I Don't Need the Grand Duke's Regret - Chapter 130
“Princess!”
Nasir, who had bent down with the princess, hurriedly tried to support her again. However, seeing the princess’s face without her veil, he forgot what he had intended to do and whispered,
“Armilla…?”
The name of the poor woman his master had longed for.
Mirabel’s eyes widened as Nasir spoke Armilla’s name. She took a deep breath and swallowed.
“What did you say?”
Mirabel frowned as if the words were completely unexpected. Nasir, stunned by her reaction, blinked rapidly.
“No, it’s… I’m sorry, Princess. I’m not quite sure what I…”
Nasir, flustered, covered his mouth with his hand. After hesitating, he pressed his lips together.
Mirabel reached for her veil with a trembling hand while watching him. But Nasir, who was still bewildered, didn’t notice her movements. It was a relief.
“I must have been a bit dizzy because I haven’t had lunch yet. Thank you for helping me. And…”
Mirabel stood up, offering a clumsy excuse. She looked down at Nasir, who remained bent, and continued.
“I understand everything now. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to affect Charles. I’ll keep the secret.”
“…Yes.”
Mirabel left the room, leaving Nasir, who responded vacantly. As she stepped into the corridor, she pressed her trembling hand to her chest.
“Ha…”
Mirabel took a deep breath, trying to compose herself, and walked with a calm demeanor to avoid arousing suspicion from the guards.
However, she wasn’t heading toward the green room where Charles was. Mirabel wanted to be alone.
She needed time to gather her thoughts.
“I’ll walk you, Princess.”
As Mirabel walked away from the green room, a guard approached.
Mirabel raised her hand wearily to stop him. The guard, looking puzzled, stepped back.
With the guard out of her way, Mirabel quickened her pace. She clenched her teeth and headed toward a specific place.
What had started as a leisurely walk now turned almost into a run.
Boom.
Mirabel entered the study and let out a heavy sigh. Despite it being midday, the thick curtains kept the room as dark as night. In the simulated darkness, Mirabel finally broke down, tears streaming uncontrollably.
“Ugh…”
Turning her back to the door, Mirabel sank to the floor, her clear tears flowing endlessly beneath her veil.
‘The Master was lying in the red room, bleeding heavily.’
Luce’s voice echoed in Mirabel’s mind. She clutched her hands to her chest and gasped for breath.
‘It would have been a disaster if we had been even a little later.’
Mirabel grimaced as the pain she had been desperately trying to ignore washed over her like a tidal wave.
The red room was where Armilla had been imprisoned like a criminal, and where Ricardo had tried to take his own life.
But when she heard about the red room from Nasir moments ago, Mirabel first thought of Ricardo, not her own memories.
Why?
Why did she imagine a scene she hadn’t even seen?
She should have been recalling her past, not the sight of Ricardo lying in a pool of blood.
‘I can’t go on like this.’
Mirabel bit her lip and wiped away her tears. It felt as though her heart had become too weak.
Realizing this, she was anxious to leave Renato as soon as possible.
Until now, she had been trapped in Renato due to the heavy snowfall. But now the repairs on the Ragnar Bridge had begun, and the snow had started to melt.
Mirabel had actually been waiting for the bridge to be fully repaired.
As a delegate for the Founding Festival, she intended to meet with the Emperor, even if she missed the event.
However, she knew well the conditions of Renato’s weather, even in the Empire’s capital. Therefore, there was no need to insist on meeting the Emperor despite the weather.
If the Segolinde side used the weather as an excuse, the Empire would have nothing to say against it. After all, it had been a snowfall severe enough to collapse the bridge.
Moreover, Mirabel was someone who had nearly lost her life to that very snowfall.
‘I need to leave immediately.’
Mirabel gathered her resolve and stood up. She then grasped the door handle with her bright blue eyes.
Whether it was the Imperial Palace or Segolinde, she had to leave.
To a place without Ricardo.
* * *
The Arcangelo Empire is obsessed with lilies.
This simple fact has brought a fortune of gold to Durante.
As soon as Durante noticed the rising prices of lilies, he acted swiftly.
While other nobles dismissed the flowers as merely expensive, Durante’s firm secured the exclusive rights to sell lilies.
Then, he deliberately cut the supply of lilies significantly.
With the Empire already suffering from harsh weather, flowers were scarce. Among them, lilies became increasingly rare.
As they became rarer, their prices skyrocketed, and demand surged.
The capital is where people, driven by the need to possess anything rare and expensive, gather.
And the capital sets the trends for the empire.
Durante capitalized on this.
Now, a single lily bulb was worth as much as the value of a mansion in the heart of the capital.
Durante not only sold lilies at exorbitant prices but also held the rights to their production.
He transformed the land of Adalberto, the empire’s sole grain-producing region, into fields of lilies.
People envied and praised Durante, gathering to try and get even a small share of the gold-like flowers.
If things continued this way, Durante could align not only the noble council but all the major nobles with his side.
“Snowstorm in Adalberto!”
If only the demand for lilies would not stop.
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