Chapter 28
With the maid leading the way and guiding her around the castle, Rose lost track of time.
“This is the kitchen. Most of the food in the fortress is cooked here, and there is a separate kitchen for the supreme court and nobles.”
Rose nodded and gracefully followed the maid.
“This is the food storage warehouse. There’s a separate one to store alcohol in the basement. If you go down the stairs here, you will find a hallway leading to the laundry room.”
The maid enthusiastically guided Rose. Although Rose had received a shock in front of the maids not long ago, rumors from various places also played a big role in Miriam being careful about her actions in front of Rose.
It’s not that it is, but there was a sense of crisis that Rose’s position could really be at stake. The maid’s loyalty, which was straight towards Madame Katrina, opened up in front of reality.
In order to survive for a long time in the castle, first of all, you need to know the order well. Both the visible and the invisible. Her loyalty had now tilted slightly towards Rose. The last time His Majesty Maxim returned to the castle, everyone in the castle, even the gatekeepers, knew what had happened.
‘The day the Queen was sick and lying down, His Majesty Maxim said that he didn’t leave her side all night.’
‘I heard that His Majesty Maxim was taking a bath, and Her Majesty the Queen took a bath brush and drove out all the attendants.’
‘On the night of his return to the castle, I saw them cuddled up and inseparable.’
‘Now, it is only a matter of time before we have a successor in Hellavant.’
Along with this series of rumors, the courteous attitude of the maid who treats Rose with respect has changed many things in the castle.
When they first came, suspicious eyes glared at Rose as if they were going to kill her. Now, she was being treated carefully as a mistress. As a full-fledged Queen of the North, Rose naturally fit into the place and was able to make her voice heard.
It had been several days since she had seen Maxim. Rose was starting to wonder if he’s busy with his work.
“There you are.” Jansen wiped his sweat and walked up to the outdoor terrace where Rose was sitting.
“Jansen!” Rose welcomed him more warmly than usual.
“What are you looking so intently at?” When Janssen looked at the book in her hand, Rose was embarrassed and quickly hid what she was holding behind her skirt.
“Nothing. What’s going on?”
“There was an order for the Queen to attend today’s meeting.” Rose’s eyes widened at the unexpected words.
“Me?”
“Yes, after the wedding, it will be the first formal occasion for the Queen to meet important people.”
It’s the first time she will meet the elders and ministers of Hellavant and meet them officially as Queen. Just listening to it made her nervous.
“Then I’ll have to go and prepare first.”
Rose was in a hurry and left the place quickly with Natalie. The guards escorting her followed a few feet behind her.
Maxim had never allowed her to be alone ever since what happened last time. Jansen, watching Rose go down, glanced down as he heard something rustle and fell where Rose was standing earlier.
‘What? Did it fall from the book?’ He carefully picked it up and looked at it.
‘This!’ Jansen’s eyebrows rose. ‘Why? Why would Her Majesty do this…!’
He looked back and forth between what he had in his hand and Rose, who was getting smaller as she widened the distance between them. He couldn’t shake his puzzled and questionable expression.
★ ★ ★
Along with Zari who officially represents her, Rose was dressed in the most elegant dress, and her hair was gently raised.
‘This would be enough.’
She usually lets her hair down or just lets it flow naturally, but she didn’t want others to look down on her because she was young.
She’s at the place where the elders and ministers gathered. The time has come to show them her dignity as Queen. When she arrived at the meeting room with her heart pounding, she saw someone coming from the other side and stopped walking. Maxim was walking at a fast pace, having a serious conversation with the knights.
‘Maxim…’ Rose, who recognized him first, was suddenly nervous.
It’s been a while since she’s seen Maxim, so she didn’t know how to act in front of him and turned her head, pretending not to have seen him.
“You came here first.” Maxim was the first to greet her.
“Your Majesty.”
As Rose bowed slightly to greet him, he smiled and held out his arm. Rose placed her hand on Maxim’s arm and entered the conference room with him.
“We greet Your Majesty and the Queen.”
The elders and ministers rose from their seats to greet them and chat. The conference hall was quite noisy. It was the first time that a King and Queen had attended a meeting together. There was no reason to object because it was not in the original law, but they did not hide their displeasure.
