Volume 5, Chapter 19 – The Queen With No Pocket Money

The autumn night usually gives one a sense of desolation and coldness. In the human world, apart from patrolling soldiers, there would be no one else on the streets at dawn. However, most of the Blood Clan are nocturnal creatures, so the streets at night are actually more lively than during the day.

In the bustling Royal Capital, the group of four—Yisi, Mary, Tiffany, and Andrea—walked openly on the street, with Andrea being the main attraction.

“So this street isn’t usually this crowded. And everyone doesn’t look as happy.”

“Lady Yisi, can I go and buy that thing that looks delicious?”

Like a child who rarely goes out, Andrea became the noisiest presence in the group.

“Is this paving stone already broken… I didn’t notice it last time I was here.”

Stopping in front of a nearly broken paving stone, Andrea squatted down to examine it, frowning slightly.

“A stone this big would cost at least one silver coin. Including all the broken stones on the entire street and the wages for hiring workers, it would probably take about half a month and three to ten gold coins.”

Does she need to calculate it in such detail? Yisi, who was following closely behind to prevent Andrea from getting lost, also stopped.

“Um, Andrea, if we continue at this pace, it will be daytime by the time we get to the orphanage, you know?”

“Ah,” snapping out of her thoughts, Andrea quickly stood up and awkwardly pulled down the hem of her skirt. “S-Sorry.”

“I’ve already had a nap, so it’s no problem for me… If you want to look, Andrea, I can accompany you after I take Mary and Tiffany back to the mansion.”

Realizing she had delayed Mary and Tiffany, Andrea’s shoulders drooped, and she started walking again.

“Yes…”

Mary, walking beside Yisi, steered the conversation in another direction.

“It seems like Your Majesty rarely comes outside.”

“Not really. Although I can’t just act alone because of my status as Queen, the Royal Capital is a safe area, so I can come out often. But just as you saw before, Mary, even though this is the capital, Boris is not at ease letting me come out alone. If Boris himself isn’t with me, he will definitely send a squad of soldiers to escort me.

When Boris is with me alone, it’s one thing, but if soldiers are escorting me, I always feel like I’m troubling them. So every time I come out, I can only go straight to my destination. I rarely have the chance to observe the capital’s environment carefully.”

“Even a queen has her own troubles.”

Very rarely, Tiffany spoke in what was, for her, a long sentence. Through observation, Yisi had discovered that the length of Tiffany’s speech grew with her level. After the previous special training, everyone’s level had grown to a considerable degree: Camilla was Level 13, Mary was Level 15, and Tiffany was Level 11.

“So every time you come out, it’s like a king’s inspection, Andrea?”

“If soldiers are escorting me, then it’s just as you say, Lady Yisi.”

I see. That explained why Andrea always liked to look around and would stop for beautiful or delicious things. She probably never had the chance to do so normally. From this perspective, becoming a queen before even coming of age was truly a burden. Although she enjoyed the treatment of being revered by thousands, she had also lost much happiness and joy.

No, to put it another way, to be able to maintain an innocent and kind heart in an environment of being revered by thousands was a miracle in itself. One just had to look at Edith to know that people born into the upper nobility were prone to developing self-centered personalities.

Glancing at the passersby, Mary spoke softly. “It seems like not many people here recognize Your Majesty.”

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“I’m in a carriage most of the time, so it’s normal that no one recognizes me. To everyone, I’m just a king who holes up in the castle all day.” Andrea gave a wry smile. “Well, I’ll be leaving the Royal Capital in a few days anyway.”

“Leaving?” Tiffany tilted her head.

“Yes. The Festival of Original Sin is coming soon. To pray for a good harvest next year, the king must offer thanks to the ancestors in the Blood Clan’s granary, the Astrid Territory. This is a required course for every king. My mother used to take me to the Astrid Territory often.”

When Andrea said this, Yisi noticed Mary looking at her with a pitiful expression. She wanted to go with Andrea to see the Blood Clan’s grand ceremony, and Yisi herself had the same desire. Patting Mary’s head, Yisi asked, “Can we go too? To the Festival of Original Sin.”

