SWTI 03

Chapter 3

“Didn’t you say she was the financial officer? Why are we here…?”

“We can’t afford to hire someone with that kind of specialized expertise.”

Ugh. That damn money!

“Besides, the management of the territory isn’t complicated enough to warrant one. Ever since the previous financial officer resigned, Mother has been managing the finances herself.”

I buried my face in both hands.

“…Just tell me you’re messing with me.”

“Unfortunately, it’s the truth, my lady.”

As if telling me to just accept it, Shubel patted my shoulder sympathetically.

I coldly brushed his hand away and raised my head.

“Then there’s nothing we can do.”

“Shall we go back?”

“No? If I’m going to invest, I need to meet the person in charge of the finances.”

Shubel blinked.

“Invest…”

“Yes, invest. All of this is a bribe. Consider it a gift that means I want us to get along, so remember that.”

“Do people really call bribes that openly these days?”

“You didn’t know? It’s the age of self-promotion. If you don’t say it yourself, how is anyone supposed to know?”

It was while we were making small talk that—

“The Madam says you may enter.”

Click.

The door opened.

I quietly turned toward Shubel when I saw a maid with a stern expression.

Shubel smiled innocently.

“We couldn’t afford soundproofing.”

I squeezed my eyes shut.

‘Father, Mother. In all my years, this is the first time I’ve ever resented money…’

Sigh.

I had a long way to go.

“So. Would you prefer that I call you ‘Investor,’ or would you rather be called ‘Daughter-in-law’?”

I looked at the noblewoman sitting upright behind the desk in her study.

She had an elegant and dignified appearance, but her clothes were simple, presumably because the household wasn’t exactly swimming in money.

She was even wearing winter clothes, as though spring hadn’t arrived yet.

“I’d prefer Elysia.”

After briefly assessing her, I sat down on the guest sofa with a bright smile. Shubel sat across from me.

The Grand Duchess’s gaze, which had been fixed on the documents until then, shifted toward the two of us.

She looked utterly incredulous.

“Or perhaps Risha?”

“I’ve never met a girl like you before.”

“I am rather special.”

“Shameless, too.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

Faced with a strong-willed daughter-in-law who refused to lose even once, Bella Runein, the Grand Duchess of Runein, shook her head.

“Very well. Let’s hear what you have to say.”

She sat down on the sofa.

I smiled brightly when the first hurdle in any negotiation—getting the other party to sit at the negotiating table—was successfully cleared.

“I’d like to build a new train station.”

“Why?”

“Because the north is isolated. The current train station is so outdated that modern trains can’t even enter. Even the Grand Ducal Castle, which should be the most prosperous place in the region, doesn’t have a direct train to the capital.”

“…”

“Unlike a hundred years ago, when the Thousand-Year War ended and the train station, an important piece of infrastructure, was built here shortly after the one in the capital.”

“…That’s true.”

The noblewoman’s eyes deepened with what seemed like nostalgia.

But the person managing the finances of the north was not so easily swayed.

“I won’t deny that there is no direct train. But do you really think that’s simply because the train station’s facilities are outdated?”

“I think there’s a misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding?”

“I said the north was isolated. I never said I was going to personally establish a direct train connecting the capital and the north.”

“You clearly said there was no direct train…”

“Ah, yes. It’s inconvenient because there isn’t one. There are so many things I need to bring from the Seton estate that, at this rate, I don’t think I’ll be able to get everything here even in three years.”

“You mean you’re trying to build a train station for your own personal use, with no relation to the territory?”

Bingo.

“It wouldn’t be completely unrelated. It’s a public facility, after all. Once a new train station is built, everyone will be able to use it.”

“…Why are you going through such lengths to phrase it indirectly?”

In the end, wasn’t she saying that she wanted to expand the transportation infrastructure and increase the flow of people by building a train station?

“Mother.”

“Who said you could call me Mother?”

“Oh, come on. Just listen to me, Mother. As you said, the fact that the connection to the capital was cut off probably isn’t simply a matter of inadequate facilities.”

There were probably various political factors involved.

Something connected to the reason the north had fallen so far.

“So simply building a new train station won’t suddenly bring in large numbers of travelers. Someone who envies the north’s prosperity might even try to interfere.”

