Iris, who was shaking with agitation, quickly regained her composure, much to his disappointment.
With a chuckle, Iris brushed her hair back.
“Elise must be doing well, right?”
As soon as Elise’s name was mentioned, Karan lost his composure.
“That’s how she is. She gets bored easily and is attracted to new things. Whether it’s an object or a person, she often throws it away. Does Elise laugh a lot when she sees you? She looks cold when she’s alone. Does she get upset when you hear bad words? She did the same to Chase.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
Karan asked in a dry tone.
“Information exchange? Since you gave me information, I gave you interesting information. Please take care of Elise.”
As if there was nothing more to say, Iris brushed past Karan.
The leisure that lingered on her lips crumbled the moment Karan’s presence disappeared.
Iris bit her lower lip.
‘Chase, you’re leaving me for Elise?’
Her pride was deeply wounded. Iris wanted to kill Elise, Chase, and Karan.
But knowing the reality that she couldn’t act rashly, Iris suppressed her anger.
She had to wait for an opportunity.
An opportunity to show them that she was at the top of their heads.
****
The last banquet of the New Year’s party opens with the king’s speech.
In order to give a speech, Lange walked into the banquet hall.
His red cloak swept over the banquet hall.
And the long line of people bowed deeply to him.
Lange often stopped in his tracks and extended his hand to those who bowed.
They kissed his hand with great emotion.
Those who were allowed to kiss Lange’s hand were the ones who would rule the political world this year.
The hand kiss was a ceremony where Lange publicly declared his people.
The people who were allowed to kiss his hand varied from year to year.
Until last year, Elise had the honor of kissing Lange’s hand, but this year she only received his cold gaze.
Elise was unfazed. She had anticipated Langji’s coldness, and she had no particular feelings for him.
However, when Lange stopped in front of Karan and extended his thick hand, a storm raged in her heart.
Demanding a kiss of obedience from a prince of another country was a clear insult.
If he refused the hand kiss here, it could cause diplomatic problems between Bedrokka and Tetris.
“You’ve given me a very nice gift. So why wouldn’t I be happy?”
The nice gift must have been Iris.
Elise, while bowing, clenched the hem of her dress.
Elise’s eyes trembled.
She lamented her own incompetence, unable to do anything but watch the humiliation Karan was going through because of her.
Lange was such a narrow-minded person. He hadn’t lost anything.
Elise bit her lower lip.
Then, she felt Karan straighten up next to her.
“Your Majesty seems satisfied, so I am also very happy. Thank you for giving me the honor of greeting you.”
Karan cut off his words and lifted Elise by her hand.
He looked at Elise and continued.
“I’ve already received enough gifts. If I receive more, I’ll only get the reputation of being greedy. So I’ll give up your gift to someone else. Someone else seems more desperate than me.”
Karan looked around.
Then, the backs of the heads and waists of those who were eager to kiss Lange’s hand twitched.
Karan and Lange’s gazes collided. In the silent confrontation, Elise held her breath.
Karan’s answer was flawless, but it was a refusal nonetheless.
If Lange made an issue of his action here, it would be a war between Tetris and Bedrokka.
‘No, Tetris is not yet able to handle Bedrokka. The king of Tetris will abandon Karan.’
Elise’s heart pounded in a bad way.
“Hahahaha.”
At that moment, Lange burst out laughing.
“You’re very humble. That’s how young people should be! Keep it up.”
Lange suddenly hid his laughter and patted Karan’s shoulder.
“Stay humble. Don’t be greedy.”
Karan answered by lowering his eyes, and Lange finally left him.
Elise breathed a sigh of relief, and the long speech began.
Lange announced the engagement date of Iris and Chase on the spot.
Two months later, the date was set much faster than expected.
“It’s a good day. It’s neither spring nor summer.”
When did she came? Ilaria offered a drink to Elise.
“It seems you liked the gift.”
Elise took the drink and took a sip.
“There’s no way I wouldn’t be interested. It was a groundbreaking method.”
“But why do you keep speaking informally?”
“I haven’t received all the gifts yet. When I receive all the gifts, then I’ll speak formally. So, how did you know? The method I wrote in the note.”
****
Two nights ago, Ilaria wanted to throw away Elise’s note. No matter how she thought about it, she didn’t like the talk about the beast and the master.
“If you’re going to throw it away, give it to me. I’ll take care of it.”