Why on earth is that Queen from Stern attending the meeting? What could she even do for Hellavant? They didn’t understand this at all.
“His Majesty Maxim and Her Majesty the Queen. Having the two of you seated together like this is very reassuring as a servant.”
Suddenly, a small snort was heard from somewhere as someone held in their laugh. It was a moment when it became clear that only a few servants still considered Rose as a queen. Rose had to deal with the sharp eyes that were completely different from the servants, looking at her once again.
“Not long ago, I heard that great things from Stern have arrived for the Queen. It must be difficult for you to live here.” Prime Minister Pieri pretended to be worried and scoffed at her.
Rose closed her eyes slightly and smiled softly.
“Thanks for your concern, but I’m doing very well. I’m comfortable. It’s as if this was my original home.” She looked at the other ministers, laughing.
“I don’t want the meeting to be delayed because of me, so let’s get started, Mr. Pieri.”
While Rose smiled softly, she urged him to start the meeting without talking too much.
“Due to the recent looting and arson incident, the number of people applying to go to Kaike Bay has dropped by more than half. No matter how much money they give, everyone just disagrees.”
“We’re forcibly sending those who are tax-deprived, but they are busy running away within a few days as soon as I arrive.” The ministers shook their heads and devised a way.
“Even if you rehabilitate criminals and send them there, the vicious cycle of committing crimes continues.”
As Rose listened to the story quietly, it seemed like there was a problem with Kaike Bay, the northernmost border of the North. Before coming here, when she was researching about Hellavant, she had seen it in a book.
The largest mining area for northern silver ore and the most dangerous place in Hellavant. Although it was known as an area with huge gemstone deposits, it was difficult to know its possible value because it had not been developed in earnest yet.
‘I’ve heard about this from my father before. If it were developed, it would be huge.’
However, it was an area where risks coexist as much as value. It was a hellish place full of looting and arsoning immigrants and forcibly taken criminals, and it was dangerous to live there. While occupying a large part of the northern economy, it seemed that everyone was suffering from such a problem.
Everyone was reluctant to go there, despite the need for a huge workforce. Far from developing new ones, there was a shortage of workers to mine the silver mines.
There was also a limit to paying high wages or dragging criminals to work. They also refused to be taken there because their life was precious.
‘It must be quite a headache…’
Rose tilted her head slightly while thinking about this. She thought it might be a problem that could be solved more easily than she thought. The Etoile family has had a lot of exchanges with foreign countries and had been through a lot of difficulties in the process as it was a family that had grown up in commerce. Perhaps this level of difficulty would not have belonged to such a difficult problem.
‘If it were my father, how would he have solved this problem?’ She thought from the point of view of Count Jared. However, unlike the place she was in, the northern part was an extremely closed environment, so she hated change and did not trust other races at all. There were clearly areas of the problem that she was unable to see from Count Jared’s point of view.
‘They’re not going to listen to my opinions anyway.’
She was hesitant to intrude presumptuously on the meeting without fully understanding the situation here, so she quietly listened to the ministers. It was then.
“What do you think, Queen?” Prime Minister Pieri first asked for Rose’s opinion.
“Ah! Me?” When Rose was taken aback by the unexpected question, everyone’s eyes turned to her. Pieri seemed like he was ready to laugh at whatever she answered.
“If it’s me…” Rosé slowed down her speech as if to organize her thoughts. Maxim looked curiously at the answer that came out of her mouth, who was sitting next to him.
“If it were me, I would hire them.”
“Hire? Who are you talking about?”
“Was the Queen not listening to any of the stories we have been talking about?”
The ministers laughed at each other’s faces, saying they knew it would happen. Rose calmly began to flesh out her opinion.
“I’m talking about the immigrants who live on the border and commit looting and arson. If no one wants to go there, there’s nothing we can do.”
The hall buzzed.
“They risk their lives to loot because they don’t have food. How about giving them the money they worked for and providing them with a way to live. And it would be even better if you deduct taxes from the wages you gave them.”
“Huh! You don’t know that.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the elders shook their heads as if they had nothing to think about. Rose didn’t let herself lose and said her opinions out until the end.