Chapter 43.1
The day of the Spirit Festival had finally arrived, and like every year, today was also a beautiful day .
The sky was clear, the flowers planted during the Winter Festival were in full bloom, people were dancing to the sound of music and many stalls were selling tasty food along the streets .
Everyone was celebrating the arrival of spring .
“Fufu, it seems like everyone is properly enjoying this year’s festival, don’t you think so, dear?” – Said Emilia von Harkenberg, with a smile on her face, as she looked outside of the carriage .
“Indeed, and there’s even more people on the streets than previous years, so it seems like this year’s parade is going to be even bigger . ” – Said Klaus von Harkenberg, as he stroked his beard . (Tl/n: The author finally gave him a name! …Or I just forgot that he had one, which is probably the case . )
Every year, on the day of the Spirit Festival, the people of the Empire would make merry while parading the streets of the capital, before heading to the Ivory Palace in the afternoon to thank the royal family for everything they did to better the country throughout the past year, and as the tradition went, the royal family would always greet the people who went to the castle from one of the many balconies of the palace .
But even though the festive mood could make anyone happy, the same couldn’t be said about the little girl sitting in front of Emilia .
“Hmm? What is it, deary? You’re not excited about the parade? Is there something wrong?” – Asked Emilia, as she turned to look at her quiet granddaughter .
However, Leonora, the person in question, just shook her head, and said–
“–No, I’m alright… . ”
Leonora was, without a doubt, a beautiful girl, but her natural features, coupled with the light pink dress that she was wearing today, plus her partially braided hair, made her look even more adorable than she already was . Emilia even had to hold herself back from hugging her granddaughter, otherwise, she’d probably ruin the little girl’s dress . However, that didn’t mean she wasn’t worried about Leonora . The little girl had a resolute look on her face, as if she was ready to face a really powerful opponent… and Emilia knew why .
(I see… so she’s ready to face both Alexia and Balthazar, huh…?)
Recently, many rumors about Albert started circulating in the social circles of the noble society, and Emilia, who was the head of many of them, knew everything that was going on .
(That child imposed his authority on the old nobles to fix the water problem of the country, so his parents were forced to seal his magic power to teach him a lesson… but I don’t think Balthazar is going to let his son off with just that . He’s probably going to exile Albert as well, so I hope Leonora made the right choice . ) – Thought Emilia, as she looked at her granddaughter with a kind smile .
Thanks to Kai’s daily letter, now Emilia knew how much Albert cared about Leonora, after all, he was desperately trying to retrieve the dragon mark that he gave her, in order to protect her from the nobles that wanted him, and his associates, exiled at any cost… and that couldn’t have made Lady Harkenberg happier .
(Fufu, who would’ve thought he cared so much about her…) – Thought Emilia, as she unfolded her fan .
By retrieving the dragon mark, Albert was implying that he did everything on his own . In other words, he was trying to focus all the blame on himself, which, to Emilia, just proved that the prince was indeed good enough for her granddaughter . However, things weren’t so simple . Earl Hagmeyer, and many others who were also tasked with solving the water problem, didn’t take the matter of the new magic crest so favorably, after all, they lost all the financial support–or rather, the easy money that they were receiving from the crown because of Albert, so it was more than obvious that they were the ones who wanted the prince exiled .
But Emilia wouldn’t let such a good man slip through her fingers . Not to mention that Albert was someone important to her granddaughter, which was more than enough incentive for her to pull some strings to get him adopted by a noble family after he was exiled, just to make him marry Leonora afterwards . That’s how far Emilia was willing to go for her granddaughter .
(The only problem is that I don’t know what type of person that prince is…)
On paper, Albert was everything that Emilia wanted for her granddaughter . He was handsome, intelligent and he cared about Leonora, but all of those qualities wouldn’t mean anything, if his personality wasn’t good .
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(I don’t want her to be stuck with a boring man for the rest of her life… but I don’t think it’ll be that easy to convince her, if it turns out that that’s really the case…)
According to Kai, when Albert asked Leonora to return the dragon mark, she fainted from the shock, and Emilia could understand why that happened, after all, that was the same thing as the love of your life telling you that he’s breaking up your possible engagement just to protect you, which is why Leonora refused to give back the coin by locking herself in her room until the day of the party .
At first, Emilia even thought about scolding the little girl, since not returning the coin to Albert was a reckless thing to do . But after seeing the resolute look on her granddaughter’s face, Lady Harkenberg realized that Leonora knew she was being reckless, however, instead of running away, she chose to face that problem head on . So the least Emilia could do, as a grandmother, was support her granddaughter’s decision… but the person in question was more worried about his dress than the matter about the gold coin .
