Your Highness is Truly a Difficult Person (2)
“Your Highness is truly a difficult person.”
Laura’s soft voice struck Mikhail from behind. His steps, which had been heading out of the reception room, came to an abrupt halt. Mikhail slowly turned his head. Laura and Josepina. The same expression was etched on both their faces—pure bewilderment. It was the look of people who couldn’t understand why the man who usually cast aside morality, ethics, and dignity without a second thought was being so stubbornly rigid about this one issue.
Haah…
Mikhail let out a sigh inwardly. It was bothersome. Explaining it at all was bothersome. Yet at the same time, he had a feeling that if he didn’t clearly state his thoughts on this matter, it would only cause bigger problems later. He also didn’t particularly like the idea of coming across as a hypocrite who was fine with gambling but not with drugs.
In the first place, the common sense and values of this world were completely different from what he had known. The reference points themselves were different, so it couldn’t be helped.
Mikhail walked back to the sofa and flopped down onto it.
“Sit.”
The two women hesitated for a moment before carefully taking seats across from him.
“Do you know why I loathe and reject those things?” Mikhail began. “It’s not because of some petty reasons like morality or ethics.”
Both pairs of eyes widened with questions at his words.
“Fundamentally, gambling and drugs are very similar.” Mikhail continued. “They both have the common trait of directly tampering with and breaking the brain’s reward system.”
“Reward system… you say?” Josepina asked cautiously. Her blue eyes sparkled with curiosity. She really was something else.
“Yes. It’s a concept you’ve never heard of before.”
“Ah, that’s just…” Mikhail paused to choose his words, then gave up and went with the simplest analogy. “It’s like a switch that makes you feel good. Josepina, don’t you feel good when you eat something sweet?”
“…Yes.” Josepina nodded.
“It’s exactly that. It’s the mechanism that makes the brain go ‘Ah, that feels good!’ when you eat something delicious, solve a difficult problem, or receive praise from someone. That’s the reward system. It’s also the driving force that makes humans achieve things and progress.”
He tapped the table with his finger as he went on.
“But gambling and drugs forcibly press that switch without any process of effort or achievement. So what happens? The brain starts seeking only easier and stronger stimuli, and eventually reaches a state where it can’t feel any pleasure without that switch. Even the small, everyday joys become too trivial to endure.”
Laura and Josepina listened to his explanation in breathless silence.
“However,” Mikhail’s voice dropped lower. “At the very least, a person ruined by gambling is easier to handle than one ruined by drugs.”
He paused for a moment before adding in a voice filled with contempt, “At worst, they just squander their fortune and throw tantrums demanding money from family or relatives, right? Of course, that’s still an utterly horrific and irredeemable piece of trash.”
“……”
“A gambling addict, at least, doesn’t lie around in a corner like a living corpse the way an opium addict does. They don’t go rampaging through the streets and stabbing people like a cocaine addict.”
Mikhail added, “As for cannabis… or rather, hashish, they say it doesn’t have those side effects. But that’s a gateway drug. It’s just an entry point to stronger stimuli.”
Well, there were plenty of theories on that too, but it wasn’t his concern. It was still a drug, wasn’t it? Why should something that stops you from working while you puff on it like a cigarette be allowed?
Drug addicts and gambling addicts are both basically radioactive waste.
Especially in terms of the harm they cause to those around them.
Then am I running a nuclear power plant or something?
Real Einstein over here.
Mikhail leaned back deeply into the sofa, indulging in his pointless thoughts.
“It’s fashionable in the capital’s social circles? Well, that could happen. What’s the big deal if some noble lords and high-ranking figures active in the capital get a little hooked on that stuff?”
His voice was thick with cynicism.
“If problems arise? Simple. Just lock them up deep in their mansions for the sake of family honor, or ‘honorably’ deal with them. They have the money and power to do so.”
“……”
“But what if the commoners who admire those nobles start dabbling in it too? It’s not uncommon for the upper class to set trends that commoners follow.”
“Cocaine is too expensive to even dream of, but what about relatively cheap opium or hashish? They’ll puff one when work gets tough, puff another when they can’t sleep. Will addicts like that be able to work properly? The more the trend spreads, the fewer healthy workers there’ll be.”
Mikhail looked Laura and Josepina straight in the eye and posed his final question.
