Chapter 10

“Please let me go, Sir Dante!”

“Didn’t I tell you to watch your mouth in front of His Highness?”

“But don’t you think it’s ridiculous? She just kicked His Highness out of her chamber, right?”

Manuel scowled at the unfairness of Dante’s scolding.

“Why would His Highness want to marry that woman anyway?”

“That woman? She is our madam now.”

Dante scratched his chin as he tried to persuade Manuel.

The people of Katan, including Manuel, did not welcome Rita as the Grand Duchess.

It was obvious that Count Cardinale wanted to exploit Carlo’s weakness by using this political marriage.

“You know what kind of woman she is!”

Manuel persisted in his tantrum.

Rita Cardinale was a famous woman about whom rumors had even reached the secluded land of Katan.

Although she was known as the most beautiful in the Cardinale, famous for its splendid beauty just like its rose symbol, she was not recognized for her appearance alone.

“That woman is the Witch of Cardinale.”

“It’s just a rumor, Manuel.”

“Even if she isn’t a witch, I’m sure she’s Prince George’s lover!”

“Stop it.”

Manuel grumbled and shook Dante’s hand off his shoulders.

“Sir Butler is also aware of Cardinale’s hidden intention, right? They want to hold His Highness hostage through this marriage!! Don’t think I don’t know just because I’m young.”

Dante couldn’t refute his words. Since that nasty Roscoe Cardinale wouldn’t make Joseph his son-in-law for nothing.

“Even though His Highness is the hero who freed the west from the barbarians.”

“Don’t think like that, Manuel. We don’t know anything about our madam yet.”

More mature than Manuel, Dante turned his gaze to Rita’s bedroom, located far from Joseph’s.

‘That’s right, no one in the north knows anything about her.’

Even so, Joseph agreed to the marriage with Rita Cardinale without hesitation. It might be the Emperor’s order, but he could have rejected it.

‘What the hell are you thinking, Your Highness..’

Dante was the one who raised Joseph, who was ejected from the Imperial Palace and became the Grand Duke at a young age.

He was a reclusive person.

But now Dante couldn’t understand his master at all.

‘No matter how I look, this is not the soil of grey land.’

I curtly clicked my tongue when I looked at the flask that the young servant had given me.

‘How many times has it been already?’

Despite its vast territory, Katan had insufficient lands to grow crops.

The northern grey land consisted of dry soil that crumbled easily, making it impossible to grow crops.

“..Is this really the soil of Kensteen Plain called the cursed land?”

“Yes.”

The servants called it a cursed land because it was so dry that no single grass could grow there. So I asked them to bring the so-called Kensteen soil.

However, the soil brought by the servant was a moist red clay that could only be found in the south.

They would bring soil that was different from my request every single time. It was already three times in a row.

“Is there any problem with the soil that I picked all the way from Kensteen Plains?”

I was baffled by the young servant’s impudent attitude and clicked my tongue.

“Don’t you see it’s brown? I know for the fact that Kensteen Plains are grey.”

“Hmph. Maybe it’s mixed with southern soil a little, I guess.”

No crops could grow properly on the grey soil, so Katan had to import soil from the nearest southern territories for farming.

Therefore, the soil from the south could be mixed up a little with Katan’s soil, but not for this one.

‘Manuel, isn’t it?’

I took a glance at the baby-faced boy and heaved a sigh.

‘This kid always hates me.’

Because the northerners hated Cardinale. So I can’t say I don’t understand why they acted that way...

‘But he didn’t make it so obvious before.’

I thought of scolding him, but I didn’t have time to pick a fight with a little servant and waste my time in a quarrel.

‘I have to go to check the soil myself.’

The law of alchemy discovered by Eastin, the Great Sage of The East, was that all the natural products of the earth were eventually made up of a single substance.

I was planning a way to turn the northern soil into a prosperous soil just like in the south, using the law of alchemy that he discovered.

‘I’ve been stuck in my office since the wedding, yet I haven’t made any progress.’

So I slowly rose from the sofa and looked for Rona.

“Rona, I have to go out, so prepare for it.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to take a short trip to Kensteen Plains.”

“The sun is really strong at noon. Will you be okay with that?”

Getting a little tanner was no longer a big problem for me.

“Yeah. It doesn’t matter.”

When I shook my head, Rona quickly left after saying she’d bring me my outdoor clothes.

“You’re also dismissed.”

I turned my head at Manuel, who instead of leaving the office, stood tall in his place and watched me closely.

‘Do you have anything left to say to me?’

“..Just why do you need Kensteen soil?”

His eyes, the color of ripened wheat, showed clear hostility toward me.

“I’m thinking of using it as an ingredient for my alchemy.”

I frankly answered the boy’s question with my head tilted sideways.

In the first place, reforming the soil so it could be used to grow crops was my plan for Katan, so there was nothing to hide.

‘Rather, if the rumor spread and people of the land helped me, I would be able to develop it faster.’

But contrary to my expectation, Manuel’s dark-skinned face paled as if he heard something shameful.

“As expected, Miss Sabrina’s words were true.”

...Huh, Sabrina?

I furrowed my brows at the name that suddenly popped out of the boy’s mouth.

“Katan is already a barren land even without your curse..”

My curse? What nonsense is that?

Manuel looked straight at my widening eyes and spoke out loud.

“But don’t think of anything stupid because His Highness already knew that madam is going to use alchemy to sabotage Katan’s agriculture!”

While I was dumbfounded, Manuel bowed to me and scurried out.

‘Sabrina is spreading nonsense about me?’

Because of George, I ignored her and just kept silent even when she didn’t do her task properly or just fiddled around. But it seems instead of reflecting, she was sowing enmity toward me.

‘Even back in the county, she sweet talked my father and was living a comfortable life because of that. It’s natural that she doesn’t know her place.’

Sabrina would have been my father’s concubine had she not become George’s lover.

In addition, at that time while publicly recognized as the Count’s daughter, I was treated as merely an illegitimate child within the household.

‘But now I’m the Grand Duchess of Katan.’

I didn’t want to care what George’s lover was doing, but I didn’t want her to interfere with my plan.

“Rona, I’m taking Sabrina with me, so tell her to get ready.”

Dressed in my outdoor clothes, I tightened my bonnet and ordered Rona briefly.

‘I will tell you properly who is on top and who is below.’

Sabrina, sitting across from me, pulled a letter from her pocket and started fiddling with it.

Rona kept scolding her because Sabrina was acting like an attention seeker.

“The carriage is shaking so much, so don’t you feel dizzy reading like that?”

“Yeah. I’m not dizzy.”

(T/N: She’s talking informally.)

Sabrina, answering bluntly, widened her eyes when they met mine, and she started rambling.

“Ah, this is just a letter, there’s nothing much in it!”

“Yeah, I see.”

I didn’t ask, and I didn’t want to ask.

‘It must be a letter from George.’

If Sabrina was eager to boast about it to me, then of course it’s from him.

George had a talent for enticing people with his affectionate words. It was obvious he wrote that letter to seduce a young maid.

‘It must be similar to the letters I received.’

“..I’ll let you see if you want.”

Sabrina seemed to think I was trying to hide my curiosity about her letter.

“No, thanks.”

I shook my head briefly at her suggestion, then slowly closed my eyes in the cool sunlight streaming through the window.

“I don’t want to taint my eyes with dirty things.”