Chapter 175: Breaking the Seal (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 175: Breaking the Seal (1)
“Since you are here, why don’t you have a suit tailored along with the Grand Duke, Your Highness?”
Madame Ramondria looked at me, but her question was clearly directed at Loik.
“I thought it would look wonderful if the two of you wore matching outfits on the opening night of the opera…”
“I plan to go to the theater alone,” I answered quickly. “The Grand Duke is far too busy.”
Almost every noble in Blenheim would gather on the opening night of the opera. From the Madame’s perspective, she likely assumed the Grand Ducal couple would attend such an event together.
“Ah, I see. My apologies.”
Just as the Madame’s expression turned self-reproachful for bringing it up, a voice intervened.
“Let’s do it.”
Loik’s low voice resonated through the room. The Madame’s eyes widened, clearly not expecting him to answer personally.
“You’re saying you’ll make clothes for the Consort and me to wear together, correct?”
“Y-yes, that’s right!” the Madame explained hurriedly. “They don’t have to be made from the exact same fabric. Simply matching the color of the sleeves or the cravat to her dress would make you look much more harmonious when you appear in public together.”
Loik won’t even be able to come to the theater, though.
When I turned to him with an awkward look, he spoke softly.
“Even if it’s not for the opera, I’d like to have at least one set of clothes tailored to match Annette’s.”
At those words, even Cecilia bit her lip to hide a smile.
“Alright. I’ll pick out the fabrics, so you should really get going now.”
Loik leaned down slightly and pressed his lips to my forehead before instantly reverting to his dignified persona as the Grand Duke.
“See to it that the Grand Duchess is satisfied.”
“I will put my heart and soul into it.”
Loik watched the Madame bow respectfully, then glanced back at Whitley. Hearing his name, Whitley nodded as if he understood Loik’s unspoken intent.
With a lingering look of reluctance, Loik finally left the room.
Whitley turned to the Madame with a bright expression.
“His Highness said not to worry about the budget at all, so please ensure the dress is perfectly suited for Her Highness.”
At those words, the faces of the Madame and her staff lit up brilliantly.
*
In the afternoon, I called a special meeting for the opera. Ever since replacing the male lead with Antonel, I had been burning with a fierce determination to make this performance an absolute success.
I won’t let anyone say the opera failed because Cochibiel wasn’t in it.
I intended to show both Cochibiel and Princess Pelianes what I was capable of.
A somewhat eclectic group had gathered in one place: a mage, a lady-in-waiting, an aide, the theater owner, a merchant agent, and the president of the merchant association.
“You’re asking me to make it rain inside the theater?”
Enolius was the first to speak.
“No. Just a simple special effects device using sound and light. When it rains in the story, there should be the sound of rain, and when it thunders, the lights on the ceiling should flash. Even that much will make the performance feel far more realistic.”
The mage grumbled under his breath but eventually nodded.
Next, I turned to Evan, the merchant agent.
“Evan, you saw the staged reading that day, didn’t you?”
“Yes, Your Highness. I was truly amazed. To introduce Snow Wine in such a way!”
Evan, still impressed, spoke passionately about the progress of the Snow Wine promotion.
“...We are currently creating a separate package for the wine to be sold at the theater.”
“Good. It would be nice to include a line of Lady Violetta’s dialogue at the bottom of the package.”
Sitting across from him was Adem, who managed the lakeside shopping district as a whole.
“Cecilia, did you organize the list?”
“Yes, of course.”
Cecilia pulled out a sheet of paper. It contained a long list of items: wooden wine glasses, quill pens, ink bottles, secret letters, small mirrors, poison vials, and novels.
“These are props that appear in the opera. If there are any suitable products from the lakeside shops, I’m thinking of selling them at the theater alongside the Snow Wine.”
Adem tilted his head at first, but nodded as the explanation continued.
“I understand your vision, Your Highness. There is a shop in the district that sells wooden tableware. It would be a good idea to commission the wooden wine glasses from them.”
Jamer, the president of the merchant association sitting at the end of the table, looked bewildered as to why he had even been summoned.
“I’d like to run a discount event at Gold Lane during the performance period. What do you think?”
“A discount event?”
“If people who have seen the show bring their tickets to the shops, they get a ten percent discount.”
“But there’s no profit in that for the shopkeepers, is there?”
