TPTM 16

Chapter 16

So it’s possible to fill such a vast space with nothing but gold and ivory marble.

A desk so wide it could easily serve as a bed.

A massive ebony table large enough to seat eight people, surrounded by matching chairs.

The tapestry hanging on the wall was embroidered with gold and silver thread, and whenever my gaze shifted even slightly, the threads glittered like scattered starlight.

The sunflower sculpture displayed in the cabinet was unmistakably made of real gold and diamonds, and through the wide floor-to-ceiling windows stretched the grand ducal mansion’s garden, vast and picturesque like a painting.

I simply stood there with my eyes wide open, stunned by the scale and extravagance of the office.

I thought the illustration looked fancy… but the real thing is even more over the top.

In <그밀빵>, Corico wins over Grand Duke Asis Frezier with just a few dialogue choices.

After that, she can freely come and go from the Grand Duke’s office—a place that even most nobles aren’t allowed to enter.

I had assumed that Tullia would need to put in a lot more effort just to step foot in here.

This was the first time in my life I had ever entered such a luxurious place, yet it somehow felt strangely familiar.

“Father.”

At Lilius’s call, the Grand Duke, who had been looking out the window, turned around.

Grand Duke Asis Frezier’s eyes were a deep, dark green.

Judging by eye color alone, Tullia is definitely related to him.

Of course, Tullia’s eyes right now were a soft light green, like spring sprouts.

But when I played <그밀빵>, I saw many illustrations of Tullia.

Since she was the official villain, there were plenty of illustrations where she looked completely unhinged—and every time she did, her eyes darkened into the exact same deep green as the Grand Duke’s.

In other words, if Tullia at her craziest had those eyes…

Then Grand Duke Asis Frezier probably carried that level of madness as his baseline.

…Yeah. That was intimidating.

If the Grand Duke gets angry at me, it might actually be scary.

If he asked something like, Who do you think you are, barging in here?, Lilius would probably take responsibility like he promised earlier.

But the Grand Duke didn’t scold me at all.

He simply glanced at the basket in my hands and then looked away again with his usual indifferent expression.

“What is it?”

“Father. The representative sent by Brother Nigella has just arrived at the main residence.”

My ears perked up.

Nigella… that brother…

Grand Duke Asis Frezier had four children with his late wife.

His eldest daughter, Hyacinthia Frezier.

His second son, Aster Frezier. (Tullia’s father.)

His third son, Nigella Frezier.

And lastly, the youngest son Lilius Frezier, father of that bastard Tedric.

Though the Grand Duke and his wife had many children, only the three sons were still alive.

Hyacinthia Frezier, the eldest daughter and Grand Duchess, died in a certain incident before she even turned twenty.

The Grand Duchess passed away not long after, unable to recover from the shock.

After that, Grand Duke Asis Frezier never remarried and never took a mistress.

Well, looking at those terrifying eyes of his, it was hard to imagine any woman volunteering to marry him anyway.

She’d be lucky if she didn’t get eaten alive.

Anyway… why did Nigella send a representative?

My question was answered almost immediately.

“Did it have to be that land?”

The Grand Duke’s voice cut through the air.

“Nigella and you both intend to use that land to build a racetrack like those nobles in the Imperial Capital?”

“Father, of course I understand that you’re reluctant, since you’ve long enjoyed it as an ornamental flower garden…”

Viscount Lilius wiped the cold sweat from his brow as he spoke.

“But Her Majesty the Empress has announced that she will sell special breeding horses only to families who build racetracks within their territories according to the new regulations. Fine bloodlines in horses have always been an important factor in a noble family’s prosperity.”

“Tsk.”

The Grand Duke clicked his tongue loudly. A chill flickered in his eyes.

“It’s obvious the Empress is overcharging. What’s the point of buying an overpriced horse that might only be a distant relative of a warhorse?”

His voice was thick with displeasure.

“And matters like that fall entirely under the Emperor’s authority. Why is a remarried Empress sticking her nose into it?”

“Father…”

“Tsk. She’s no different from a legalized affair partner.”

Was Tullia’s infamous sharp tongue actually inherited from Grand Duke Asis?

“But Father, even if we don’t buy the breeding horses, commercially developing the Statis Plains is necessary in the long run.”

Viscount Lilius hurried to persuade him.

My ears perked up again.

The Statis Plains? I know that place very well.

