Chapter 129
* * *
“Your Majesty, this is exactly what I prepared!”
Marian handed a small rectangular box to the empress’s maid.
The maid checked that there was nothing unusual about the gift and then immediately passed it to the empress.
Upon seeing the contents, the empress’s face showed slight surprise.
“This is…… a mermaid’s tear, isn’t it? How did you manage to obtain one of this size?”
A mermaid’s tear was a gem that emitted different shades of blue light depending on the angle of illumination, and it was only occasionally found in the depths of the sea.
It was already rare in itself, and the larger the size, the exponentially higher its value; the one Marian had brought was as large as half the length of an adult’s index finger.
“Good heavens, I’ve never seen one this big before.”
“What a brilliant luster…….”
“Doesn’t it look like the sea itself has been compressed into this?”
The people around them let out envious sighs.
Emboldened by their reactions, Marian proudly shrugged her shoulders.
“I got lucky. The moment I saw this beautiful item, I thought that its rightful owner could only be Your Majesty.”
Of course, it was pure lies.
However, since she had handed it over with tears in her eyes just to flatten Asil’s nose, she flattered her with fabricated words.
Fortunately, the flattery seemed to work well.
“How charming. I shall cherish my princess’s sincerity for a long time.”
With a satisfied smile, the empress slowly nodded. At the same time, she handed the box containing the mermaid’s tear back to the maid.
In truth, the sure-win gift Marian had prepared did not particularly impress the empress.
She had only been slightly surprised by the size; after all, the empress already possessed mermaid’s tears.
So naturally, there was little excitement.
At that moment, Asil sprang to her feet.
“I also brought a gift for Your Majesty!”
The empress turned her gaze toward Asil.
“Young Lady Erzébet prepared a gift as well?”
“Yes.”
Asil, answering composedly, handed the box she had brought to the maid.
As before, the maid first checked the contents. Then her expression suddenly changed, and she showed a shocked face.
“……Y-Your Majesty!”
She was so startled that she even stammered.
The empress frowned, displeased by the maid’s unseemly behavior.
“What is it?”
However, when she subsequently confirmed the gift Asil had brought, she ended up in the same state as the maid.
The empress’s eyes widened.
“This is……!”
Because her longing for the ‘Eternal Starlight’ had been so intense, the empress had developed the habit of checking the tip of tulip bulbs first.
Until now, no bulb had ever met her expectations.
This one was different.
The star-shaped scratch that had occasionally shimmered even in her dreams was clearly present at the end of the bulb.
“Th-The Eternal Starlight!”
The empress let out a breathless sound.
Startled by the words “Eternal Starlight,” the noble ladies and young ladies began pushing their chairs back one by one.
“Is it really the Eternal Starlight?!”
“Look, there really is a star-shaped scratch at the end! It’s the first time I’ve seen the real thing!”
“Me too, let me see it too!”
No one cared about decorum anymore.
The hips that had been so heavy when looking at Marian’s gift now sprang up as if springs had been attached to them at the sight of a single tulip bulb.
Even Marian forgot about keeping Asil in check and stood on tiptoe at the back—such was the extent of it.
With an expression completely different from before, the empress shouted in an excited voice.
“Where on earth did you obtain this!”
“I got lucky. The moment I saw this splendid root, I thought that its rightful owner could only be Your Majesty.”
Good things should be learned from others.
Asil repeated exactly what Marian had said just moments ago.
The empress, smiling far more broadly than when Marian had spoken, praised her loudly.
“Excellent! Have you all seen Young Lady Erzébet’s kind heart? That is precisely the kind of heart we should all take as an example!”
“But…… I said that first…….”
Marian’s face turned red and blue as her praise was suddenly stolen from her.
Meanwhile, the empress, clutching the bulb box tightly to her side as if afraid someone might touch it, called out to Marian.
“I’m sorry, princess, but could you move your seat?”
“Yes?”
“I wish to converse more closely with Young Lady Erzébet.”
At present, Marian occupied the seat closest to the empress among the young ladies.
Yet now she was being asked to give it up to Asil.
“……!”
For a fleeting moment, Marian failed to manage her expression, and her mouth remained open.
The empress noticed and coldly pointed it out.
