Chapter 141

“So that’s my current predicament,” I conclude, taking a long sip of tea to wet my parched throat. Explaining why I need to get betrothed in a short amount of time without disclosing certain secrets was tougher than an obstacle course.

Elias sits in front of me with a face just as expressionless as his somber butler. He hasn’t reacted so I wave a hand in front of him.

“Hello? Did you hear me?” I ask the dapper young heir to House Wolfe. With the weather warming up, a faint red flush sits on his skin which must be because he’s accustomed to the cooler weather of the north. He’s dazed alright, but whether it’s from what I said or the heat has yet to be determined.

“I did,” Elias says calmly, returning back to his body as if he hadn’t been lost in his thoughts.

“Then give me your thoughts,” I snap, my patience wearing thin.

Elias has a complex expression on his face. “I don’t think you need to worry about marriage. It’s very far off in the future. Things could change.”

“Precisely,” I instantly agree. “Today, it’s Prince Amir, who is handsome but is a tad too clever and has two other wives! Ew. But what if tomorrow, it’s another prince from a far-off land or some old geezer? I need to protect myself. And besides, who said anything about marrying whichever bloke I become betrothed too?”

.....

“A fake betrothal?” Elias’ interest is piqued.

“Yes and no,” I drawl, happy to have his full attention. “It will be conditional. If I feel like it’s a person I can get along with for the long run, I may go through with it. But if there are any faults in his character or he’s too smart for his own good, I won’t go through with marrying him.”

Elias huffed under his breath, a sound I only latently recognized as a laugh. “Too smart,” he mocks.

“Keep laughing. As clever as Lady Bryce must be to be the empress’ running dog, she wasn’t smart enough to know that her husband won’t be too bothered about the loss of his daughter since he has an illegitimate heir out in the countryside.”

“Such confidential information at the tip of your fingers. How did you learn about that?” Elias props his head up on his wheelchair’s armrest in a childish, silly manner.

“A lady always has her ways. I’m not as helpless as I was a few years ago,” I sigh coquettishly.

Recruiting Lady Arabella as a confidant was such a wise move on my part. I can hear any and all gossip from the esteemed noblewomen of Radovalsk as well as see which mistresses noblemen sneak into Arabella’s for a fitting, which is how I learned of Lord Bryce’s second family.

“Which means if you go around talking about things you shouldn’t to the wrong people,” I continue sweetly as I do a knife gesture over my throat. “Your father will be forced to sire another heir for House Wolfe.”

There’s a heavy pause in the air, then simultaneously, Elias and I throw our heads back and laugh until our bellies hurt. Marie and Emma stare at us in disbelief, by which I mean Marie stared at us in disbelief while Emma had the same expression as usual. A bomb could explode in front of her and she’d still have the same stony look.

“Was I scary this time?” I ask, eagerly shuffling closer to Elias’ wheelchair.

Elias nods. “The sweet voice made your threats sound far more menacing.”

A knock sounds on the door, dispelling some of the happy atmosphere as Marie goes over to check. Even though I’ve long vetted everyone who works in my wing of the central palace, Marie, Emma, and I still have PTSD to the days when there was no one to trust in the Rose Palace.

A shy-looking maid pops in and curtseys. “A letter from the guest residences in the palace, your highness.”

I clap with anticipation. “Perfect! He’s already responded!” I chirp. I can hear the ka-ching of a cash register as I salivate over how much money I’m going to make once I’ve introduced coffee to the Erudian Empire.

“You still wish to befriend the Aidelish prince?” Elias asks, his voice a tad more cool than usual. I look over at him and it almost seems like his amethyst orbs harbor a hint of accusation.

“Friends?” I scoff, as Emma slices open the envelope and hands it to me. “Try business partners. I’m about to become a very rich woman, Elias. Or I suppose I should say Pandora is about to become a very rich woman.”

My blood vessels constrict at the very thought of investing a majority of my newly acquired money into merchant ships to buy the coffee beans and bring them here, even though every ounce of my soul knows that once people try coffee they will be hooked.

