Empress of Another World

One Hundred

The next morning during our teatime, Lucretius asked me in surprise, “I heard that yesterday, you asked whatever is left of your personal budget to be spent on the shelter?”

I spread orange jam on a warm scone and nodded. I knew he would ask me about it.

“Yes, I did.”

Lucretius still looked confused. He probably considered those people to be a nuisance who didn’t pay any taxes.

He didn’t consider them his subjects. Even the regular people of Cransia probably hated them.

He finally couldn’t wait anymore.

He asked, “Why? As the first wife, your budget is significant. It is based on the average number of wives over the generations, which means about fourteen… Four wives and ten concubines. Since you are my only wife, the budget currently is a quarter of what it used to be, but it is still the most amount of money for a single wife in history.”

I knew what this meant. Lucretius was treating me like an empress and that was why I received such a generous budget for my wing.

He continued, “The dowager empress insisted on taking double the amount! But you… you haven’t even spent a tenth of your budget and ended up wasting the rest of it into the shelter.” He studied me for a second before asking, “Why?”

I answered casually, “It’s nothing. I felt bad for those people and I had some money left over. Just think of it as a simple charity work by your idle wife.”

Lucretius shook his head. “I can tell that you aren’t telling the truth. Didn’t I ask you to be a little bit more honest with me?”

If he asked like that, I had no choice but to tell him the truth.

“It’s really nothing special, and I’m not lying.”

“…”

“I just felt guilty, so I gave them what I had to make me feel better. I’m just being a coward.”

Lucretius looked unconvinced, but this really was the truth. To be honest, I myself didn’t know why I was doing this. When I didn’t explain further, he gave up.

“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. The budget was for you to use as you wish… I just don’t understand why you would waste your money on something like that. Anyway, as you have ordered, a large number of necessities have been sent to the shelter this morning.”

“I see…”

“I hear those poor people are now calling you the goddess… I guess it’s not a bad thing.”

Goddess…

Then I was probably the most selfish and cowardly goddess in the world.

***

That night, the dowager empress returned to the main castle.

We, the emperor and I, greeted her as she walked in with her princesses. Lucretius smiled annoyingly.

“Your highness, congratulations. Now I get to see my beautiful new sister.”

“… Thank you.”

The dowager empress’ smile was confident. She looked around before locking her eyes on me.

“So it has been almost a month since we last saw each other. Has there been good news with you since then, first wife?”

I bowed apologetically.

“… Not yet.”

“Oh no… But don’t worry. We don’t have a male heir, but we still have plenty of legitimate princesses.”