“Is Opal up and okay?”

“…Father, I’m already well. I’m just staying here just in case, and I was planning to return to the territory soon. So, I’m sorry for the hard work I produced with my sickness.”

“Disagreeable…”

Opal suffered a terrible flu, and suffered fever for about 10 days.

It seemed that she was terribly tired from all events transpired, and her resistance had completely dropped, so she did not recover easily.

Even though she was able to get out of bed before today, she has been worried about the people in the mansion and ended up staying at the Count’s House for more than a month.

The servants, who cared for her, seeing her sick, would not let her leave while she just recovered.

They will worry with no end.

Meanwhile, Hubert was informed by her father in a letter, and sent a letter of condolence and some flowers when she was asleep.

He refused to visit for the risk of getting infected.

“I heard from the Count that you’re well now, and I’ve come to see you. I’ve got some great news.”

“Thank you. So what’s the great news?”

Hubert smiled and offered his bouquet of flowers to Opal.

He’s never been able to smile like this since he bought that mansion for Stella.

So, Opal, confused, as she received the bouquet and thanked him, asked what had happened.

“An investor has appeared!”

“… of Mantest land development?”

“That’s right. Actually, I was visiting the Kingdom of Taisei, when I found him.”

“Husband, did you find him in Taisei Kingdom?”

“Oh, I wasn’t thinking that could be possible either. I was going to have an engineer come to this country, or I was going to negotiate directly with an engineer in the kingdom. So I asked someone to introduce me to Marquis Roussel, but the Marquis was with a lot of work, and so I was able to have an audience with His Majesty the King directly. Later the Marquis was convinced by His Majesty, and he’s going to send me a person! In addition, the Marquis will invest!”

“That’s… amazing.”

“I wonder? You were worried about it too. So, you promised that your dad will invest, but now it’s not needed. Everything will be fine from now on…”

Unexpectedly, Opal’s heart was finally lightened.

At the same time, she was wondering why Hubert was so active—whether he was impatient enough to go to another country to get an investor, or what was his motivation.

However, she does not ask the reason and only listens to Hubert, who sits across from her.

Hubert was in a very good mood and was motivated to talk about his view of the future.

Of course, the profit cannot be raised immediately, but with the technical power of the Kingdom of Taisei, it will be possible to recover much faster than her father’s calculation.

To build a railway, people and money will move and a city will be built.

When the railway is completed, more people will be gathered, not only miners, and the land will be further developed.

Mantest is also in a position where it is easy to trade with the Kingdom of Taisei, and it seems that Marquis Roussel has noticed it.

The kingdom, which had regained its calm domestic situation, needed to rebuild its relations with other countries.

The Marquis seems to have contributed greatly to the victory of the New King both financially and materially in the battle for succession three years ago.

It seems that he had been crowned thanks to the Marquis.

He was fortunate that the Marquis of Roussel was an acquaintance of Opal’s father.

Hubert has been seeking an investor in this country for the past month, but he has been shunned by his father-in-law, Opal’s father, Count Holloway.

However, after seeing the letter of introduction from his father, the Marquis seems to have decided not to miss the treasure trove of Mantest and bet on that possibility.

Hubert said that her father also decided to invest because of that, and more investors will rush in the future.

“…But do you still need another investor when you have Marquis Roussel and my father?”

“To be precise, the Marquis will finance the purchase of the land at a fairly low interest rate. For the time being, I can pay back just the interest. The income alone manages to pay for it. Most of the development money is invested by the Count, but that’s not all.”

“It sounds like a good story, but is the Marquis reliable?”

“Oh, I think so. The Count also confirmed the contract and promised it’s okay. All I have to do is sign it.”

“That’s right.. Then I’ll invest the rest. Was that not the promise?”

The story went so well that I was afraid that Hubert was been tricked again, but if my father confirmed it would be okay.

Hubert shook his head awkwardly as he exhaled.

“I was impatient that the land at Mantest was so cheap that I couldn’t get ahead of others, so I secured it with your land as collateral. And I said you terrible things. Of course, I will immediately cancel the contract that takes the territory as collateral.”

“Husband, apart from that time, this is a pure investment for me. Of course, it is you, husband, who choose the investor, so if you tell me that it is not good, I will give up.”

“No matter what you choose, you’re welcome to invest. But it’s funny to say, don’t blame me. No matter how much Mantest is a treasure trove, it’s not guaranteed to succeed. There’s still some risk.”

“Thank you for your advice. But it’s okay. As you know, I have a good fortune.”

Relieved Opal smiled and answered as Hubert finally calmed down.

The challenge is still to come, but it will probably work.

Opal can now believe so and she sees Hubert leave the mansion with calm feelings.

---

Four years later.

Everyone was present at the ceremony, of the opening of the railway from the mine to the urban area and to the new port.

Although the recovery of funds is still yet to come, it can be said that it was fortunate that the development has advanced so far with no apparent problems.

Opal had a hard time stopping Hubert, who was going to run out of control many times along the way, but he didn’t listen to Opal’s words, yet he obediently accepted the words of her father and Marquis Roussel, so they managed to get things right on track.

(Why do most men think women don’t understand what they are doing and don’t know enough to give opinion? I’m doing the right thing, so at least my husband should hear me…)

Once she fumbled about it, her father smiled and replied, “That’s because it’s you.”

After all, as a husband, his pride would hurt if his wife pointed out that he was wrong.

