Chapter 12

Author: Cristal

Looking back, even in her past life, the nobles were very interested in Lilyca. It was only now that Lydia thought that the modest Lilyca must have been fascinating to them.

‘But when I think about it, that’s not entirely accurate. They are quick to notice.’

Lydia smiled after releasing Lilyca who was beginning to stifle.

“It’s a request from Lilyca, so of course, I have to listen.”

The sight of her daughter savouring her words was also lovely.

Graceful tenderness and firm gentleness were treasures that only a trained eye could recognise.

“Mommy will soon be rich. Then Lily can buy anything she wants.”

“Rich?”

Lilyca’s voice was mixed with a bit of unease. Lydia nodded her head.

“Yes, Mommy found a great investment.”

“What kind of investment is it?”

“It’s a man named Ubara, and he was looking for someone to invest in his expedition. He left a little while ago. Lily would have been happy to hear his story too.”

“An exploring expedition?”

“Yes.”

Lilyca became anxious as Lydia nodded. It was an expedition.

Lydia said frankly.

“I’ve been told here and there that he’s a fraud, but the truth is that he’s an honest man.”

“What?”

“It’s because his clothes are a little off, but you don’t have to worry.”

Anxiety rushed in like a dark cloud, and Lilyca asked softly.

“So how much did you invest?”

“All the down payment.”

“!!”

Lydia reassured her daughter, who had a surprised rabbit-like face, several times.

“Don’t worry. Trust your mother.”

Lilyca couldn’t bring herself to say, “That’s the most unreliable thing!”

She mumbled and jumped up from her seat.

“I’ll go talk to him myself.”

“You? okay. He may not have left the palace yet, so if you let me call him now—”

“No, I will go and meet him this instant.”

She was not going to give the scammer time to prepare. Lydia nodded when she saw her daughter who rushed to her while saying she was going to battle.

“Then go for it.”

“Yes.”

Lilyca stormed out intending to get her mother’s investment back from Ubara. Bryn bowed lightly and followed her.

Lydia laughed softly, “Oh, dear.” It was nice to see her daughter being so brave.

Ubara may be confused, but…

‘I’m sure he’ll persuade her well.’

His slick storytelling skills must have contributed to him being called a swindler.

However, the man who was called a fraud would soon become a legend of the expedition team.

The empire was very large, but the land he will discover was much wider.

On one side he will find an endless desert inhabited by criminals and fugitives, and on the other, he will find that place.

An unknown land where human-eating monsters roamed, where no compass, no constellations, and even the rising sun were useful.

It was a sea of trees.

Endlessly flooded.

But this natural floodgate was a treasure trove of new things. Rare spices and plants were brought from the sea, and they were sold at very high prices.

So, many people set up an expedition to venture into those waters, and many did not return.

Therefore, it was expensive to set up an expedition, and the patronage of the nobility was essential.

Ubara also wandered around seeking the patronage of the nobles, but everyone thought he was a fraud.

After being rejected by the nobles, he received the first joint investment from the commoners and returned with tremendous achievements.

After that, joint expeditions had become popular, but Lydia was not part of it.

Thus, she planned to invest her entire fortune in Ubara.

Obviously, Lilyca didn’t believe in her, and that was largely Lydia’s fault.

She was thinking of showing some great success to instil trust in her daughter.

As she stood up and approached the window, she saw Lilyca running. Lydia laughed involuntarily.

She had compiled some of the big events ahead.

Now, she’s been busy establishing herself in high society.

The evenings she graced with her presence became more and more recognised.

Bustle against crinoline.

The Crinolians were aristocratic, and it seemed that they will not be influenced by the empress, who didn’t acknowledge where she came from.

‘That’s their loss.’

Anyway, the next time the grand theatre catches on fire, the women in crinoline will not be able to escape and will burn.

Then, the bustle dress would completely settle, and the Empress would have artificially advanced the fashion.

‘Well, I can’t let it burn though.’

She shook her head as she came up with a plan. She took out a new paper to write a letter.

