60

As if they saw through the redevelopment project of the slums, she was convinced that they chose the key location of the new Noblesse Street and bought the land.

"We need to crack down on the inside."

Leabrick's eyes were bitter. As Elena came to the Grand Duchy, she struck out people who remembered Princess Veronica. There was a high possibility that impure people mixed in the process. Leabrick quietly summoned the Knight Lorentz.

"Did you find it?"

"I have a secret favor to ask of you."

"Tell me."

Lorentz stood there in a dignified manner and waited for her words.

"Follow them. If you harbor any other feelings or sense anything strange, let me know right away."

"You think there's a traitor?"

"No, but I think I'll have to check it out. Please, Sir."

Lorentz nodded and left the office. Leabrick, who was left alone again, turned out of the window. The gaze touched the garden, but her mind was filled with someone else.

"L. Who the hell are you?"

***

Central library. Elena, disguised as Lucia, was being scolded by Khalif.

"You said the slum land was for charity!"

"I did. What about it?"

"Why? Why? Why are you saying that now? They're looking for you in the Grand House. They'll buy back the land you bought."

Elena's eyes were calm. Even though she knew this would happen, she didn't care about the feelings of Khalif, who was upset because she didn't give him a word.

"The Grand Duke has started to develop the slums in earnest."

"I knew this would happen. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm sorry."

Elena apologized briefly. But she didn't really feel sorry.

"Look, you're not even sincere about the apology."

"Tell me more about the Grand Duke's movements."

Khalif talked about the situation in which he went back to swallowing his disappointment.

"That's all I said earlier. They don't know you're L. They're even searching for the montage of the agent who bought the land."

Elena's eyes deepened. That's as good as saying that Leabrick is looking for L.

'It's just beginning. The invisible fight between you and me.'

She thought she'd be excited to run into Leabrick, but Elena was frighteningly calm. Her head and heart cooled down colder.

"Did you hear about the agent who sold the land?"

"Emilio told me to let you know that they crossed the border and arrived at the principality. So you can be relieved. They're going to spend a lot of money by now."

"If my father did that, I won't have to worry."

Elena, well aware of Leabrick's tenacity, exiled her agent to another country when she traded land. They would be sent to the principality located on the opposite side of the empire, so that even the Grand Duke could never find them.

"But you're close to Princess Veronica."

"Why is that coming out now?"

It wasn't the subject that would come out at this timing, so Elena questioned.

"No, if she hears about L from the Great House, you're known to be L. You and Her Highness could be estranged from each other."

"What are you saying? That won't happen."

"Really? If you say so, I suppose, but Princess Veronica is a big customer, and it's a little difficult without her. I hope she's doing well."

Khalif scratched his cheek. He was embarrassed that he seemed a bit snobbish even though he said it. Elena, however, was rather proud of Khalif. He judged the value of his customers and tried not to lose them. Whether he was an art broker or an art dealer, it was a necessary posture for success.

"Rather than that, shouldn't we have to negotiate with the Grand Duke at this point? Even if you're at the verge, you can negotiate the slum lands at an expensive price."

"There will be no negotiation."

Unlike Khalif, who wanted to contact the Grand Duke and redeem the price of the land she had bought in the slum, Elena thought it was too early.

"No negotiations? Are you saying you won't bargain?"

"Yes."

Elena answered firmly.

"What are you thinking? You won't negotiate, you won't bargain. Are you willing to trade?"

"I'm going to sell it. When I want to sell it. At the price I want."

From the beginning, Elena had no intention of bargaining with Leabrick over the land she bought in the slum.

'I don't care if I have the land I bargained for nothing, I don't need it. But not you. Isn't that right, Leabrick?'

There were a lot of expectations for the Grand Duke on Noblesse Street, which Leabrick is now pushing. The Empire was an aristocratic state, to the extent that it could be seen as a federation of nobles. And Noblesse Street was the place for such nobility.

Non-noblemen could not enter and leave the street, the finest luxury stores that the nobility desired formed a whole area, the opera theater that the nobility patronized was built, and the works of masters that the nobility coveted could be purchased to their heart's content. There were countless other privileges for the aristocracy crowded into Noblesse Street. The streets were built with the finest marble, archaic and elegant, and it was ecstatic just to set foot in them. As the rumors spread, more and more nobles from all over the continent visited the streets of Noblesse. The income they earned also increased without ceasing. The nobles wished to discriminate, and they spent their money like water in Noblesse Street to satisfy their vanity.

