When asked what she wanted, Deborah took a long time to answer.
‘Why are you pretending to worry about it?'
The Duke of Seymour was curious.
Deborah, who was struggling with something, soon opened her mouth.
"Then… Please invest in my business."
"Hm?"
The Duke of Seymour had to doubt his ears this time, not his eyes.
Of course, he thought she would ask him to bid on the pink diamond that will be on auction in three days, but he could not believe she was asking him to invest.
"You mean you want to do some business and want me to fund it?"
"Yes."
"That's absurd. Why are you suddenly thinking about that?"
"I came up with a good business idea while I was in confinement."
"… Hmm."
The Duke did not believe Deborah's words.
The Azutean nobles had a tendency to look down on commerce. This was because it was usually the nobles with insufficient inheritances that chose this as an alternative way to maintain their finances.
The fact that Deborah, who was familiar with the aristocratic way of thinking, suddenly decided to do business, made the Duke feel very suspicious.
"So, how much do you need?"
Although he was suspicious, he promised to comply with any request. So, he didn't interrogate her and only asked about it.
Instead of answering, Deborah wrote a number on a piece of paper and handed it to the Duke.
As soon as he saw the amount written on the paper, he tilted his head slightly.
‘Maybe she missed one zero?'
This amount was less than what he used to deal with the incident Deborah had with the Wizardry Association elder when she was a child.
‘Do business, with this much?'
… As expected, it is suspicious.
But looking at her serious expression, it seemed to have its own meaning, so the Duke didn't question it.
He found out recently that his daughter isn't a helpless idiot, but a child with a meticulous side to her.
So, he thought he would wait and see for now.
"Alright, I will tell the administrator to send you the amount of gold coins you want."
"Thank you. Father."
Deborah's eyes sparkled as if she were happy.
Come to think of it, she had those bright eyes when he melted the frozen snow with fire magic.
Those eyes stimulated just a small bit of the Duke's fatherly love. Should he say that he wants to give her more…
‘I think I'm in trouble.'
At the unusual thought, the Duke coughed loudly and got up from his seat.
"I have something to do, so I will get going. Give me the letter next time."
"Yes."
"You don't need to see me out, go back to your studies."
It was awkward to even say that. Deborah is studying on her own initiative.
‘I feel like she's growing up…'
As he was walking toward his office in an indescribable mood, the Duke suddenly stopped.
Because he had finally realized why his daughter was suddenly talking about doing business and asking for gold coins.
‘I see. She really is growing up.'
If she came up with a good reason for business investment to comply with his demand to say what she wanted, then it made sense.
‘I can't believe you're easing the burden of my heart in such a way.'
The Duke said that he would never buy the pink diamond for his daughter, and expressed this in front of the vassals several times.
Deborah intentionally switched her attention to business instead of jewelry. Do not go back on your word.
‘You even established my authority.'
Even easing the financial burden by deliberately setting a low business investment.
‘I'm amazed.'
He thought she would be an idiot for the rest of her life, but indeed there are children who grow up belatedly.
The Duke of Seymour, who exaggerated and overestimated his daughter's actions, called his aide with a determined face.
At this point, it seemed like he had to give her the jewel, no matter how difficult it was.
No, he wanted to.
"That pink diamond, do whatever you can to win the auction."
Shouldn't he show that, as a father, he is more generous than his children?
"Write a price that is unconditionally higher than that of the eldest son of the Montez family. It doesn't matter how much."
"Yes, Your Excellency."
Three days later. The auction house was turned inside out by the unexpected results.
Not only because of the unprecedented winning bid, but also because the owner of the jewelry that caused a stir in the society was Seymour and not Montez.
***
As I waited for the gold coins sent by the Duke, I scribbled on the notebook.
There are three reasons why I asked the Duke for business investment.
First, I don't need jewelry, so it looks much more plausible than plainly asking for money.
Second, being immersed in a business can be a good pretext for delaying marriage.
‘Because all over the world, it is more common to be hard for unemployed people than on busy people.'
Above all, since I have been struggling as a slave to a capitalist society for 24 years, I decided that if I entered a business, I would be quite competitive.
I must have saved some capital, too; and while I was spending time planning business items, the administrator brought a large box.
‘Gold coins! The gold coins have come!'
I barely kept my poker face and opened the box.
‘It's refreshing to see gold coins after only seeing jewelry.'
As I stared at the bag filled with gold coins, in ecstasy, I discovered a luxurious velvet case buried in one side of the box.
What is this?
As soon as I opened the velvet box, confused, I almost fainted.
Because inside the case covered with black fabric there was a heart-shaped diamond necklace, emitting a bright pink glow.
I stopped breathing when the necklace depicted in the novel that Philap had won a bid for, at a price equivalent to the capital city's Town House, sparkled in front of my eyes.
‘This, why is this here?'
In the original work, this was a piece of jewelry that was in the heroine's hands because Philap had won the auction.
This isn't a fake, right?
Slowly blinking, flustered, I found a guarantee and a letter from the Duke inside the case.
