“Princess. Stop crying, calm down. Hmm?”

Laslo was so fl.u.s.tered and didn't know what to do.

He kept wiping away the tears running down her cheeks.

“I don't, I don't want to die. I, sniff, how did I last this long? Until today, what kind of, heu-ung, life have I been living, hic, what kind of life…”

She felt wronged and angry.

When Sebastian finally killed Vivian, when he kissed Vivian's pale forehead and covered the coffin, when Chavolti fell and became crippled.

She had decided to give up a lot of things.

That way she could live, she believed.

Agnes raised her wet cheeks and faced him.

“I don't know how. What should I do?”

“How to…?”

“How to save you.”

“What are you talking about? I'll keep myself safe, so there's no need for the princess to worry about it.”

He sighed and patted Agnes softly on the back.

His warm and kind touch brought back the tears that had barely stopped flowing.

“You're going to die. Because of me. Because of me…”

“I won't die. I won't die because of you.”

Laslo gently cupped her cheeks.

“I wish I could have been a little more capable. I wish I were smarter, I wish I were more knowledgeable.”

Maybe that way I could have saved you.

The words she couldn't utter stuck in her throat.

“Princess, you're fine just the way you are now. You received a lot of education at the palace, right?

“All I've learned is the completely useless ways of kings.h.i.+p.”

Would it have been better if she had studied something else during the time she learnt about sovereignty, which she never had any use for? She even felt a sense of shame.

“What's wrong with that? It's useful.”

Laslo said in a nonchalant way.

“Why the heck would it be useful for me? Unless you are the king, there's no…”

Agnes raised her voice in an attempt to prove his words wrong.

When a thought struck her.

“Right, it's useless unless you become crowned ruler.”

She repeated the same sentence several times over as if possessed.

What if I take the throne? What if I strike Sebastian first, before he strikes Sutmar? What if I kill Sebastian first, before he kills me? That way, me and Laslo can live, as well as our child, who might be born someday.

“Princess?”

Laslo called Agnes who was blankly blinking her eyes.

If she had not gone through that terrible past, she would not even have dared to think such thoughts. She had abandoned her desire for the throne early on.

“Duke Alpharde.”

“Yeah?”

Fortunately, the possibility was not non-existent.

Agnes vaguely knew the outline of what would happen in the next three years. If she used it well…

“I will make sure of it.”

She lifted her head and stared at him. Her wet eyes turned firm.

“I will protect you.”

“From what?”

Due to the serious atmosphere, Laslo's face also became serious.

“From the world.”

From the world trying to kill you and me.

If the result was death, even though she had stayed low and held her breath, then this time she wouldn't stay dormant.

Agnes decided at that moment.

She will kill Sebastian and rise to the throne.

“Sigh…”

“Is there something bothering you?”

Niall had arrived and now stood beside her with a pile of papers in his hands.

Agnes then straightened her bent back and stretched her body.

“How in the world did you get by with this amount of money until now?”

She rummaged through the ledgers repeatedly.

No matter how much she looked through the meticulously recorded revenues and expenditures, she could only sigh.

Repeated bad harvests, citizens emigrating and the need of re-armament due to the frequent attacks from monsters.

With all these three things combined, the situation in the duchy was getting worse.

It was amazing that they were still holding on.

“To be honest, we're almost hitting the limit. I'm not sure how much longer we'll be able to hold out.”

“The copper mine…”

“It's completely dry.”

Niall replied grimly to her question filled with a small hope.

The Alpharde family had not been this poor from the beginning,

However, after decades of both natural and human disasters, they had slowly been on the decline.

“Is there no other means?”

To stage a coup, both money and a justified reason would be essential.

Although she didn't require a reason right now, money was desperately needed.

She churned it over in her head, but couldn't think of a good solution and groaned.

Regardless of how much she knew of the future, it would all be worthless if she didn't know how to use it.

“Like the merchant who came by this morning, why don't we mix some herbs with wheat flour and sell it as longevity medicine.”