“Eh? Y-You’re going too, Lady Yisi? It’s not a kidnapping…” Her voice suddenly grew quiet, and Andrea muttered to herself. After a long while, she finally raised her blushing face and said energetically, “Of course you can! The Festival of Original Sin is a grand event for the Blood Clan to commemorate our ancestors. Anyone can participate!”

Hey! You just said “kidnapping”! And she had said on the way here that she would trust her.

However, Andrea seemed to be the type who would panic a lot if she were kidnapped. There was value in teasing her. If she had the chance, maybe she’d pretend to kidnap her once as a joke, like taking her to Pepe’s little room.

However, for some reason, Yisi found that Andrea had suddenly moved away from her. She subconsciously asked, “Huh? Andrea?”

“Y-You were very unsettling just now, Lady Yisi…” Clasping her hands to her chest, Andrea peeked out cautiously from behind Mary and Tiffany, looking at Yisi with vigilance.

Mind reading? Is it because of her royal bloodline? Or can Andrea sense people who have ill intentions toward her because of the Alvier Tower? But my kidnapping idea was just a joke.

“I can also feel that Master is thinking about something bad!”

“Malice. On your face.” As Tiffany spoke, she gestured with her chin, signaling for Yisi to look at the people around them. Sure enough, all the passersby were looking at Yisi as if they were looking at something filthy. Yisi even caught voices saying things like “Should we call the guards?” and “Kidnapper.”

…It seemed her expression had given her away. When she was with two young girls and one loli-like girl, she really did have to be mindful of her personal image. It would be terrible if she were mistaken for a kidnapper.

Clearing her throat seriously, Yisi changed the subject with a smile as warm as a spring breeze.

“Ahem! Before we go to the orphanage, how about we go buy some delicious snacks? I know a pastry shop with a great taste right around here.”

For some reason, after the words left her mouth, Yisi had the feeling that she sounded even more like a kidnapper, reminding her of the uncles who appeared in certain works, whose common tactic was to lure children with candy or pocket money.

But as it turned out, this was all due to Yisi’s own overly dirty mind. Mary and Andrea immediately believed her, their eyes widening with anticipation.

“Is it that white, very sweet dessert that Master brought back last time?”

“White, very sweet dessert?”

Andrea’s confusion prompted Mary to explain. “It’s delicious~ Although it’s sticky and uncomfortable if you accidentally get it on you, and it has a strange smell at first, it’s the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten. I feel like my soul is flying.”

After Mary finished speaking, Yisi felt the glares from the surrounding passersby become even sterner, changing from looking at something dirty to looking at a rotting, smelly corpse. And the originally spacious street had been unknowingly blocked by a wall of people, making it difficult to advance or retreat.

Mary is talking about cream!

Seeing that someone had already run off to notify the guards, Yisi quickly explained to Andrea—though it was more for the benefit of the people around them.

“Mary is talking about a cream dessert. That pastry shop is near the Noble Academy.”

Then, Tiffany faced Yisi and opened her arms, as if asking for a hug. “Yisi, magic.”

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The problem was that the way Tiffany slightly opened her mouth and stuck out the tip of her tongue was very easy to misunderstand.

“Wait, Tiffany, let’s do that kind of thing after we get back—”

“Uu.” Mist began to form in Tiffany’s eyes, but Yisi could clearly see that she was snickering, the corners of her mouth uncontrollably turning up.

She’s definitely doing this on purpose.

“Make way, make way! Where’s the kidnapper?!”

“How dare you openly abduct a young girl in the Royal Capital! No matter who it is, I’ll send him to prison!”

And so, through the joint efforts of the justice-filled residents and the patrol team, the four of them took a tour of the interrogation room.

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“We are so very sorry! Your Grace, the Duchess! Your Majesty!”

By the time the sun was about to rise, the four of them finally left the interrogation room. They shouldn’t have had to stay so long. With Yisi’s pureblood status, they could have gotten out quickly if she and Mary had just explained things clearly. But the problem was that Andrea had immediately said she was the Queen and ordered the soldiers to release Yisi. The soldiers hadn’t believed her, and impersonating royalty was a serious crime, so it had taken a long time to go through a series of identity verification procedures.

