Rosie's Games

Chapter 74: Bitter Apples 2

"Why did you do that?" Mr. Pratt could not help but asked her. "Why? Of all people, did you really have to offend the Duke? The Duke of Duance?"

Rosalind looked at the man. Clearly, her conversation with the Duke caused some distress and she wanted to apologize for that, but this had to be done.

She send out her senses and made sure that no one else was inside the house. The Duke of Duance and his people left as quietly as when they arrived earlier. His presence was something that she never expected, but was very much appreciated. The Duke of Duance must have loved the spoiled princess so much to come in here and join them despite his weak body.

"You are curious," Rosalind said. "I suggest that you asked the questions that you wanted to ask Mr. Pratt."

"You— " Mr. Pratt frowned. "What is it that you are planning? Are you— Please do not tell me you wanted to cause chaos inside the Empire."

"War is business, Mr. Pratt. Are you not aware of that?"

"What? What are you trying to say, Miss Lin?"

In response, Rosalind just sighed.

"Don't you think this Empire is a bit problematic, Mr. Pratt?" she asked. When the man did not answer, she continued. "I will not lie to you. I have my own intentions in helping the Duke. Please, you will respect this and keep this matter a secret."

"Do you understand what is going to happen if you heal the Duke?" he asked as if making sure that he was not talking to a child.

"I do."

"A war might happen and the rest of the seven Empires who had been waiting for this to happen will make their move and try to influence the Lux Family, pulling them into their Empires for their own goals. This will cause problems."

"I am well aware Mr. Pratt." josei

Mr. Pratt stared at her for a long— long time. Then he sighed.

"Alright. Since this is what Miss Lin wants then I am not going to ask any more questions. I just wanted you to understand that an Empire is not supposed to be something that you can play when you are bored."

That made Rosalind laugh. She did not know that this man had a side like this. Honestly? It was entertaining.

The people that would reap huge benefits because of this war was going to be the Four Quarter Masters. Even in the past life, those people would not hesitate to do everything to earn a very good amount of profits from the burned towns and destroyed fields.

But now, their young leader is acting like this just because she showed a little bit of her fang.

"Shall we go back to the building so I could give you the first batch of stones?" Mr. Pratt suggested. This time, Rosalind smiled as she nodded.

In fact, Rosalind did not trust Mr. Pratt. What she trusted was their partnership and his inclination to always have more profit.

In the near future, the Four Quarter Masters would earn their own reputation in the trading world and once this happened, many people would want to even get a glimpse of their leader. At this time, Mr. Pratt would already be well known for his sharp mind and killer business instincts.

She was not going to let someone like this slip her fingers.

"What happen today, I hope you can keep it a secret," Rosalind said.

"Of course," Mr. Pratt nodded and smiled before they teleported back to the black market. After this, Rosalind chose to collect the stones and carefully put them in her spatial bag before bidding Mr. Pratt goodbye.

She promised to come back as soon as she was ready to start the treatment with the Princess.

"She wanted to heal the Duke?"

The man in front of Mr. Pratt stopped eating his bitter apple and stared at him.

"Yes, your Grace."

"The Duke of Duance you say?" he asked.

"Yes, your Grace. She mentioned something about— having her own intentions in helping the Duke and that I was not allowed to intervene or ask questions."

"Hmmm isn't that interesting?" the man smiled before he bit into his bitter apple— an apple that had been marinated in bitter tea from the North. This man was none other than the Duke of the North, Duke Lucas.

He used a small toothpick and got himself another slice of his bitter apple and happily munched it.

"Your Grace— this is— isn't this a bit dangerous for our plan?" Mr. Pratt could not help but ask.

"Ah, let her be. There is no reason for you to intervene."

"But she is trying to cause chaos inside the Empire. If the Emperor knows that we caused this mess he might do something to our trade. I do not want to— "

"Pratt," Duke Lucas smiled. "Let her be. She knows what she is doing."

"Your Grace seems to trust her very much."

"Hmmm… " the Duke started munching his apples. "She entertains me."

Mr. Pratt looked at him and he wondered if the only reason why the Duke was allowing her to do whatever it was that she wanted was that she was just a source of entertainment. Was the Duke that bored?

For some reason, he could not believe his own train of thought so, he chose to push the thought out of his head.

The Duke instructed Mr. Pratt to leave him alone as he thought of Rosalind. First, she wanted to leave the Lux Family and move to the North, and now it seemed that she wanted to cause chaos in the Empire where she was born.

The Duke could not help but wonder what happened in the past. He understood her hatred towards the family that abandoned her but… what about the Empire?

What was her goal?

Was she a friend? Or a foe?

"I guess time will tell," he smiled and started eating his bitter apple again.