A leisurely afternoon.
In the past, Velia always spent time with Raul around this time.
At that time, she immediately responded in the affirmative to his marriage proposal, and the talk of engagement began quickly. The whole world was full of Raul, as if something had really written about it.
He was an infinitely sweet and handsome person, like a prince straight out of a fairy tale.
When he stayed in the Kingdom of Ronica, he made time to see her every day despite his busy schedule, and even after returning to her empire, he continued to send him messages full of affection.
Several times he said he wanted to see Velia, but she couldn’t bear it and came all the way to the Kingdom of Ronica.
She said, ‘Even when she arrived in the Empire… … .’
The moment she got out of her carriage, she ran up to her and hugged her and kissed her in front of her people. Raul’s eyes were always warm as he looked at Velia, as if he couldn’t help but feel so lovely about her.
It was only after she became empress that she realized that it was all just lip service and staged actions.
So, when she returned to the past, Velia had no desire to face Raul or the like during her precious time. It was a nuisance to me that he kept coming to visit me as he pleased.
“sister. Are you going to keep thinking about other things?”
“Yes? Oh, I’m sorry.”
“hmm… … . “It’s suspicious.”
Klose puffed out his cheeks and opened his eyes into triangles.
Velia naturally took a sip of her tea and smiled and asked.
“What’s suspicious?”
“Is there anything you’re worried about that you can’t say?”
Did it show off that much?!
Although she was very surprised in her heart, she pretended to be okay and looked at Klose.
“What are you talking about?”
“Even if you pretend not to, you can’t fool Klose!”
Klose took the cookie and ate it and burst out laughing.
“I know what Sir Ben has been secretly talking about these days?!”
How on earth does he know that?!
Velia quietly questioned Klose.
“… … “How did you know that?”
“Yeah!”
I can’t say I stole it secretly.
Klose hastily closed his mouth.
She smiled and asked again, with an expression on her face that Velia knew she knew.
“You probably didn’t say something useless to someone else for no reason, right?”
“Hey, what are you looking at me for? Of course I kept my mouth shut!”
At the same time, Klose grins and pretends to cover her mouth with her hand.
“ha… … .”
By the way, really, why is there no response from her second prince?
The reason I’ve been holding frequent meetings with Ben recently was to see what kind of reaction he would get.
It’s already been over a week since I sent the letter. But there is no reaction whatsoever.
‘… … Could it be that he just threw it away without even reading it? Should I look for another way?’
Velia rested her elbows on the table and rested her face in her hands.
Her cheeks were pressed and she looked sullen, but it didn’t matter.
“Hmm. It’s really suspicious. My keen sense tells me! “This must have something to do with men!”
Klose laughed and shouted.
Velia looked at her sister, her eyes wide with shock inside her.
Who on earth is this person that is so smart and quick-witted?
After observing Velia’s reaction, Klose closed her eyes sheepishly and asked.
“sister. “Isn’t it true that she has the intention to marry the first emperor?”
… … What she said a little bit is cancellation.
Velia spoke clearly again.
“What are you talking about! “I will never marry Prince Raul.”
“Then what is it?”
Klose, embarrassed that her guess was wrong, stomps his feet in his chair and asks bluntly:
“Klose. “You said that Prince Khalid is much better than Prince Raul, right?”
Klose widened her eyes at Velia’s unexpected question and smiled.
Then he pressed her body close to the table and asked.
“Why? “Are you interested in the second prince?”
“… … no. “What am I saying to you now?”
Velia touched her forehead and sighed.
Klose quickly noticed that Velia was trying to avoid answering her question and took another look.
“Oh my!
Looking at my sister, whose eyes lit up as if she had discovered something interesting, she said that Velia was no big deal.
“just. She talked about her 2nd prince last time. So I got curious about what kind of person she is… … .”
“really?!”
Klose jumped up from his seat and shouted. The recoil caused his chair to fall backwards, but Klose didn’t care at all.
There was a much more important event right in front of me than just a fallen chair. He had no time to worry about anything else.
“Since when?!”
She was the older sister who was always indifferent to those around her.
It was the first time she said she was curious about someone.
Glad to hear that fact, Klose widened his eyes and asked.
And above all.
She said, ‘How can you show no interest in the 1st Prince?’
In fact, Klose just saw it.
The strange smile that Raul had while standing with his back to Velia.
That was never an expression of looking at a loved one. He said it was definitely love at first sight.
But her sister, who had limited experience with people, thought that when he smiled right in front of her and told her he loved her, she thought he meant it all.
No matter how much she tried to think that it was enough for her sister to be happy, Prince Raul’s strange expression kept bothering her.
Klose quietly lifted the fallen chair and straightened his posture.
“I’m ready to listen. “Tell me anything, sister.”
Velia smiled in spite of herself at Klose’s somewhat mature attitude.
