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Chapter 9. A Man Who Has Nothing but Money
A trip into the city—under normal circumstances, it was something Aileen would never have been allowed to do.
Hobshin’s gaze deliberately landed on my forehead, which was wrapped thickly in bandages.
After staring at me for a moment, he lowered his eyes back to his plate and spoke gruffly.
“The day after tomorrow, I’ll have a carriage prepared. Go into the city.”
Yes!
I cheered inwardly.
Unlike me, Sophia cried out with a shocked and distressed expression.
“H-husband…!”
Hobshin’s eyebrows shot up at once.
Sophia flinched so hard it almost sounded like she let out a squeak, then muttered hurriedly,
“Ah—no, I just meant… that precious carriage… You could simply let her ride a horse…”
“Was it not you who made the child’s head look like that?”
Hobshin replied in a low, growling tone.
In short, he didn’t want others to see her with her hair cut and her head wrapped in bandages, so he would rather give her a carriage.
For me, it meant a comfortable ride into the city, so there was no reason to refuse.
Beaming, I exclaimed,
“Yes, Father! Thank you!”
At that, not only Hobshin but even Derpel, who was sitting beside me, looked at me as if this were something new.
Regardless of their reactions, I happily cut up my chicken and put it into my mouth.
Mmm. Is it because this is a noble household? The food really is all high-class.
It was a luxury I’d never enjoyed before, having lived my previous life scraping together every bit of money I could.
Ignoring the gazes of the Morgans family, I even polished off the final dessert and finished my meal.
Two days later, at noon, with the sun high in the sky—
“Ah, how long has it been since I had this much freedom?!”
I cried out joyfully as I shoveled a spoonful of sundae ice cream into my mouth.
Until now, I’d been cooped up all day in that narrow attic.
On top of that, the food the maid brought was always cold.
As expected, one single attempt wasn’t enough to completely change my standing in this household.
So I needed to find a way to save myself outside the house.
A way to divorce Derpel, leave this wretched place behind, and live my own life…
I glanced around the tea house where I was sitting now.
“As expected. There really are no cafés in this empire.”
Looking for ointment was just an excuse—my real purpose for going out today was market research.
Just as I’d read in the novel, there was nowhere in this empire that sold coffee.
Even this place where I was eating ice cream was called a “tea house.”
Similar to Korean cafés, but mainly selling black tea and desserts.
Looking around, I saw many noble ladies dressed in silk gowns.
If coffee ever becomes trendy, the consumer base is definitely there.
But coffee wouldn’t be introduced to this empire until the future.
Which meant the thing I needed to do now was meet Tayen Roderick—the sub male lead from the original story.
According to the novel, he was about to import coffee beans!
As I ate my ice cream, I recalled the information I’d read about him.
Tayen Roderick.
The eldest son of the Grand Duke Roderick, a man of noble blood—something like a cousin or second cousin to the current crown prince.
A tycoon who ran the empire’s first joint-stock company, officially sanctioned by the imperial family.
Having received elite education from a young age, he one day visited the Muslan region of the southern continent.
And there, he encountered a drink called coffee for the first time.
Tayen quickly realized that coffee—stimulating and delicious—would become the next major imported trend after pepper and spices.
“By being the first to import and distribute coffee, he amassed an enormous fortune…”
Someone who was already the richest man in the empire becoming the richest man on the entire continent.
Perhaps that was why.
In the novel, he was portrayed as a man who had nothing but money.
The kind of man who would say to the saintess heroine, ‘How much would it take to have you? Would giving you a country be enough?’
…But that sort of romance had nothing to do with me, so I set it aside.
I had a more immediate problem.
“How am I supposed to… meet Tayen?”
Naturally, Aileen—who had rarely left the house—had no connection to him whatsoever.
I’d heard that even this tea house was owned by the Roderick family…
Looking around the luxurious interior, I muttered gloomily,
“Ahh… there’s no way the sub male lead is just going to happen to pass by here, right?”
At the heart of the imperial capital stood the Grand Duke Roderick’s residence.
“A disguise, you say? What an unusual hobby.”
Andreas, secretary to Tayen Roderick, joked lightly as he spoke to his superior, who had finished preparing himself.
“Is this just another pastime of a noble tired of a glamorous life?”