“What, do you dislike it?”
“N-No! How could I possibly dislike it!”
Flustered, Marian rose from her seat and yielded it to Asil.
Then she went and stood beside the marquis’s daughter, who was seated in the second-closest position to the empress.
It was an indication that she intended to sit there at least.
However, the empress—who should have directed the seating—said nothing.
More precisely, the moment Marian stood up, the empress completely lost interest in her and focused solely on Asil.
“Now I understand why everyone adores the young lady so much. If only I had known you sooner, I would have cherished you more than anyone!”
“Thank you.”
“…….”
Marian’s face grew pale as she realized she had spent a fortune and gained absolutely nothing.
But there was still a chance.
If she could sit near the empress, even for a moment, she might steal her attention and speak to her—!
However.
The marquis’s daughter, seated in the second-closest position to the empress, did not yield her seat.
As the daughter of a marquis, she had no reason to feel intimidated; occupying such a position already signified a certain level of influence.
‘Move!’
Marian shot her an intense glare.
But the marquis’s daughter didn’t even look at her.
Instead, she deliberately spoke to Asil as if to show off.
“Now that you’ve returned to the capital, your body must be fully recovered, right? Let’s be close from now on, Young Lady Erzébet. I never realized before that the Count Erzébet household was such a wonderful place—”
Moreover, the noble ladies—who had become completely captivated by the rare tulip—began competing to speak to Asil, and the flow of the tea party shifted entirely to Asil.
In the midst of it all, Marian stood alone like an outcast.
Then, under the empress’s sharp glare that warned her not to ruin the atmosphere and to sit down, she had no choice but to take her original seat—Asil’s former place.
It was the position farthest from the empress.
Until the tea party ended, Marian could not exchange a single word with the empress.
* * *
When she had come to the empress’s palace, her hands had been light, but on the way back, both hands were heavily laden.
“Is there anything else you need? Just say the word. I will obtain whatever it is.”
Having finally obtained the long-sought Eternal Starlight, the empress was anxious to do even more for Asil.
All sorts of precious treasures were loaded onto Asil’s carriage.
The mermaid’s tear that Marian had offered was also fully included among them.
“It seems the carriage can’t hold any more now.”
“That’s fine. I will send additional carriages, so feel free to tell me anything you desire.”
And so Asil received not only the jewels she loved so much but also rare oriental fabrics that most people could see only once in a lifetime.
“I too would like to wear clothes made by the Count and Countess Erzébet. Consider this a small token of my sincerity.”
The fact that a sparrow perched on a tree chirped discontentedly at those words was a secret known only to Asil.
Asil stared intently at the sparrow.
The sparrow flinched, then quickly flew away.
It tried hard to pretend to be an ordinary sparrow by acting indifferent, but no matter how much it tried, its well-known identity could not be hidden.
As soon as Asil returned to the count’s residence, she declared to Briana.
“I’m not playing with Mom.”
“W-What are you saying! That wasn’t me!”
“I only said I’m not playing with Mom.”
Only then did she realize she had shot herself in the foot, but it was already too late.
Briana was sentenced to one month of prohibition from tea time with Asil.
On the other hand, Count Arcian Erzébet—who had been unable to follow into the garden out of confidence that he would inevitably stand out—let out a sigh of relief.
“My daughter is truly frightening when she’s angry. But even that side of her resembles me and is adorable.”
“…….”
“…….”
Snowa and Todori stared at him with eyes that clearly said he was hopelessly doting.
However, Count Arcian did not budge.
He merely looked at the gifts Asil had received and smiled contentedly, thinking, ‘My daughter is truly clever, just like me.’
Anyway, a few days after the count’s residence had been bustling with excitement.
Asil was diligently packing strawberries to give to someone.
‘Thanks to her, I received so many jewels, so I should at least say thank you.’
Her kindergarten teachers back when she was little had said that when you receive a favor, you should repay it twofold.
But since she was a kind black dragon beastman, she prepared threefold—three baskets of delicious strawberries.
For Asil, who valued delicious strawberries more than jewels, this was a gift more precious than anything.
Having prepared the strawberries, Asil dressed up nicely and headed to the Great Temple.
It was to meet Sol, who would be there.
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