[Deborah. I will gladly accept your consideration for me. However, I kept worrying about only giving you a small amount of money as a reward for the precious letters… I know exactly what my daughter wants, so it is not reasonable to pretend I do not… (…)]
As soon as I read the letter, I felt my blood pressure rising.
‘About 40 million won in Korean money is a small amount?'
And what does he mean with ‘consideration'?
No way, he thought I would ask for a billion but since I asked for only 40 million, I was being considerate?
"Being a villainess is nice and comfortable."
I murmured, in a ridiculous mood.
When I was Yoon Do Hee, it was natural to always be considerate; so, if I made a mistake, I would only be criticized.
I am praised for being considerate because of the common sense that I used to be a wicked person.
‘I've been living my life wrong.'
Having some sort of mixed feelings in front of the expensive jewelry that day, I discovered an unexpected clue.
Much more valuable than gold coins.
‘This…'
***
"Master, they say the pink diamond auctioned today was the highest priced among the items at the auction house. Congratulations."
Gerard, guild leader of the Guild ‘Blancia', who had returned with information from the fierce auction house, told the Guild Master the good news.
He made a profit that exceeded the operating costs of the guild for one year, but the Master only stroked the golden fur of a giant beast, without agitation.
‘I don't know what he's thinking.'
The man was relatively young to be a guild master.
However, because of the mask-like expression, he could not read him more than the previous master, who was like an old fox.
It was the same that this master's abilities, too, could not be measured.
Since early last year, the Blancia Master has secretly invested in extraordinary alchemy that changed the color of minerals.
Although the Master's steps in this strange research were dissatisfactory, Gerard's doubts were quickly solved.
With an alchemy that changed the color of minerals, the Master said he would present ‘Colorful Diamonds' as a representative product of the guild-run jewelry store.
‘If a diamond is colored, is it a diamond? Master is very bizarre.'
It was the first product to come out on the market, so he was very concerned about the response, but it was an unfounded worry.
The Master, who found out the hair color of the woman who Philap Montez was obsessed with from an informant, used alchemy to create a pink diamond, which had the same color as her hair, and spread a rumor in the city that it was a rare item.
As expected, Philap Montez, who was looking for a woman's gift, took the bait; and even the daughter of the Duke of Seymour, known for her vanity, began to covet the pink diamond after hearing it was the only one in the Empire.
As the competition among the prestigious families intensified, the attention on the jewelry unknowingly increased, and more and more people wanted to make a successful bid.
In the end, the Master was able to sell the heart-shaped diamond for hundreds of times more than the price of the original diamond.
Although the immediate profit was great, it was most encouraging that the value of the ‘Colorful Diamonds' was highly valued in the market.
It was obvious that the sky-blue water drop diamond, which was scheduled to release after this, would be sold at an astronomical price.
Jewelry stores, which are said to have monopolized the distribution of rare jewels, will also rise in popularity.
‘The Master's business skills are beyond imagination.'
It is not just jewelry.
He was convinced that if it were for money, he would do anything. Like playing a game.
Even four months ago, he took over a bankrupt bakery and transformed it into a high-class dessert shop that sells only a limited number of confectioneries a day.
Who would have thought that a bakery that had no customers would become the representative dessert shop in the Yones district?
Thanks to that, there were gold coins piling up like mountains in Blancia's vault.
"How much did it sell for?"
Gerard, whose eyes were in awe, came to his senses at the Master's question.
"Here, you can check it."
Gerard carefully laid the papers on the table with the final winning bid for the pink diamond.
As the man examining the papers frowned, the huge beast next to him growled, narrowing his pupils.
He made an unprecedented profit, but Gerard turned pale looking at the seemingly dissatisfied Master.
"Duke Seymour took it."
The Master laid down the papers with a mysterious face.
The fact that the Duke of Seymour won the jewel means that his daughter, Deborah Seymour, became the owner of the pink diamond.
‘I naturally thought Mia Vinoche would take possession of it.'
The Master's predictions were wrong twice today.
He expected the jewel to be sold at a lower price than the actual winning bid, and he was convinced that the winning bidder would be Philap Montez.
‘Did I underestimate Deborah Seymour too much?'
Recalling the information collected by the guild members regarding Deborah Seymour, the man fiddled with the gold coins piled up like a tower on the table.
‘I knew she was the Duke's child but… did I miss something?'
The man with a crooked mouth threw a coin up in the air and snapped it with the back of his hand.
He played with his hands until the heads of the coin appeared and suddenly opened his mouth.
"Gerard."
"Yes. Master."
"Didn't I ask you to keep a close eye on the high-ranking nobles?"
Showing off his displeasure, the Master ordered the informant in charge of the Seymour family to investigate Deborah again.
However, a week after giving such an order, a completely unexpected client appeared in front of him.
"How on earth did Deborah Seymour get here?"
As he looked at Deborah Seymour, wearing a black hood, the Blancia's Guild Master, Isidor Visconti, felt embarrassed, secretly.
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