After getting out of the office, Clara saluted the two maids politely standing guard in front of the door and walked away while humming a song.
She knew that she was on probation, but she believed that she would be able to show her skills soon.
‘He was easier to talk to than I would have thought.’
Like any elf, Clara respected dragons greatly. How could she not? Anyone who stood in front of those magnificent and imposing creatures could only bow in awe and worship.
When she met Lilin back then, and learned that she was in fact the cousin of a hybrid dragon, Lady Blaze’s son at that, her mother had all but begged her to serve him.
At first, Clara had been rather hesitant.
Hybrids in this world were not despised by rule. It mostly depended on their abilities.
A hybrid who was lucky enough to inherit the strongest points of both races would be respected.
One who didn’t would not be despised, but they would be pretty much ignored.
It might be pretty cold, but it was life.
If she served a useless hybrid dragon, she would have been mocked by all the members of her generation for one century or two.
But, since she was 50 years old and curious about the outside world, she had decided to take the bet and followed her friend Lilin out of the forest.
She had to admit, she was glad she did.
‘Thank you, mother.’
It seemed that the nagging of a mother was never useless.
Since Sol had proved to be above everything she could have imagined, it was her turn to prove herself to be above everything he could imagine.
This was her pride.
After all, a good servant could only show all his skills under a good lord.
‘Those bitches are going to be so jealous!’
The elf society was a purely matriarchal one and the competition was rude. If Sol had been born in the Astral World, the chance of her landing the job would have been close to none.
After all, even her mother was chosen not because of her skills and lineage, but simply because Blaze liked her personality.
‘Now then, I guess I should visit Lilin and Setsuna.’
She continued humming while walking in the hallway.
Today was a very good day.
[Travers Mansion]
Currently, the Travers mansion was showing a flurry of activity.
After all, the Duke had suddenly announced the arrival of the future King.
The last time, they had two entire days to prepare but this time the short notice shocked them.
Overseeing the actions of the maids was a tall and voluptuous woman clad in a red robe that hugged her form tightly.
She was the wife of Hermes Travers.
“Hurry up! Be sure that everything is well taken care of.”
In this world, the difference between men and women was minimal. After all, your power and talent did not depend on your gender.
Despite this, people still viewed the house as the women's territory.
As a duchess, Dame Travers was a very steadfast woman and a competent merchant. She understood the importance of building connections more than anything.
Once she was sure that everything was in good hands, she walked toward the office of her husband.
“Dear husband, everything is alright. But, are you sure we shouldn’t bring some maids as a gift?”
Using women to ensnare men of power was an old but effective tactic that worked most of the time.
For this, she specially raised many girls and gave them education, clothes, food, and all the necessary elements for a good growth.
All those girls knew the reasons she did so, but none resented her. Life was not easy and the duchess never sent her girls to men with dangerous tendencies.
For them, it was an opportunity to go from slaves or simple commoners to concubines and perhaps official wives for some lucky ones.
Thanks to this practice, even though the Travers house always seemed the weakest, they had one of the most extensive networks.
If they could place some girls around the future king…
“Stupid woman, do you want our death?”
Hermes rebuked her roughly, his face paling.
The moment his wife made that proposal, his skill Gambling Instinct screamed so hard he felt like he was about to go mad.
Honestly, even without his skill, with all he knew now he would need to be some crazy bastard to try to scheme against Sol.
“Why?”
The duchess was clearly surprised. In all their years of marriage, even though they sometimes had different opinions about their plans, he had never screamed like this at her.
“I am sorry for screaming.”
Hermes apologized first before continuing, “But don’t even think about it. Do not even show your girls to the prince. Anyway, if he really wanted any of them, he would have been tempted by the maids during the last visit.”
Understanding that her husband wouldn’t explain anymore, she simply nodded, and said, “Then, I will ask the maid to be careful in their actions.”
“Do so.”
Once the duchess left, Hermes now alone, turned toward the corner of the room,
“Hahaha, Theresa, I guess you heard everything?”
“Hum? About the honey trap? Hahaha. Don’t worry, this is pretty common.”
The secret door opened and let out the cute and smiling Theresa.
“Honestly, in any other circumstance, I would have helped you. Having one of your nieces or distant relatives entering Sol’s harem would be useful. But heh, let’s just say that my friends are not particularly fond of honey traps. Kukuku~!”
Theresa knew that this was the understatement of the year.
If a woman with sketchy motives came close to Sol, Lilith would cut her without hesitation, or Camelia would mind control her first to ascertain how dangerous she could be.
‘Once bitten, twice shy.’
“Anyways, the king contacted me so that I could propose a secret deal with Sol. Seems like the council is as useless as always. A bunch of old fossils who never wish to take responsibility.”
The country of Greed Dike was also known as the country of contract. There, every word, every action, who you talked to, how long you talked to them.
All of this had to be taken into account.
You never knew when you could be backstabbed by even your closest family members.
She knew it. After all, she did kill her own brother.
Hermes, who had some basic understanding about the way Greed Dike functioned shrugged.
“I guess he has no choice. It’s clear that Lustburg is on the line between decline and rise to prominence. Everything will depend on the war against Wratharis. I guess the king wishes to bet on Lustburg.”
“That is so. That old man is a crafty bastard. Impeaching Lustburg in the open to please Wratharis but holding hand with Lustburg in secret. No matter who wins, even if he doesn’t get any benefits, he will face no loss either.”
This was how merchants worked. It was impossible to always make profits. So the greatest skill a merchant could have was to understand how to minimize potential loss.
“Anyways, just warn your wife to be careful. I am going to prepare myself. Can’t look bad in front of my godson and my surrogate daughter.”
Hearing this, Hermes couldn’t help but ask, “I have been wondering. But, do you not plan to have an heir?”
“Hahaha! And risk dying by the hand of my own child? No thanks. Look at me! I am rich, pretty and I have friends in high places all over the world. Life is beautiful as it is now. Perhaps in my later years, I will take some young boys and play around for a short while. Anyways, all my fortune will belong to Sol after my death.”
Laughing like this, she went back to the secret chamber in order to take a bath and change her clothes.
As she was now, she lacked nothing.
In fact, she was so rich that she had reached the level where gold was only a string of numbers in her eyes.
Since she had drunk some water from the youth springs that belonged to the elves, she could live for one or two hundred years as a young woman before dying.
Even though that water didn’t boost natural lifespan but only maintained the appearance of youth, this was more than enough for her.
Though, with her luck, the chance of her dying because she stuck her nose in business that didn’t concern her was far higher.
‘Now that I think about it, perhaps I should ask Sol to get those stuck-up elves to commercialize that water? Women all over the world would kill or sell their souls for something like that.’
Back then, she had proposed the plan to Mars, but he had refused since he didn’t wish to borrow Blaze's authority to make money.
But for Sol, it would be his own authority, right?
Her eyes already began to shine brightly.
Money may be a string of numbers, but she wouldn’t mind adding one or two more zero to that string.