“…You understand quite well.”

“But what if I’m using it for purely personal reasons? What if it’s simply the whim of a spoiled heiress with so much money that she’s bored with her life?”

“What?”

“There’s a saying in the capital. That the heiress of Seton has nothing but money in her head and loves starting ridiculous projects because her head is full of flowers.”

I tapped my head as I spoke, and Bella looked genuinely flustered for the first time.

“I have quite a few rumors about me, you see. What was one of them? That I redecorate my house every season. That I never use anything twice once I’ve used it once. That I change dresses five times a day…”

I gave her a sly, irritating smile, like a villain deliberately plotting some scheme.

“So I thought I’d make those rumors come true.”

“I’ve never heard of someone fulfilling a rumor instead of a wish.”

“I happen to be quite capable. Anyway, the capital’s merchant guilds will have to send shipments every day just to satisfy this extravagant heiress’s demands. But then—oh my?”

I deliberately clapped my hands with an exaggerated clap!

“There’s a brand-new train station nearby? And there’s a direct train to the capital?”

How could they possibly not use it?

When it came to logistics, distribution was everything.

And distribution depended on transportation infrastructure.

The fewer stops a shipment had to make, the lower the transportation costs would be. There was no way merchants obsessed with money and efficiency would simply ignore that.

‘I know. I’m a merchant guild owner, after all.’

I looked straight at Bella.

“The new train station will prosper.”

It would.

There was absolute certainty in my voice, and Bella’s eyes trembled slightly.

Shubel narrowed his eyes as though something had dazzled him.

I wondered if I’d imagined it and looked at him again.

By then, however, his face had returned to its usual languid expression, and he spoke.

“It’s an ‘opportunity,’ Mother.”

“…Shubel.”

“Your daughter-in-law is giving Runein an opportunity. Don’t you think I made a very good choice in marriage?”

My eyes met his.

“Isn’t that right, my lady?”

An opportunity.

Just as Shubel said, what I was trying to do wasn’t simply to build a train station.

A transportation hub inevitably draws people in, and the more people there are, the more prosperous the market becomes.

As the market grows and the population density increases, the territory flourishes and the lord’s power becomes stronger.

And the beginning of all that—

The opportunity for that beginning—

was the train station.

“But… will it really go according to plan?”

The woman who had guarded the north as it quietly sank into stagnation, without ever experiencing any major upheaval, could not help but welcome change while also fearing it.

“There may be a brief period of change. But ultimately, isn’t this just a stone you’ve artificially thrown into a pond? How long do you think those ripples will really last?”

I smiled confidently in the face of her anxious anticipation.

“I’m Elysia, Mother.”

Both mother and son looked at me.

“I’m the empire’s biggest celebrity. That’s who I am. Everyone looks up to me, wonders about my private life, and imitates me.”

What I had thrown wasn’t merely a pebble.

It was a typhoon.

Just as Runein had become an indelible mark upon me, Elysia would become the name that turned this place into the eye of a storm.

From now on, the north would suffer from an influx of people.

Whether that influx turned out to be a positive thing or a negative one.

Bella, who had been staring at me in a daze, asked,

“…Why are you going this far for us?”

It was a question anyone would have.

This time, I didn’t smile.

“Because I’m a Runein now, too.”

It was true that I was struggling desperately to survive, but there was another thought in a corner of my heart.

Perhaps this is the price for the kindness you showed me.

‘Let’s get married.’

‘Shall we?’

I looked at Shubel, who was staring silently at me.

We had started with a contract.

You protected Seton, which had nearly been torn apart, with the name of Runein.

You could have played tricks on me during that process, but you didn’t.

You returned Seton to me whole and intact.

‘So this time, I’ll help you. I’ll make sure your Runein remains whole.’

A small stream can be blocked with pebbles, but even a rocky island cannot stop the sea.

No matter how much someone in a position of power tried to obstruct it, as the number of passengers using the direct train increased, it would become an inevitable flow that could no longer be artificially controlled.

To create waves in the sea called the north, which had been isolated and stagnating.

To bring to the surface the things that had been buried beneath that sea.

That was the first gift I would give Runein.