Unshakable Priority
The Empress greeted Canna with genuine delight.
“Duchess, you’ve arrived?”
“Come in, come in. Sit down and have some tea with me.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
The Empress was in an exceptionally good mood. It was only natural.
At last, I’ve removed that irritating Cassil.
A short while ago, Cassil had been publicly executed before the nobles—his left wrist severed. And just yesterday, he had been exiled under the pretext of recuperation. Even if he returned, he would never again strut about with the same arrogance. The Emperor, too, would find it difficult to lavish him with open affection as before.
Some of the credit goes to the Duchess of Valentino.
Canna Valentino was a truly delightful woman. She had brought medicine to soothe the Empress’s itching, and more besides.
“Amelia has nearly fully recovered.”
The Empress admitted it without hesitation.
“There are no visible problems anymore. It’s all thanks to you, Duchess.”
“It is entirely due to Your Majesty’s generous support.”
“My, how modest you are.”
She could have acted arrogant or made demands, yet Canna never did.
Yes, I’ve always been blessed with good fortune when it comes to the people around me.
She had truly found an excellent talent. Satisfied with her own luck, the Empress smiled.
“Your Majesty, I have brought a newly formulated medicine this time.”
The Empress gestured with deliberate nonchalance.
How long she had waited for these vials! She gazed at the long row of bottles with greedy eyes and smiled.
“I shall make good use of them.”
“It is my honor.”
The moment Canna bowed her head in greeting—
Hmm. What a pleasant scent indeed.
The sweet fragrance brushing the tip of her nose made the corners of her mouth lift. The perfume the Empress had used before was so captivating that it stole one’s senses every time.
Moreover, unlike ordinary perfumes, its scent lasted an exceptionally long time.
It was on an entirely different level. Perhaps she had liked it too much, because she had used it up far too quickly. Just as she was beginning to miss it, the fragrance wafted past again, stirring fresh greed. And the Empress was a woman who had never once restrained her desires in her entire life.
“About that perfume—the one you gave me last time.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“It was superb. I liked it immensely.”
In the end, it was a request for more. Canna bowed politely.
“If I may offer it as a gift to Your Majesty, it would be my greatest honor.”
After her audience with the Empress, Canna went to see Amelia.
“If we observe for a few more weeks and there are no signs of recurrence, we may declare a complete cure.”
“Truly?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Amelia’s eyes filled with joyful tears.
“Thank you so much. I will never forget this kindness, Duchess. Or rather… may I call you Canna?”
“Of course.”
Once her duties were finished, Canna returned home.
It’s been such a long time since I last went out.
She had left the house for the first time in ages to meet the Empress and Amelia.
After Cassil’s public execution, the empire had been in an uproar. She had chosen to remain in seclusion for the time being. Until the commotion died down, she needed to lie low.
Father is still in Venecia.
Even after it was confirmed that the sailors had not been infected by the Black Fog, he had not yet returned.
When Father returns, should I ask him about the letter?
Perhaps it would be wiser to let the matter pass.
If it wasn’t something he did, I’ll only end up raising needless suspicion.
Canna pondered carefully.
Through this brush with death, she had realized one thing with painful clarity.
I must live with even sharper vigilance than before.
She was not Juhwa.
Perhaps—no, almost certainly—she would live as Canna forever. Therefore, she had to calculate every single move with meticulous care.
The problem is that my desires refuse to align with one another.
Canna wanted to divorce her cold husband, Sylvien.
She wanted to separate from the Addis family.
At the same time, she wanted enough power that no one would dare oppress her.
Yet ironically, both the Valentino and Addis families had become shields that protected her in moments of crisis.
That doesn’t mean I can live the rest of my life suppressed by them. I’m utterly sick of both Valentino and Addis.
Canna scribbled her priorities across the parchment.
Desire Rank 1. Divorce / Family Separation (This is the unshakable top priority!)
Desire Rank 2. Power (Enough that bastards like Cassil wouldn’t dare touch me!)
She decided not to dwell on the smaller wishes for now. This was the time for selection and focus.
No matter how appealing power may be, I cannot give up divorce and separation.
It was her unshakable number one. She had even marked it with two stars.
Divorce and separation were the means to her happiness.
One could not abandon happiness.
Therefore, the only option is to build power comparable to that of Valentino and Addis.
She refused to consider whether it was even possible.
If it was absolutely necessary, she would do it even if it seemed impossible. If she ran hard enough, she might not reach the exact destination, but she would at least come close.
