IWBQ 23

Chapter 23

. A Low-Grade Threat
2023.08.23.

It was a low-grade threat.

“You…”

Iris’s lips trembled.

“Prince Chase marrying my sister? Yes, I set that up. The two of them are a perfect match. Does it make you feel good hearing it from me? If it were me, I’d be terrified. Because by me giving up Prince Chase, my sister got to marry him. What will you gain, and what will you lose, by my next move?”

The color slowly drained from Iris’s face. Already pale, she now looked like a wax doll.

So timid and weak. And yet, so greedy.

And this is supposed to be a future Sage? The magical world is truly doomed.

“Let go of me right now. If you don’t, I won’t let you get away with it.”

The normally submissive Iris’s reason seemed to be hanging by a thread.

Elise arched her brow. She was a mage. “I won’t let you get away with it” wasn’t an empty threat.

But for a mage to attack someone without approval from the Ivory Tower and the royal family was among the gravest of crimes.

That was why Elise could freely intimidate Iris, a mage—because she knew Iris wouldn’t dare become a criminal.

At least, that’s what Elise had believed. But looking at Iris now, that belief began to waver.

Should she stop here, or keep pushing?

Elise calculated which choice would benefit her most.

“I’ll return your words right back to you. What exactly can you do? You’re just being sold off into a marriage you don’t even want.”

“You really have gone mad.”

Iris’s lips fluttered rapidly.

A large stream of light began to form in her hand.

Elise struck Iris’s arm aside with a sweep of her hand.

The light flared through the air, grazing Elise’s neck.

Blood seeped out of her pale throat. Elise pressed her hand against it.

Her provocation had worked.

I didn’t think Iris would take the bait so easily.

Was the 22-year-old Iris really such a novice compared to her 32-year-old self?

“B-blood… Lady Elise’s neck is bleeding… Lady Iris used magic…”

A maid, who had come at the sound of Elise’s bell, witnessed everything.

The sight of someone being attacked with magic was so shocking that her legs gave out and she collapsed.

Iris, standing with her back to the door, flinched violently.

She hadn’t imagined there would be a witness. Her face turned not just white, but deathly blue.

“Good luck cleaning this up, sister.”

Hopefully this will keep her quiet for a while.

Elise patted Iris on the shoulder and left the room.

It was about the time Regina should be returning from Baron Orléans’s estate.

Elise deliberately didn’t wipe away the blood.

“Elise, you’re back—oh my goodness, your neck!”

Jasmine, waiting for Elise in the drawing room, was horrified.

She hurried over and held out a handkerchief.

“Sorry for showing you something so unsightly.”

Elise wrapped Jasmine’s handkerchief around her throat.

To stop the bleeding, binding was better than wiping.

“Elise, what happened? Was it an accident? Did I come at a bad time?”

Jasmine bombarded her with questions, but fell silent when she looked into Elise’s deep eyes.

Those eyes, filled with untold stories, asked her not to pry further.

“You came at a good time, Jasmine. I thought you wouldn’t be able to make it since I called in such a hurry.”

“Of course I had to come. It’s been chaos lately. I haven’t even been sleeping these past few days.”

Though Jasmine complained, her face was bright with joy.

“What’s been happening?”

Elise feigned ignorance, though she already knew.

Jasmine gave her a playful look.

“What kind of magic did you use? I’m getting ten messages a day from people wanting to buy my hair clips!”

Tomorrow, there would be even more. Jasmine could hardly contain her delight.

Seeing her, Elise’s mood, which had sunk to the floor because of Iris, lifted again.

“I didn’t do much. I just used the hair clips you made. They’re so convenient, it’s no wonder people want them.”

Jasmine knew Elise was downplaying it. She had ears, after all.

When inquiries about the clips began to pour in, her maid explained why: Elise’s dramatic scene with the Prince of Tetris at the street café.

The maid had described it so vividly that Jasmine’s cheeks burned, and it had taken her ages to cool them down.

Whether intentional or not, Elise’s actions had given Jasmine’s hair clips wings.

And Jasmine believed Elise had done it deliberately, for her sake.

She lowered herself, for me. This is what a true friend is.

Jasmine’s heart swelled tight in her chest.

