Chapter 95: Secret Storage Item
"Months ago, before I even stepped foot in this capital, I built our real reserves. Deep within the caverns of our Northern territory, our underground vaults are completely bursting with ultra-warm winter linen. Part of the stock has always been reserved there."
Ace felt proud of her, for having thought of that far ahead in advance.
But at the same time, he felt his heart ache. What had she gone through in order to face have such deep mistrust in people?
"My iron cavalry is already stationed at the secondary mountain passes, Evelina," Ace told her, to let her know that he was there with her even if nobody else was, "Give the word. I will ride out right now, cut down the imperial border guards, and bring your wagons back through peace or blood."
Evelina looked up, the fierce loyalty in his eyes moving her for a moment.
But just as quickly, she remembered her past life.
She had begged him about a countless times for help, for his support but the man looked at her like she was less significant than the grass in his lawn.
When the responsibilities of the duchy had fallen upon her shoulders and she had nobody to turn to, she had reached out to Ace for help.
There was no money, no servants who listened to her commands and nothing she could do to solve the existing crises.
But at that time, Ace had delivered barely a few words: You are my burden more than being my wife.
The warmth in her eyes vanished.
"Control your sword, Your Grace," Evelina said aloofly, We are business partners, so I wouldn’t dare to be your burden by owing you so much.
And, brawling with imperial guards isn’t a good tactic anyway."
Ace flinched slightly at her freezing tone.
He wanted to say another word to convince him but the coldness in her eyes held him back.
He was afraid if he pushed any harder, she would raise her walls completely against him, "As you wish, my Duchess."
Evelina turned back to her clerk, "Send out a total recall order immediately. Pull every single scrap of our current fabric, yarn, and completed garments entirely off the luxury market.
Close the new capital boutiques by midnight."
By late evening, the high-society circles of the capital were in an absolute frenzy of malicious gossip.
Noblewomen who had envied Evelina’s grand gowns whispered behind their fans that it wasn’t a fluke and the arrogant Duchess had finally fallen.
Prince Elian and the Empress celebrated in the palace when they noticed that things were going their way.
In fact, at that point, they were confidently waiting for Evelina to come crawling to the throne room on her knees to beg for a tax extension just to salvage her business.
But the doors of the palace never opened.
Instead, at exactly midnight, the final Alvarez boutique in the capital’s grand district slammed its shutters closed. The signs were taken down. The shelves were emptied.
Evelina had cleanly severed the last bit of capital’s entire fabric supply chain that had barely even started properly.
[Ding!]
[Mini-Objective Completed: The Crown’s trap has been completely isolated. Capital inventory level: 0%.]
[Reward Issued: +15,000 Points & secret storage item partially unlocked.]
"System, what is this secret storage item?" Evelina was curious at this point. The fact this item was only partially unlocked even if the objective was completed... she really wanted to know why.
But the System stayed silent.
And she got the gist that she can only wait for the right time to know it.
Sighing, Evelina stood by her high study window, watching the dark sky.
The ’regional weather forecast’ skills she had brought before the great drought had long tracked the weather patterns perfectly.
From what she read from the books she had gathered over this time, such a phenomenon was called Hydroclimate Whiplash and it occurred when the weather violently shifted from one extreme to the other.
And if the System prediction was right then—
Before she could even finish her thought, a violently howling Northern winter storm rolled over the capital gates.
...
By morning, the grand stone architecture of Aurelia was entirely encased in thick blankets of northern ice.
Fountains shattered under the pressure of their own frozen water, and the cobblestone streets became slick mirrors reflecting a gray sky.
Inside the sprawling estates of the high nobility, the situation was desperate.
The elite lords and high-society ladies, accustomed to flaunting light foreign silks to show off their wealth, were completely unprotected.
The architecture of the capital was built for mild autumns and long summers, not a bone-chilling arctic blast.
Fireplaces groaned under the weight of roaring wood, yet the heat could not pierce the heavy stone walls.
Servants shivered violently in the corridors, their breath pluming into white clouds.
Aristocratic ladies wrapped themselves in heavy velvet drapes stripped straight from the salon windows, their faces pale and lips turning a faint shade of blue.
Even the proud Royal Palace Guards, stationed outside the imperial chambers, stood stiffly like ice statues.
Their thin gold-stitched uniform cloaks offered absolutely zero protection against the howling wind that tore through the palace battlements.
The entire upper echelon of the empire was freezing to death in their own luxury.
And the only woman who possessed the specialized variety of linen, even winter linen to save them had just boarded up her shops.
Panic did not take long to turn into an uproar.
By noon, an emergency imperial audience was called.
The Grand Council Hall, usually a place of suffocating decorum, looked more like a crowded winter shelter.
Powerful ministers and wealthy duchesses sat wrapped in mismatched, coarse servant blankets, their teeth chattering audibly.
The air was thick with tension and a rapidly rising undercurrent of fury.
Prince Elian sat on his elevated chair beside his father’s central throne, his knuckles white as he gripped the armrests. His own teeth were tightly clenched to keep from shivering.
Beside him, the Empress stood with her posture painfully stiff, her eyes darting nervously across the restless crowd.
"Your Imperial Majesty! This is no longer a mere trade dispute!" The silence cracked like ice when a Marquis spoke.
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