* * *

There was only one way out, so, as she ran across the garden, Bryn said from behind, “The imperials walk, they don’t run.” But Lilyca didn’t think it was necessary to be part of the imperial family right now. She quickly caught up with him.

“Wait for a moment! Stop!”

The man who was walking along the corridor, following the servant, stopped in surprise. Lilyca took a deep breath.

The servant next to him bowed his head and said hello.

“Greetings to the Princess.”

Startled, the man took off his colourful feathered hat and bowed his head.

“Greetings to the Princess.”

“Are you Ubara?”

Lilyca crossed her arms and raised her voice as sharply as possible.

“That’s right.”

“Let’s talk for a moment.”

“With pleasure.”

Ubara answered politely. Lilyca was amazed by his gorgeous outfit. They were clothes she had never seen while living in the palace.

The man had a smooth face, and he was holding in his hand a triangular hat with colourful feathers. The clothes he was wearing were also very colourful. His hair was braided in a few strands and decorated with beads. What should she say?

‘An actor?’

She had never seen a play, but it was like seeing a theatre actor coming out from a painting.

‘He really looks like a scammer.’

Feeling the trust she had in her mother, a trust she had never known, falling through the ground, Lilyca narrowed her eyes.

Bryn gestured to the watchful servant to back away. The servant bowed quickly and trotted out of the corridor.

Lilyca said straightforwardly.

“I just heard that my mother promised you an investment.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Ubara didn’t know how to look at the princess, the hot topic of the empire, so he had no choice but to only glance at her, even though he knew that eye contact was not allowed.

However, the story that came out of the princess’s mouth was like a thunderbolt in the dry sky.

“There are many rumours that you are a swindler, so you must have deceived my weak-hearted mother.”

Lilyca stamped her feet like an angry lamb.

“Go and tell my mother the truth right now.”

With his eyes wide open, Ubara said hurriedly.

“Wait a minute, Princess. What do you mean by a scammer? I feel wronged. If the princess listens to my story, she will know that it is true.”

Ubara appealed seriously. He finally got a patron; he couldn’t lose it like this.

At his desperate words, Lilyca pondered for a moment.

It was too much for Lilyca to leave right away without even listening to his story.

She spoke in a rather solemn voice.

“All right, then. Let’s hear the story first.”

“Thank you, Princess.”

Ubara swallowed his saliva and lowered his head again.

Bryn recommended.

“Princess, you shouldn’t be doing this here, let’s go inside and listen to his story.”

“No, I’ll listen while walking outside. Is it okay if we go for walk?”

“Of course.”

Lilyca didn’t want to invite him into her room. She thought it would be even more heartbreaking to kick him out. If they talked while walking in the garden, and she had the thought, ‘It was a scammer after all,’ she could just run away from him and tell everything to her mother. Wasn’t it a better option?

Lilyca and Ubara started walking side by side. Ubara coughed and began to talk.

“I have already been in and out of the flood three times. The first time, I lost all my companions.”

The story of his adventure, which began like that, captured Lilyca’s heart at once.

Ubara’s eloquence was so good that by the time he finished his story, Lilyca was tearing up.

“I see. I didn’t even know that, and I thought Ubara was a scammer.”

Ubara smiled. He knelt on the dirty ground of the garden.

“Thank you for crying for me like this. Please, Princess, do not do what you mentioned earlier. I will definitely be back.”

Lilyca snorted.

“Okay, I get it.”

She sighed and took a silver coin from her pocket.

It was an old, stained, silver coin that contained all her dreams.

She held it out to Ubara and said.

“I will also invest in Ubara. It’s not much, though.”

Lilyca explained what had happened in the slums and smiled. Ubara felt the weight of the silver coin falling into his palm with a heavy heart.

“You really believe in me.”

Words came out of his mouth without realising it. Ubara looked at the silver coin.

“You’re telling the truth, aren’t you?”

At Lilyca’s words, he suddenly raised his head and looked at the young princess.

‘They look alike.’

It may be natural that she resembled her mother, but she really did.

Ubara went to the noble families here and there to find an investor.

Later on, he was bullied because they believed he was a scammer. They said they would listen to his story, so he made it even more compelling. But they all burst into laughter.