“If people visit Gold Lane with their tickets, the number of visitors will increase significantly.”
The shops in Gold Lane that had repainted their exterior walls had caused a bigger stir than expected. Consequently, the dullness of the surrounding shops became even more prominent. In the end, the other shopkeepers had no choice but to pay out of their own pockets to paint their buildings, albeit reluctantly.
Thanks to that, customers were flocking to the now-vibrant Gold Lane, but the shops' actual sales had not yet fully recovered.
“This isn’t mandatory, so only the shops that apply will participate. In return, we’ll provide small flags or markers for the participating shops. We’ll also print a list of those shops on the back of the theater tickets.”
Finally, I turned to Alcent, the magazine publisher and theater owner.
“Alcent, can the printing house you work with produce posters?”
“Of course, that should be possible.”
“I want to make a very, very large poster.”
“How large is ‘very, very large’...? Since they use old-fashioned printing presses, they can easily print something up to twice the size of a normal theater poster.”
“I’d like it to be as tall as Antonel.”
“...”
“I want a poster that shows his entire body in life-size.”
I wanted to make sure people wouldn't even think of the name 'Cochibiel' while at the theater.
“Something like that would require a specific magic tool...”
At my words, everyone in the room turned to look at Enolius simultaneously.
“Wh-what? Why are you all looking at me like that?”
Enolius frowned.
“...Ugh, seriously, I need to revise that contract.”
Seeing the mage grumbling while fluttering his ornate robe sleeves, I knew it was a yes. I smiled, satisfied with how things were going.
*
After the meeting, I was returning to the main castle under Norton’s escort. In the garden in front of the castle, gardeners were planting new saplings.
“Is this the Blois?”
I approached out of curiosity. Seeing me, the gardeners brightened and took off their hats.
“It just arrived from the merchant guild today.”
A gardener held up a seedling so I could see it clearly.
“How lovely.”
The Blois was a blue flower with thin, almost translucent petals. I was told the gardeners had searched far and wide for this rare flower on Loik’s orders.
“We showed it to the Grand Duke briefly, and he was very pleased, saying the blue light of the flower resembled Your Highness’s eyes.”
I looked down at the flower, a ticklish sensation rising in my chest.
“You said it glows on its own at night, right?”
The gardener nodded.
“They say it absorbs sunlight during the day and emits light at night to melt the surrounding chill. The merchant agent said it should survive the Northern autumn quite well.”
“What a remarkable flower.”
The petals, appearing translucent as they caught the light, were beautiful. As I reached out to get a closer look, I accidentally cut my finger on the stiff paper wrapping the seedling.
I flinched, startled by the unexpected sting. In that moment, a sudden burst of light erupted from my fingertip.
Flash!
“Gasp!”
A brilliant white aura, forming distinct concentric circles, flared out and enveloped my hand.
“Th-this is...!”
The gardeners stepped back, their faces masks of shock.
What’s wrong with my hand all of a sudden!
In my panic, I desperately willed it to stop. After a moment, the light faded away.
I looked down at my hand, which was now perfectly fine, then glanced around with a bewildered expression. The gardeners’ jaws were practically hitting the ground. Even the usually expressionless Norton had eyes that were shaking violently.
Is this what they call Holy Power?
I stood there like an idiot, not knowing how to handle the situation.
“It seems the rumors about the flower glowing were true,” Norton said, struggling to maintain his composure.
No, it’s not. That light just came from my hand.
But the moment our eyes met, I understood what he was doing.
“...Indeed. I had no idea the flower would glow like that.”
I said this while stealing a glance at the gardeners. Swallowing hard, the gardeners saw Norton’s fierce gaze and hurriedly nodded their heads.
“Y-yes, it seems so!”
Norton leaned toward the gardeners with a menacing expression.
“You are well aware that you must never speak of anything you see or hear while serving Her Highness, correct?”
“We won’t breathe a word!”
“Should even a whisper of a suspicious rumor circulate within the castle, you will face dire consequences.”
The terrified gardeners trembled.
“Your Highness. The wind is cold; perhaps it is time to head inside?” Norton said politely, his face returning to its usual stoic mask in an instant.
“Yes, I should. Good work, everyone.”
I turned away, awkwardly cradling my hand.
Emergency! This is an emergency!
It seemed that damn seal was finally about to break.