“How do you know these new business ventures won’t wind up being a Pandora’s box of trouble?” Elias asks with a clever reference.

I beam at Elias. “You remember the story!” It feels like decades ago when I’d first told a much younger Elias the story of Pandora and her box.

“I remember everything you say,” Elias replies modestly.

“As you should,” I say, nodding to myself. “Remember, do as I say, not as I do.”

As his senior in age (mentally), it is my job to guide the young with words of wisdom. While mentally patting myself on the back, I pretend I don’t see Marie putting her face in her hand and shaking her head.

Elias just smirks to himself, I can tell he’s winding up for a clever retort and brace myself. But instead, it’s a single question that catches me off guard.

“Have you got a trade permit?” he finally asks.

“Huh?” My proud smile dims a few degrees as I search my brain for what he’s talking about and come up blank. An off-screen sports commentator screams into his mike, AND IT’S AN ACE BY THE YOUNG WOLFE! WINTER CAN NOT RETURN HIS SHOT!

I open and close my mouth a few times like a fish out of water, unable to retort anything.

“Trade. Permit,” he repeats.

We’ve switched positions, Elias and I. This time, he gets to sit there looking smug. He even snaps his fingers and Howard, who looks like a reanimated corpse, instantly busts out a definition.

“A trade permit is an official document sanctioning government permission on imported goods. In order to bring a new product into the empire, you must file for a trade permit personally signed off by Master of Coin,” Howard says in a gravelly voice that sounds like he gargled sand before he spoke. I’d wager it’s the first time I’ve seen that silent and looming butler open his mouth.

“Count Koberg is in charge of those,” Elias chimes in helpfully. As expected of butler and master, they work in tandem as if they’d practiced this embarrassing scene a thousand times.

“That explains how that fat man is so rich,” I mutter, reflecting on how Janice is always decked out in the most expensive gems and fabrics.

Within the positions of the treasury, the Master of Coin is not a particularly high role. But like most positions within the Imperial Treasury, it is a lucrative one.

“Shall I aid you in acquiring a trade permit?”

“Hmph, and get a cut?” I turn warily to my only noble friend. “How much do you want? I’ve already promised Emma a 5% stake which doesn’t leave a lot of room for you.”

“However much you are willing to give me,” Elias says in a generous manner. I peer closely at him, but he doesn’t seem greedy at all for any money.

“How much allowance does your father give you?”

“1,000 gold.”

I nod, impressed at a number that is far higher than my own. “Wow, a month?”

“A week,” he says nonchalantly.

I click my tongue under my breath. “If only my father were so generous.”

I make a mental note to tell Emma to explore how the Lord Protector of the North has acquired so much wealth.

“Just marry someone rich then,” Elias suggests casually. “That shouldn’t be too difficult as a princess.”

I turn his suggestion over in my head, the idea becoming more and more appealing with each second. When I turn to look at Elias again, none of the prior irritation is there.

“There’s an idea. Emma, write that down!”

“I already have, your highness,” Emma answers. She is definitely getting a raise this month.

Negotiations for Elias’ cut of the business and how he can help me out carry on until the bright rays of sun coming through the window begin to dim and Elias surprises us all with his business acumen. But there is little time to shower him in praise as the first hunting ground for a fiance lends itself to me readily enough in the form of Augustus’ coming-of-age ceremony.

“Are you nervous for tonight?” Elias asks. Shadows fall on his face; the candles upon the wall have already been lit to make up for the failing light.

I shake my head.

“Scared?” he inquires further. We are mostly alone in this spacious room, aside from Marie and the quivering footmen holding pillows full of jewelry.

“Isn’t that the same thing?” I casually reply, peering over the selection of earrings the Imperial Treasury has brought before me. With every official event I attend, the selection they offer becomes more and more sumptuous. Rubies the size of my thumbnail hang from earrings of delicately crafted gold and the tiara selection is a far cry from the humble circlet I was offered at my first Spring Ball.

