the magicians, whose eyes widened when they saw the magic circle for the first time, were truly amazing.”
I don't know how surprised I was when he suddenly picked me up and started gargling.
From the beginning, it was made clear that everything was Askart's doing, but it seemed that the ears of the astonished wizards were not listening.
The reactions of Viscount Bardot and the legislators who belatedly heard that agricultural research was progressing successfully were not much different.
Of course, thanks to my stubborn explanation, the theft of Ascart's credit did not happen, but somehow everyone seemed to misunderstand that I was only thinking about the affairs of the duchy even outside of it.
〈When I asked you what you did in the library, you were really...〉
I was embarrassed when the Duchess praised me so affectionately, but even Allen said: “I thought you were fascinated by my face again...” When he sheepishly apologized, I was truly at a loss for words.
'To be honest, I was speechless because I couldn't confidently say that I wasn't fascinated by the face...'
This wasn't the only thing that happened.
This is because the Duke said that I had made a great contribution not only to the discovery of Spliceia but also to its cultivation, and that he would greatly increase my share of the profits.
I did this because I thought it would be good for me if I succeeded in growing Spliceia, but I was really surprised by the unexpected suggestion.
So, when I made a profit, I decided that the first thing I would do was give it to Askart as a gift.
However, my stake in Spliceia unexpectedly increased, and I was ready to raise my own money.
In fact, ever since he decided to stay by Diana's side instead of leaving in search of freedom, he had to completely revise his life plans.
Of course, nothing changed in my mind about becoming rich, but I decided to build a foundation with my current situation, where I planned to make a name for myf in time and then make a lot of money and live freely.
In order to use future information, seed money was necessary, and fortunately, I already had the money I received after discovering Spliceia.
“Sooner or later, I will hand over the list of investments I was secretly planning to make to the Duke.”
Even though the Duke manages my money through an agent, I know better than anyone about a list of investments that are sure to work out.
So all that remains now is to l the “magic stone.”
As planned, this was planned to be a short, secretly bold attack.
The purpose was to prepare an emergency fund in case an unexpected situation occurred, but making magic stones, which were the essence of magic tools, involved various risks, so it had to be carried out very carefully.
“It's a problem to reveal my abilities that are difficult to explain properly, but it will definitely attract a lot of attention.”
If you continue your work as a maid, you might end up getting into trouble with Duke Ellard for no reason.
To be honest, it is not difficult to protect myf, but the position of the duchies, who are loyal to the empire, will be different.
What caught the attention of the Imperial Family and Trinium was the extreme specifications.
“Ha, that's why I wanted to live quietly alone.”
Although it is said that the magic stone business is done in secret, I was actually worried about the future that successive investment successes would bring.
A kid suddenly got a lot of money and became rich overnight. There may be people who are blinded by money and targeting you, and there may also be people who are jealous of you and wary of you at the same time.
I was more worried because I had never escaped people's jealousy and hostility in my previous life.
“But let's not think about it any further.”
It's something I chose, so there's nothing I can do about it.
I sighed and remembered my plan to go out and l the magic stones soon.
In fact, originally, magic stones were extracted from special mines where mana was collected, and it was not common to artificially inject mana into gemstones to create magic stones.
The “twilight” used by duelists and the “magic power” used by sorcerers all depend on the mana accumulated in the heart, and sorcerers in particular regard mana as their life.
In fact, it was not wrong to say that excessive use of mana could harm the heart and harm life.
However, I currently had a large amount of mana, and I was very confident in using mana due to my training in my last life.
“Because we put in so much effort to be able to use it effectively even with a small amount of mana.”
I still didn't know why the amount of mana increased, but anyway, I had successfully converted the gems I had prepared at the last academy festival into magic gems as planned, so all I had to do now was l them.
Although the gems were so cheap that some of them broke during the production process because they couldn't handle mana, now that I had a talent for it, I was able to create magic gems of decent purity in an instant.
The higher the purity of the magic stone, the greater the performance of the artifact, so the prices of magic stones vary greatly.
I don't know how much the magic stone I made was worth, but since the Rakshtein Empire mostly relied on the Duchy of Pylos, which owned the magic stone mine, I thought I might be able to make a lot of money.
“Once I receive the first payment, I have to exchange it for good jewelry.”
After that, we will be able to create magic stones of higher purity than now.
She smiled happily when she thought of the magic stones accumulated in the locked cabinet, and suddenly an idea came to mind and she asked Diana.
“Miss, you still have the bracelet I gave you last time, right?”
“Huh?”
Diana, who was happily eating sherbet, looked at my words.