198 The Town Where Everything Began (1/2)
Tilly stopped folding her clothes when Luna entered her room. ”Oh, you're late,” she told the witch. ”Winter, Solenn, and Jameson are probably about to land on Red Dessert by now.”
Luna gave her a scrutinizing look. ”You planned this with Winter, didn't you?”
She let out an exaggerated sigh. ”What should I do, Luna? My son has run away and he even brought the princess with him. They're being accompanied by Jameson, but we all know that he's the most childish Keeper of all so we can't really trust him with the children. As Winter's mother, I should take responsibility and follow them, right?”
The witch let out a frustrated sigh while shaking her head. ”Please say that you've already talked to Solaris about this,” she pleaded. ”You know that I will always take your side. But I'll feel bad if you disrespect the Fire Archmage's position as the leader. I mean, I know that you outrank him since you're the Supreme. Still, he took care of your clan when you disappeared.”
”I know that,” she said. ”That's why I want to repay Solaris and everyone who protected the Fire Mages by claiming our rightful place– which is the empire. While Solarium is a safe and peaceful island for our clan, I still think that it's too small for us. We deserve to live freely.”
”Is that what they want?”
”They wouldn't have waited for me all this time if they were already contented in the life that they have now,” she said with a sad smile. ”And after living here in Solarium for five years, I've seen the eagerness of most Fire Mages to see the world outside the island. Most of all, they want to clear our name and make the Moonchesters pay for everything that they did to us.”
Luna fell silent for a while before she nodded. ”You're right, Tilly,” she said. ”It's not right for your clan to live in hiding when you've just been falsely accused by the Moonchesters.”
”I know, right?”
”So, are we finally returning to the Royal Capital?”
”Uh-huh,” she said. ”And I want to return with a bang.”
Luna suddenly looked nervous by her statement. ”What do you have in mind, Tilly?”
”Nothing much,” Tilly lied with a big smile. ”I'm just thinking of a grand entrance that will give Aku Moonchester a heart attack.”
***
”WE HAVE a good harvest this year, Your Grace,” Amilo said proudly while looking at the pearls inside the biggest oyster that they just farmed a while ago. ”We even managed to produce black pearls this time.”
”It's all thanks to my wife,” Kiho said while removing a black pearl from the oyster using a knife. ”She taught us how to create a pearl farm from the water level that we have to use to the irritant that we need to insert inside the oysters.”
Amilo, the jewel maker, was one of the few people his wife told him that he could trust.
He hated staying in the inns because ladies who recognized him would always approach him despite knowing that he was already married. He also didn't like being around too many people because most often than not, a few of them would turn out to be Emperor Aku's spies.
And so, he preferred staying in the ship whenever he was at Atlenta.
It's also a good time to fish fresh seafood.
Amilo nodded in agreement. ”The duchess is amazing for coming up with this kind of business. Not only are cultured pearls actually real pearls, but they are also abundant. Since we can produce plenty of them, we can make them affordable than natural pearls.”
”Uh-huh, my wife is really amazing,” he said proudly.
”The problem lies in marketing,” Amilo said. ”The higher nobles are looking down on cultured pearls. They even call our pearls ”fake.””
”Don't mind them. They're not our target market this time,” he said. ”My wife said in her notes that we should sell the cultured pearls to the nouveau riche instead of the vieux riche.” He looked up at the jewel maker. ”She also told us to create fashionable necklaces that will show-off a woman's neck. Before she disappeared, she's been planning to change the current fashion style of the ladies in the empire.”
”Are you going to enter the fashion industry this time, my lord?”
He nodded. ”My wife loved the light dresses from Pillas Islands.”
His wife told him to check out the clothes in her wardrobe and contact the designer for a possible collaboration. It took him a while to do because he waited for their pearl farm to be a success first. And it wasn't like the cultured pearls were created overnight. They were nurtured for almost four years.
But he didn't stop working while waiting for the cultured pearls to be made.
Like the emperor mentioned before, their surveillance camera business had been a huge success over the years. He worked with Amilo to develop and upgrade the cameras that they produced using the spirit stones found in Mount Solace– the mountain owned by the Prescotts.
Legally, his wife still owned every property under her name. But since she was declared ”missing,” all the rights to use her properties were transferred to him.
My wife really prepared everything as if she already predicted our separation.
He was even able to enter the food industry through his wife's help.
The duchess also owned a piece of land across the famous lake in the Royal Capital. When he read the book full of her well-thought plan, he found a note that said that she wanted to build a café that sells cold drinks. It seemed like his wife didn't have the time to finish that plan.
And so, he took it upon himself to research and study until he was able to build the café that his wife wanted.
I hope I make her feel proud of me someday.
”Your Grace?” Amilo called him worriedly when he suddenly fell silent.
”I've already reached out to Miss Charlotte Hamilton– the island's top dress maker,” Kiho continued to not make Amilo worry. ”We'll be collaborating soon. I'm thinking of launching our new jewelry line featuring the cultured pearls with Miss Hamilton's new collection of summer clothes.”
Amilo nodded in agreement. ”`Sounds like a good plan to me, Your Grace.”
***
”I FOUND the f*cking Black Serpent.”
Winter was relieved to hear that. ”Really?”
Jameson's eyes stopped glowing. Then, he turned to him and nodded. ”My eyes are f*cking correct. The f*cking Black Serpent is indeed in the sea of Atlanta.”
One of Jameson's abilities was his ”navigator eyes.”
Apparently, he could see the unique ”warmth” of each individual that he had personally seen, touched, and talked to from miles away. Well, it was more like he could ”feel” them. But once the individual was within his vision's radar, then he could clearly see them by then.
And that's exactly what happened.
After they landed on the Red Dessert, they discreetly travelled to the Royal Capital and got as close to the mansion of House Nystrom as possible. Then, from then, Jameson followed the traces of warmth that his father left.
That was how they ended up at the port town called Atlenta.
Jameson rented a small ship and now, they were in the middle of sea while surrounded by other ships and fisher boats.
”Where?” Winter asked curiously. ”Which among the ships and boats around us have my father?”