“I called because I wanted to hear the story. Hey, why don’t you just go out as a theatre actor?”

They laughed at him. He was rumoured to be a good storyteller, so they paid him for the story and sent him out.

It was disappointing, but above all, miserable.

When the new empress called him, there was no expectation. He had come because he dared not refuse the call of someone so powerful.

The story he had spat out was insincere even to his ears, but the empress had said, “I believe you.”

He had been dumbfounded and had asked, “You trust me?”

The empress just smiled and wrote the check on the spot.

Ubara quietly looked into the beautiful eyes of the princess.

“I will definitely make it happen.”

No matter what.

At all costs.

Lilyca responded cautiously at Ubara’s words.

“Still, take care of yourself.”

Ubara smiled brightly.

“I will follow your orders.”

“Yes.”

Lilyca nodded, and at the end of the story, Bryn properly called a servant.

Ubara bowed to Lilyca again before following the servant to leave the palace. Bryn asked.

“Are you okay, Princess? Giving that silver coin like that.”

Bryn also knew how precious that silver coin was to Lilyca. She couldn’t believe the silver went into the hands of someone who seemed to be a fraud.

The silver coin didn’t matter to her, but she was worried that Lilyca, who believed in him, would suffer later.

‘Besides, the Empress seems to have promised a significant investment.’

If this rumour spread, she would certainly become a laughing stock in high society. Bryn also listened to the story, but it was so dramatic that it all sounded like a lie.

If this was true, that man was a great person. It was so daring of him to say that he lost his stake to a friend in the end, and became an unknown broke.

Maybe that’s why nobody invested.

Lilyca nodded.

“It didn’t seem like he was lying.”

Bryn tilted her head.

“Can you tell if he was lying or not?”

“Not that. It’s a sort of feeling.”

Bryn only nodded and said, “I see,” to the princess with a serious face.

‘Yes, it’s better to have all sorts of experiences.’

Bryn thought so.

* * *

“I heard you got dumped by Atil?”

When she went into the office, Alteos had said it with a grin. Lilyca pouted.

“I didn’t get dumped. It’s because His Highness is too busy.”

At Lilyca’s words, Alteos looked at her for a moment and then muttered.

“Actually, he may more need of a person like you rather than me.”

“What?”

“The story of Atil playing tricks.”

Alteos said so and looked down at the paperwork. Lilyca crept closer and asked, placing the tips of her hands on the desk.

“Are you worried?”

Lat raised his head at her words. Alteos also turned his gaze back to his adopted daughter.

Lilyca tilted her head and asked.

“I think you are worried about something.”

Alteos raised his chin and looked at Lilyca. He reached out to her and pressed her forehead firmly. Then, he gave it quite a bit of strength, but the little one held well.

“I’m not worried.”

At his words, Lilyca made a face asking if that was true. Alteos asked.

“More than that why?”

“What?”

“Why did you think I was worried?”

“Because you look worried?”

What more could be said? Lilyca tilted her head in the opposite direction again. Alteos said.

“I thought it was perfect for killing time. But I’m getting more and more interested in it, and that’s why I feel troubled.”

[Cristal’s NB: He’s talking about Lilyca.]

“?”

Lilyca couldn’t understand but listened intently. When you’re tired, isn’t it sometimes comforting to just complain?

Even if she couldn’t do anything else, she was confident in her listening abilities.

Alteos chuckled.

“That’s it. It’s perfect.”

“What is…”

Before she could finish her sentence, she heard a knock on the door. Lat got up and opened the door.

Atil walked inside with a report and stopped. He stared intently at Lilyca, who was standing next to the emperor’s desk. Lilyca was startled and turned to greet him.

“Greetings to the Crown Prince.”

He couldn’t ignore her openly here, so he nodded his head lightly.

He turned his gaze to Alteos.

“Your Majesty, I have brought you the report you asked for.”

Lat took the report instead and handed a basket to Atil.

“What is this?”

“Take it, go to the lake with her and get on a boat.”

Alteos said, pushing Lilyca on the back.