“Your Highness, what should we do now?” Vivian slightly nodded, trying to seek suggestions, but while doing so, her eyes caught those crawling fingers, instantly turning towards Adanyl and adding, “Your Highness, it is wrong—”
“Phui Phui, isn’t it very simple?” Adanyl, proving her agility, the candy was unwrapped and thrown into her mouth with laughter emerging from the depth of her being.
Remaining still in that relaxed position, her eyes glanced at Vivian, who had a visible twitch on her face. Adanyl stated, “Inform our bakeries in the capital city to raise the prices of all our cakes and sweets tenfold, and advertise them as a limited-time deal for a very small stock of rare sweets.”
“Huh?” Vivian’s narrowed eyes glanced at her husband, whose finger was placed on his chin, deeply engrossed in considering the suggestion their lady had made.
“Your Highness, wouldn’t this only result in a loss for our businesses?” Johan inquired, considering the possibility of having no sales for the same items being sold at such a hefty price.
“So? Isn’t this what Old Geezer wants?” Leaning backward with folded hands, and hiding some more candies in her fist, her ruby eyes met Johan’s, further informing him, “What do you think will happen if a well-known brand advertises the most expensive product as a limited-time deal in a society where everyone wants to prove their wealth?”
Technically, after implementation of new laws, most noblemen were judged based on their accumulated wealth now, with their titles holding only face value, making everyone display their wealth and prove their might, whenever they got chance.
“Indeed, a wise suggestion, but still…” Johan was still not convinced and somewhat confused.
Indeed, the name of their bakeries was already leading at the top in all of Heindal.
“Just do as I say,” Adanyl said, making Johan’s eyes slightly widen as he saw a familiar figure inside the young woman, but he kept his composure. She further added, “Also, add a ranking system and display the names of all the noble families on hologram boards every Friday who purchased the most premium stocks from Selvius bakeries.”
Yes, all the businesses run by Adanyl Silvester were named after the Selvius kingdom.
Even her own title was controversial, as she always referred to herself as Selvius.
With a soft smile forming on her face, Adanyl turned towards Johan, adding, “Just do it, and you will see a bloodbath between those fools.”
Indeed, the idea of spreading education across the land using hologram screens was proposed by her alone, without letting the royal family take any credit this time, by feeding enough money to corrupt nobles to vote in her favor.
Since she knew the power is in the hands of those who know how to use information to their benefit.
This helped her establish a monopoly on hologram screens.
Even at the cost of a whole year’s profit of Selvius businesses being spent like water to purchase votes.
“I understand, My Lady,” Johan bowed with a visible smile, turning to leave the room.
“And Aunt Vivian, take both of those recipes and start manufacturing them in two sets: one labeled as PREMIUM for noblemen and the other labeled as GREAT-VALUE for normal people,” Adanyl folded her hands, gesturing towards two papers she had written down after tasting the cake a moment ago, which included small changes like the addition of golden food coloring.
Yes, those golden ones would be sold to noblemen at the highest prices, while the others, without the premium label, would be sold to normal citizens with a tag that plays with psychology.
Naturally, labeling them as affordable or cheap would only degrade the value of these cakes in the eyes of normal citizens. Therefore, she opted for the “Great-Value” tag—evidence of her business acumen.
After all, this was the foundation of their business; if people wanted to taste premium quality, they would purchase it, no matter the cost.
And with hefty cost, even the addition of golden coloring would make it appear tastier.
“…I understand, Your Highness,” Vivian bowed before lifting her gaze and looking towards all the maids, a sharp glint passing through their eyes.
SWISH
Instantly, all of them cleared the desk of cakes, pastries, or candies.
‘Phew~, at least I saved seven of them.’ With blinking eyes and pursed lips, Adanyl felt relief that she had anticipated their betrayal and prepared in advance.
“Now, please hand over the remaining ones from your hand, My Lady.”
“Huh?” Adanyl, seated on the chair, looked blankly like a rabbit holding its carrot, towards a dozen maids, eying her like prey, folding their hands with a visible glint in their eyes.
All the maids, led by Vivian at the front, instantly made the naive rabbit’s eyes teary.
With a meekly broken voice leaving her lips, Adanyl said, “Please, don’t separate my hope of living from me. Did you all forget how I saved you all?”
Adanyl’s eyes only reflected grins forming on all those maids’ faces, visible smoke seemingly coming out of their mouths.
SWISH
Finally, they showed their ungratefulness, pouncing on her together.
With widened eyes, all Adanyl could do was witness a huge betrayal, her scream resonating throughout the Elysium, “NOOOO! MY SWEETS!”
.
.
.
.
.
At a very small distance from the palace, now filled with screams of betrayal, existed a huge forest on the borders of what was once known as the Selvius and Aidiac kingdoms.
Within the dense shadows of this forest lay a cave that resembled more of a mine.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
The cave trembled rapidly, emanating a chilling aura that instantly froze the nearby walls, coating them in solid crystalline ice.
BOOOM!
An intense sound accompanied by a shockwave shattered the stone walls and ground.
“Haah… Haah,” gasping for breath, a womanly figure with short silver hair and sapphire eyes stood amidst the rubble, her attire resembling that of a palace maid.
‘Finally reached Epic,’ Alia’s trembling hands slowly rose, falling within her line of sight, completely covered in ice.
CRACK!
With a clench, the ice shattered, tiny shards falling to the ground. “Now, Olivia just needs to prepare a ship.”
Clap-Clap
“Woah, isn’t it our pathetic backstabbing maid?”
‘!?’
An applaud echoed inside the cave, causing Alia’s eyes to turn towards the entrance where a familiar figure emerged—a man with amber eyes, dressed in a white shirt and pants.
“R-Ryuk?!” Alia’s mind swirled as she identified the figure who appeared exactly as she remembered from her previous life, same eyes and face, nothing different.
“Hello, Alia. You seem fine, aren’t you?” The young man moved forward with a soft smile, stretching his hand towards the woman, whose widened eyes soon relaxed and turned down.
Tap Tap
Swoosh
The only sounds present in the cave were of approaching footsteps and another negligible sound of something materializing, inside the cave once glimmering with mana stones, the cave was now enveloped in darkness.
“….”
“You’re not going to greet me?” The young man offered his arms with visible softness on his face, looking gently at the young woman whose expression soon formed a smile as she stood ten steps away from him.
“Thank you, Alia— SCHLKT!” Suddenly, a dagger was pierced through the young man’s chest even before he could close the distance.
“Khucck!?” His eyes turned down, looking at the blood trickling from the wound, “cough… Thud.”
Instantly, due to the dagger being laced with elemental water abilities, it froze all his internal bodily fluids, leading to instant death without a chance to retaliate.
“…Phew~, You are really a backstabber bitch?”
Another voice, this time womanly, reverberated inside the cave, making Alia grit her teeth as she recognized the voice.
Lifting her gaze, now reddened due to boiling rage, she spoke with controlled voice, “Enough of your mind games, Diana. Thanks for coming here on your own, though. I’ll make sure to shred you into pieces.”
“fufu~, oh my, it’s fine, it’s fine. After killing you, I will go meet my Ryuk~♡!”