So until the moment she achieved her first desire, she would rack her brains without mercy. She would wring everything she could from the Addis and Valentino families.
But what if Father refuses to permit the divorce until the very end?
If she had to live her entire life under her mother-in-law’s abuse and her husband’s indifference—
“Damn it. How horrible.”
Canna swore aloud. Just thinking about it made her skin crawl.
Rather than rot away in misery until death, she would rather throw everything away and flee to the mountains.
Perhaps, like the story she had once told her father, living in a quiet coastal village in another country wouldn’t be so bad.
…It actually sounds feasible.
The more she considered it, the more plausible it seemed.
Rather than living in wretchedness, discarding everything and starting anew in a place where no one knew her might be better.
Yes. Let’s do that instead. I’ll go to the Yalden Kingdom. They say women’s rights are far stronger there than in the Aslan Empire.
But that was the final resort.
Forging a new identity and settling alone in a foreign land would not be easy.
If things go wrong, I could end up even more miserable than I am now.
After all, the Western Continent was a strictly hierarchical society. Personal strength alone had its limits.
Besides, she possessed black hair—the symbol of ill omen—which placed one extra shackle upon her.
For now—though she hated to admit it—the names Valentino and Addis sometimes shielded her.
But if she lived in another country under a false identity and encountered someone like Cassil?
There would be no escape.
Therefore, the best scenario was to obtain a safe divorce and a clean separation here.
And before that, I must absolutely establish my own foundation.
A divorced noblewoman in the Aslan Empire plummeted in status overnight.
She would become the subject of gossip wherever she went, but if she possessed money, fame, and power, the story would be different.
Fortunately, Canna had excellent seeds in the Empress and Amelia.
Moreover, my reputation seems to have improved slightly.
Canna glanced down at today’s newspaper.
Eastern Continent Trade Sailors’ Chronic Disease Finally Cured!
…Surprisingly, the physician who cured this illness is said to be the Duchess of the great noble Valentino family…
She was confident she could continue building her reputation in the medical field. However—
Money is the problem.
Although she received funds under the pretext of caring for Lucy, it was barely more than the monthly allowance given to a noble young lady.
I need to earn a great deal of money, especially in case I must purchase a new identity and flee later.
Fortunately, she had several good ideas for making money.
One of them was perfume.
The scents used in this world were overly simplistic. They merely diluted extracts from plants or blended similar floral notes. As a result, everything smelled like obvious flower fragrances.
But in Juhwa’s world, perfumes expressed every kind of atmosphere, emotion, place, and time in rich variety.
To someone who had used and created such scents, the perfumes of this world seemed unbearably crude.
The Empress must have felt the same.
The perfume she had gifted the Empress was a blend of freesia, magnolia, lily of the valley, rose, and Virginia fragrance. The moment one inhaled it, the image of flower petals dancing in a spring breeze arose, carrying a subtle freshness and gentle sweetness.
After experiencing a scent like that, she’ll never be satisfied with the ordinary floral perfumes here.
Moreover, while perfumes of this era lost their scent quickly, Canna knew ingredients that could suppress evaporation.
Adding orris root or tree resin will make the fragrance last much longer.
Unlike the simple floral scents of the past, these perfumes would offer complex layers and enduring longevity.
Once sales began, they would fly off the shelves. Furthermore, in this era, perfume was an extremely expensive luxury item that only nobles could afford.
If these perfumes were sold not only throughout the Aslan Empire but to nobles across the entire Western Continent…
It would be a fortune.
She was confident they would be a continental hit.
The problem was distribution. There were not many merchant guilds capable of selling across the entire Western Continent.
The Mercy Trading Company of the Marquis of Mercy, the Debor Trading Company belonging to Count Raspello and Sylvien, and—
The Addis Trading Company.
Those were the only guilds with networks that reached the ends of the Western Continent.
Mercy is the Empress’s maternal family, so that’s out.
She had no intention of pouring everything into the Empress’s lap. Putting all one’s eggs in a single basket was foolish.
And the Debor Company focuses solely on Eastern Continent goods, so it’s unsuitable. Besides, I don’t want to get entangled with Sylvien any further.
That left only Addis.
Canna realized it was time to change her strategy.
Until I separate from the family, I must use everything available to me.
Yes. He had definitely said those words.
The corners of Canna’s mouth curved upward.
Fine. I’ll grant your wish, Kallen.
It was time to make use of Kallen Addis.