Niall also felt hopeless and mentioned it like a joke, which was unbecoming of him.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, some herbalist came by this morning and claimed to have created an effective elixir of youth(1). I asked them to bring it out, and they just mixed some herbs with flour, and thus were kicked out.”

Oh, what a strange fraudster to stir up such a commotion.

Agnes laughed and stopped talking for a moment.

Elixir of youth? Where and when had she heard that before?

Agnes realised why it sounded so familiar only after a while. Niall glanced at Agnes, who was strangely silent.

“Mistress?”

“Ah!”

“Is there something wrong?”

“That, That person!”

Agnes jumped up from her seat. She was so excited that she could barely speak.

“Yes?”

“Bring them back here immediately!”

“Oh, I have already rebuked them from doing such things again. There's no need for Mistress to…”

“No, I'm not going to reprimand them. I want to have a face-to-face conversation with that person, so bring them here courteously.”

“You mean right now?”

“Now. Immediately!”

“Seeing as to how adamant Agnes were, Niall ended up nodding several times unconsciously.”

“I will go bring them now.”

“With very, very good manners.”

“Yes.”

Agnes walked restlessly around the room as she couldn't stay still. The elixir of youth. It wasn't an absurd medicine that could make you immortal of course.

There were no such effects from the elixir at all. However, the reason it had become renowned nationwide was due to its unexpected effects of brightening the skin as well as reducing blemishes after a month of continuous usage.

Thanks to these revolutionary results, it managed to not only gain enormous popularity in Niršeg but also with the aristocratic ladies in neighbouring countries.

The count who had originally distributed the medicine first, quickly became rich.

As the concoction became famous, the story of the herbalist who created it also spread. It was said that the herbalist had called it ‘Elixir of Youth'.

People would make fun of it and say that they were earning more money than if they had truly sold a cure for mortality.

Agnes, who resided by the outskirts in the west, learnt of its existence much later. It was only after the queen had sent it in a letter to her.

The queen had actively recommended it to her, so Agnes gave in and tried it for a month. She remembered how astonished she was at the effects, of which she had been doubting.

‘If this person really is the herbalist who created that…'

As time pa.s.sed, her excitement subsided. Nothing is for sure yet.

The herbalist who came to the castle may not be the one who made the medicine at that time. However the expectations did not fade.

It was when Agnes was anxiously circling around the parlour.

“Mistress.”

It was the first time in her life that she heard Niall's voice sounding so welcoming. Agnes steadied her trembling voice.

“Are they with you?”

“Yes.”

“Do come in.”

A person wearing a dirty rat-coloured cloak walked in beside Niall.

Agnes offered the seat in front of her with a smile.

“I hope I didn't trouble you by bringing you here. Come on, sit down.”

The herbalist looked around the room, unable to hide their nervousness, and then knelt in front of Agnes.

“Fo- forgive me, Madame! I have sinned and deserve to die.”

The voice of the herbalist sounded a lot younger and higher than from what Agnes had expected.

She hastily motioned for the kneeling person to stand up.

“Where have you wronged me? Stop kneeling and get up.”

“If, if it is about earlier… I will never talk nonsense about having made an effective elixir of youth again. Please forgive me just once, Madam.”

“I didn't call you here to punish you.”

Looking at how low they were on their knees begging and trembling like a maid caught stealing the princess's jewellery.

Agnes talked to the herbalist with great compa.s.sion in her voice, and finally managed to persuade them to sit down.

“You may leave us.”

It wasn't until Niall had left that Agnes was able to start conversing earnestly.

“Why don't you take off your cloak?”

“Ah, yes, Madam.”

The startled herbalist took off the cloak they were wearing.

Their appearance was one that matched their voice. A young woman around Agnes' age who had yet to reach adulthood. She seemed normal, but what stood out was her too pale complexion that was unusual for a commoner.

She fiddled with her hands and glanced at Agnes.

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