(T/N: We have reached chapter 100! Thank you everyone for reading this far and I hope we will stay together until the end ❤)
Soon, an elaborate geometric in a hexagonal shape, reminiscent of a kaleidoscope, appeared on my arm. It was also reminiscent of the shape of a turtle shell.
It was ‘morphological modification’, one of the iconic abilities of the holy beast.
“Do you already know how to do this? That’s amazing.”
I patted my arm and gave it a compliment, and as it reacted to it, a faint light appeared in the hexagonal pattern and then disappeared.
I simply thought I should carry it in my pocket since it was a small turtle, but it had far better abilities than I thought.
Its size was about five centimeters.
As I was admiring the marvelous pattern, which looked like a tattoo, a servant said that Belreck had come, so I got up from my seat.
He was waiting for me in the living room with his long legs crossed.
With a look of superiority on his face, unlike his usual sensitive and picky atmosphere.
It was a quite reasonable change.
“Is something the matter?”
As I asked, he looked at me with a strange glance.
“Sit down first. I brought some good tea, so let’s talk while drinking it.”
His voice was soft, so I sat across from him while feeling even more suspicious.
“Deborah. You said that you were collaborating with me at the academic conference.”
“Hm. Because it’s true. Did you perhaps come here because you thought I was… threatening you?”
“For now… let’s call it a collaboration. Father suddenly praised me.”
He scented the tea and brought it to his mouth in a slow motion.
“Well, it seems he thought I also took part in the magic tool you presented at the conference.”
“I’m a designer, and Brother is the actual developer, so he might think so.”
“Ahem! So, I replied that I was working with you. If I make that artifact become reality, wouldn’t it be profitable for you too?”
He cleared his throat with a slightly reddish face.
He seemed to have immediately asked for an opportunity that came unknowingly as a compliment.
He was worrying about Rosad, who would come to the capital soon after finishing the war, so he must have been desperate for results.
According to the novel’s timeline, the time for the Crown Prince and Rosad to appear was coming.
“I didn’t make it for profit. I designed it while thinking about Father.”
His eyes narrowed at my pretentious words.
“First, let’s see what kind of magic tool you designed that Father liked so much.”
As soon as I fetched the blueprints for the massage machine, Belreck immediately grabbed his forehead and collapsed.
“Hey! How can I make this?! Why didn’t you discuss it with me before the presentation?”
“Because I didn’t mean to make it.”
I couldn’t help but look at Belreck, whose daily routine was to dig his own grave and lie in it, in a bitter mood.
“Ahh, so you didn’t draw the blueprints meticulously. It will take another half a year to plan this completely and implement it.”
Looking at him, who wanted to look good in front of our father, I asked the servant to bring me writing supplies.
“Let’s go for a foot massager. There’s no reason why it should obstinately be for the whole body.”
“… Will it be fine like this?”
As I drew the relatively easy magic tool, he looked at me suspiciously.
“The purpose of releasing muscle fatigue is the same. Since Father walks around the Wizardry Association, where there are many maze-like stairs, his feet will hurt the most.”
I continued speaking while drawing several blueprints.
“Besides, you’re going to think of Father the whole time while making it.”
“…”
“Wouldn’t that be enough to please him?”
Suddenly, I felt Belreck’s stinging gaze.
He was staring at me with a strange look.
“… What is it?”
Belreck cleared his throat, quickly avoiding my eyes.
“I think this part should be reliable since you are as pretentious as Father… I mean, since you have a lot of filial piety.”
“I think I just heard something that bothered me.”
“… You are mistaken. It means that I think I know a little about why Father cares about you.”
Belreck, who did not grumble and complain, sweet-talked me with a kind voice for the first time in a while, and then suddenly asked at the end of the sketch.
“But Deborah. Why are you helping me so obediently? I have been neglecting you all this time. Though of course, you bothered me, too.”
The reason I was so generous to Belreck was because of my compatriotism as a fellow engineering student, and because Belreck was easier to deal with than Rosad.
Even if he didn’t take action himself and only secretly leaked the information about Louis Gargell from afar, Rosad was more insidious than Belreck.
