When the Female Lead Went Off-Script, the Main Male Lead Became the Tyrant's Empress - Chapter 21.2
Arden attempted to persuade Haster in a tone filled with urgency.
“Don’t tell me you think Clary is leisurely eating snacks without a care in the world. Not at all. She says she needs to catch up, so she considers even tea time a waste and has been reducing her rest periods to study whenever she has a spare moment.”
“She reduced her rest periods?”
Haster knew that she was busy studying, but was she truly working this ferociously?
Arden drove the point home to the visibly surprised Haster.
“Are you planning to disturb a child who works hard without resting even on weekends?”
Haster was considerably shocked.
He had never expected to be scolded by Arden, of all people.
And with words that were entirely reasonable and correct.
At the same time, hearing that Clary, who preferred moving her body, had voluntarily devoted herself to her studies without even complaining made him proud of her.
‘She may appear endlessly frivolous, but she’s a serious child.’
He couldn’t help but admire her.
Although Arden had a childish side to his behavior, he wasn’t a shallow thinker.
The same was true of Clary, whom Haster had regarded as nothing more than a child.
Realizing her own shortcomings and working to improve herself showed considerable responsibility.
“It seems I was being thoughtless. I can seek Clary out later. It isn’t as though I have any urgent business with her.”
Even if he didn’t visit her immediately, he would see her when he introduced her new lady-in-waiting.
That was assuming he first found a suitable young noblewoman.
Arden secretly patted his chest in relief.
He hadn’t lied.
He had merely failed to state the subject and the full truth properly.
Haster was the one who had misunderstood on his own.
‘And this is better for both Clary and me.’
Wasn’t it best when things worked out well?
There was no need to correct him.
“Of course, of course. You shouldn’t disturb her while she’s concentrating. When the time comes, Clary will come and find you on her own.”
“I suppose so.”
Assuming she could.
From the very first day of classes, Clary had persistently thrown tantrums and begged him to reduce her workload.
Arden had snorted and told her she had no chance.
Reducing the workload would also reduce the time she spent on assignments.
If Clary had time left over, there was only one thing she would do.
‘She’ll go running to Father or Haster.’
Since her maternal uncle was impossible to reason with, she would undoubtedly seek out someone else who treated her leniently and complain about her troubles.
Even if that happened, Arden could probably persuade them, but the thought of arguing with them was exhausting, so he had prevented it in advance.
He had only been this lenient because she was his beloved niece.
If she had been someone completely unrelated to him, he would have dealt with her long ago.
“By the way, how is Yse these days? Summer is approaching, so has it grown a little warmer?”
“It is cool during the day, but it is still cold after the sun sets. We must wait until the Summer Solstice Festival for the weather to warm.”
“I see.”
Arden lifted his goblet and wet his lips. After pausing briefly, he spoke.
“What about anything else?”
“What do you mean by anything else?”
“Mm, for example…”
“Do you mean an incident serious enough for me to hand all of Yse’s resources over to the imperial family?”
At Haster’s cutting reply, Arden furrowed his brow.
Seriously, what does he take me for?
Of course, it wasn’t as though he didn’t covet Yse’s resources.
Even before the imperial tour, he had brought up the subject at the banquet and had attempted negotiations several more times afterward.
Because it snowed even in spring, some people mistakenly believed the North to be permanently frozen ground.
Strictly speaking, however, Yse merely had long winters and short summers. Farming was difficult, but it wasn’t a frozen wasteland where no crops could grow.
For more than half the year, winter’s knife-sharp winds viciously clawed the land. However, thanks to the thriving textile and mining industries, the people of the territory could endure the long winter without lacking anything.
Yse was famous for its dairy products, wool, and minerals. In particular, the amount of magic stone it mined was so great that even all the other mines in the country combined couldn’t surpass it.
This had given rise to the joke that people in the North could make a living simply by digging into the ground.
Even with such a high output, Haster released only a fixed quantity.
He had judged that releasing everything onto the market at once could affect prices and destabilize the economy.
To put it differently, it also meant that Haster could move the market.
Given the situation, the imperial family wasn’t pleased with the power held by the Grand Duke.
Unless, of course, they could possess the resources that served as the source of that power themselves.
“What? No. I was only going to ask whether the border defenses were holding up well and whether there were any signs of a Monster Wave.”
“According to the reports, everything has remained normal so far. The number of magic beasts is relatively low. Monster Waves occur around the winter solstice, so there is no chance of one happening for the time being.”
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