But when the maid touched the note placed on the table, her mind changed.
“Let’s see how great a gift it was that she was so confident.”
Ilaria, who remembered Elise’s audacious attitude, grabbed the maid. When the maid turned around, Ilaria took the note from the maid’s hand.
“Leave this and go.”
The maid took Ilaria’s laundry and went outside. Alone, Ilaria turned the note over and over.
It was just a note, but her heart was pounding.
‘I might be disappointed because I expected too much.’
But Ilaria had nothing to lose. Ilaria unfolded the note, prepared for disappointment.
Then Ilaria’s face crumpled.
Ilaria, who had been staring into space, looked at the note again.
She repeated the same action all night.
And at dawn, Ilaria urgently contacted the scholars of Magnus.
She asked if the content Elise had written in the note could be realized, and she received an answer this morning.
The answer was ‘it is possible’.
****
“If you have nothing to say, I’ll go.”
At Elise’s words, Ilaria came out of her reminiscence.
“I’d like to change seats. We have a quiet conversation to share.”
Ilaria lowered her voice.
From her voice, it was felt that she was seriously considering Elise’s gift.
“Okay.”
If Ilaria had shown the same attitude as two days ago, Elise would not have followed.
At that time, she was ready to hit Elise if she made a slip of the tongue.
Ilaria was different from the princes of Bedrokka.
She openly declared to her father, who was anxious about whether to fly or crush.
[Treat me the same as my brothers. But also give me the same opportunity. The opportunity as a successor.]
The King of Magnus said it was absolutely impossible, but he couldn’t break Ilaria’s will.
Ilaria brought in a teacher to learn the sword, discussed academics with academy scholars, and took the lead in repelling pirates.
She was a doer, and she had roughly the ability to do so.
‘She’s really a tough person. If only the country was a little stronger.’
In the past, she had similar thoughts when she saw her.
‘If only she could tone down her hot-tempered side a bit.’
This thought hadn’t changed from before.
Ilaria had only overturned the board twice while negotiating with Chase.
‘Chase did make unreasonable demands. It was understandable.’
Therefore, she would be safe.
Because Elise wouldn’t make frivolous demands or unilaterally exploit Magnus.
“This should be enough.”
Elise, who had led Ilaria to a secluded part of the garden, stopped.
Ilaria looked around.
It seemed that they wouldn’t be discovered by anyone passing by, hidden by tall fir trees.
There was a crimson light so it wasn’t dark, and the music was loud, probably because there were speakers nearby.
If they spoke carefully, the chances of others hearing their voices were low.
“Your choice of location is excellent.”
“Thank you for the compliment, princess.”
Ilaria stared intently at Elise.
“The atmosphere has changed.”
“Do you mean me?”
“Yes. The atmosphere wasn’t like this at last year’s New Year’s party.”
It had to change. She had come back from the dead.
Since it wasn’t a remark that particularly required a response, Elise just smiled.
“It’s good. You’re full of life now.”
“I didn’t think it was a bad thing.”
“Thanks for not misunderstanding.”
The conversation with Ilaria flowed naturally like water.
“The method you gave, it’s quite revolutionary. I’ve never thought of using a dam in that way. And to secure land for farming with it. How did you come up with that?”
“There was a time when a drought dried up a swamp. I, who didn’t know it was originally a swamp, passed by and wondered why they were leaving the empty land idle. There’s similar land in Magnus, isn’t there? The coast where the tide difference is small and the water level is very low. I thought if we pumped water out of there, it would become land.”
“Okay, let’s say we built a dam and pumped out the water. But that land has salinity, so you can’t farm on it. Your note is a half-baked solution.”
“That’s right. Because I only told you half.”
“It sounds like there’s a solution.”
“It’s possible, but heaven has to help. What do you do with clothes soaked in seawater?”
“I wash them.”
“That’s right. You just have to use that method. Pour water on the land where you’ve pumped out seawater. But it’s hard to do it manually. You have to wait for the rain. Fortunately, it rains heavily every summer in Magnus, doesn’t it? When it rains and the dam fills up, pump out that water again.”
“Like rinsing laundry in water!”
Ilaria’s eyes sparkled.
“That’s it! Yes! That would work!”
Ilaria was pleased as if she had pulled out a painful tooth.
“You!”
Ilaria, who had been bouncing around, suddenly grabbed Elise’s shoulder.
