Flower of Steel

 Chapter 155 - Meeting an Old Friend

“The current is stronger than I thought. It’ll take longer to finish if we’re to build it more stable. I’m sure the carpenters will do their job, but we’ll have to make the water flow out more easily. With such a powerful current, the embankment might explode if the water is blocked.”

As I said my humble opinion, the Crown Prince shook his hand annoyingly. “I see. I’ll tell them about it.”

His answer seemed callous. As I looked around, the knights were just fooling around, not helping me with my work measuring the depth and width of the river. It seems I was the only one who was working hard here. Not only that, the knights, who were coming in and out of the forest instead of the river, were glaring fiercely around.

“Your Highness. If I may, I’ll be able to finish the investigation if the guard knights help me,” I spoke with a bit of sulkiness in my voice.

The Crown Prince turned to me to answer, “Oh, they’re busy because there’s a rumor of a wolf problem up north. You shouldn’t mind them and focus on your job.”

Why did he want me to follow him on the investigation then? I swore at the Crown Prince as I looked around the river when I found something strange between piles of rubbles.

‘Huh? What’s that?’

My eyes grew large as I went over to check. I thought it was some shiny stone because it was smooth from the current, but when I picked it up and cleaned the mud off, I realized it wasn’t a stone but a cuff with a diamond placed on it. It was a unique-looking cuff with the symbol of a daffodil beneath the transparent gem. Why was it here? There were no other nobles besides us, and there was no chance of others coming here. Was it just a coincidence that such an expensive-looking cuff was dropped here?

I thought for a second, then put the cuff into my pocket. I should keep it well since I can’t handle suspicious objects without thinking.

***

The investigation of the second embankment was done successfully. Alone. Why did he bring those knights if I was going to be working all by myself?

“Your Highness, we should leave this place soon,” a voice suggested.

I sulked as I saw those heartless knights who only stood guard without helping me one bit. But as the voice of Guard Captain Sir Arhan said to the Crown Prince, the sun was going down.

“Yes. We should go.”

I couldn’t investigate further if the sun went down, so we headed to the Grand Duke’s estate.

“We’re here, Your Highness.”

It was night when we arrived. The secretive mansion of the Grand Duke wasn’t as big as I imagined. It was more elegant and graceful than lavish.

“Welcome, Your Highness. I’ll guide you into the mansion.”

As we got off the carriage, a man looking to be a servant of the Grand Duke came up to us to welcome us. The Crown Prince turned to look at me, but the guard knights immediately circled around him, and I was pushed back. It was Chelleno, Rey, and Rian who came to my side instead.

“Marin, we’ve been apart all day. It’s good to be back together again, heh heh.”

Rey sighed at Chelleno’s words while Rian smiled as if he agreed.

As we went in, we saw all the workers bow toward us. The workers here seemed very polite and graceful, fitting to be the servants of the Grand Duke. Our family is also a house of a count, but our servants…