A week ago, late evening.
It was also a moment when I was kicking myself over the Duke's explosive remark that 40 million won is a penny.
I was wondering what to do with the pink diamond the Duke gave me.
‘Even if I wear it carefully, there is no way I can resell it. I'm not sure.'
Although its original purpose is an accessory, I had no intention of carrying this thing around.
If I wore this necklace and walked proudly in the Academy and social circles, I would only provoke Philap, the heroine's fish, who failed to make a successful bid.
I may be a minor villain, but I didn't want to provoke the main character.
It was even worse to get involved with the heroine, who attracted all kinds of misfortunes.
To be honest, I wanted to raise money by reselling it.
However, if the only jewel in the Empire is brought to the auction house, there is no way the news won't reach the Duke's ears.
‘The Duke is so harsh, it's crazy.'
If I sell the jewel, it will hurt his pride and he may think I looked down on his sincerity.
Along with going on a hunger strike and being in confinement, the act of putting the diamond up at the auction house was not like Deborah.
In the end, until there is a brilliant way to dispose of the pink diamond, there is no other choice but to wear it at family events.
‘I just have to walk a few times in front of the Duke.'
Originally, it was a dramatic accessory that made the heroine's appearance stand out at the Academy, but it met with the wrong owner.
‘Of course, it's better than nothing. This is obvious.'
I looked at the meticulously crafted pink jewel, admiring it inwardly, and then opened the jewel case and put it inside again.
Perhaps because it was a precious and expensive item, the design of the case was luxurious; and even the quality certificate inside it was unusual.
Suddenly, I was curious about how many carats this jewel was, so I reached for the velvet envelope with art nouveau decorations.
The envelope was sealed with sealing wax that looked like melted gold.
When I was scraping the gold seal carefully because I didn't want to ruin the beautiful envelope, I narrowed my eyes while looking at the stamp imprinted on it.
"What is this?"
There was a faint stamp imprinted on the seal, so I was wondering what it was; but when I looked closer, it looked like a cat with a tail.
"Huh…?"
The moment I saw the shape, an uncomfortable feeling that I couldn't just ignore started lingering inside my head, like a small stone in a shoe.
‘Does anyone with such a seal appear in the novel?'
The people of the Azutea Empire expressed their preferences, beliefs, or their guild and family's individuality through seals.
Just as the Seymour family expresses the distinct feature of their blood relationship through the double-headed snake.
That is why she thought that it could be related to a character or group that appeared in the novel.
‘A cat? Who used it? Who?'
As she was preoccupied with it, pulling her hair out, she suddenly remembered a scene in the novel where this seal appeared, so she raised herself up.
"Blancia!"
The sudden realization seemed to spark a thrilling current all over her body.
The cat with a tail was the seal used by the Blancia Master when making a satisfactory deal.
Unlike the other characters in the novel, the Blancia Master used several seals to secretly express his mood.
The scene comes from a chapter in which the Crown Prince plays an active part.
Because the Blancia Master was the Crown Prince's schemer.
In the novel, the Crown Prince rushed to the Master and made a request whenever a problem arose.
"Deborah keeps harassing Mia. I want to get rid of that vicious woman, but it's not easy because she is a descendent of Seymour. If you find a way to get rid of her, I'll give you what you want."
The Crown Prince, who wanted to score points with Mia, ordered the Blancia Master to bring him Deborah's weaknesses.
Upon his request, the Blancia Master secretly let out a rumor that there is a way to curse the person one hates, leading to Deborah making contact with a sorcerer.
Deborah even made a curse doll that looked like the heroine, eventually caught in the trap laid by the Blancia Master.
"Hm, it's a curse doll. How should I take advantage of this terrible thing?"
Like being spoon-fed, the Crown Prince asks questions without noticing it, and the Master robs him of gold coins.
"It will be easier if you accuse her of blasphemy."
"That's right! Even the great Seymour family are merely human beings in front of the sanctity and authority of the saints."
The Crown Prince gave an enormous reward money and land to the Guild Master, who had created conclusive evidence to bring Deborah to trial.
The cat with its raised tail was the seal used by the Blancia Master when sealing the land registration he received from the Prince.
"Oh, this is the first time I've seen you using that cat sealing stamp. I thought it was a decoration because you didn't even touch it."