But she couldn’t tell the whole truth, so she had to tell a different story.
So Velia and Klose continued their conversation, playfully bringing up gossip about her second prince.
It was a really fun and relaxing time.
* * *
Mountains densely filled with trees and blue skies.
It was a scenery so beautiful that anyone could call it a superb view.
However, the man watching the scene shifted his gaze, moving his blue eyes left and right as if he felt no emotion. It was the same color as Raul’s, but the temperature it felt was completely different.
Maybe it’s because of those cold eyes that are even colder.
“majesty. “What do you plan to do now?”
“Withdraw.”
2nd Prince Khalid took his gaze away from the survey team that was vaguely visible beyond a small village in the Kingdom of Ronica and turned her body around.
He wondered why Raul had rushed to the Kingdom of Ronica for something good, but there was nothing more than he thought. furthermore.
“There is no gold mine here.”
A low voice filled with ridicule spread quietly.
“But if the first prince discovers the gold mine… … .”
“No way.”
Asid looked puzzled at his firm answer.
But he soon nodded her head as if she understood.
“but. Such a weak reaction. “It seems unlikely.”
Asid looked down at the magic tool he was holding.
Only a faint ray of light was visible from the disk-shaped magic tool with a complex formula attached to it.
The magic search tool used by the joint investigation team of the Kingdom of Ronica and the Ingot Empire was to check a wide range of reactions only to specific ores.
However, the magic tools they brought were items with a much higher level of magic than that.
Although the searchable range was narrow, we were able to confirm a more certain response.
The fact that such a magic tool only reacted with this much light did not mean that there were no gold ores here, but it also meant that there were no large-scale gold mines.
“We have already confirmed the entire investigation team report. “It would be difficult to find a gold mine here as expected.”
“It makes me a little happy to think that the 1st Prince’s side will be very angry because I made such a fuss.”
As Asid smiled and joked, Khalid laughed and said:
“okay. So this is not the time to be wasting time here.”
“Then I will deliver the withdrawal order.”
“Tell them to hurry.”
“yes!”
After the conversation, Asid was about to approach the knights.
A knight came closer and spoke to Asid.
“What’s going on?”
He explained his situation, took a bundle of letters from his arms, and handed them to his superior.
It was not strange, as he often collected and received letters that arrived at the emperor’s womb in this way.
After Asid thanked him for his hard work, he was about to walk towards the knights again to carry out Khalid’s orders.
He hesitated as if the driver had something to say, then carefully opened his mouth.
“Well, there’s a slightly strange letter… … . “How about delivering it to His Majesty right away?”
“Strange letter?”
After hearing his words, Asid looked at the letters he received.
Then a letter with no sender on it caught my eye.
“I was going to take care of it, but it seemed like I had to report it to you first.”
The knight began to explain the situation when he found the letter in the imperial palace.
Since Khalid was out more days than he stayed in the imperial palace, letters arriving at the imperial palace were always collected in one place and, like today, the knight would check the sender and filter them out accordingly.
Usually, they were invitations from noble families or letters requesting investment.
However, there were times when there were letters like this with no sender listed.
It wasn’t something completely new.
“hmm? “Didn’t you check the contents?”
Asid asked curiously.
If there was no word from Khalid in advance that a letter would arrive, such suspicious letters would be forwarded or discarded after checking their contents in advance.
but.
“The wax used for sealing does not come from the Empire.”
The knight spoke in a firm tone.
The driver knew a lot because he was always in charge of carrying letters.
This was by no means the sealing wax used in the Empire.
It was also questionable how a letter with such an unknown origin reached the prince’s palace.
“At first, I thought about checking the contents of the letter, but it felt different from usual, so I held off on checking and just brought it back.”
Somehow, I decided that this wasn’t just a mysterious letter sent to get noticed.
What was actually written may have been nothing special, but it was better that way. He opened the letter and found that it contained a story that was difficult to handle.
The knight stood stiffly and waited for Asid’s decision.
Asid once again looked closely at the unsendered letter.
There was no pattern on the seal, but it was a color I had never seen before.
Moreover, seeing as the paper was made of high-quality material, it didn’t seem like it was sent as a joke.
“i get it. “I will report it to His Majesty right away.”
Asid turned again and approached Khalid.
When Asid, who had just gone to deliver the order, came back, Khalid winked as if asking what was going on.
“majesty. “This is a letter from the imperial palace.”
iced coffee. Was it today?
Khalid, who looked at the few letters in Asid’s hand, raised one corner of his mouth and responded.
“Check it briefly and throw it all away.”
It would just be a useless story anyway.
Considering that Raul contacted me during this time when he was not in the imperial palace, there was no need to check the contents. I didn’t want to waste my time looking at the words of hypocrites who were trying to take advantage of me.
‘Shameless.’
His expression became cold.
