IYAMD 137
With just half a month left before the marriage, a heavy snowfall fell upon the capital of Arhen. From early in the morning, Marsilia summoned his ministers, while Jaha climbed onto the roof of the royal palace after the sun had risen.
As the snow began to subside, the pale winter sun made its appearance after several days. Jaha looked down at the city, seemingly buried in white snow, and murmured in admiration. Despite the heavy snow, the reason he could feel so at ease was because most of the buildings in the capital were sturdy stone houses.
If this were the Eastern Continent, he would have already seen houses with collapsed roofs, but the houses of the Western Continent appeared unaffected. As the sun began to rise, shadows of people started to appear in the distance. It seemed that they were beginning to clear the snow that had accumulated up to the waist of an adult.
After confirming the situation from afar, Jaha swiftly moved toward the window of the conference room where the meeting was taking place.
“Oh my, you startled me,” Serez exclaimed dramatically as a winter breeze rushed in the moment Jaha opened the window.
“Why do you keep using the window when there’s a perfectly good door? Huh?”
“Because it’s closer,” Jaha replied, shaking the snow off his shoes before entering. The ministers’ attention immediately turned to him. He exchanged brief greetings with them before approaching the seat where Marsilia was sitting.
“The sun’s out. It seems like people are starting to clear the snow, huh?”
Upon hearing this, Marsilia turned to Serez and commanded, “Tell the capital guards and the royal guards to send their teams. The Black Knights and the Crimson Knights will handle the snow in the royal palace, so make sure nothing is left behind. Send a few mages as well.”
With the use of communication stones, several mages had started to reside in the royal palace. Marsilia, who couldn’t stand seeing the mages idle, often called them for various tasks.
“Make sure to allocate personnel wisely so there’s no disruption in communications with other regions,” he added.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Serez responded.
“They say there will be more heavy snowfall for the next week. This is troubling,” Marsilia remarked.
“Indeed, Your Majesty. I’m worried that the heating system might face issues because of the heavy snow,” Serez replied.
“I heard that the Mage Tower can create artifacts. Is it still too early to make it commercially available?”
Marsilia, having learned that the mages were using heat-producing artifacts, had requested for improvements to make them ready for mass production.
“There’s a shortage of materials and budget. On that note, I plan to significantly increase the budget for the Magic Department next year.”
Since it was a newly established department, there was no budget allocated for this year. Although Marsilia distributed funds from his personal assets, it seemed that a considerable amount of money was required to develop magic tools.
After explaining the necessity of the Magic Department’s budget to the ministers, Marsilia concluded the conversation with a plan to allocate an appropriate amount.
Once the meeting was over and the ministers had left, Marsilia sighed and grumbled, “Most of the materials needed for the Mage Tower are minerals, but there’s too little mining. I’ll need to focus on mining development next year… but I worry that the greedy nobles might do something strange.”
“Who owns the mines if they are discovered?” Jaha asked.
“Typically, the lord of the territory either develops it directly or commissions a developer and receives a commission. If the lord develops it, it belongs to the lord, but if a developer does it, the developer owns it and pays a commission to the lord.”
“What’s the commission rate?”
“It varies depending on what is mined, but usually it’s about 10% of the sales.”
“Can the imperial family get involved?”
“Well, if it’s state-owned land, it’s possible, but usually, the development rights are auctioned off, and once it’s developed, they collect a commission as well as taxes.”
“Is development rights different from ownership?”
“Yes, if you buy development rights, the mine belongs to the imperial family.”
“Isn’t that a loss for the developers?”
Marsilia raised an eyebrow at Jaha’s question.
“Not really. Most people who buy development rights are merchants or newly ennobled merchants. That means their territories are small or almost non-existent. Also, they don’t just develop one mine; different regions have different types of ore and amounts, so there’s a huge difference in the revenue. In fact, it’s better for someone with several development rights.”
Jaha sighed deeply.
“This is really complicated. How do you know all this?”
“I studied it since I was young. You’re working hard these days, so soon you’ll start to understand the general flow. Keep going, Jaha.”
“Yeah. But honestly, talking to you is easier to understand than the lessons.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, the teachers use so many difficult words that I can’t even understand half of it. I wish you were my teacher.”
At Jaha’s words, Marsilia burst into laughter.
“If you’re curious about anything, just ask anytime. I’ll tell you anything I know.”
“Okay.”
Marsilia stood up from his chair and reached out his hand to Jaha. He pulled Jaha’s hand and pressed it against his side before heading toward his office.
“You’re seeing the palace physician today, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Has your condition changed at all?”
“No.”
