Chapter 76 - Blueberry Cheong Is A Success (2/2)

“Thank you for the compliment. I feel good.”

“Sister, are you going to open a real store?”

“Yes. Why, is there a problem?”

“Not at all. Because it’s amazing,” Martina replied in a puzzled voice, then immediately changed the subject. Unfortunately, it was an unwelcome one.

“Oh, something came up with Countess Cornohen.”

“…Oh. Yes.”

“She decided that the family has to pay interest every month as usual. I think she gave up on trying to persuade you.”

“I see.”

Countess Cornohen tried to get me to change my mind a few times since our meeting, but in the end I refused. Eventually, Countess Cornohen’s pride was hurt and she did not contact me anymore, save for a letter saying that she wanted me to pay the interest as usual.

“You aren’t worried, are you, sister?” Martina said with a look of concern.

“What?”

“We were always supposed to pay the interest from the beginning. Don’t worry too much.”

The events made Martina aware of the situation with the Cornohen mansion, and I wasn’t too happy about that. But I couldn’t help it anymore.

I gave a shrug. “I don’t care.”

“I was worried you might be.”

“I’m not,” I said with a reassuring shake of my head. Of course, it was a lie to say that I didn’t care, but it was out of my hands now. My parents thankfully didn’t say anything about it.

Rather than regretting that I missed a good opportunity to cancel the interest, I regretted having my ankle caught in this situation in the first place.

“Let’s stop talking about it.” I pressed my lips into a thin line and shook my head again, and Martina gave a quick nod. She changed the topic of conversation in a lively voice.

“What’s your schedule today?”

“I don’t have anything special, but I’m going to send a letter,” I said.

“Letter? To where?”

“To Thurman Palace and Trakos Mansion.”

“The Crown Prince and Sister Odeletta?” she guessed.

“Yes. I’m going to give them the fruit cheong. I already gave it to Duke Escliffe before.”

“Really? You should give him another fruit cheong anyway. I think he’d like it.”

“Really…?” My head tilted in puzzlement. I wasn’t planning on giving Claude another gift, but after hearing Martina, it seemed like a good idea. I pondered on it for a moment and then gave a nod. “First I’ll give the fruit cheong to the two people, and since it takes time to make, I can give another on to the Duke later.”

“Alright. It’s nothing urgent,” Martina replied. Her face then lit up as if she just remembered something. “How is it going with Odel?”

“Huh?” That seemed like a random question. “Why are you asking that all of a sudden? We’re…we’re doing just fine.”

“Oh…really?” she said, skepticism evident on her face.

“Yes. Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing like that,” Martina answered with a vigorous shake of her head. “I was wondering if what happened at the party made things awkward between you two.”

“Oh, not at all.”

What was I supposed to say? I waved my hand dismissively.

“There’s no problem. Things only blew up because Odeletta was defending me in the first place.”

“Really? That’s a relief. I thought…just in case. Well, of course it wasn’t!” Martina spluttered. She seemed to be thinking that she brought up an unnecessary story. “If you want to send a letter, you’d better hurry. The sun will set soon, and it would be rude if the letter arrived too late.”

“Ah, yes.” I looked outside the window and saw that the daylight was already starting to fade. There was nothing as rude as sending a late letter, so I would have to hurry. I gave a brief nod. “I should.”

“Then I’ll leave now, sister. Fighting!”

Martina knocked me on the back, and left my room like the wind. Now alone, I gave a few giggles, then called for Florinda to bring me stationary.

“Dear Your Highness the Crown Prince…” I muttered as I guided my pen over the white paper.

The two replies to my letter came nearly at the same time. Xavier’s response came first, and then Odeletta’s soon after. Accordingly, I set my schedule to meet Xavier, and then Odeletta.

I would visit Xavier in two days. But the day before my meeting, I began to wonder if I should have met Odeletta first. Even though Xavier was part of the Imperial Family, he treated me generously, though the question was whether it would suit his taste.

‘Well, my family liked it…’

This would be the first time I would get a face-to-face assessment from outside. I hadn’t heard from Claude about his opinion yet.

‘I don’t even know if Claude likes it.’

He hadn’t contacted me since the party at Escliffe mansion. However, I didn’t worry too much on that part, since I heard through Florinda that he was suffering under a heavy workload these days, something about buying some land lately. In any case, a lot of men were business-greedy.