☣ Chapter 5 ☣
“Why am I being so petty? I enjoyed reading all those scenes where the heroine was spoiled by the male leads too.”
Penelope reflected on her own narrow-mindedness.
Of course, that self-reflection came from the heavy pouch of gold coins in her pocket.
Having money really made a person feel much more relaxed.
In “This Life, I’ll Choose the Second Male Lead!”, there were three male lead candidates.
- The Third Prince
- The Master of the Magic Tower
- The Grand Duke of the North
It wasn’t an unusual combination for a romance fantasy novel.
Still, readers loved it.
In her first life, the heroine was completely used by the Emperor before being killed.
After returning to the past, she never looked back and chose the Third Prince.
It was because the Third Prince hated the Emperor just as much as she did.
While the two of them slowly fell in love under the excuse of being business partners, the other two charming male leads stayed close to her.
But in the end…
The Third Prince was always the one she chose.
The other two men, who were never chosen, quietly buried their feelings and walked away.
Afterward, the Grand Duke entered a political marriage.
The Master of the Magic Tower remained single for the rest of his life.
“It was fun when I read it… but thinking about it as reality, I actually feel sorry for both of them.”
“Shall we go back?”
It was Sir Cain.
Penelope, who had been standing absentmindedly in front of the Magic Tower branch, suddenly came back to her senses.
Without realizing it, her thoughts had wandered all the way to the second male leads.
She had been delaying entering the Magic Tower branch because she felt nervous, and somehow ended up thinking about the original novel instead.
“This isn’t the time to worry about other people. Pull yourself together.”
No matter how pitiful the second male leads were…
They couldn’t compare to her.
She had lost her husband only one month after getting married and had been left to manage an estate on the verge of collapse.
“That’s right. They have money, good looks, and power.”
“I don’t have a single one of those.”
For a moment, Penelope felt empty inside.
Life really wasn’t fair.
But she quickly shook off those negative thoughts and straightened her shoulders.
“Let’s go inside. Hans, stay here and watch the wagon.”
“Yes, My Lady.”
Hans respectfully bowed.
Penelope picked up one stalk of Green Herbs before entering the old building with Sir Cain.
The lobby was dim.
It was also incredibly messy.
Books and piles of papers covered with strange formulas were scattered everywhere.
Books had been stuffed randomly into the shelves.
Even the tables and sofas meant for guests were buried under unstable piles of books.
“It certainly looks like a Magic Tower branch.”
“Storage Stones cost 20,000 gold. Purification Stones cost 10,000 gold. If you’re here for a Magic Stone Barrier, please go to the second floor.”
The sudden voice made Penelope stop.
Sir Cain froze as well.
Behind a desk buried beneath mountains of paperwork sat a man who didn’t even look at them.
He simply continued signing document after document.
Since no one else was around, Penelope asked,
“Were you talking to me just now?”
“Are you looking for something else? A magic tool that tracks an unfaithful husband costs 30,000 gold. If you want a love potion, you’ll have to visit an alchemist. By the way, every love potion is a scam, so don’t believe whatever nonsense they tell you.”
“…”
Penelope silently nodded.
So this world even had magic tools for tracking cheating husbands.
As expected of a romance fantasy world.
Even the scale was different.
The man still hadn’t looked up from his paperwork.
“How rude…!”
Sir Cain couldn’t hold back anymore.
But Penelope, who had the calm mindset of someone from the modern world, decided to understand him.
“He must be unbelievably busy if he can’t even look up while talking to customers.”
So that’s a magician…
For the first time in both her previous life and this one, Penelope was meeting a real magician.
She unconsciously swallowed.
A magician who reached the highest level could destroy mountains and make rivers flow backward.
The Master of the Magic Tower in the original novel was exactly that powerful.
Even an ordinary magician should possess at least one percent of that strength.
Does this man really have that kind of unbelievable power?
At least…
He didn’t look like it.
He looked more like an ordinary middle-aged neighbor.
“Enough daydreaming. Focus on what’s important.”