Just a year. It took only six months for the Grand Duke to recoup his dangerously high investment, and in the remaining six months, he almost doubled his investment. In addition, land prices in the slums that had been acquired at low prices rose more than 100-fold.

Although there was limited space in the building, all the merchants wanted to open their stores on Noblesse Street. In the meantime, the competition to get into the stores naturally became fierce, and the momentum had to pick up.

Elena did not place a value on the land she had bought at a low price. She was going to sell it at that price for a few years after Noblesse Street was completed. And.

'I'm going to take down Noblesse Street.'

The Grand Duke would never make his astronomical fortune on Noblesse Street. Because Elena would stop him, regardless of the means. Khalif felt frustrated that Elena did not go out and negotiate with him, because he did not know her true intentions.

"I don't know what you're thinking."

"Why do you want to know if it's bothering you? You'll know when the time comes. I'm firm, so please hold off contact with the Grand Duke."

"Okay, I'll take care of it."

After the confidential conversation, Khalif and Elena left the library with a time difference. Khalif had a lot of work to do outside the academy as he also served as an art broker. These days, he often slept outside the academy without entering the dormitory as if he had given up his diploma.

Elena's footsteps were directed to the western annex. As she promised to be a model for Raphael's portrait, she visited the studio regularly.

"I'm a little early today."

Somehow, the secret meeting with Khalif ended earlier than usual, so she arrived faster than usual.

"Who's here?"

At the end of the corridor, Elena heard talking in the doorway. The voices of a man and a woman conversing leaked out from between the wooden doors, which were opened at an angle.

"You still don't give me an answer."

"…!"

Elena's movement to open the door stopped. The owner of the voice heard from beyond the wooden door was none other than Crown Prince Sian.

'Why is His Highness here?'

She thought that he might have come to see her as he did at that time, but that thought quickly disappeared with another voice coming from the studio.

"I gave you an answer. Your Highness just ignored my answer."

'Empress.'

This calm voice was Cecilia. Two people were talking in the studio. Based on the level and theme of the conversation, Raphael seemed to have stayed away.

"Is that your answer?"

"Yes."

Elena was about to turn around because she thought it was rude to eavesdrop.

"Do you really refuse to stand as the Crown Princess?"

"…!"

For a moment, Elena's expression darkened as she was surprised by the word "Princess" that came out of Sian's mouth.

'In my past life, even now, you only want the empress.'

Sian wanted to marry Cecilia, the daughter of Count Lyndon, a neutral nobleman. If one of the daughters from the four great families were to serve as empress, they would become enemies of the imperial family and become the outcasts of the imperial family. Politically, Cecilia must be the best choice for the Crown Princess.

Elena felt bitter without knowing anything about it. Her head understood, but her heart did not. Because Elena had never received a warm look from Sian, even though she was the queen, so she hated Sian's sad behavior for Cecilia, and felt cold.

"… I'd prefer to do it to the end if I could. But it doesn't mean anything. My will doesn't matter."

Cecilia's voice, which was speaking in a complicated way, was weak. Although the Empire has a high level of women's human rights, aristocratic leisure has often been used as a political tool. If her father Count Lyndon and Sian agree, her will would be completely ignored.

"You don't want to be the Crown Princess?"

"You know what?"

Cecilia's voice, which was repeatedly asked, contained sadness.

"I know that Your Highness has only recommended the position of Crown Princess from the beginning until now. You never wanted me for a moment."

"…"

"I don't want to live like a doll."

Elena's expression hardened to Cecilia's voice, which gradually blurred her words.

'A doll?'

Although it was a political marriage, Sian cherished Cecilia dearly. She thought she was given the affection that he never gave to Elena. But if she took that into account, doesn't it mean Cecilia was no different from Elena? She even felt sorry that she might have been more miserable than Elena, who voluntarily became the empress.

"I didn't know. I made you so tired."

Sian calmly brooded with a voice that did not feel high or low.

"I promise, from today I will no longer offer you the consolation of the Crown Princess."

"Y-Your Highness."

"I will withdraw the political marriage through Count Lyndon. I promise to do so with the honor of the Imperial Family."

"…!"