Under the grand send-off of the entire patrol team bowing in apology, the four of them headed toward the orphanage again.

Because the door of the interrogation room faced the rising sun, seeing the faintly lit sky gave Yisi a feeling of being reborn.

“Hah… I never thought I’d see the day I’d be treated as a kidnapper.”

“I’m sorry… Master…” Very dejected, Mary lowered her head, her pointed half-elf ears drooping listlessly. “If I hadn’t said those misleading things without thinking, what just happened wouldn’t have happened.”

“Me too, I’m sorry… I thought my status as Queen would be useful, but it ended up taking even more time.” Andrea also hung her head, her pink pigtails drooping lifelessly.

Yisi waved her hand helplessly. “It’s nothing. I have nothing to do these few days anyway. What just happened was a kind of life experience.” That feeling of the more you explain, the muddier it gets, was not something an ordinary person could experience.

While comforting the two little darlings, Yisi didn’t forget to punish the other little devil. She landed a karate chop on Tiffany’s head. If she were human, a series of bumps would be rising on her forehead right now.

Clutching the spot Yisi had hit, Tiffany pouted and protested, “Ouch.”

“You almost sent me to prison.”

“Teleport.”

“Escaping with teleportation magic and clearing your name are two different things. As punishment, Tiffany’s dessert portion for today is halved.”

“Protest! Abusing a little girl.”

“You have a lot of money yourself, don’t you, Tiffany? Pepe gave you so many gems in exchange for your blood. Any one of them could be exchanged for a lot of gold.”

“No.” As if to protect the gems in her body, Tiffany clutched her stomach with both hands and hid warily behind Mary and Andrea.

…Have these three reached an agreement to help each other? This might be the tacit understanding between little girls.

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With these thoughts, Yisi led the three of them to the dessert shop near the Noble Academy. Just like last time, although the shop was surrounded by many noble young ladies and men, not many of them were actually buying desserts. They were all standing in small groups, chatting and laughing.

“I wanted to say this last time I was here, but all these people just look and don’t buy… Have they gotten used to eating it, so they just use this shop as a backdrop?” Just like how some people go to a coffee shop not to drink coffee, but just for a quiet environment, the pastimes of the rich were always hard to understand.

After approaching the dessert shop, Andrea stopped, a dazed look on her face. “Eh? The ‘delicious dessert shop’ you mentioned, Lady Yisi, is this place?”

For Andrea, who was the Queen, she should have had the desserts here many times. Princesses and queens should be more interested in the obscure delicacies hidden in the back alleys than in famous, high-class desserts. In almost all novels and visual novels, whenever there was a plot where the protagonist took a queen or a noble lady to eat something delicious, the protagonist would win their favor with food hidden among the common folk that would not be served on a noble’s dining table. Although this was not a novel, Yisi still felt a little embarrassed.

“Ahaha… I only just arrived in the capital a few days ago and have only been to this one dessert shop. I only found out about it because a friend introduced me. You must eat here often, Andrea.”

“How could that be!” Andrea’s mouth fell open in an exaggerated way, and she quickly explained, “The things here are too expensive. Even I only indulge on important days.”

“Huh? Aren’t you the Queen, Andrea? I remember the desserts at the tea party just now were much more abundant than this.”

“Those…” As if embarrassed, Andrea clasped her fingers in front of her waist and fidgeted. “Those I prepared the day before… I also chose the ingredients myself and had someone buy them for me…”

All those exquisite and delicious pastries were handmade by Andrea? No wonder she had felt they were overly sweet when she ate them. A normal shop probably wouldn’t make pastries to that level of sweetness. But if Andrea had made them herself, then it was understandable.

Speaking of which, I actually ate pastries handmade by the Queen of the Blood Clan. If her die-hard fans found out, would they kidnap me? Well, not that they could beat me.

“Your Majesty is very skilled at making pastries. May I learn from you?”

Very unexpectedly, Andrea’s expression, which had been prepared for a scolding, gradually brightened.

“Eh? May you? If you don’t mind, Mary, I can teach you anytime. Phew—I thought I was going to be told I wasn’t focusing on my duties. Boris used to say that to me all the time, so now I can only prepare pastries secretly in my room.”

