Chapter 26: CH 26

(3rd Person POV)

Meanwhile, at the Empress’s Palace, Madame Rochester and the other maids were both surprised and disappointed about Anastasia’s early arrival home.

Originally, Anastasia was famous for being like an indomitable spirit*, guarding the party hall until dawn.

(T/N: *지박령 = a ghost that stays at one place.)

She had returned to the Empress Palace after spending only two or three hours away.

“We had dressed you up very splendidly, so you should have stayed a little while longer….”

“I agree with her, Your Majesty. You could spend your time dancing with his Majesty the Emperor for example….”

“Having a drink or two…..”

Anastasia suddenly asked the maids who were sad and exchanged their opinions one at a time.

“Did I dance with His Majesty the Emperor last year?”

“No….”

“See. So then what were you guys expecting?”

“But everything is different now than before. That’s why we can’t help but look forward to this…”

“……..”

“Don’t you like His Majesty the Emperor?”

Not possible.

Anastasia bit the soft flesh on the inside of her lips at what she was hearing from the maids.

‘Does Wilhelm also thought the same as these maids?’

She questioned herself suddenly, but just as fast, she immediately shook her head.

His roundabout relationship with the former Anastasia was on the verge of collapse. Even now, he does not treat her kindly.

‘So there’s no reason for him to feel that way.’

‘Above all else, he is the Emperor. Does a person in that kind of position have anything to feel sorry for?’

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

Anastasia quickly ended the conversation.

“I need to rest now. I still have something to do for tomorrow’s preparation.”

Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.

‘The words said earlier are not empty words. I will need to prepare for the second auction starting tomorrow.’

Because of Anastasia’s determination, the maids couldn’t say any more and helped Anastasia get ready for bed.

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

(Anastasia’s 3rd Person POV)

The next day, Anastasia promptly started the preparation for the second auction.

The first thing on her list was to sell the tickets for the auction.

“This time, we’re going to invite and proceed with only thirty nobles to this auction.”

Even the ten ladies, who were able to attend the first auction for free thanks to their close relationship with Anastasia, will have to buy tickets to attend the auction this time around.

It was Anastasia’s own efforts to be fair in inviting the participants.

“What should be the price of a ticket?”

“Well…how about 1,000 rosen? Would that be too expensive?”

“Well….”

Anastasia thought for a moment before replying back.

“It’s too low. Let’s go for 10,000 rosen a ticket.”

“Huh? Wouldn’t that be too expensive, Your Majesty?”

Madame Rochester expressed her concerns, but Anastasia was adamant.

“It will be okay. Please proceed as I directed.”

In the last auction, the combined total biddings from the participants was for a total of 3 million rosen.

So 10,000 rosen will be worth the price.

“Even if I were to set the price of a ticket at 10,000 rosen a ticket, there would still be a lot of nobles who would want to purchase a ticket.”

“Really?”

“Yes. because this is not just a normal auction. It will be their only chance to buy something from this coveted collection as most noble ladies couldn’t easily buy it because of the law in Rosenberg.”

Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.

Anastasia spoke confidently to become mortified with the words coming out of her.

“…I didn’t know that I was capable of saying something like this with my own mouth.”

‘But it is not a lie. I am merely stating facts.’

If they were to factor in Anastasia’s influence, one could consider the 10,000 rosen not high enough.

‘It’s sad to admit but if Evelyn shows up and I’m deposed after a year’s time, the price of the collection will rise exponentially.’

Just as the value of a work of art jumps when its creator dies.

‘The misfortune of the Empress who was deposed due to the goddess’ mistake. It’s a narrative that will have everyone talking for years.’

However, that information was not yet available to the public as of right now.

“Oh that’s right! Come to think of it, Your Majesty’s words are correct. This would be a highly sought after opportunity for the noblewomen of Rosenberg. They have always wanted something from Your Majesty’s collection, which I think is a bit too under-represented. Shall we raise the price a little more?”

…Hearing what she just said from another person’s mouth doubled her embarrassment.

Anastasia laughed awkwardly and said.

“There’s no need for that now. Raising the price too high in the beginning would not be a good strategy. For now, we’ll set it at 10,000 rosen.”

“All right.”

Madame Rochester voiced her agreement and withdrew. Anastasia smiled pleasantly inside the office.

‘I just have a feeling that it is going to go well.’

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

(Wilhelm’s 3rd Person POV)

Wilhelm woke up around 6am that day, and attended the usual government affairs that lasted for about two hours. It was then followed by a meeting at 9 o’clock.

When the meeting ended just before 11 o’clock, he felt more fatigued than usual.

“Let’s skip the luncheon. I need to sleep for a while.”

“Your Majesty, how many times have I told you that skipping meals is bad for your health.”

[pr/n: TELL ‘EM COLTON…but on the other hand sleep is also life so I mean…]

On the way back to the Central Palace, Colton followed Wilhelm while nagging in a displeased tone.

“If you don’t want to be quickly embraced by the goddess, you need to take better care of yourself. I will ask the kitchen to prepare a light snack for you to eat after you wake up.”

“Yes, do that.”

It was then that he had passed by the Empress Palace.

Wilhelm had an unreadable expression on his face as he was walking, suddenly stopping without realizing it. He stared at the strange sight before him.

Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.

As a result, Colton and other attendants had to stop all together.

Wilhelm asked, while frowning.

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“…What is that?”