Once again, I’m dressed in the same, night sky blue color I’d worn to that Spring Ball, but I’m far more mature and scarred than I was then. In a way, tonight is a coming-of-age ceremony for both my older brother and I.

“Nervousness and fear are naturally different. Nervousness is like a mild spring cold, fear is a bad case of the bloody flux,” he continues, mentioning the terrible disease that I ironically used a few years ago to distract the empress’ maid so I could escape the palace.

I ponder for a moment before replying, “Then I suppose I’m scared. I’m always scared.”

The conversation draws to a pause as maids carry out the changing screens I’d gotten dressed behind. Despite their movements, Elias’ purple eyes never leave mine.

“You should be,” he agrees. “No one ever has good intentions.”

It may just be my imagination, but the two footmen seem to shake even more after Elias speaks.

They are dark words for a 12-year-old, but he’s right and I tell him so. “Believe me, I’ve learned that the hard way.”

“Not yet,” I think I hear Elias answer. But his voice was so quiet I second guess myself and focus on picking out a piece of jewelry I’m no longer interested in.

“I’ll take this one,” I tell the footmen and they gratefully run out of the room. You’d think I bite with the haste they leave.

“About what you said earlier about my father getting a new heir,” Elias says out of the blue, bringing up the joke I’d said earlier in the day.

“Oh, was that too much? I apologize. It was too forward of me,” I immediately respond.

“No, no, no. It was funny!” Elias waves my apologies and some of my guilt away. We get along so well and he seems so smart that I speak to Elias the way I’d talk to anyone, forgetting that he is still an actual child.

“I only mention it because I was curious how you’d feel if His Majesty were to... have another child,” he hazards out.

“Hmmm?” I’m confused. Marie silently comes behind me and helps me do up the simple pearl necklace I’ve chosen for the evening. Strands of pearls are also woven into my hair, which shine beautifully in my silvery-white strands.

“What if you weren’t the only illegitimate child to be discovered, Winter? What if tomorrow another one was found. How do you think His Majesty would treat them?” His words unlock a treasure trove of thoughts I’ve only reflected on in the dead of night when I go through a number of conspiracies and contingencies that could possibly occur.

I force out a laugh. “I don’t know. Not very well, I guess?”

But rather than amused, I sound unconfident and awkward. The only reason why I’m staying in the nicest wing of the central palace is because I bartered for it in blood. My “usefulness” of healing wounded soldiers on the battlefield, in exchange for the finest living arrangements.

“He still sits in on your lessons, doesn’t he?” His head lazily leans on his hands, disappearing completely into the shadows. All I can see are his eyes.

“Y-Yes.” Every day, without fail. I’d hated Julia’s presence during my tedious lessons, but without her here now, the emperor quietly sitting in the corner of the room has a much larger presence than before.

It annoyed me at first, to see the face of the person I thought I’d be able to bend to my cuteness when I was still naive and full of gusto. But now, I’m not sure how I feel about it. My tired morning eyes have grown accustomed to seeing him seated in the corner of the room I take my lessons in every weekday. None of the servants dare move the chair he occupies except to dust it and every time I pass through that room I’m reminded of him.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Do you think he’d stop? Do you think he’d go to their lessons instead?” Elias pries further.

Snap. A sound echoes through the room and I belatedly realize it came from me. I look down at my hands dispassionately, to see that my pinky nail has broken from how hard I was balling my fists. But the broken nail is like a breath of fresh air and for the first time, I pin a hard, suspicious stare on Elias Wolfe.

.....

“Your highness-” Marie exclaims, simultaneously cutting the tension and rushing to my side.

“Marie, can you please step out a moment?” I request quietly. I don’t look up from the broken nail, which trembles precariously from my finger like a petal about to tumble from a flower.

Her expression is conflicted, but I can tell she understands. “The ceremony starts within the hour,” my nursemaid gently reminds me before both she and her comforting scent leave the room.

“What is this, Elias?” I ask with the calmness that comes before a storm. “What game are you trying to play?”