The other side of the mirror (9)
–
After a month of funeral rites and the subsequent punishment of everyone involved, spring, which had just barely arrived, was already over.
The now dazzling sunlight pooled onto the paper.
Aristine, who had been reading documents under the blinding glare, raised her head.
Naturally, she couldn’t help but squint her eyes.
While everything was blooming and reviving in the spring, a wind sharper than a winter storm tore through the palace.
A sweeping purge of everyone instigated by the Queen and Duke Skiela, starting with those who participated in the manipulation of the military transmission stone.
“Princess Consort.”
“Hm?”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself. The people are actually happy.”
“Ritlen is right. As they say, the old dies with the winter and the springs gives birth to everything anew.”
Aristine blinked when she heard Ritlen and Asena.
‘What’s this all of a sudden?’
She just looked outside the window because the sunlight got stronger, so why were they saying this?
“Nature maintains its vitality longer through a process of renewal. We are just the same.”
After hearing that, she realized what was going on.
They probably thought that Aristine was feeling disturbed to see so many people in the palace being punished and replaced in large numbers.
‘I’m not that sentimental.’
Those who commit crimes should be punished accordingly.
No exceptions should be made, regardless of their power or their working proximity to the royal family.
In that sense, these rounds of punishments were very reassuring.
‘As Ritlen and Asena say, the situation outside of the palace is actually quite lively.’
After all, these were people who threatened the lives of the public for their own benefit.
As the public watched the country get cleaned up, they felt like they were seeing justice get served.
Naturally, their trust in the royal family grew.
“Now, breathe. Try to calm your nerves.”
“That’s a great idea!”
Even the court ladies in the room were making a fuss, trying to cheer Aristine up.
When she heard the in-and-out breathing demonstration, she was taken aback and dumbfounded.
After the attack, everyone around her became overprotective.
‘Well, I know if something went wrong during the attack, I could have miscarried but…’
It’s not like she couldn’t understand but…
They were still acting this way even though the test results showed no abnormalities.
Aristine watched everyone act like they were following a Lamaze method guidebook from her past life, and she shook her head back and forth.
“Stop making a fuss. I just saw the sun’s gotten stronger, and I felt like time was passing quickly.”
She wanted to move to Silvanus quickly, but it took longer than expected to sort out the situation.
But now, even that was over.
“The barrier project is finally complete. Since we’ve found all the errors we can, let’s get started. Good work.”
Aristine stamped the document with approval.
Asena and Ritlen’s eyes reddened when they saw that.
No one could understand how difficult it had been.
When they heard that the Princess Consort was almost assassinated, they rushed over in a panic without stopping, only to find…
《Oh, you’re here. Perfect timing. I think it would be a good idea to use the barriers to make a road across the plains.》
Without any greeting, Aristine, who looked perfectly fine, started giving them work.
While they were taken aback, Aristine poured out the entire outline like sandpaper.
Her ideas and driving force were outstanding.
They couldn’t even fathom how she came up with such an idea in the middle of an attack and the complicated situation in the palace.
Of course, it filled them with admiration.
It was worthy of admiration but…
《What are you doing? Time to start working.》
Seeing her say that with such a smooth face made them feel somehow.
But what can you do?
When the person paying you says go, you have to go.
And while everyone else was distracted by the trials and the judgements, they were locked in their labs focused on making a safe path.
Who knew how many plans were torn apart by the new issues found by Aristine?
But finally, it was approved!
‘At last, I can leave the lab and sleep…’
‘I’m going to bathe and sleep like the dead for 3 days once I get home.’
Just as they thought that, Aristine gave a bright smile.
“Once construction begins, keep a close eye on the site. Since you’re the engineers, you’ll be able to see better.”
A pointed horn seemed to appear on her smiling face along with pitch black wings fluttering behind her back.
‘A devil, she has to be a devil!’
‘Does she want to kill us…’
Seeing Ritlen and Asena turn pale like they were foaming at the mouth, Aristine spoke.
“Because I can’t supervise…I trust Ritlen and Asena enough to entrust you with full authority. Both with work and outside of that.”
Litten’s eyes sparkled at those words.
Right. Ever since the princess consort saved him, he vowed to follow her for the rest of his life.
“I will definitely repay your trust, Princess Consort!”
Seeing Ritlen looking moved, Asena clicked her tongue.
‘Look at him getting swept away.’
But despite thinking that, even she felt a heat in her chest.
“…I knew you had an excellent eye for people, Princess Consort.”
In the end, Asena also took the plunge into voluntary servitude.
Frankly, if Aristine had been pushing others to work while playing around herself, Asena would have been annoyed, but since she was pushing herself just as much, Asena felt pressured to do the same.
It was the same thing now.
After all these incidents, she should have rested but instead, she started doing something big again.
“Princess Consort, you really enjoy your work.”
Asena remarked, and Ritlen nodded in agreement.
“Now that I think about it, you said you were planning a business even before your wedding to His Highness Tarkan.”
“Mhm, I did say that.”
Aristine easily admitted.
She thought she would just make some money, then get divorced and start living freely, but things were different once she started working.
《Rineh, what do you want?》
The questions Launelian asked her before she left Silvanus continued to linger in her mind.
《Rineh, when people experience a lot, they tend to change. They find themselves liking things that they never thought they would and hating things that they thought they liked.》
《That is how you discover parts of yourself that you never even knew about.》
《I want you to think carefully about this. Is your goal to escape the past or is this something you truly like and want.》
After getting married and experiencing so many new things, Aristine never had the time to reflect on herself.
She realized that because of Launelian’s words.
And like he said, she looked back at herself and realized—.
“I guess I’m cut out for business.”
Aristine grinned.
Since she was born a woman, she should at least run one business. One on the biggest scale, befitting the owner of the Monarch’s Sight.
“And so, I want to take on one of the biggest projects in the world.”
Ritlen and Asena’s eyes shook at the wide smile on Aristine’s face.
Aristine of all people, was looking so excited and thrilled.
Who knew what unexpected things she was going to show them?
However…
‘Why do I feel like I’m going to be shredded…’
‘Ah, I’m going to be ground into powder…’
It was a sense of foreboding that was practically foresight.
“Alright, don’t we have a lot to do before the construction starts?”
Go on and get to work.
At those words, Ritlen and Asena left the room, crying in their hearts.
Aristine pleasantly sent the two pitiful people off, her devilish tail wagging behind her.
‘Alright, that should be it for the road. I’m sure Paellamien will do fine if I leave her with the internal affairs.’
Nephther, Tarkan, and even Aristine herself.
Since all the heads of state were stepping away, someone needed to act as a cover.
‘With the fall of the Skiela duchy, a hole was created both politically and commercially.’
In order to stabilize the lives of the people, the gap must be filled as smoothly as possible.
‘Paellamien is clever, so she’ll do well. She even said herself that she had ambitions. Honestly, she probably knows the internal situation of Irugo better than I do, so let’s leave everything to her.
Like that, an enormous amount of work instantly landed on Paellamien’s lap.
Translator’s Corner:
**Click next for 346! I forgot to do a group post jajaja
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