“Well…”

In front of them, there was a long line of people waiting in front of the Empress Palace. At a glance, it seemed that there were more than 100 people in line.

Although they were all sweating profusely in the hot weather, the people in line didn’t even think about leaving their spot.

When Colton looked at what Wilhelmn was pointing at, he was reminded of the time when the nobles came to look for Wilhelm. He was unusually late for the governance meeting, which he was devastated with worry.

“What’s happening at the Empress’s Palace?”

“Wait I think….Ah!”

Suddenly a lightbulb went off in Colton’s mind. He couldn’t believe it came to him so late. 

“Your Majesty, today is that day.”

“That day?”

“Why are you like this. Do you remember what I said a few days ago?”

“….Ah.”

Only then did Wilhelm remember what the fuss was about.

“Is it about the next auction and how a ticket would cost 10,000 rosen?”

“Yes, it seems like today’s the day people are flocking to buy it.”

A few days ago, Wilhelm heard from Colton that Anastasia was up to something again .

“It was not officially announced by the Empress, but there were rumours circulating within society about it. Her Majesty the Empress will be selling tickets to the next auction for 10,000 rosen.”

At that time, Wilhelm thought that only an idiot would only pay 10,000 rosen for a ticket to attend an auction.

“It was even on a first come first served basis. It was also mentioned that it will be sold directly at the Empress’s Palace at 11 o’clock today.”

Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.

“Does the Empress lack this much funding? As far as I knew, she had received a lot of spending money from the last auction.”

“She did and she’s not even buying anything in particular these past few weeks… I don’t know why she wants to make more money.”

“I don’t know if I should be ashamed or embarrassed, let alone her. How do you think she would handle the disgrace if no one comes to buy it?”

[pr/n: Ah Wilhelm, Wilhelm…don’t choke on your saliva later.]

He just laughed at it and forgot about it .

“Everyone is definitely crazy.”

Wilhelm shook his head and continued walking.

Still, he was glad that the Empress didn’t disgrace her face. As he thought about it for a moment.

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

(3rd Person POV)

Meanwhile, the maids at the Empress Palace were busily receiving the influx of guests that came at 11 o’clock.

In fact, even before it was 11 o’clock, there were a lot of servants from each family already lining up. Before long, a long line had already formed itself from outside the Empress’s Palace.

“This is the 29th ticket for the auction.”

“Oh yes! Thank you!”

“Okay, this will be the last one as the 30th ticket for the auction.”

“The ticketing for the auction is now officially closed!”

Admission was all sold out before noon.

“Now, please show me the attendee’s request letter and sign here.”

Anastasia asked the servants to have the buyer show a letter representing the attendee and to write the family’s name down before letting the servant receive the ticket. 

It was to prevent the participants from selling the tickets at high prices or hoarding them.

“Congratulations! You got the last ticket.”

“Oh, thank you!”

The servant who received the last ticket to attend the auction, returned with a joyous smile on his face. The remaining servants looked at him with envy.

The maid in charge of distributing the attendance tickets addressed the remaining people in line.

“I hope that next time, the people at the back of the line will come here much earlier next time.

“Excuse me, can you do me a huge favor?”

At that time, the 31st waiting person begged the maid in charge earnestly.

“Please. I’m begging you. My lady asked me to get hold of a ticket…if she found out that I couldn’t get her one, I would be let go!”

“I’m sorry, but we only have 30 copies of the auction ticket.”

Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.

One of the maids shook her head as she felt pity for the other maid.

“Please come back next time.”

In response to the firm answer, the 31st waiting servant had no choice but to return dejectedly and full of anxiety for what’s to come next.

Naturally, the rest of the people who had lined up for the ticket had to return with deep disappointment.

Since they were at the Empress’s Palace, it was impossible for them to dare make a fuss.

The maid looked at them with somewhat pitiful eyes and went  straight back to Anastasia.

“Your Majesty, all the tickets to the auction have been sold out.”

“Already?”

Anastasia, who was working on internal affairs, was quite surprised.

The maid replied with an excited expression.

“Yes, yes! There were a lot of people in line and those who hadn’t managed to buy one, had left the palace feeling miserable. Seeing them so disappointed made me feel sorry for them.”

“Congratulations, Your Majesty! You have already earned 300,000 rosen from today.”

After hearing the congratulations from the other maids, Anastasia smiled brightly.

‘Of course I expected it to be sold out, but I didn’t realize it was going to be this popular.’

‘After all, regardless of age or location, the collections of celebrities remain of high value to people.’

Madame Rochester was beside her, muttered in a confused voice.

“Your Majesty’s insight was correct. Next time, we should raise the price to 20,000 rosen a ticket.”

“What if you raise it all the way up to 100,000 rosen?”

The maids smirked and laughed. Anastasia then shook her head to indicate that was too high of a price.

“Ah…even so, 100,000 rosen is way too much.”

“But why not, Your Majesty? Based on your popularity, it would stand a high chance to still be sold out considering what had happened today. “

“More than that, Your Majesty, what will you be using the proceeds for from this auction?”

“Is it for a dress?”

“Or are you going to be buying the whole jewelry after such a long time?”

Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.

The maids made a lot of guesses with faces full of curiosity. Anastasia looked at them silently and smiled.

“It is a secret.”

The proceeds from this auction had already been decided on to where it should be used.

[pr/n: like clockwork, we bring you back to curse you AP. You think I would lose steam for this, you would be wrong. My pettiness knows no bounds hahaha.]

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