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Episode 8
Duke Bronard kept trying to talk to Jenaden throughout dinner, but Jenaden only ate his steak with an uninterested expression.
Sarubia carefully joined the conversation while watching Jenaden’s mood.
Whenever she did, Jenaden would briefly glance at her before returning to his meal.
Sarubia felt as if she had gone back to being her old self.
Back when she used to be so nervous, constantly worrying that even one wrong word might upset Jenaden.
Remembering those days only made her mood worse.
After dinner, Sarubia and Jenaden were shown to the largest room in the villa.
As soon as they entered the room, Sarubia sat down lightly on the bed.
Jenaden glanced at her and raised one corner of his mouth as if mocking her.
“You must be tired after suddenly disappearing and making everyone run around looking for you.”
His words put Sarubia in a bad mood.
What would Jenaden say if I told him what happened?
He might even laugh at her and ask why a noblewoman had gotten involved in a commoner’s problem.
Sarubia didn’t answer Jenaden.
Instead, she walked over to the bag placed in one corner of the room.
She had already told the servants beforehand not to unpack this bag.
She opened it, took out a small gift box, and held it out toward Jenaden.
“A gift for Your Majesty.”
When Sarubia handed him the small box, Jenaden looked confused.
She gestured for him to open it.
“Open it.”
Inside the box was a neatly folded handkerchief made of white silk, embroidered with blue clematis flowers.
Jenaden looked at Sarubia as if asking what it was.
She sighed and spoke again.
“There is another gift inside the handkerchief.”
Jenaden unfolded the handkerchief.
A single key wrapped inside it was revealed.
He reached out and picked up the key.
It shone as if it were brand new.
“It is the key to the warehouse where my father’s secret funds are kept. Of course, it’s a copied key.”
“……How did you find this?”
Jenaden already knew about Duke Bronard’s secret funds.
He had guessed that the amount was enormous.
But Sarubia had somehow found the key to the warehouse without him knowing and brought it right in front of him.
Duke Bronard would have made sure that no one except himself knew about it.
So how on earth had she found it?
“I searched really hard, and somehow it ended up in my hands.”
Sarubia shrugged as if answering the question on his face.
“But it must have been difficult to get.”
“I am also a member of the Bronard family. Now all you have to do, Your Majesty, is make sure my father spends all of these secret funds.”
Sarubia’s eyes became serious as she looked at the key.
She didn’t know exactly how much money was inside the warehouse that key could open.
But it had to be an unimaginable amount.
If those secret funds disappeared quickly, the ducal family would definitely suffer a huge blow.
“Do you have a plan for how to make him spend it all? Duke Bronard isn’t even someone who gambles……”
“My father doesn’t want to make a name for himself only in the Elsania Empire. He wants his reputation to spread to other countries too. I heard that he is planning to build a railway connecting the Saruman Kingdom and establish a trade route for goods.”
Jenaden gave a small nod.
How did Sarubia know about that?
“How did you find that out? Only a few people know about this.”
Sarubia didn’t answer.
She simply smiled brightly.
“Have Your Majesty create a company that builds railways and tell my father to invest in it. Until all of his secret funds are gone.”
“You want me to create a fake company?”
“Father already knows that the railway is going to be built. He will probably want the operating rights. If he gets the operating rights for a railway connecting the two continents, the impact would be enormous. We have to take advantage of that.”
“……Hmm.”
Jenaden thought about it.
Of course, the railway itself would be built by the government, but there was nothing illegal about receiving private investment.
What if they promised Duke Bronard a certain percentage of the railway’s operating rights in exchange for his investment?
Duke Bronard would definitely invest in the railway company without thinking twice.
“But……”
“Don’t get involved personally, Your Majesty. You should have someone else do it. Someone who can get my father interested enough to invest.”
As Jenaden listened to Sarubia, he realized that she genuinely wanted to push her own father to the edge.
What could have happened between this father and daughter?
Jenaden stared at Sarubia quietly.
“You really want to destroy your father.”
“Yes. If I can bring my father down even this way, I’ll do anything.”
Sarubia’s blue eyes seemed to sink deeper and deeper, as if disappearing into an abyss.
If she could destroy Duke Bronard without shedding blood, she truly would do anything.
I want to get away.
Away from this suffocating palace and from my adoptive parents.
“All right. Once we return to the palace, I’ll start making a plan immediately.”
“Yes.”
Jenaden spoke with a small sigh.
Sarubia nodded, then suddenly made a small sound as if she had remembered something.
“Oh, right.”
Jenaden looked at her as if asking what was wrong.
Sarubia lightly shook the key in front of his eyes.
She gave him a confident smile.
“The secret funds warehouse is right here, Your Majesty.”
“Excuse me……?”
“Shh.”
Sarubia put her index finger against her lips.
“Let’s go see it later. Let’s find out how much is in there.”
A delighted smile spread across Sarubia’s lips.
Jenaden stared at her with a bewildered expression.
It was past midnight, and the night was slowly turning into early morning.
Jenaden and Sarubia carefully slipped out of their room.
Sarubia walked in front of Jenaden, holding a lantern.
In the quiet hallway, the only sound was the soft echo of their footsteps.
Sarubia slowly made her way down toward the underground storage room for food supplies.
