--------------- ‌‌‌
Brought to you by ‌‌‌Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------

Chapter 8
* * * ‌‌‌‌
'Could it really be true?'
A week had passed since ‌‌‌the ‌‌‌family council ‌‌meeting.
I was methodically fitting puzzle pieces together while lost in thought, courtesy of Nina.
Beside me lay an abundance of delicious cookies, candies, jellies, and cakes—gifts sent by several naive elderly elders who had hastily believed I was a saintess.
'They were probably just trying to help me back then. I don't possess any holy power anyway.'
I exhaled a short sigh and briefly recalled that day's events.
"Spring comes early. My ability is knowing that it will."
That's exactly what I had said.
I'd simply meant my talent was knowing where to invest, but somehow the atmosphere shifted to 'I'm another saintess who can foresee where spring will arrive.'
'It worked out conveniently. Kyrakses must have orchestrated it.'
But isn't calling me a saintess a massive lie?
My status had skyrocketed from 'albino beastkin' to 'saintess of the Demon Empire,' so at least I needn't fear being cast out, but how am I supposed to manage this....
'Wait, am I the one ‌who has ‌‌to manage it...?'
The moment I was called another saintess, the conference room erupted like a disturbed hornet's nest.
Disbelief, demands that spring's arrival would be proof, accusations that I was lying—all of it.
But spring truly would come.
'So... am I becoming a false saintess now?'
If you're going to stage such a performance, at least explain it to me beforehand! ‌‌I thought they'd explain after the meeting ended, but they just vanished!
Crack. Frustration surged through me, and I gripped the puzzle so hard ‌‌‌it snapped in half. ‌‌
"Ugh."
"You're quite strong, Florin. Did the puzzle bore you?"
"No, I'm just frustrated...."
"I see. With so much snow falling today, being confined to your bedroom must have felt suffocating. Shall I play with you?"
"It's fine, Nina. You must be busy."
I shook my head maturely.
Of course, playing tag and ‌‌‌hide-and-seek with ‌‌Nina was incredibly fun... but she must be busy, so I shouldn't get in her ‌‌‌way.
As it turned out, Nina was Kyrakses's only ‌‌‌maid. When I first learned this fact, I thought Kyrakses was truly terrible for dumping all the work on one person, but after hearing the ‌full story, I was impressed.
'He actually captured an assassin sent to kill him and forcibly bound her with a ten-year servitude contract spell....'
...I definitely need to ask him to teach me that magic later!
This was how I was finding ways to adapt to ‌‌life in an evil family. ‌‌
'It's about time the Patriarch reaches out.'
Things have already spiraled so far out of control that there's no opportunity to back out.
Having resigned myself to accepting whatever comes, I pushed the puzzle aside and grabbed a crayon. Unlike pastels, crayons didn't stick ‌‌‌to my white fur as easily, making them perfect for playing ‌‌‌‌with.
'Let me organize my goals.'
I earnestly drew a crown shape on the ‌‌‌sketchbook Nina had given me. This was my conclusion.
'Since things have come to this, I might as well try being a fake saintess and daughter-in-law!'
I don't know who my husband will be, but he'll be one of those characters from the novel, surely.
Of course, by the novel's second half, my husband will also fall head over heels for Rahyun and become infatuated. That's just how the story goes.
'As long as I don't love ‌‌‌my husband, that's irrelevant—but I can't have the Driblyane house collapse over a love triangle.'
After all, if this family falls, I'll end up on the streets along with it as the lady of the house.
'So then... I'll build ‍‌my own power base completely independent ‌of my husband, and I'll be the one supporting the family.'
And if my husband gets stabbed to death somewhere along the way?
'Then I'll just become ‌‌a Duke myself.'
I chuckled darkly to myself.
'But it ‌‌‌would be better to eliminate the very reason this novel had to become ‌‌such a tragic mess in the first place.'
After all, I never know where variables might pop up from.
I pulled a pink crayon from an elongated box and drew three hearts. These hearts represented the male protagonists from ‌‌the latter half of the novel. ‌‌
Of these three, only Dante was a direct heir to this family. The other two were not.
Gerd was a distant branch with blood from the Richenbaum Royal Family. Yuri was the youngest son of Ariadne, who carried the blood of the Demon Empire's imperial family.