"Haha, I use it in particular when I have a satisfactory deal."
"The seal used on special occasions is shaped like a cat. Unexpectedly, you are a girl's type."
"It's a seal depicting this youngster, don't they look the same?"
The Prince laughed, dumbfounded, alternating between the golden beast next to the Master and the cat seal.
"You're kidding me. But, what does it mean for a cat to straighten its tail?"
"Originally it was 10 gold, but I'm feeling good so I will explain it to you if you give me only 9 gold and 99 silver. It's a special discount only for the Crown Prince."
"It seems I will go bankrupt like this. I shouldn't have said that."
Having succeeded in recalling all their trifling conversations, I took a deep breath while grasping my heart, beating so hard it hurt my ears.
"Let's calm down, calm down."
But I am so excited that it is difficult to calm down.
I wanted to meet the Blancia Master, so I reconstructed the novel's contents until my head hurt.
Tearing the envelope open, I unfolded the jewel's certificate of quality with shaky hands.
"… It's here."
As expected, the name and address of the jewelry store that sold the pink diamond were written on the inside of the certificate.
Thinking that I might be able to contact Blancia, a secret organization, through this address, my heart began to swell with anticipation.
‘The Crown Prince's all-powerful cheat key. There's no rule telling me not to use it.'
Thanks to the Blancia Master's outstanding intelligence and game-making abilities, the Crown Prince was able to have the most prominent role among the novel's fishes, and received the support of many readers.
To be honest, all the Prince did was order the Blancia Master to do this and that while giving him money… The important part is that it was nothing but a big set-up, yet the Crown Prince was the number one in the popular vote every time.
‘I want to do business with Blancia's Master too.'
Deborah was in a position where she couldn't make good use of the Duke's talented human resources, due to losing her reputation for her evil behavior.
The Duke of Seymour only provided Deborah three things: a dignity maintenance fee, a servant to serve her, and a guard.
Having no one to rely on, to her, the Blancia Master was like a long-awaited rain.
She boasted about what a fantastic match it was; a capable person who does everything with no hesitation if you give him a lot of money and her, who has a lot of money.
Besides, if the Crown Prince uses him all the time, he must be good at keeping secrets.
‘How to find the Master's store was one problem…'
The novel features a scene in which, after entering the store run by Blancia, the Crown Prince says the secret code to an informant posing as the store manager.
Unfortunately, no specific name or location information was described in the novel.
There aren't just one or two stores in this vast Empire. It was too reckless to visit them one by one, saying secret codes.
Today, however, she found a clue about the location of the Blancia guild member in the jewel's certificate of quality.
‘I think the jewelry store that sold the pink diamond is connected to Blancia.'
I got lucky.
I couldn't believe that I, who was always a pushover, got a lottery like this.
Even though I didn't ingest caffeine, my hands and feet were trembling, so I couldn't even sleep that night.
But, with the Blancia Master right in front of my eyes, I tried not to express my excitement.
It was obvious that if I showed it, I would be looked down on.
‘I'm going to end my pushover life now.'
Of course, Deborah's facial features were so frigid that she looked strong even when she was expressionless.
I opened my mouth while making a ‘cold expression' that I had practiced with a mirror.
"If you want to know, give me 99 gold. Originally, it was 100 gold, but I have something I want to ask you, so I will give you a 1 gold discount."
"Ha ha ha ha!"
When she mimicked his lines in the novel, the Master, who was blinking his eyes with a blank look, suddenly started laughing like he was crazy.
She was surprised at how wide his shaking shoulders were.
Because he is someone who handles information, there was a prejudice in the novel that he would be small; but his upper body, covered by the black robe, looked bigger than her guard.
‘Did you do some exercise? Seeing that you can make things move without touching them, you seem to know how to use magic. What on earth are you?'
As she looked at him up and down with a suspicious feeling, their eyes met.
The master opened his mouth, smiling.
"I swear, the Princess is the first client who has aroused my curiosity. So, I forgot my duty as an information dealer. I apologize."
"…"
"So, what kind of request does the Princess have, coming all the way here?"
She slowly recalled the contents of the requests she had arranged in her head.
She opened her mouth while facing him, who slightly closed his eyes.
"The first request…"
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