CBDBS l CH 53

Chapter 53

Accessories made from crystal?

Only the Empire’s top trading house could come up with such an idea.

I clasped my tiny paws together, my eyes sparkling.

Because—

This will work. This business can’t fail!

Just hearing Eloise’s plan, I could already picture nobles rushing in with bags of gold.

Every noble I’d ever seen adored anything rare and expensive.

The academy was restricted to high nobility.
Imported goods from the western continent, scarce in Yggdrnia.
Even boutique dresses—summer limited editions sold out instantly.

The higher the price, the rarer the find, the more nobles craved it.

And crystal—with its rarity and dazzling luster—would strike right at their acquisitive hearts. It would be the talk of the entire social world in no time.

But Eloise’s plan didn’t end there.

“Crystal can also hold the power of beastkin.”

Special processing was required, but I’d heard that high-purity crystal could indeed store a beastkin’s mana.

…Why was she bringing that up now?

I wasn’t the only one puzzled. Gerard and König both stared blankly at her.

“If only Ria were here, this would be easier,” Eloise sighed, then fixed Gerard with her gaze.

“Gerard, what would you want to do if you had someone you loved?”

“Uh… I-I’m not sure?”

“Haah, hopeless.”

Her eyes shifted to König—but he was just as silent.

“Tch. You’d need to have been in love to understand.”

She wasn’t wrong. Commander and subordinate alike—neither of them had ever dabbled in romance. Always chained to their desks.

“When you love someone, you want to always be with them. And even when they’re not by your side, you want some proof that your hearts are bound, don’t you?”

“Like… couple rings?”

König, wearing his usual scowl, asked in a flat tone.

“Close. The Rose Trading Company’s real aim is to make a high-end engagement ring.”

At last, Eloise nodded in satisfaction. She clasped her hands together as if she were the bride receiving a proposal.

“A ring containing a piece of the one you love. Isn’t that romantic? It will definitely…”

“Make money.”

“Become a trend.”

Their voices overlapped.

Like brother, like sister.

I looked between the two, nodding to myself.

Eloise was right—if they made rings from crystal, it wouldn’t just sweep Yggdrnia but the western continent as well.

The Rose Trading Company would grow even larger. Eloise would gain wealth and power without ever needing the Kreutz name.

After all, weddings—once-in-a-lifetime occasions—always commanded a premium.

But one thing had to be made clear.

All of this hinges on there actually being crystal in the Gelende Mine.

I rubbed the chestnut I still clutched and glanced up at Eloise.

Her golden eyes—so like König’s—gleamed with the same madness as the first time she’d seen me.

Her plan had to be grounded in solid certainty.

Does Eloise know something others don’t?

No. She definitely did.

That suspicion quickly hardened into conviction.

She was already the master of a trading house that dominated Yggdrnia and reached into the western continent. She would never spin such plans without reason.

And I wasn’t alone in thinking so.

“You know something. Either you’ve heard, or you’ve seen.”

König finally spoke, low and probing.

“Hm, who’s to say?”

Eloise only smiled, enigmatic and sly.

But the more that smile curved, the more convinced König and Gerard became that she knew something vital.

“Let’s partner.”

The words from König’s mouth were unexpected.

He, of all people, disliked working with anyone else—even family.

“And what would you offer me in return for what I know?”

“If you share your information and help us secure the mine at auction, I’ll give Rose Trading the exclusive distribution rights for the crystals. All costs of the auction will be covered by Kreutz.”

A huge offer.

Without spending a single coin, she’d gain both the crystals and sole rights to distribute them.

But Eloise only tilted her head, her narrowed eyes gleaming with suspicion.

“And what does Kreutz get?”

“The mine itself.”

König didn’t hesitate.

In truth, the wealth from a crystal mine meant little to him. His fortune already dwarfed any need.

But not securing it was another matter.

If the mine fell into the hands of the Imperial family or their backers in Astrahan, the consequences would be dire.

Crystals were the core of magical devices, tied directly to urban prosperity and, more importantly, military power.

“If we can’t have it, I’ll see it destroyed.”

König’s words carried no hesitation.

Giving the Empire a second crystal mine on top of the one they already possessed was something he would never allow.

“I knew you were insane, but this… this exceeds expectations. Still, it’s no loss for me.”

Eloise only shrugged lightly. Better to work with her brother than to risk being beholden to the Imperial family.

“Well then… where to begin.”

She toyed idly with me in her palm for a while, then finally spoke bluntly.

“I found a crystal.”

“Ch-chuut?!”

Wasn’t that… way too straightforward?!

***

“Y-you found a crystal? How—where?”

Gerard stammered, his words tripping over each other in shock.

“About an hour from Gelende Mine, in a village market. While indulging in a hobby.”

“Chuut…?”

The Empire’s sole heiress… indulging hobbies at a market?

The infamous “worst villainess of the Empire”… in a market?

The words didn’t fit together.

Gerard cautiously ventured:

“By hobby… Do you mean browsing antique shops?”

“Yes. Sometimes treasures appear in the most unexpected places.”

Eloise explained that she took great pleasure in discovering forgotten antiques and reselling them at high prices.

“The shopkeeper said his great-grandfather found it in the mountains.”

“His great-grandfather? That would have been before crystals were formally developed…”

“It was a dusty lump, sitting on a shelf in a backwater village far from the capital. I bought it for ten gold.”

Her eyes narrowed as she said it.

Ten gold—for a crystal?

Not even a hundredth of its true value.

“…Swindled,” Gerard muttered under his breath.

But Eloise’s thoughts were different.

“A jewel only shines when it finds the right owner. Otherwise, it’s nothing more than a rock.”

She wasn’t wrong.

If Eloise hadn’t spotted it, the stone might have been discarded for pennies, or never sold at all.

And it hasn’t even been proven to be crystal yet.

Whatever it was, the shopkeeper had gotten a fair bargain.

“So—where is this crystal now? Can we see it?”

At once, the air in the reception hall grew cold.

All eyes turned toward König.

Indeed.

The most pressing matter now was confirming whether Eloise’s crystal was real.