'All three of them carry deep wounds from childhood. And they'll fall helplessly for Rahyun, ‌‌who understands and empathizes with those wounds.'
It was a clichéd salvation trope.
'What if I intercept that salvation cliché before Rahyun does?'
Then wouldn't Rahyun's influence diminish somewhat?
This time I pulled out a red crayon and wrote down numbers. These were the concrete goals for my life going forward.
"This ‌‌‌is perfect."
Looking at my crooked handwriting, I grinned. Then I reached out and devoured a piece of brownie with unladylike haste.
I didn't even bother licking the chocolate off my fingers.
'If this is how ‌they treat a saintess... then I'll keep pretending to be one!'
Intoxicated by the exquisite taste, I sprawled out on my back, my belly protruding shamelessly.
"Is Florin present?"
That was when it came—the summons from Grandfather Patriarch that I'd been waiting for.
I tossed the crayons aside and leapt to my feet, clenching ‌‌‌‌my chestnut-colored hands as ‌‌‌I bolted from the room.
"I'm here!!!"
Let's go! Time to sell off Holy Empire ‌intelligence! ‌‌‌
* * *
"Look at this! New shoots have sprouted!"
"Truly, truly spring has come. Exactly where Florin pointed out!"
"This is ‌‌‌‌the proof, Patriarch!"
"Could it be that ‌‌a saintess has truly been born in our Demon Empire, just as the young Patriarch said?"
The private conference room attached to the Patriarch's chambers.
The heat in this place right now was extraordinary.
Amid ‌‌‌‌the excited cries ‌of his retainers, the Patriarch Emmanuel Guillaume Driblyane stared intently at the landscape within the scrying stone. More precisely, at the sprouted shoots and budding branches that the stone revealed. The evidence of spring.
About a week ago, he had purchased Luxoria County—not just a plot of land, but the entire territory. And this was the result of that investment.
"Patriarch!"
Soon the door opened, and a white Marten appeared, carefully presented in a basket by the butler.
Emmanuel, who had been staring intently at the creature placed on the table, suddenly barked orders to those around him.
"Why haven't you laid out a red carpet at once!"
The Driblyane operated on a strict meritocratic system. Even the successors were bound by this law without exception.
The basic allowance ‌‌and maintenance stipend were ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌meager at best, and ‌‌‌‌‌performance bonuses were granted only upon ‌‌‌achieving political or social results.
'I knew that much.'
Yet experiencing it so tangibly was another matter entirely.
The carpet woven from ‌‌‌silk was so impossibly soft that one misstep would send me sliding across it. The fact that such luxury had been laid solely for me meant one thing and one thing only.
They recognized my abilities!
The advantage of a villainous house was that so long as one brought profit, they turned a ‌‌blind eye to trivial matters like origin.
The Holy Empire was the type to nitpick ‌‌‌and scrutinize every detail.
The Holy Empire valued honor, ‌bloodline, nobility, and refinement above all else. The Demon Empire, however, did not.
Money reigned supreme!
"Child, what is your name?"
"I'm Florin."
"Florin, then. I shall remember your name henceforth."
A moment later.
I sat confidently before the Patriarch, sipping honey-sweetened milk. Burying my face in the oversized ‌‌‌‌cup and lapping at it wasn't the most graceful endeavor, but the intoxicating aroma of honey was far too tempting to resist.
"Hmm, yes. Being an albino, humanization ‌‌‌‌would prove difficult. I shall ‌‌have custom tableware and cups crafted to suit your needs."
"Thank you very much."
"Hehehehe, ‌‌‌no need for such formality. I see now—you're quite the treasure!"
"Hehe, well then I won't refuse... and a dining ‌‌‌table too, please! Make it beautiful and sparkly!"
Why would I refuse when he was offering? Better to receive more than less.
I ‌‌‌‌was certain that the items the Patriarch himself would 'craft' for ‌‌‌me could never be cheap trinkets. They would undoubtedly be miniatures of such artistic merit ‌‌that they belonged in a museum.
I grinned widely and pressed my soft cheek against the cup—a deliberate gesture for all those gathered here to witness.

---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------