“What will those customers do when they come to our Tourism Special Zone? Will they bother with gambling that requires memorizing complicated rules and playing mind games with dealers? Or will they just choose to get high on drugs and stumble around?”
He gave a wry smile.
“How about it? Should we just turn our Tourism Special Zone into a drug den instead? We might make a lot more money than we do now. Don’t you think?”
When he finished speaking, a heavy silence fell over the reception room.
The first to break the silence was Laura.
“……I am deeply ashamed.” She bowed her head deeply. “My thoughts were… far too shallow.”
Her cat ears drooped limply. The tail behind her back also hung lifelessly toward the floor, unmoving.
Josepina quietly bowed her head as well.
“I was so fixated on the fact that it wasn’t illegal that I failed to see the bigger picture. Just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s right…. I was too shortsighted. I apologize.”
There wasn’t a trace of excuse in her voice.
Only then did Mikhail’s stiff expression soften.
“Right. Right. Just do better from now on.” He waved his hand dismissively. “While I’m thinking about it, let me make this clear.”
Mikhail stood up and gave the two women their orders.
“From now on, in our Far East Maritime Province, hashish, opium, cocaine, and anything like them are all banned. Not just distribution, but possession as well.”
He glanced over their faces for a moment.
“You got the gist, right?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Yes.”
“Josepina, draft the relevant laws immediately and bring them to me. Laura, come up with a concrete plan for how to enforce and manage them.”
At Anastasia’s feet knelt Baron Louis Balboa of the Zvezda Merchant Group, sitting respectfully on his knees.
“So.” Anastasia parted her red lips. Her voice was soft and languid, like smoke. “You were kicked out?”
“I am terribly ashamed, Your Highness.” Cold sweat beaded on Louis’s forehead. He kept his gaze fixed on the floor, not daring to lift his head.
“The moment I showed him the wine with opium and cocaine added… he immediately told me to get lost.” His voice still carried the vivid sting of that humiliation.
“No, I really can’t understand it. I thought he was just a drunkard and a scoundrel, but when it comes to alcohol at least, he turned out to be as uptight as Grand Duke Alexandr.”
Louis let out a rough breath, his anger still not subsided.
“Tsk.” Anastasia clicked her tongue. Her jet-black eyes flashed sharply for an instant. She slightly raised her upper body, which had been lying languidly.
“Don’t tell me… he found out?”
Though her voice remained soft, the chilling undertone made Louis’s shoulders flinch.
“That couldn’t possibly be the case, Your Highness!” He cried out in alarm, waving his hands.
“Our salon’s security is the best in the Empire. No rat could ever hope to breach it.”
“Hmm.” Anastasia leaned back into her chair once more. She picked up a long pipe and took a deep, elegant drag. Pure white smoke rose between her lips before dissipating into the air.
“Well…” She let out a low laugh like smoke. “It must be because he’s a drunkard. He must be the type who praises the purity of alcohol.”
It was a joke. But no one laughed.
Louis merely kept his head bowed like a sinner.
What a shame.
Anastasia thought to herself. She had thought it was quite a decent plan. The Far East Maritime Province Tourism Special Zone. To secretly introduce drugs into that flashy, massive playground. At first, disguised as tonics to relieve fatigue or sleep aids to help one rest well. Through perfectly safe and legal methods.
People would become addicted very gradually. Without even realizing they were addicted.
Once enough addicts had been produced… the next target would naturally be Mikhail. That ridiculous scoundrel. The lovely work of art she had painstakingly broken. This time, she would drown him in drugs. Make him drool with unfocused eyes, clinging to her feet and begging for more. And right at that moment, she would cut off the entire supply. Watching him convulse in agony from withdrawal symptoms right before her eyes— just imagining it made her feel damp between her legs.
Yet the very first button had come undone.
“Well… it doesn’t matter.” Anastasia muttered softly. “There are plenty of other means.”
She snapped her fingers.
“You may leave.”
“Y-Yes! Your Highness!”
Louis hurriedly rose as if he had been waiting for the words and backed out of the salon.
Anastasia stared at the door he had disappeared through for a moment before turning her head, as if she had lost interest. Her gaze fell upon a young nobleman in the corner of the salon, leaning against the sofa and giggling foolishly, intoxicated by opium smoke.
A cruel yet beautiful smile curved Anastasia’s lips.
“Yes. There are plenty of means indeed.”