Chapter 37
* * *
Juliana’s eyes widened as she watched the workers already busily constructing the new orphanage.
To think he’d hired workers and begun building an orphanage in just a single day. Of course, most of the workers were people from the nearby village, but his efficiency was still astonishing.
Kallion had also already paid all the expenses for the children to stay at the inn while the new orphanage was being built.
Juliana glanced at Kallion, who was discussing the orphanage site with the director. She couldn’t understand why he was going this far for the orphanage.
Until now, he had merely continued providing sponsorship funds in name only.
Before she knew it, Juliana turned and headed toward the dense trees surrounding the orphanage.
She had remembered the man in the black robe she had seen among the trees when she opened her eyes after the fire.
Who was that person…?
As Juliana ran her hand over a tree while thinking about it, she suddenly looked at it more closely in puzzlement.
It was a Bendel pine, a species found mainly in the cold northern regions.
It was smaller and less durable than ordinary pine trees, so it couldn’t even be used as construction material, but Juliana knew very well what this tree could be used for.
Its use was not yet known, but before long, the bark of the Bendel pine would become such a valuable material that the Imperial Family would exclusively control and trade it.
To think that Bendel pines, which were known to grow only in the coldest northern regions, could be found here as well.
In the past, when Juliana had been the lady of Silverstel, she had seen these trees herself.
Of course, even then, she hadn’t been able to touch them freely because the Imperial Family held a monopoly over them.
Under the authority of an imperial decree, the Imperial Family had seized every plot of land where Bendel pines grew and indiscriminately harvested their bark while paying Silverstel, the owner of the land, only a small amount in compensation.
But right now, the Imperial Family still didn’t know the effects of Bendel pine bark.
That meant this was the only period when she could secure Bendel pine bark before the Imperial Family took control of it.
If she cheaply purchased the bark of the Bendel pines that no one paid any attention to now, its price would skyrocket within just a few months.
Not only that, she could also pay the villagers at least a small but fair price before the Imperial Family monopolized it and left them with hardly any compensation.
It would benefit both the village where the orphanage was located and Juliana, who would obtain the pine bark.
For Juliana, who dreamed of leaving Baldomer someday and living peacefully with Denion, it was also the perfect opportunity to build up emergency funds.
Of course, Juliana had no intention of purchasing the pine bark under Baldomer’s name.
‘I need to visit the Vas Guild again.’
A meaningful smile appeared on Juliana’s lips as she thought that.
* * *
“Sniffle, you have to come again!”
“Travel safely!”
“C-Can we write to you?”
Before climbing into the carriage, Juliana stroked the heads of the children crowding around her with tears in their eyes and smiled gently.
They had only spent a short time together, but after the fire, the children had grown even more attached to her, so they seemed deeply saddened by the farewell.
“Of course. Write to me at the Baldomer estate.”
Juliana beckoned toward Diaz, who was lingering awkwardly some distance away.
Diaz seemed to be holding back his tears with all his might, because his chin was already puckered tightly.
Juliana let out a small laugh at the sight and stroked the child’s head.
“Diaz, you’ll write to me too, yes?”
At Juliana’s question, Diaz finally burst into the tears he’d been holding back and nodded vigorously.
Taking in the sight of him one last time, Juliana climbed into the carriage.
“Let’s go.”
At Kallion’s words, the carriage began to move, leaving behind the villagers and orphanage children who had come to see them off.
Only silence lingered inside the carriage, where Kallion, Juliana, and Layla sat with some distance between them.
Each of them seemed too absorbed in their own thoughts to find the silence awkward.
Juliana’s mind was filled entirely with thoughts about whoever had been behind Denion’s murder. Her gaze briefly shifted toward Kallion.
Jared, who was highly likely to have been the culprit in her previous life, was loyal to Baldomer.
He was even part of a classified unit belonging to one of Baldomer’s vassal houses.
There weren’t many people capable of ordering someone like him around.
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