Chapter 34 (1/2)

Annette remained silent. Diana stood in front of her, with an eager face, as if waiting for her response. She was well aware that Annette was once a very strong candidate for Crown Princess. Nevertheless, bringing up that story by mentioning Celestine could only be explained as sheer malice.

‘If she would have said this before my regression, I sure would have got hurt.’

Annette shrugged inwardly and looked at Diana. She used to be her childhood friend, but now she was Celestine’s best friend. The human relationships were really ironic.

Fortunately, Annette could now laugh it off casually. It was something that happened  five years ago, so she didn’t get hurt because of it anymore. Unless Celestine, who she suspected to be the mastermind behind her framed charges, came in front of her, she could easily laugh it off. So Annette smiled and retorted.

“Oh, really? That’s amazing. Is there any blue diamond tiara among the gifts that Lady Celestine received? I really want to see it in person, at least once. I hope she uses it for her coronation ceremony.”

“Well, I don’t know.”

Annette really seemed purely curious about the tiara. Seeing Diana tremble with a face having the expression of ‘It’s not like that.’, Annette ambushed her and affectionately put her hands together on Raphael’s arms. Looking up at him, she tilted her head and said affectionately.

“Honey, I think I’d rather have a blue diamond. What do you think? Will it look good on me?”

Raphael looked down at her silently. Seeing him not respond, Annette broke out in a cold sweat. She thought he would be on her side because they had a good time together just now. She wondered if she got too ahead of herself. She thought it would be sad if she got embarrassed in front of Diana.

Just then, Raphael pulled out his arm and removed Annette’s folded arms around him. As expected, he had no intention of getting involved in this troublesome altercation between two women. Annette bit her lips, feeling her heart sink. At that moment, Raphael gently hugged her shoulder.

“If you want a blue diamond……. feel free to buy whatever you want. As long as you’re happy, you can even empty the safe.”

Hearing the low and deep voice, Diana exclaimed, “Oh my!” and quickly covered her mouth. It was a strange and wonderful feeling to see a man be so affectionate to his wife. But Raphael didn’t just stop there. He lowered his head and gently caressed Annette’s face.

“But I think pink diamonds would be better. It would look better with your pretty pink eyes.”

After speaking, Raphael smiled and brushed his lips against Annette’s eyelid. The tender, affectionate gesture could melt the heart of the beholders. Thanks to Raphael’s active cooperation, Annette gained more courage.

“Thank you, Raphael. Marrying you was the best choice of my life.”

A woman who had never had a choice since she was born, laughed like a flower and lied. Both the speaker and the listener knew it was a lie. But Diana McClaire didn’t know this. As Celestine’s best friend, she just wanted to poke fun at Annette, but in the end it was she who became a joke.

“Then, Lady McClaire, it’s too late. We have to go now. Will you be okay with being all alone?”

Annette, hugging Raphael’s waist, smiled and took a jab at Diana, who had no fiance yet. Diana was a person who easily fell in love with someone, but unfortunately, the person with whom she fell in love never responded back to her. Due to this, she had never been embroiled in a scandal where she was linked with someone. Diana, who had been stabbed in her sore spot, raised her voice in a fit of rage.

“Of course, I would be okay! All of this area is a commercial district that is managed by my family. Do you know how popular iron tools are these days? Thanks to that, the business is going so well that I was just on my way home, after working until late at night!!”

“Oh, I see. I’m really jealous of that.”

Annette, who was from the richest family in Deltium, laughed leisurely. In response, Diana clenched her fists and trembled in anger. In addition, Raphael also joined her in the fun, which was like an icing on the cake.

“Come to think of it, among the things I was given, there was also an iron ore mine. Somehow, the income from there these days is quite good. Annette, if you want, I’ll put it in your name. Whether it’s blue or pink, buy all the diamonds you want.”

It’s amazing, really! Diana opened her mouth wide. Nowadays, with the knowledge of how to use the iron ore, it was quite a fad to use iron materials. Because of this, the nobles with iron ore mines and mining rights were having quite fun these days. But you want to give it whole to Annette? At that moment Diana felt humiliated and was very jealous of Annette.

Originally, iron was a material that was not well used because it was difficult to remove carbon from the cast iron. However, with new methods being discovered recently, ironware had become enormously popular in everyday life. From the iron tableware that Annette saw at the restaurant, it seemed that they had also jumped on this trend.

‘Iron can make money….. that’s interesting.’

Annette blinked and was in a state of awe. She decided to learn more about Raphael’s iron ore mine. Of course, it wasn’t because she coveted his iron ore mine. Annette speculated that her father might be after Raphael’s iron ore mine.