Just what kind of constrained life does Andrea live? It was a good thing she hadn’t taken over Andrea’s body back then. If she were to rule a country, she would definitely be driven mad by the pressure.

“But as the Queen, you should be able to eat the desserts here easily if you want, right, Andrea? Or is making pastries just a hobby?”

“Umm.” As if a sore spot had been poked, Andrea became stammered, her gaze wandering in the air. “The things here are too expensive… If I buy them often… my pocket money won’t be enough…”

“Pocket money? I wanted to say this at the tea party, but isn’t the national treasury your pocket money, Andrea?”

“No, the treasury should be used to build the country. Pocket money is for my own private use.”

Andrea’s serious face made Yisi pause. If she remembered correctly, there was no rule in the Blood Clan that the king could not touch the treasury. The king could use the money in the treasury for whatever they wanted. The finance minister could only advise, not interfere.

In other words, this was a restriction Andrea had placed on herself.

Even though she’s the king, she keeps things so separate? Andrea seemed even more pitiful in Yisi’s eyes.

“So you used your pocket money to host the tea party?”

“Mm… Every year, the royal family buys grain from the Astrid Territory and then sells it to the lords of other territories. The price difference is the profit. Most of it goes into the national treasury, and I keep a small part for my private use. This is all recorded in the financial records, you know? Everyone knows, you know?”

“Let me just ask, how much is your monthly pocket money, Andrea?”

At the council meeting earlier, Andrea had said she would use her own money to support the orphanages, and the monthly expenses for the orphanages were around 500 gold coins. At the time, Yisi had thought Andrea must have a lot of savings. But seeing that she rarely even bought desserts and had been estimating the cost of a broken paving stone earlier, her pocket money might be much less than imagined.

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As if ashamed to be seen, Andrea turned her face to the side, not looking Yisi in the eye, and cautiously held up one finger.

“Ten thousand gold coins?”

She shook her head.

“It’s not a thousand, is it?”

She still shook her head.

“A hundred?”

She nodded.

“Hey, hey, your total pocket money is only a hundred gold coins, yet you want to support the orphanages that need five hundred gold to run?”

Blushing furiously, Andrea defended herself in a small voice. “I-It would be fine if I just secretly had Augustin help me sell off the artifacts in the castle… Although I haven’t done it yet, that’s what I was thinking at the time. It’s only natural to use the treasury’s money to help citizens in need. Everyone at the council was being too unreasonable.”

Is this girl a masochist? Yisi continued to press. “Even so, a hundred gold coins a month shouldn’t be so little that you can’t even afford desserts. Where did that money go, Andrea?”

Like a child who had done something wrong, Andrea quickly lowered her head again and said in a voice so light it was almost inaudible, “It’s used in all sorts of places…”

Even without her saying it, Yisi knew. Andrea definitely wasn’t spending the money on herself.

She was the queen of half the continent, yet she couldn’t even afford the desserts in her own country. What kind of king was this?

Suddenly feeling fire rising in her head, Yisi grabbed Andrea’s wrist with her left hand and wrapped her right arm around Mary and Tiffany.

“Then let’s have a good meal today. It’s on me.”

“B-But the prices here are too expensive. Let’s go somewhere cheaper—”

Facing Andrea’s anxiety, Yisi held up two fingers with a serious expression.

“Although I was just a commoner with no status before I was granted the title of Duchess, there are two things I definitely don’t lack. One I can’t say casually, and the other is money.”

As she spoke, Yisi took out a bag—no, to be precise, a full burlap sack of gold coins from her storage. The amount was so large that it looked as if the gold coins would burst through the bag and spill onto the street at any moment.

“But you are my guest, Lady Yisi. To have a guest pay for things…”

“Master’s decision doesn’t change easily~ Just enjoy the delicious food, Your Majesty.”

“Mm, enjoy it without worry.”

“See, even Mary and Tiffany are saying so. Just go in without worry, my Queen.”

Following behind Mary and Tiffany, Yisi pushed Andrea, who still felt the urge to spend money, and the four of them entered the dessert shop.