As I became Francis' study partner I got closer to him, even though he hadn't trusted me. I could understand that, but I had my own goal too, and a plan to achieve that goal. The most important part of the plan is Francis' trust, so I had to gain his trust as soon as possible.
Something that is important for Francis to be able to be the heir to the throne is education. He must show his achievement in study, such as a good score for the annual evaluation. That way, he could gain support from powerful families more easily.
The Ashford family never let Francis catch people's attention. They assigned a tutor for him, who never taught him properly. That's why he used to sneak out from the palace and go to a bookstore to read something there. Unfortunately for him, since I became his study partner, he couldn't sneak out as usual.
As the proud daughter of Marquis Whitley, I could enter my father's study room and take a look at his note. That way, I could gain Francis' trust by telling him what he had to study for the annual evaluation. Not only that, I provided him with a lot of books and taught him silently, so he would be able to get a big score.
Another way to gain Francis' trust was giving him some private time with Noah. Rosaline trusted me as her spies, so she had all the maids who spied Francis under my control. I could help Francis to avoid those spies to some certain point. That way, Francis could do a lot of things unnoticed, even at the palace.
That day, as usual, we learned together in the garden, where I first gave him a book. Unfortunately, I forgot that I need a book that is relevant to the topic I want to discuss and that kind of book is only available at a big library. "Francis, let's go to the bigger library. There's a book that we need."
Francis accepted my request, and brought me to a bigger library. The library at Francis' palace was a small one, with an incomplete collection. The bigger library was placed a bit far from Francis' palace, so we had to walk for a few minutes.
Suddenly, Francis stopped walking. "What happened?" I narrowed my eyes following Francis' gaze. I was surprised as I found Rowan Ashford there. His servant loaded a carriage with something familiar.
Curious, I decided to tiptoeing and hid behind a tree to get a closer look. I wasn't sure why Francis followed me from behind silently. Maybe he was curious too with what was going on there, or was he suspecting something?
When I got a closer look, I found out that they were loading steel stone, the best material for a sword. That item can only be found at our empire and only used to craft swords that used to protect the royal family. Even Ashford, the best family at weapon producing, didn't have the right to use it.
"Hey, Rowan." A sudden voice shocked me; that was Roosevelt.
Rowan bowed to Roosevelt, "your highness."
Both of them then had a conversation while the servant was still loading the carriage. "How is the trade with Duke Echetier going, Rowan?"
A trade with Duke Echetier? 'I was able to get to know Duke Echetier. He's a good business partner.' I remembered what Duke Ashford told me. So, Rowan was in charge of the trade with him.
Maybe that was the reason why Rowan was unloading some stuff at the mansion back then. Was that stuff, the steel stone? No way, even the usage outside the palace was prohibited yet they were doing a trade with it?
"Everything goes smoothly, thanks to your position. We got a huge amount of high quality drugs from him."
Roosevelt let out a small laugh. "It's thanks to that girl's idea, I have the right to enter the successor class earlier. Since the class included how to manage these things, I have access here."
Startled, I made a sudden move and, 'crack...' I accidentally stepped on a branch. Francis swiftly pulled me back and closed my mouth.
"Who's there?" My heart was beating so fast as Roosevelt and Rowan began checking the surroundings. If I were by myself, there wouldn't be a problem because I'm on their side. The problem here, I was with Francis. They definitely would interrogate me.
After a few minutes, searching, they still hadn't found us. "That must be a mouse. A person cannot hide that good," said Rowan.
"Seems like I have to ask the servant to catched the mouse." Roosevelt replied. "Then, see you Rowan." Seemed like the servant had finished loading the carriage. Roosevelt and Rowan left that spot, returned to their places.
"I'm sorry for pulling you like that." Francis moved his hand from me and helped me to get up.
"It's okay. It's my fault to make such a voice to begin with." I answered after tidying up my gown. "But can we stop our sesion now? I am still shocked by what I've just heard. You can go to your place and I will make sure no one checks for you."
Francis was staring at me flatly. "Alright." We went back to the garden silently. "Thank you. I will make sure to come back before dinner so no one will notice." Francis and Noah then left me alone. I walked to Francis' palace and made sure everyone wouldn't come until dinner time.
"Lady Whitley, her highness the empress wants to meet you." A maid approached me. I nodded to her and left.
I was lost in my thoughts as I was walking to Rosaline's palace. What I saw with Francis earlier really shocked me. So in short, after proposing the idea to build relations with Helsa, Roosevelt gained the right to attend succession class. His lesson included on how to manage steel stone. So, he had the access to steel stone then traded it with drugs to the Helsa kingdom.
Steel stone itself is this empire's treasure, of which only the emperor is the absolute owner of it. No one can take it out from the palace and use it. When it has been processed into a sword, only several royal family members and elite royal guards can use it.
So, if the emperor noticed Roosevelt and Rowan traded those steel stones with a huge amount of drugs, then a big problem would come to the Ashford family. As for me, I would be interrogated too as their advisor and of course, Duke Ashford would drag me down with him.
'I have to execute my plan as fast as possible, there's no guarantee I could avoid these problems alive.' That's the conclusion I got.
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Hi, it's been a while since the last time I updated my chapter. I still strugling on reorganizing my plot and correct my grammar mistake, so I hope you can understand. I will appreciate you if you give me some comment on everypart I should fix.
Thank you all for your love and support!!! The more your support the more motivated I am.