She thinks it’s silly, but she guessed it’s inevitable as women are dependent on men in this world.

In fact, there are many women who live with strength by making use of that weakness.

Opal glanced at Hubert, surrounded by women, and sighed.

The land prices at Mantest have gone up much faster than expected, and as Count Holloway and Hubert have now joined the ranks of the enormous wealthy families of Taisei Kingdom, they are quite popular with women, whether they are married or not…

Naturally, the attention gathered on Opal again, and both men and women of all ages tried to approach her for some reason.

Especially when a young man came to her as he remembered the old rumors surrounding her… he invited her, as though, he couldn’t endure it anymore.

Tired of this situation, Opal intends to retreat to the countryside after the ceremony.

She hadn’t done so before, because she wanted to thank Marquis Roussel for participating in this unwilling investment thing to begin with, but unfortunately the Marquis seems to be absent.

Opal has repeatedly asked her father and Hubert to contact the Marquis so she could give him her thanks, but in the end she couldn’t reach him through neither of them.

(Isn’t Marquis Roussel thinking that women can’t work?)

The success of this plan was due to the Marquis, and Opal thought she could meet and talk with him today, but that didn’t happen.

Apparently the Marquis didn’t want to be in public and sent a message to Opal that he was happy to receive her request of a meeting time, but unfortunately he had to do something for the time being and couldn’t accept her request.

(Isn’t it fate that I can’t meet the person I want to meet…)

Four years later, Claude’s whereabouts still remained unknown.

The other day, she met the Baroness when she returned to the Count’s territory, but the Baroness didn’t want to mention Claude, and Opal quickly changed the subject.

Vaguely remembering that moment, Opal suddenly returned to earth with the loud sound of the band.

(Soon…It’s almost ended…)

Looking at the glorious Hubert, Opal waited for the ceremony to end.

Actually, she doesn’t like lively places.

Ten years ago, Opal had just made her debut in social circles and was enamored by its glory.

But it was later that she realized how much happier it was to live quietly in the countryside.

Opal, who had a hard time fighting her urge to go back, was pretending to be having fun in social circles, but she thinks now that it was all a stupid intent.

Marriage was completely different from what she had dreamed of, but it was still rewarding.

Even though it was not in the place she had planned, it was really fun to rebuild territory after territory and see the happy faces of the people while living in the countryside.

(But managing a territory is not all about country life.)

No matter how entertained, Opal was no longer willing to socialize.

With that in mind, Opal, who was attending the party after the ceremony, left in time, avoiding the need to socialize.

The venue was at a new hotel that was created along with the land development of Mantest and Opal was staying in the hotel’s finest room.

Of course, Hubert is in the same room.

As a married couple, there’s nothing they can do about it, but since there are two bedrooms in the room, Opal frankly accepted without caring about that.

Then, when she enters the room, she called the maid to untie her hair, and takes off her dress.

The tightened head and body was released, and Opal exhaled.

A knock was heard on the door, and Hubert’s voice sounded.

“Opal is all right?”

“Oh, yeah. Of course. Why?”

“No… it’s just… you had to leave the venue early not? So I was wondering if something was wrong…”

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience. But I’m really okay, so please, return to the venue.”

“…I’m not going back anymore. So can you come out now?”

The conversation through the door was just amazing, and the accompanying maid and Opal looked at each other unexpectedly.

However, she can’t make ends of Hubert purpose as it is, and she continues the talk with Hubert for the time being, as she started dressing herself again.

“I’ll be there soon, so can you wait a minute?”

“All right”

Opal hurriedly changed into a ready-easygoing dress for her to not leave Hubert waiting, but he seems to have returned to the living room for the time being.

She instruct the maid to keep her hair down and comb her hair while she wears the dress.

Then she managed to get ready soon and entered the living room.

“Apologies for making you wait”

“No…I’m sorry as this is so suddenly.”

Opal sat down on the couch, asking Hubert what was this about… as he was looking around in a fidgety manner.

When asked for a drink he refused.

“That… I finally got enough money to buy back all the land from you.”

“Congratulations… Well, I think we’ll need more money from now on. And I-“

“No, that doesn’t mean we’re running out of assets. So I want to buy back all of the former Duke’s territory.”

“Okay. Well, I don’t think it is necessary to enter into a sales contract this time. I will give you the documents of the territory’s ownership at the time the procedures are done.”

That’s what Opal had decided since she stole Hubert’s land with that fraudulent document.

The truth is that once Hubert bought back half of the duke’s assets, she intended to return it all.

The price paid for the repurchase to date-everything, including what was invested and increased.

If Hubert didn’t buy Mantest land at that time, the issue would have cleared up sooner.

It can be said that four years have been wasted, but it has nothing to do with Opal, who was able to live in the countryside as originally planned, because he was only a nominal husband.

But… it was good for Hubert, as he was able to become one of the wealthiest homeowners of Taisei Kingdom.

Opal had already begun the process of calculating and transferring the growing assets.

The tense voice of Hubert was heard again, and she returned to reality.

Then Hubert suddenly looked up at her with a red face, over his knees under Opal’s feet.

“…I’m sorry. What did you say Husband? I couldn’t hear you properly.”

“So that… Opal, can you marry me formally?”

“What?”

Astonishing words were heard by Opal, and a bell rang loudly in Opal’s head.

(I have a headache now.)

Opal decided that this was irrelevant, and so she took it as nonsense.

Translated by Djurasico (dot) home (dot) blog