It had been almost two months since he returned from the monster hunt. He wanted to know if he had conceived by now, so he had requested a check-up with the palace physician. Last night’s dream had also been unsettling.
In the dream, he met Jaryeon. The last time he had seen her was when she was six years old.
He felt a pang in his heart as he realized that he didn’t know how she had grown. He quietly stroked the little child’s head, which reached his waist, and Jaryeon handed him a peach.
“Father and Mother told me to give this to you. They said you’d need it.”
Jaryeon, who had grown taller, was now at Jaha’s chin. She pressed the peach into his hand and gave him the same sweet smile she had when she was young.
On the Eastern Continent, such dreams were conception dreams. That was why Jaha had requested the check-up as soon as he woke up.
“Don’t get your hopes up too high.”
Marsilia said, as if to reassure himself. He exhaled a long breath and looked back at Jaha.
“I just hope you’re not too disappointed.”
The words seemed to be directed at himself, too. Jaha looked up at him and quietly squinted his eyes.
“I just want to be careful. I shouldn’t train too hard without knowing if I’m pregnant.”
Marsilia smiled awkwardly and continued walking. He changed the topic nonchalantly and soon conveyed Marquis Pablo’s greetings.
“Marquis Pablo has become the third Sword Master.”
“Really?”
“It seems the communication came in this morning.”
After the autumn festival, Marquis Pablo had wanted to focus entirely on his training, so he had gone to his estate. He had entrusted the duties of the commander to Darren and taken a break over the winter. Now, it seemed he had finally become a Sword Master.
“General Des seems like he’s about to surpass his limits soon.”
Lately, Jaha had been helping General Des with his training. Whenever he had free time, he sparred with him or practiced with other knights. The knights’ skills had noticeably improved, which made him proud.
Marsilia, hearing this, turned to Jaha and smiled slightly.
“I think meeting you is the greatest luck of my life.”
He cleared his throat awkwardly and continued with a dignified expression.
“I’m really glad you’re my partner. I sincerely thank the Goddess for choosing you as mine.”
Jaha’s face flushed slightly, as if Marsilia’s bashfulness had been contagious. Marsilia kissed Jaha’s reddened cheek, then gazed at his face and examined him.
“And you?”
His face was filled with confidence, unlike the careful way he asked. Still, he couldn’t hold back and urged Jaha to answer.
“I hope you feel the same way as I do.”
Before Marsilia finished speaking, Jaha raised his heels. After pressing a quick kiss on his lips, he leaned his upper body against Marsilia’s chest and smiled mischievously.
“What do you think my answer is?”
He let out a sigh and playfully looked away from Jaha.
“You’ve gotten quite cheeky lately.”
“It’s because I watch what you do so often. On the Eastern Continent, they say couples start to resemble each other. Living together makes you look alike.”
A deep smile formed on Marsilia’s lips. This man seemed happiest when Jaha referred to them as a couple.
“I’m also grateful that I found my destiny with you. If I hadn’t met you, I would have been a corpse abandoned in the middle of some field.”
Had he not met Marsilia, Jaha would likely have died while waiting for his death sentence, unable to regain his sanity. Without Marsilia, even if he were executed, he would have accepted it without hesitation.
“Before I met you, I was completely empty. I barely moved and lived with nothing but a hollow shell.”
Jaha wrapped his arms around Marsilia’s broad shoulders and buried his head in his solid chest.
“Now you fill me completely, Mar. I don’t feel empty anymore.”
Marsilia pulled Jaha into an embrace and rested his face against his. He gently stroked Jaha’s back and then quietly chuckled, whispering in his ear.
“I know that’s not what you meant, but what you just said… it was really… tempting, you know?”
“What do you mean?”
“When you said I fill you up.”
At first, Jaha didn’t understand what he meant. But as soon as he realized the implication, his face turned bright red.
Jaha quickly pushed Marsilia away, then kicked his shin hard.
“Ouch.”
Jaha stood still, glaring at the man who was holding back his pain. After staring at him for a while, Jaha grumbled and walked away. A few moments later, the sound of limping footsteps could be heard from behind.
“Jaha, wait. Are you angry?”
“Don’t follow me, you fool. You perverted lecher.”
“It was a joke, Jaha, Jaha? Wait!”
In the hallway, where the faint winter sunlight shone, the officials quietly lowered their eyes as they watched the emperor limping behind his partner.
Despite the lack of decorum, the man following his partner had a smile on his face. The expression of the partner, who appeared to be walking angrily, didn’t look that fierce, so the officials’ faces didn’t appear too serious either.
However, if the emperor’s aide had seen this scene, he might have remarked aloud to others:
“Please do your flirting where no one can see.”
< The End >
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