He was trembling with righteous fury.
That ethereal face of his, all sharp angles and cool detachment.
Like some exiled immortal descended from the heavens.
Rosalind couldn't look away.
"From this day forward, everything in this estate falls under your authority."
Rosalind helped Elmer to his feet with her own hands.
"The money, the staff, the land, and every business venture. All of it goes to Elmer."
Everything I had built.
One sentence from the Crown Princess, and it all belonged to Elmer Dickerson.
I dropped to my knees.
"Your Highness, I request a divorce."
Rosalind stiffened.
She was about to speak, but Elmer tugged gently at her sleeve.
"Your Highness, if my brother stays any longer, he'll only taint the dignity of your household. Better to grant him what he asks."
Rosalind swallowed whatever she'd been about to say.
"Granted."
When I walked out of the Crown Princess's Estate with the divorce decree in hand, the bystanders on the street all stopped to stare.
Some speculated about what I'd done wrong.
Others said I deserved it.
That my head was full of nothing but money, nothing like my brother and his lofty principles.
I ignored every last one of them.
The truth was, marrying the Crown Princess had never been entirely about honoring my brother's engagement.
As a member of the royal family, Rosalind could secure a merchant's license with almost no effort.
With that license, I could ship goods as far as the Western Seas and no one would interfere.
Now that the Crown Princess had cast me aside, the license was gone with her.
My gaze drifted toward another estate on the west side of the city.
The younger princess. Rosalind's sister.
In truth, she was the one I'd been meant to marry in the first place.
My brother and I had each been matched to one of the two princesses.
But Elmer ran off on his own, and to save face with Rosalind, who held the greater power, the family had no choice but to send me in his place.
In the year since, Evelyn Abbott had remained unmarried.
The door opened, and I looked at her.
"Princess Evelyn. The old betrothal between us. Does it still stand?"
I had prepared myself.
If she refused,
I would bow and leave without another word.
After all, it was the Dickerson family that had slighted her first.
Evelyn studied me for a long time.
"It stands."
On the first day of our marriage, I secured the merchant's license.
To repay Evelyn's trust, I threw myself into the work with even more drive than I'd had at the Crown Princess's Estate.
She told me that every cent the estate earned would be recorded under my name.
"Princess, could it be that you actually like me?"
I was genuinely curious.
She only smiled and said nothing.
Evelyn was a princess who had never been favored by the court.
But I would make sure every woman in the capital envied mine.
Before long, Princess Evelyn's Estate, once half in ruins, had a brand-new two-story wing rising above its walls.
Things at the Crown Princess's Estate, however, had taken a different turn.
Elmer declared that the stench of commerce would no longer be allowed to corrupt anyone's spirit.
Every servant's monthly wage was slashed to a single copper coin.
Only without the temptation of money, he reasoned, could people stop obsessing over profit.
Only then could they preserve their noble integrity.
My portrait was even turned into a cautionary display.
The entire household was made to remember how vulgar and base life had been when I was in charge.
The Crown Princess's Estate was renovated from top to bottom.
Crane motifs and calligraphy scrolls adorned every wall and corridor.
The place looked like something out of a painting.
You could smell the flowers from halfway down the street.
Passersby marveled: "Mr. Dickerson Sr. truly is remarkable. Look how refined he's made the princess's estate!"
Even the King heard about it and brought the Queen for a personal tour.
But nobody seemed to realize
that all this elegance
had been bought with the fortune I'd built for the Crown Princess's Estate.
It wasn't long before the estate ground to a halt.
A crowd gathered at the front gates.
They were demanding their back pay.
Elmer had burned through nearly every cent in the treasury on his little vanity project.