All her life, she had never had a friend. As a child, her plump figure and unladylike manners had set her apart.

Even when she debuted into society, nothing changed.

People treated her like wallpaper—insignificant, invisible. Some even gossiped about her right in front of her.

Jasmine accepted it. After all, she wasn’t pretty, she wasn’t talented, she wasn’t special.

She thought that would be her life forever.

Lonely, unacknowledged.

But then Elise appeared. For the first time, Jasmine received a tea party invitation, hosted a friend at her house, and gave gifts.

To Jasmine, Elise was like a four-leaf clover.

An unexpected stroke of luck.

No—more like a bluebird, carrying that clover in its beak.

Elise brought fortune with her wherever she went.

And yet, she never boasted, always giving Jasmine the credit.

Such a good person was now bleeding before her eyes.

From what Jasmine had heard, Iris was to blame.

So cruel, Iris! Jasmine thought.

She had never liked Iris anyway—she had been one of the main people treating Jasmine like wallpaper.

Jasmine’s smile faded.

“Elise, if you’re worried about anything, tell me. I’ll help you however I can. We’re friends, aren’t we?”

Elise blinked in surprise. She had been thinking only about how to grow the business with Jasmine, but hadn’t expected such words.

Her decision to choose Jasmine wasn’t based on friendship.

It was Jasmine’s talent that swayed her most.

Though there was another reason.

Jasmine always opposed Iris, even after she became crown princess.

In her unmarried days, Jasmine’s animosity toward Iris wasn’t obvious.

But after Iris married the prince and Jasmine married a merchant, things changed. When Jasmine’s beauty-related business succeeded, her disdain for Iris became open.

That was when Iris finally deigned to notice her.

Mostly with sneering remarks. About being “sold off” to a merchant, for example.

Elise remembered how Jasmine had repeatedly refused Iris’s requests for financial support.

She had once confessed to another lady that she’d disliked Iris since childhood.

It seemed a deep-rooted hatred. Elise decided to bet on that.

But now, Jasmine was offering to work for her out of pure goodwill.

I feel sorry for her.

All the more reason Elise was determined.

She didn’t want Jasmine trapped in a scorned marriage.

She wanted her respected in society.

She wanted her products sold at their proper worth.

“Jasmine, have you thought about putting your talent to full use?”

“M-my talent?”

Jasmine blinked in surprise at the sudden topic.

“Yes, your talent. From where I stand, it’s genius. No, correction—it is genius. Your sense of design is something I couldn’t hope to imitate.”

“I don’t know what you mean, Elise. If you’re talking about the hair clips… you’re exaggerating. People only want them because of you—because you and the Prince of Tetris…”

Because of deep-seated prejudice against the Tetrisians, Jasmine couldn’t bring herself to say Karan’s name properly.

And she felt guilty about that.

After all, wasn’t he the man her friend had chosen?

Disappointed in herself, she longed for a way to change.

And Elise offered it.

“Prince Karan. Call him by his name, and it will be easier. See him as just a person. Forget everything else.”

Jasmine understood immediately.

To see someone as a person—that was how Elise had treated her.

“Yes, Prince Karan. It’s all thanks to you and Prince Karan.”

Elise shook her head firmly. Jasmine opened her mouth to protest, but closed it when Elise lifted her hand.

“Listen carefully, Jasmine. I guarantee that everything you make will be the talk of society. How about starting a business?”

“A… a business? Me?”

“You can do it, Jasmine.”

“But women can’t own businesses.”

“True. But you can buy an existing shop. That’s why I prepared something in advance.”

Elise looked toward Regina, who stood by the door.

Regina nodded, stepped out, then returned with an envelope.

“This is a bribe.”

Elise handed Jasmine the envelope. Inside were papers transferring ownership of a small general store in the square to Jasmine.

“You—you’re giving this to me?”

Jasmine gasped.

The name “Jasmine Orléans” was clearly written on the documents.

“Too small? Sorry. I wanted to buy you something bigger, but my purse wouldn’t allow it.”

Elise had emptied her savings to buy that tiny corner shop.

She hoped Jasmine would steadily build a faction against Iris within the Bedroka social scene.

It was a gamble for Elise too.

But she had her reasons.