Finally, Penelope explained why she had come.
“I’m here to sell Green Herbs to the Magic Tower.”
“I can’t believe there’s still someone who doesn’t know Green Herbs are practically worthless now… Were you perhaps born in another world?”
“Well… not exactly.”
In truth…
He was half right.
She had died and been reborn.
Instead of saying something no one would believe, Penelope simply held up the stalk of herbs.
“If your eyes are busy, at least use your ears. These are Green Herbs with their stems, leaves, and even flower buds still attached. They were harvested two days ago.”
“What?!”
The man suddenly raised his head.
Both Penelope and Sir Cain flinched.
He looked almost like a living corpse.
His cheeks had sunk in from being so thin.
Dark circles hung beneath his eyes.
Even the whites of his eyes were filled with red blood vessels.
Even Sir Cain, who had been angry at his rude behavior, couldn’t help asking,
“Are you alright?”
“So even you two think I look terrible.”
“Yes, you’re right.”
“My situation is extremely bad.”
“…”
“But thanks to you, one huge problem has been solved.”
“I think I’ll finally be able to sleep for ten minutes.”
“Maybe even fifteen.”
Sir Cain clicked his tongue.
This man had clearly gone half mad from overwork.
Then…
The man suddenly jumped to his feet and slowly walked toward Penelope as if he were possessed.
She instinctively stepped back before quietly handing him the stalk of herbs.
“Mmm… Excellent…”
He brought it close to his nose and carefully smelled it.
Sir Cain quickly stepped in front of Penelope.
“Green Herbs harvested less than forty-eight hours ago!”
“The stems are still attached!”
“Even flower buds!”
“What a blessing!”
The man muttered in complete delight.
At the same time, Penelope felt both slightly uncomfortable and deeply relieved.
“Thankfully… they’ve already started looking for Green Herb stems.”
The stems and flower buds of Green Herbs were actually more valuable than the leaves.
The person who accidentally discovered this fact was the Master of the Magic Tower.
The side stories never explained exactly how he found out.
Most likely, he had learned it through countless magical experiments.
By the time the Magic Tower finally started searching for Green Herb stems and flower buds…
The northern farms had already destroyed most of their herb fields because of the cheap imports from the Eastern Continent.
“How much do you have?”
“Enough to fill one entire wagon. Everything is in excellent condition.”
“Hehehe…”
“Then I might actually get a whole hour of sleep.”
“I’ll pay 100,000 gold.”
Sir Cain gasped.
But Penelope simply shook her head.
Now that she knew the Magic Tower desperately wanted complete Green Herbs…
She couldn’t sell them so cheaply.
“500,000.”
“F-Five… five hundred thousand?!”
The man’s eyebrows twitched.
Sir Cain stared at her in complete shock.
“Do you know what Green Herbs are worth these days?”
“I’m already offering ten times the current market price.”
For a brief moment, Penelope felt intimidated.
But she quickly lifted her chin again.
“In negotiations, the first one to lose confidence is the one who loses.”
“Green Herbs with stems and flower buds are almost impossible to find, even in the North.”
“I only came here because my estate’s situation won’t allow me to travel far.”
“If I loaded them together with a Storage Stone and took them to the capital, I’d easily get 800,000 gold.”
Penelope spoke rapidly before taking a deep breath.
The man’s eyebrows rose even higher.
He carefully studied her expression.
Penelope stared back without looking away.
After clicking his tongue, he finally spoke.
“If you had brought them together with a Storage Stone, I could have paid more.”
“But the best I can offer is 200,000 gold.”
“300,000.”
“And I want the payment entirely in Magic Stones.”
The man smiled as he wrinkled his nose.
“What a wonderfully ruthless offer.”
Then he introduced himself.
“You may call me Rector.”
“Very well, Rector.”
“I’m the Baroness of Halo Estate.”
“How soon can you prepare the Magic Stones?”
“By this afternoon at the latest, Baroness of Halo Estate.”
Rector replied in a much friendlier tone than before.
