* * *
“Yes?” Allice’s swollen eyes widened in disbelief. “You’re entrusting me the Moonlight Flower business?”
“Yes!” Sandra, brimming with excitement, embraced her daughter. “Who’s your father? He’s the co-lord of Windsor. He can do at least this much for you.”
“How can I possibly handle that…”
“It’s okay. Huan will help you. Work on the business with your uncle!”
Huan, however, did not hide his displeasure. “Think again, Older Sister. Business is a rough world for men.”
“Shut up, Huan.”
“Seriously, Older Sister. Allice is too precious to be involved in such things. Shouldn’t she be learning piano and embroidery at home?”
Smack! Sandra struck Huan in frustration, but his dissatisfaction remained.
A naive fool like her handling a business?
Allice Windsor, his niece, was lovely and beautiful – but that was it. Just a flower delicately nurtured in a greenhouse. How could such a flower handle a business?
And they wonder why skilled people like me get a bad reputation.
Just as Huan was about to object again,
“I-I’ll do it!” Allice clenched her small fist. “I can do it! I’ll work hard!”
Already feeling stifled, Allice saw this as an opportunity. Despite the brief and humiliating engagement ceremony, what troubled her most was Dana, her older sister.
I still couldn’t believe it. How could older sister do that to me?
Dana’s expression during the ceremony was still vivid in her mind. She had expected Dana to be envious or sorrowful, but… there wasn’t a single trace of such emotion on her face. Dana was just calm and serene.
I didn’t want older sister to suffer, but still.
Still.
Still!
It was an important day. Couldn’t she have shown a little admiration? Allice was so depressed for not receiving any congratulations at all.
But that wasn’t all. The words the crown had said to her older sister dominated her thoughts.
He told Sister Dana that I would soon become the crown princess.
But then, what?
Who would become the empress?
She couldn’t ask at the time, but Allice faintly sensed it. The empress would be Sister Dana. Of course, Raios’s love was entirely hers, but the position of the empress wasn’t something you could attain with love alone.
Because Older Sister has so much already.
Honor and wealth. Her older sister held the pinnacle of it all in her hands. But…
What if I took the moonlight flower business?
The flower symbolizes the moon god. A flower that naturally shines is considered even more precious than jewels for its mysterious beauty. If she were to take charge of the exclusive trade business for this precious flower. Couldn’t she slowly build her own reputation?
Especially since Sister Dana also wanted the moonlight flower!
Everything her older sister could possibly want, yet she had asked the crown prince for it as a gift!
Reaching that point in her thoughts, she was filled with determination. “I’ll do it. I can do it. I’ll work hard!”
* * *
“Allice?”
“Yes. She’s taken charge of the moonlight flower business.”
“Oh my.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. Becoming the lord of a castle made of sand that’s about to collapse. Such unfortunate luck.
It’s good. I wanted to punish her anyway. Let her suffer properly for once.
I handed a document to my secretary. “Lethe. Can you acquire some forged identities?”
“With your money, Milady, what can’t we do?”
“Then, buy several forged identities and participate in the moonlight flower auction to bid for the flowers. As many as possible, at the highest possible prices.”
My secretary’s brows furrowed. “Are you trying to raise the price of moonlight flowers right now?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
A method often used in auctions. To inflate the price of auctioned items, bidders are sometimes hired to call out high prices and intensify competition.
But for me, who needs to decrease the value of moonlight flowers, this method is not suitable.
One of the reasons for the popularity of moonlight flowers is that supply does not meet demand. Too many people want moonlight flowers, but very few can actually have them. That’s why its value has been skyrocketing.
Then, he seemed to catch on to something. “Are you planning to—”
“Sister Dana!”
At that moment, Allice burst in through the door. Then she halted, surprised.
“Si-Sister? What are you doing right now?”
What’s she talking about? On the subject of rudely entering without knocking.
“Lethe, please leave.”
“Yes, Milady.”
“Sister, you shouldn’t do that.”
“What?”
“No matter how heartbroken you are over the breakup with His Highness, meeting with your employee is a bit…”
“What?”
“Of course, your secretary is exceptionally handsome, but still…”
“…”
“If I made you feel bad, I’m sorry.”
From start to finish, I don’t know what to respond to because it’s all nonsense. We were talking closely because we were sharing a secret, but to be misunderstood like that.
“Don’t make such an unpleasant misunderstanding. Lethe is my secretary. Above all, it’s none of your business who I meet with.” I spoke coldly. “And I have nothing to say to you, so please leave.”
“Sister…”
“Didn’t I tell you to leave?”
However, instead of leaving, Alice hesitated and then approached closer. “Um, sister.”
Her face was flushed with anticipation.
“Look, I’ve prepared a gift for you.”
She extended her hand, which had been hiding something behind her back until now. In her hand was a small potted plant—
“It’s a gift.”
A flower shining in the moonlight. It was a moonlight flower.
“Last time, you were very upset because His Highness gave me this gift, right?”
Alice looked at me with a sorry look and sighed as if pitying me.
“It really hurt my heart at that time. I apologize once again. I’m sorry, Sister.”
“…”
“So, I prepared this instead. I’ve taken over the moonlight flower business.”
“…”
“But you can think of it as if it were given by His Highness, Sister.”
My head was spinning. I couldn’t believe what I just heard. “What do you mean, Alice?”
“I wanted to comfort you. You wanted this flower, right?”
So… You’re giving me this flower on behalf of Raios? Boiling heat slowly rose from the bottom of my heart.
“Are you pitying me now?”
“No! I just wanted to comfort Sister!”
“Comfort? You’re giving me this flower as a consolation gift after stealing my fiancé?”
“That’s not it!” Alice shouted in a frail voice. “Why do you always take it the wrong way? That’s not what I meant!”
Unbelievable. I burst into a hollow laugh. Anyone who sees it would see me as a villainess.
“I thought you were still upset, so I wanted to make up and reconcile…”
Upset? Reconcile? How dare you utter such words?
All kinds of curses boiled up inside me like lava. What was even more unbearable was the look in Alice’s eyes, filled with nothing but goodwill. That was not a lie. It was sincere.
So. Alice truly believes that. Ah, yes. Until the end, you’re the kind and benevolent one.
I wanted to destroy that face.
“Do you think this mere flower will make me feel better, Alice?”
No, I was thinking of destroying it.
“Get rid of it right now. This means nothing to me.”
“Sister! T-this is a moonlight flower. It’s very hard to get. Even if it’s my father’s business… now that I’m handling it…”
“That’s what I mean. A business entrusted to someone like you, how trivial it must be?” I provoked Alice on purpose to stir her pride.
“H-h-how can you say that?”
“I can guarantee the moonlight flower business will fail within a month.”
This was sincere. It was also the truth. I clicked my tongue in pity.
“Poor Uncle Carl. It will be a big blow if the moonlight flower business fails…”
“Sister, please! Please stop saying such horrible things. I beg you!” Alice clasped her hands together and pleaded in a trembling voice. “No matter how upset you are, you shouldn’t say such things, Sister! No matter how miserable, you shouldn’t!”
“Miserable? Me?”
I rose from her chair and then pushed the pot away. Crash!
“Kyaa!”
The pot shattered, and the soil scattered everywhere.
I looked straight into Alice’s shocked eyes and stepped hard on the moonlight flower.
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Thank you for the chapter, dear Alyalia!❤️🔥
You’re welcome, Baby Girl (◍•ᴗ•◍)♡