Chapter 20

“Huh! Are you going to sell this useless mine to Grand Duke Katan?”

Roscoe Cardinale laughed arrogantly from how ridiculous it sounded to him. He reached out his hand to pat my shoulder.

“What made you say something that would please me! But will the Grand Duke buy the mine?”

I knew it would be like this.

So I looked at the figure fiddling with his moustache.

“I just need to convince him. I’ll try to talk him into it, so please rest assured.”

“Will you do that?”

“Yes. And I think I can do the biological experiment that Milan did.”

“Didn’t you say you hated using humans as an ingredient?”

My father squinted, doubting me.

“I became interested when I saw the chimera.”

With a low groan, my father took a small key out of his pocket.

‘There must be a room where the children are locked up.’

I received the key from him, putting on a cold expression as much as possible.

“Yeah. I guess you weren’t completely useless either.”

Even though the money he earned from selling my potions would’ve been a great help to his business, he still had a poor opinion of me.

In his eyes, I was good for nothing. A freeloader and a beggar. My father often called me that instead of my name.

‘At that time, I was so desperate to be useful to him.’

I shrugged recalling my foolish thoughts in the past.

The reason why I did that was simple. I thought of him as my father.

I was just a child who craved her parents’ love and wanted to be recognized by him.

Yvonne would also run toward me while holding a wild flower just to make me smile.

‘But Roscoe Cardinale and I are different.’

Unlike him, I loved my daughter more than my life.

‘In order to create a safe world for Yvonne, that human must disappear first.’

I bit my lip slightly, thinking about the downfall of Cardinale. As he left, I stared at the back of the man whom I loathed so much.

The moment Milan was killed by Oscar, Genevite ran away at lightning speed.

‘It should be around here.’

I took a careful step following the black blood stain on the ground. When I reached the end of the mine, I could find Genevite lying there.

Grrr.

Feeling my presence, the black dragon opened its eyes wide.

The black dragon whipped its dangerous and huge tail to threaten me, but it only produced a weak wind due to its already exhausted state.

‘It will die soon.’

Upon realizing that Genevite was going to die, I glanced at the black egg wrapped under the black dragon’s wings.

“..Are you worried?”

I approached the wide-eyed black dragon and smoothed its face.

“I’ll take good care of your cub. I promise.”

The egg was going to hatch soon, so the black dragon couldn’t even close its eyes even on the verge of dying.

‘As expected from the king of monsters. It’s very intelligent.’

The monsters had to sacrifice their mana force in order to reproduce, so most of them were unable to nurture their offspring.

I looked alternatively between the black dragon and the egg.

The black dragon’s huge body slowly collapsed. Genevite turned into a black grainy sand and began to scatter in the air.

‘It won’t be as easy as taming Vivi.’

Holding the black egg in my arms, I stroked the egg while thinking about the soon-to-be born Geneva.

“I’m not sure if I can be as good as Ibelina in taking care of you...”

I will do my best. Since I promised your mother already.

The egg seemed to vibrate weakly as if responding to me.

“Rona, there must be a warehouse around Milan’s mansion. The children were trapped there, go release them.”

After safely escaping the mine, I looked back on the completely collapsed Sirtha.

‘We must clear all these rocks so that we can begin excavating the mana stone.’

The Black Dragon Genevite’s death was the reason why mana stone had formed here.

While its power was considered corrupt and evil contrary to the holy power, at the end of the day, no one could deny how great of a power a monster can have.

Mana stone containing that much mana was not used yet in the Empire, but it was an indispensable item in the neighboring country, Odebell.

‘Sirtha was the first mine to produce mana stones. A great amount of mana equal to the Black Dragon’s mana.’

It was a fact that no one knew before Ibelina tamed the Black Dragon Geneva.

Katan needed funds, and mana stone was an opportunity to acquire wealth.

‘The thing is, will Joseph trust me?’

I was bragging to my father that I could persuade him, but Joseph wasn’t a fool who would buy a collapsed mine.

“Your Highness.”

I called out to him as I got into the carriage.

“Please say it.”

“I have something to tell you regarding the mine.”

“Are you talking about that pile of stones?”

He asked, pointing to the collapsed mine.

“..Yes. Is it possible for Katan to buy that pile of stones?”

I got more anxious when Joseph looked at me with a blank expression.

“You may not believe it, but I know a way to accumulate wealth using Sirtha mine.”

I sounded more like an airhead swindler by the way I urged him to believe me unconditionally.

“Perhaps, only you know this information?”

Joseph’s transparent eyes, which showed no sign of doubt about me, made my face blush for no reason.

“Yeah. Only I know about this. There’s an information network between alchemists.”

Even it sounded like a swindler’s bluff to my ears, too.

As he did not say anything, I fiddled my fingers while trying to read his expression.

“I’ve come up with a good business idea...that might be of help to Katan.”

No matter how naive a person might be, he won’t be fooled by these words.

“I-It can’t be helped if you don’t believe me.”

If Joseph was unwilling to spend Katan’s budget for this, I just needed to find another way.

‘I think I’ll be able to buy it after selling all my fortune and borrowing some money.’

If the mana stone starts to be mined, I could pay my debt in no time, so it wasn’t a big deal for me.

I was busy recalling the company where I could take out a loan with the lowest interest rates and a company to sell my mana stone.

But Joseph suddenly nodded.

“Alright.”

“...Pardon?”

“I’ll buy the Sirtha Mine according to your will.”

I was the one who begged him to buy a mine, but my heart skipped a beat when he actually agreed to it.

“Do you mean it?”

I stared at Joseph, mouth wide open in shock.

“Yes.”

“You’re going to trust me and buy a pile of rocks?”

“..Isn’t that what you want?”

Joseph furrowed his eyebrows as if he couldn’t understand me. Looking at his sharp jawline that slowly hardened, I shook my hands in a haste.

“If you don’t want it..”

“N-No! It’s true that I want it.”

“But why are you getting angry?”]

Unknowingly, I wrinkled my nose looking at Joseph’s naiveté.

‘It will be very fortunate if he doesn’t get scammed anywhere else.’

I didn’t expect my husband to be such a pushover!

In the past, I thought he was a lord who had built Katan from scratch without his wife’s help. But it seemed like it was thanks to Dante’s great ability.

“Your Highness, if someone ever asks you to do business together or tells you to invest your money in something, you must run away immediately.”

“I don’t think I can jump from the carriage.”

“Pardon?”

I tilted my head upon hearing Joseph’s random remark, but he only smiled as if he found my widened eyes funny.

“Isn’t that exactly what my wife said to me?”

“..Except for me. You can trust me. Because I sincerely want Katan to prosper.”

Joseph only nodded at my shameless words.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

I suddenly began to worry about Joseph’s future.

The only daughter of Katan’s greatest enemy, the Cardinale, just tried to persuade him to buy Cardinale’s ruined mine.

I couldn’t help but sigh when I saw him nodding his head unassumingly.

Before I leave Katan, I have to make sure to secure the finances for him.