I also thought that it was time to give him a treat because I did not know what kind of unexpected action the grumpy Slave No. 2 would do if I wielded a whip every time.
And well, I could also patent all kinds of artifacts.
‘There is nothing free in the world. Belreck.’
“It’s a collaborative relationship.”
I spoke while hiding my cunning intentions, and Belreck said something absurd again.
“That could be the case with me, but how are you threatening Prince Visconti? Is he perhaps also hiding something under the black slate…”
“No.”
Belreck, who was mumbling grimly, closed his mouth.
‘I’m not really threatening him.’
***
I thought I would feel much more comfortable if there was a rumor circulating in the social world about how I was keeping hold of Isidor’s weakness.
Because I wouldn’t constantly think of Isidor’s words or actions.
‘He seemed to know something about me.’
So in the end, I did some research.
I picked up the two documents that Margaret had left in front of me.
The relationship between Isidor and the Master was suspicious.
I wanted to compare the results of the Master’s investigation about Isidor with the results of other information guilds.
First of all, the first guild I asked Margaret to obtain information from was the most sought-after information guild and private detective agency for aristocratic young ladies.
I heard that this place catches people who are having an affair especially well.
‘They are also good at tailing people.’
Since Isidor has so many fans, any information about him will be money.
Since their customer base was mainly young ladies, I thought they would be the ones to have collected the most rumors and all kinds of information about Isidor.
And the second one was an information guild that ladies often visited to investigate how good their daughter’s husbands were.
‘They are good too. Rather, they’re a lot stronger.’
In the Azutea empire, which had a generous age standard for men only, Isidor was not in a hurry to get married.
However, since he didn’t have a fiancée, there seemed to be a lot of inquiries.
Buying existing information.
Isidor was so famous that it was a possible investigation method.
‘He’s an excellent knight at a young age, enough to be vice-captain. It’s crazy to hire an informant and attach him to Isidor.’
However, in the case of buying the information collected by a guild, it was difficult to suspect even the Master if the route from where the information was received gets complicated.
What if there was anything missing from these ordinary information guilds?
My assumption that Isidor and the Master have some kind of relationship would become really plausible.
‘It looks like there will be some different information.’
I quickly ripped the sealing pressed against the envelope.
And I started to read the information inside, focusing.
***
“Princess Deborah?”
“Huh?”
At the Master’s call, I, who was stunned, woke up from my thoughts.
“You look especially tired today. It’s good to work hard, but wouldn’t it be better to go back and rest when you’re not feeling good?”
“I have to work. The second store is proceeding faster than I thought.”
I said, looking at the current construction progress.
Since it was originally a dessert shop, the interior construction of the second store was going much faster than the first one.
‘I saved a lot of money like this.’
The Master bargained the building, which was once Naria, for half the price.
I couldn’t help but be astonished as I saw the way he worked on Naria like it was a crime scene.
Even spreading the rumors that they grew medicinal herbs with drug components for a slush fund.
Because Bruno’s business had bought various medicinal herbs to copy the fake ionic drink, the rumor seemed even more credible.
Anyway, now that I’ve bought real estate for the price of nothing, I just needed to clean its image in order to get rid of the rumors.
“How about this?”
“It’s not bad.”
He laughed.
This time again, a clock tower was planned to be donated for tax relief.
However, I thought it would be good to put an additional function in this clock tower, where a sacred bell would ring at the time that matched the Goddess’ birthday.
I was inspired by the memories of my previous life.
In the case of the idol I focused on, his birthday was September 14, so I always celebrated the birthday of the one I loved the most at 9:14.
‘I wonder if my favorite is doing well. The dance line was really pretty.’
“Princess.”
“Huh?”
Noticing that I couldn’t concentrate at all, he quickly concluded the meeting and magically moved the teapot and desserts to the table.
I sipped the black tea he gave me and pulled a small bottle out of my pocket.
“Oh, and this tea. I want to sell it in Armand.”
I brought the tea Isidor had gifted me in a bottle.
“Sir Isidor gave it to me. It’s delicious.”
But, for some reason, a look of bewilderment flashed through his face.
‘As expected, something’s weird.’
I recalled the information about Isidor I received yesterday, from the guild’s investigation.
Honestly, I was a little surprised.