When playing <그밀빵>, that land was absolutely required to achieve the ending titled “Corico, the True Family of the Freziers.”

Its location was excellent. The land was gently sloped and flat, and the soil was so fertile that planting expensive crops would double their value the following year.

But more importantly…

It was described as a desolate wasteland, abandoned after the racetrack business failed miserably.

Of course, that had little to do with me.

Even if it did, a mere granddaughter who was practically ostracized within the family had no right to speak.

The racetrack project will collapse completely… but they’ll be the ones responsible.

Still, when I played <그밀빵>, the Statis Plains were useful in many ways.

You could plant profitable crops there, or pave good roads and collect heavy tolls from merchant caravans passing through.

In other words, I absolutely needed that land for my future quest.

Once the racetrack business failed and the land price plummeted…

I could simply buy it up with the money I’d slowly saved.

Just then, Lilius suddenly changed tactics.

“Father, look at Tullia.”

Holding my hand, Lilius spoke in a pleading tone.

“She’s still so young. It’s pitiful, isn’t it?”

Me? Why me?

“Brother Aster also needs better horses to properly deal with the barbarians along that frozen border, doesn’t he, Father!”

You were the one quietly draining Tullia’s wealth, weren’t you?

The Grand Duke looked at me.

I had been staring at Lilius in disbelief, but I quickly fixed my expression a moment later.

Right now, my ultimate goal happened to align with Lilius’s objective, so I stayed quiet—but inwardly I was speechless.

How can someone be that shameless?

Just as I was calming myself down while waiting for his clearly doomed future to arrive…

Grand Duke Asis Frezier, who had been silently staring down at me, finally spoke.

“Bring it up as an official agenda item at this weekend’s council meeting.”

“…!”

Lilius’s face lit up.

“Yes, Father! A brilliant decision!”

“Father, truly wise!”

Until now, Lady Aubrey Frezier, Viscountess and Lilius’s wife, had been standing nervously beside me like a background prop. Now her face had brightened as well.

Of course, the moment the Grand Duke’s gaze turned to her, she flinched and lowered her eyes.

Ah. I see.

Even if they managed the household affairs together, matters concerning the family’s daily life were usually far more the lady of the house’s responsibility.

The reason I had been living like a beggar was probably the couple’s joint effort—but the scolding likely fell more heavily on Lady Aubrey.

Still, she must have wrapped things up by blaming some subordinate’s mistake when she cut my budget and falsely declared my confinement indefinite.

That was probably why she could still boldly enter the Grand Duke’s office—well, with her husband beside her at least.

But it didn’t seem like she had fully regained the Grand Duke’s forgiveness.

Maybe she feared that begging too much might expose the other wrongdoings she had hidden, so she kept shrinking back like that.

“Driving nails and raising beams on the Statis Plains… your mother wouldn’t have liked that.”

At the sudden mention of the late Grand Duchess, everyone’s reactions differed.

First, Lady Aubrey.

She bowed politely, but her expression showed absolutely no emotion.

Next, her son, Viscount Lilius.

He looked a little uncomfortable, but soon smiled as if he had already calculated everything.

And me.

I have no idea.

Why was the Grand Duchess being brought up?

Even in <그밀빵>, that was about all the information there was.

The late Grand Duchess had simply been in a typical political marriage with Grand Duke Asis, and they weren’t particularly close.

That was all the setting there was.

So what did she have to do with the Statis Plains?

“Of course, the Statis Plains were the land Mother cherished most when she was alive.”

Thud.

My heart dropped at Lilius’s forced smile as he said that.

That wasn’t Tullia’s heart reacting.

That was the heart of a K-Confucian girl.

“Your mother personally cultivated that land.”

“……”

“And she did so despite her noble status.”

For a brief moment, the Grand Duke’s voice sounded bitter.

It was so faint I almost wondered if I had imagined it.

“B-but Mother would surely be happy in heaven if her sons’ business succeeded, Father!”

“……”

If you were truly poor, you might say something like that for the sake of the future.

Your own future, or your children’s.

After all, the living matter more than the dead.

But for the youngest son of the immensely wealthy House Frezier to say something like that…

That was nothing but greed.

And not a pleasant kind.

“Besides, it’s much nicer to see fine bloodline horses growing strong than flowers, isn’t it? Much more practical, Father.”

Sss.

This bastard.

As a proud K-Confucian girl…

I’m starting to feel like I can’t forgive him.