"Good, right?" Mo Li was beaming at her as he handed her another stick full of sweets. "Is this your first time here?"
"Yes." She nodded. Rhea was never allowed to leave the Larsen estate before she became the saintess. This was one of the reasons why her knowledge about the outside world is close to nonexistent. The sound of children running around was new to the original Rhea. Even the sound of merchants trying to call for more customers as she passed by was foreign to the original body.
This Rhea… was just too pitiful!
"Then… what would you like to do here? Did you just come here to walk around? Eat? Or shop?"
"I — " Why does he look so excited? Rhea wondered. This man is really weird.
"Come… let me show you something." Once again, Mo Li dragged her around as they visited some shops. "Buy anything that you want." He was looking at her as if he was expecting her to waste some money — money that wasn't hers.
"It's fine." She needed to earn her own money first before spending. "I don't need anything."
"I insist."
"I don't have money, your highness."
"My money is yours." Mo Li beamed. "I just don't want people to think that I am not treating my fiance well. After all, I am still a prince."
"Ah, right." Rhea nodded. "What about the announcement?" she was talking about the announcement that Mo Li will leave his title and travel the world with his fiance. Mo Li told her that the emperor agreed to announce it. She wondered if that old man would do it after overthrowing the current crown prince.
Just the thought of this upcoming chaos made her sigh. However, she called this chaos necessary. To save the Larsens, she was planning to use the empire to deal with the church. Somehow, this made her think about the rumors that she heard earlier. The fact that the church is doing their best to spread the rumor only means that they are pressuring the Larsens to cooperate with them or else they would reveal everything to the crown.
Since everyone already knows about the pregnancy, once the church reveals that it was actually fake and that they are only trying to trick the emperor, then there can only be one end for the Larsen Family. Death.
Ah, they are so stupid. Why not just kill them?
[Host, there is no option to kill them.]
Whatever.
Sometimes, she couldn't understand if this system was on her side or not.
"Probably after that person staged a coup."
She nodded. This was already expected. So, right now, all she needed to wait is for Gaspar to make his move. To Rhea, all this is just a large game of chess. She already made her move by telling Gaspar where her new allegiance lies. Now, Gaspar needed to think about his future and the future of his family before deciding.
If her father cared about Amanda then, he wouldn't support this coup and tell everyone that Amanda suffered from a miscarriage. Then, he would step back and not involve himself in any politics. However, Gaspar is not that smart.
The best-case scenario is he would realize that the church is using his family. But it would be too late to do something against them now. "Can you send a message to my sister?" she asked.
"A message?"
"Yes, tell her congratulations. Now, everyone outside of the palace knows about her pregnancy."
"But… that would look like you were the one who spread the rumor, right?"
Was he concern about Rhea's reputation? "Yes, but who cares?" Amanda can think anything she wants.
"You — really…" Mo Li chuckled. "Let's go, I'm taking you somewhere."
"Where?"
Her question was quickly answered the moment they arrive in the largest jewelry store in the capital. "What's this?" Rhea asked.
"Buying shiny things." Mo Li smirked at her.
"Shiny…" How did he know she liked shiny things? Had she been too obvious about her preferences? Rhea tried to think about any instances where she asked him to give her anything shiny. She couldn't think of anything else. "You are going to buy shiny things for me?"
"Yes. Everything that you like."
"Ehem… I cannot be bought by shiny things." But she couldn't control those shiny things!
Did he just laugh at her? Once again, she tried to rummage into Rhea's memories. No, Rhea is like the typical princess-like noble who likes to have beautiful pink clothes and accessories. But she didn't show any bias towards shiny things. She made sure not to do this as well.
Was it because all of her healing talismans have this shiny effect?
"Are you alright? You look uncomfortable." Mo Li noted.
"Of course. I feel perfect."
Again he laughed. "Alright… "After a spoke, one attendant approached them. Mo Li showed them a card and the attendant immediately led them to the third floor that was reserved for special clients. Then, the attendant served them tea and told them that he would come back with the latest goods.
"It seems that you frequent this place," she said, before sipping her tea. The place in front of her was an epitome of elegance. Red velvet was used to decorate the walls. It was also used on the chairs that looked like they were plated with gold.
"Those are genuine gold."
"Ah?" The chairs were gold? She couldn't help but wonder who owns this place. How could it be that extravagant? She was too engrossed in her own thoughts that she didn't notice Mo Li leaning closer towards her ears.
"Are you wondering who owns this place?" he asked.
Heat crawled from her neck as she moved back and glared at him. "Not at all." Was this man intentionally teasing her?
"Really?" he cocked an eyebrow.
"Really. Why would I want to know the owner?"
"I just thought you would be impressed by the owner's aesthetics."
She avoided his gaze. The place is really luxurious — too luxurious it looked tacky. But she chose to keep her thoughts to herself.