Tayen, who normally never joked around, replied bluntly,
“…It’s a necessary measure for accurate field research.”
After changing into plain clothes, he snapped the fingers wearing a ring embedded with a disguise spell.
At once, his golden hair began to darken, turning black.
Watching his reflection in the mirror, Tayen said calmly,
“This hair draws too much attention.”
Hair that shone like molten gold was a symbol of the imperial family.
To disguise even something others would have taken pride in—Andreas asked in amazement,
“What do you plan to do today?”
“Market research.”
“For that drink you call kahve?”
“Yes. And it’s not kahve. It’s coffee.”
Andreas tilted his head.
No matter how many times he heard it, the unfamiliar name never felt natural.
He picked up the coffee cup resting on the table.
Unlike black tea, the liquid inside was pitch black.
“So the heretics of the southern continent really drink this all the time…”
The aroma wasn’t bad, at least.
After savoring the scent, Andreas took an elegant sip.
And then—
“Aaagh! It’s bitter!”
He flailed his hands and shouted.
“Honestly! Why on earth would those heretics drink something this bitter?”
Watching his secretary, Tayen frowned.
Just as I thought…
Even to him, it tasted unpleasantly bitter and astringent. He’d only taken one sip and left the rest.
The coffee beans themselves weren’t the problem.
He’d imported a small quantity of the finest beans available in the southern continent.
With preservation magic applied, it was unlikely they’d gone bad during transport.
The real issue was that no one in the empire knew how to brew them properly.
The vast Roderick estate employed ten chefs, a tea master specializing in tea, and even a sommelier for fine wines.
Yet none of them knew how to handle coffee beans—black and strange-smelling as they were.
As I thought. I need a coffee expert…
Tayen fell into thought.
After long-distance navigation technology developed, the Uslo continent—where the empire was located—entered an Age of Exploration.
The most popular imports at present were spices like pepper from the eastern continent.
Next came teas from the east.
But with the Dutch Kingdom and the Franco Empire also establishing joint-stock companies and joining maritime trade, competition had recently become fierce.
Which means… I need a new product.
Something that would set him apart from competitors and revitalize the stagnating imperial economy.
That was how Tayen came to focus on coffee from the southern continent.
In the Muslan region, coffee was enjoyed almost like a national drink.
Moreover, once people became addicted to its taste and aroma, it was hard to quit.
Tayen himself had become a coffee enthusiast during his stay there.
If only it could be brewed properly, he could start the business immediately—but he didn’t know how.
There must be a special method to brewing good coffee. But the people of the southern continent rarely share it…
As Tayen pondered, Andreas—having rinsed his mouth with water—grumbled,
“To think you’d prefer this over black tea. Your taste really is unique.”
“The coffee I drank in Muslan didn’t taste like this.”
“But this is how it tastes now. Are you really going to sell this for money?”
“…For now, I plan to conduct market research.”
“Oh, at that tea house in the capital?”
Tayen nodded slightly.
After gauging consumer reactions there, he planned to walk through the city for simple market research, then stop by the new product development headquarters.
Of course, after that, an entire pile of other work awaited him.
Looking at his superior with black hair now fully disguised, Andreas asked with genuine curiosity,
“You were born a high noble with imperial blood—why do you work so hard?”
If you’re born with a silver spoon, why not just live comfortably instead of going through all this trouble?
“I even heard that Her Highness the Princess is chasing after you! Why not just get married and—”
Bang!
Tayen didn’t bother responding to such pointless chatter.
A man who pursued efficiency above all else and lived by a rigid schedule every minute of the day.
Left alone before the firmly shut door, Andreas shook his head.
Lineage, family, wealth, looks—even athletic ability. His perfect superior lacked only one thing.
“Personality, maybe…”
With no room for compromise at all, just who on earth would he ever marry?
Truly worried, Andreas patted his own shoulder with a sigh.
Back at the tea house in the city.
After finishing my ice cream, I glanced around just in case.
Since this place belongs to the Roderick family, maybe I might run into Tayen…?
But all around me were noble ladies sitting in small groups.
There was only one man in sight—seated at the table next to mine.
His head was bowed low, so I couldn’t see his face, but he had jet-black hair.
In the original story, Tayen Roderick was said to have golden hair inherited from the imperial bloodline and violet eyes.
Which meant that man couldn’t possibly be Tayen.