As Jenaden followed her, he kept looking around now and then, worried that a servant might spot them.
Their footsteps continued through the silence.
Then Sarubia’s quiet voice echoed through the hallway.
“There is a small door near the underground storage room. I heard that if you open it and go inside, there is an even deeper underground prison.”
“An underground prison?”
It was common for a lord’s mansion to have an underground prison.
But an underground prison in a villa that had been built for vacations?
Jenaden had a bad feeling about it.
He quietly shook his head.
Sarubia spotted the small door beside the underground storage room and widened her eyes in surprise.
Just as that man said, there really is a door.
Creeeak.
When she opened the old iron door, a staircase leading even deeper underground appeared immediately.
There wasn’t a single lantern lit down there.
Only complete darkness filled the place.
Relying on the small lantern in her hand, Sarubia slowly stepped down the stairs one step at a time.
“You know that my father was hailed as a hero after fighting in the war alongside His Late Majesty the former Emperor, right?”
At Sarubia’s words, Jenaden gave a short answer to show that he knew.
“Yes.”
Sarubia briefly glanced back at him before turning forward again and continuing down the stairs carefully.
“Maybe this was built around that time. This underground prison……”
Sarubia could imagine what kinds of things Duke Bronard had done.
This prison wasn’t built for no reason.
How cruelly must he have treated innocent people here?
Just thinking about it made her fingertips cold.
After going down the stairs, they reached a somewhat long hallway.
Iron-barred prison cells lined both sides of the corridor.
At the center of the hallway was a door.
It was locked.
There were also two paths beside the door leading even farther downward.
They were clearly paths leading to an even deeper section of the prison.
Sarubia stood in front of the locked door.
Hoo.
She took a small, deep breath and used the key she had brought with her to unlock it.
Clank.
The lock came undone.
“Here it is.”
Sarubia carefully opened the door.
Her lips were dry from the tension.
She had expected the room to be filled with all kinds of gold and jewels.
But instead, there was only one fairly large wooden box sitting alone inside.
A box?
Jenaden watched her suspicious expression and gave a small chuckle.
“Were you expecting a room full of jewels and gold?”
“I guess that’s what I imagined when I heard the words ‘secret funds.’”
She slowly walked toward the wooden box.
Then she bent down and carefully lifted the lid.
Inside were countless pure white diamonds piled together.
There was an enormous amount of them.
“Diamonds?”
Jenaden walked over beside Sarubia.
He picked up one of the diamonds and slowly examined it.
“These are top-quality diamonds. They’re even the highest grade. Judging from the bluish tint, they must be diamonds from the Erzen region. But only a very small amount of diamonds come from there…”
And yet there are this many here?
How much money had Duke Bronard stolen from the imperial treasury?
He had probably been secretly taking money for years, ever since the previous emperor was still alive.
He had already been rotten to the core back then.
“I heard that you could easily buy an entire house with just a few of these diamonds.”
“He’s insane.”
What was Duke Bronard planning to do with all these jewels?
Sarubia suddenly became worried.
With this much money, he would have more than enough to invest in the railway construction.
If that happened, her plan would fall apart.
She tightly bit her lower lip.
“Empress. Don’t worry. Until every bit of this money is gone…… I’ll make him keep pouring money out.”
So many people had been sacrificed for Duke Bronard’s ambitions.
How many terrible things must he have done to gather this many diamonds?
Jenaden tightly bit his lip.
I won’t put up with this anymore.
The two of them put the diamonds back inside the wooden box and closed the lid.
Sarubia stared at the box and quietly whispered,
“Would it be bad if we stole them?”
“Here, surrounded by the duke’s people? You could die.”
Sarubia gave a small laugh at Jenaden’s words.
For Duke Bronard, killing her would probably be easier than killing an ant.
He was the kind of person who could easily arrange an accident and make her death look natural.
Sarubia turned around and left the room.
Suddenly, she felt nauseous.
Her stomach churned.
She wanted to get out of this place as quickly as possible.
Jenaden came outside after her, and Sarubia immediately used the key to lock the door again.
“Let’s go back upstairs.”
Just as she gestured for Jenaden to follow her,
Creeeak.
They faintly heard the sound of the door leading to the underground prison opening.
Sarubia looked at Jenaden with wide, startled eyes.
It must be Duke Bronard.
Jenaden nodded.
Then he quickly blew out the lantern.
In the pitch-black darkness, Jenaden suddenly grabbed Sarubia’s hand and pulled her toward him.
He turned and immediately hid with her in a narrow passage right beside the door.
The sound of dress shoes echoed through the underground passage.
Tap. Tap.
Jenaden gently pushed Sarubia against the wall and wrapped his body around her, shielding her.
Startled by his sudden movement, Sarubia widened her eyes and looked up at him.
Even in the darkness, Jenaden’s sky-blue eyes were clearly visible.
Throb.
Sarubia’s heart began to ache.
She tried to call out to Jenaden, wanting to ask him to move a little farther away.
“Your Ma……”
Before she could finish speaking, Jenaden’s large hand covered her lips.
His other hand gently wrapped around her waist.
They were far too close now.
Sarubia didn’t want to look at Jenaden’s face right in front of her, so she tightly closed her eyes.