(I knew it, this shade of pink won’t stand out as much as I wanted . Emilisama hasn’t even complimented my dress yet–)
Leo was going to meet the Empress of the Weiz Empire today, so this was the perfect opportunity to show off his new product . The only problem though, is that he didn’t really have knack for dresses, so he wasn’t sure if the color of the dress would catch the eye of the Empress .
(–Well, the dress looks expensive enough, since it has a lot of frills… but I’m not so sure about the overall color–)
Leo wanted to restart the coloring process of the dress from the beginning, but he didn’t have enough time to do that right now .
(–No, I’ve spent the past week perfecting this dress, so I’m sure the Empress will like it! Besides, it’s too late to make another dress anyway, so I’ll have to make do with this one!)
Last week, Leo had an idea for a new product… and that idea was to create dyes out of tea .
Actually, it all started when Albert came to visit him . At the time, Leo thought he was mistaken about the prince, after all, he saved his life… but the new image he had about Albert crumbled the moment he asked Leo to return the gold coin .
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(Ugh…! Why the hell am I remembering something like that now, of all times!? Heck, I even fainted from the shock! What a bad memory!)
Well, Albert wasn’t so low to the point of taking the coin from Leo while he was passed out, so he promised to come again on the next day .
But that wasn’t the problem .
When Albert asked Leonora to return the coin, he obviously meant that he didn’t want her to be exiled as well… however, Leo completely misunderstood his intentions . To him, what the prince meant was: “I don’t want everyone to think you’re my fiancee, so I want my coin back . ”
(Hmph! Like I thought, I can’t trust Albert! He’s an evil prince! Besides, I’m on the same boat! I also don’t want everyone to think I’m going to marry another man!)
Needless to say, but after the initial shock of almost losing his gold coin, Leo became really angry with Albert . He knew that the prince hated him, however, taking back a present that you gave to someone was a bit too much… so he locked himself in his room .
Well, that’s not to say Leo wasn’t afraid of the prince trying to break in, after all, he knew that Albert was strong enough to break someone’s arm whenever he wanted . But protecting his gold coin was the top priority, so Leo didn’t give in to fear, even though the prince went to his room everyday .
(Yeah, I’ll protect you from that evil prince, Kar-sama! You’re mine! I’m not giving you to anyone else!) – Though Leo, as he clutched his gold coin through the dress .
To Leo, his gold coin wasn’t a dragon mark, or the sign of a candidate for the position of next Empress… it was just a gold coin . So the best course of action that he could think of, was to convince the Emperor and the Empress to not marry him to Albert . They would certainly understand his side of the story, if he told them that he didn’t want to marry their evil son .
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However, doing nothing throughout that whole week wasn’t something that Leo could do . He was already bored to death by the end of the first day, since he couldn’t leave his room because he was hiding from Albert… that is, until he found a pinkish stain on the carpet of his room, near where the prince was sitting when they had that dreadful conversation .
After consulting with Kai, Leo found out that he dropped his tea cup on the carpet when he fainted . The young butler also mentioned that he tried really hard to remove the stain, however, not even his cleaning skills could accomplish that… and that’s what caught Leo’s attention .
Thanks to his mind always working on business mode, Leo quickly figured out that, since the tea stain was so hard to remove, he probably could use it as a new type of dye, after all, not long ago, Oscar sent him a lot of those tea leaves, which meant that he didn’t have to worry about them running out anytime soon .
So, after sending a letter to Leena, explaining why he wouldn’t be able to meet her before the Spirit Festival, Leo finally started fiddling with that new type of “dye” and some of the white dresses on the back of his wardrobe .
Suffice to say, the end result was a master piece… even if the creator himself didn’t think so .
(There’s a 50% chance the Empress won’t like my dress, but this is worth the risk! I’m sure she’ll like the concept of using tea, that is a relatively cheap product, as a new type of dye! And then I’ll make a lot of money by selling dresses to her, and the other noble ladies!)
Leo knew that just by being the Empress, a woman could create a new trend in the blink of an eye, so he wanted to use that in his favor, after all, if she bought a dress from him, many other noble ladies would do the same . Besides, if there were too many orders, Leo could just leave the dyeing process to the people of the Bernstein Company, since he didn’t mind sharing the profits with them, as long as he made a lot of money .
(Yosh, you can do this, Leo! You just have to believe in yourself!) – Thought Leo, as he clenched his fists to pump himself up .
Even though this was the long awaited Spirit Festival, Leo was too nervous to enjoy the festive mood, like everyone else . He was about to sell a dress to the Empress of his country, and just the thought of doing that, was as nerve-wracking as speaking with her evil son, so he couldn’t calm down at all .
So, just like that, a carriage carrying a nervous little girl, an old lady trying to hide her dubious smile behind her fan and an old man stroking his beard, entered the premises of the castle .
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