Chapter 237

Wouldn’t it be better to give up the mine and punish them for their insolence? He sighed quietly and glanced at Princess Nailia, who sat off to the side.

She looked empty.

She had been expressionless when she first entered, but now she looked almost hollow, as though there were nothing behind her eyes.

“Nailia.”

Crown Prince Aseraian, who had been watching the entire exchange, called her name. A flicker of confusion crossed Princess Nailia’s blank face for the first time.

“Do you want this marriage?”

“...What?”

“I asked if you want it.”

He smiled as he asked. Princess Nailia’s eyes slowly widened.

“Your Highness, what are you saying?”

Count Rainje exclaimed in surprise. Aseraian was the only one who remained unfazed, a faint smile still playing on his lips.

“Isn’t the bride’s opinion the most important thing when it comes to marriage?”

“Are you saying that if Her Highness doesn’t want the marriage, you won’t make her go through with it?”

“That’s right.”

“—!”

Count Rainje’s face twisted with anger at the Crown Prince’s matter-of-fact reply.

“Does Your Majesty feel the same way?”

“I suppose that’s what we should do.”

At last, a smile appeared on Emperor Devrica’s face, which had been stern until then.

“Hah.”

Count Rainje laughed in disbelief and shot to his feet.

“You’ll regret this.”

He ground his teeth as he spat out the warning before storming out. Vetrin followed close behind, sneering as he went.

I wonder if they’ll still be smiling like that after we sell our iron to the anti-imperial faction and another country.

Knock, knock.

“Your Majesty, Lady Drow is here to see you.”

“Ceres?”

A servant entered and announced Ceres’s arrival. Emperor Devrica immediately ordered him to let her in.

Count Rainje’s brow furrowed even deeper.

Does he really not care if we leave like this? He’s already letting someone else in!

“Come in.”

A moment later, Emperor Devrica greeted Ceres warmly as she entered.

Ceres bowed politely to him, then went straight to Princess Nailia without a word. She held out a document.

“Sign this.”

“Sign? What is it?”

“Just sign it first.”

“......?”

“Now.”

Before Nailia even had time to read the document properly, Ceres pushed a pen into her hand and urged her to sign.

Scratch.

Faced with Ceres’s intense gaze, which seemed to suggest that something terrible would happen if she refused, Princess Nailia signed the document reflexively.

Whoosh!

“—!”

A brilliant light burst from the document.

“This is...”

A magic document?

When a document glows like this upon being signed, it means it has been magically notarized. Only then did Princess Nailia read through the document more carefully.

“Oh...”

Her eyes widened in disbelief. Ceres watched her before calmly speaking.

“Congratulations. You’re the owner of the mine.”

“Ce-Ceres, this is... Wait, what is this...?”

Princess Nailia stammered, completely unlike her usual composed self.

“A mine?”

Unable to contain his curiosity, Crown Prince Aseraian, who was seated beside her, took the document from Princess Nailia and looked it over.

“...A purchase agreement for an iron mine?”

“Yes. It’s for the iron mine on Keltzo Mountain.”

“What?”

“What are you talking about?”

Count Rainje and his son were the first to react. They had yet to leave and had been watching the whole exchange.

“We never sold that mine! How can there be a purchase agreement for it?”

“If you don’t believe me, see for yourself.”

Ceres took the document from Crown Prince Aseraian and handed it to Count Rainje. As he read it, his expression changed with every line.

“Th-this is impossible.”

“Father! It’s a forgery!”

“A forgery?”

Ceres chuckled at Vetrin’s outburst.

“Your family’s seal is right there on a magically notarized document, and you’re calling it a forgery?”

“We never signed anything like this!”

“Of course you didn’t.”

Ceres cut him off with a click of her tongue.

“Can’t you see the date? Your ancestor sold that mine 300 years ago for just 500,000 gold.”

500,000 gold was no small sum even 300 years ago, but it was still far too little to pay for an iron mine. The Emperor really had bought the mine for a ridiculously low price back then.

Of course, there was a reason for that. The mine was completely worthless at the time.

“Grrr!”

While Vetrin raged, Count Rainje could only tremble, unable to get a word out. Seeing him like that, Ceres’s lips curled into a faint smile.

“Though perhaps you already knew.”

“—!”

Seeing Count Rainje flinch at her offhand remark, Ceres became more certain she was right. He already knew about it.

The Emperor back then was mischievous enough to keep the purchase a secret, but would the Rainje family, who sold it, have kept quiet about it too?

There was no way they didn’t know the mine had been handed over to the Imperial Family.

Enough time had passed for people to forget the mine even existed, but the family that had owned it was another matter. No matter how worthless the mine was, they couldn’t forget knowing there was treasure buried there.

They must be certain the Imperial Family had no idea.

For three hundred years, the Imperial Family had never mentioned the mine or produced any relevant documents. The Rainjes must have assumed the document was lost.

Even now, with iron in short supply, the Imperial Family still hadn’t said a word about the mine. That made them even more certain.

“Father! Say something!”

“Enough. Come with me.”

Count Rainje quickly silenced his furious son, who still had no idea what was happening. Then, unlike before, he bowed politely to the Emperor and hurried out as though he were fleeing.

“Haha.”

Emperor Devrica gave a hollow laugh at the sudden turn of events. What on earth just happened...? The others looked just as bewildered.

“I’m the owner of the mine?”

Princess Nailia was the most shocked of all. She stared blankly at the contract bearing her name.

“Where did this contract come from?”

That was what Crown Prince Aseraian wanted to know most. How did Ceres find a contract from 300 years ago, one they hadn’t even known existed, and brought it here at exactly the right moment?

“Hmm.”

Ceres had expected that question. She had been wondering how to explain where she’d found the contract, but in the end, there was only one answer.

“By chance.”

***

So he really did hide it here.

Ceres found the mine purchase agreement in the Imperial Library. It was tucked inside a thick book written in an ancient language, almost like someone had tossed it in there, assuming no one would ever open the book.

Wasn’t that a little too careless?

The Imperial Library was maintained by magic, so it didn’t need cleaning or much upkeep. But it wasn’t completely untouched by people.

What if someone had thrown it away?

They replaced books from time to time, too. What if someone had decided it was useless and simply tossed it out?

I think I tried to stop him back then.

“What if someone throws it away?”

“Wouldn’t that be romantic?”

“...Sure, whatever.”

Do whatever you want.

...Romantic, my ass.

She’d only heard that it was an ancient-language book. Because she hadn’t paid much attention, she ended up having to pull out every ancient-language book in the library and search through them all.

Thankfully, it was valuable enough that no one had thrown it away.