Chapter 8: Future Knowledge

The rear garden of the royal palace.

The Canin field established there.

Katarina, who had recently been put in charge of the Canin artificial cultivation project by royal decree, visited the rear garden again today.

With Thalia, who had brought new news about Dominic Rosenfeld.

“All of them?”

Katarina, who heard Thalia’s report, asked back as if she couldn’t believe it.

“That’s what I’m saying! Every single stock he invested in went up.”

“And the investment that the president of X Shipbuilding mentioned, saying he could develop a new type of ship thanks to it, was also made by him?”

“Yes! Isn’t it really amazing?”

Thalia said, clapping her hands in admiration.

“Is that so……”

Only after Thalia confirmed it once more could Katarina finally believe those words, and she murmured as such, lost in thought.

Is this possible?

‘It’s one of the two.’

Either he’s a person born with insanely good intuition.

Or he’s a monster who predicts the future by calculating and analyzing all the numerous complex variables.

Whichever of the two it was, this much was certain.

‘No matter what, I must make that person, Dominic Rosenfeld, mine…!’

Katarina was recently engulfed in great anxiety.

She couldn’t fall asleep easily, and even if she did, she would wake up drenched in cold sweat not long after.

Because soon…

The political situation surrounding the succession would fluctuate in one direction or another.

Recently, the time the king was awake had noticeably decreased.

Moreover, he had lost a lot of weight.

It happened at a rapid pace, too much to be simply attributed to aging.

Suddenly sleeping more and losing weight?

There was clearly something wrong with his health.

As it was, due to Queen Olivia’s instigation, the king was already greatly wavering regarding the succession issue.

In such a situation, was the king’s deteriorating health an opportunity or a crisis for Katarina?

It was an opportunity in that the time Royce had to usurp Katarina’s position had decreased.

But because of that fact, she also didn’t know what Queen Olivia might do.

And in the sense that the king, feeling pressed for time, might suddenly and drastically change the successor as if flipping his palm, thinking ‘I must make a decision before it’s too late’.

It was a major crisis.

Katarina wanted to prepare in advance for the crisis that might materialize.

And all she could do was gather talented individuals to further increase her power.

In such a situation.

It was proven that Dominic Rosenfeld possessed something remarkably outstanding, whether it was intuition or analytical skills.

Moreover, he even had the king’s favor.

It was only natural that she coveted him.

Katarina turned her head.

Her gaze was directed at a group of people standing a few steps behind, and among them, the man standing at the very front.

The man, noticing that she was calling him with her eyes, quickly approached and bowed his head.

“You called for me.”

That man was Baldwin, the head of the 2nd Division of the Royal Palace Guard Office, which was responsible for the protection of direct royal family members, and specifically, Katarina’s personal guard.

He possessed outstanding martial arts skills, and like his father who had served Katarina’s mother, he was fiercely loyal.

“I need to arrange a meeting with him in the near future.

Dominic Rosenfeld of the Royal Assets Management Bureau, I mean.”

“I understand perfectly what you mean. I will prepare it so that you can speak in a place where no one’s eyes can reach.”

He understood instantly.

Katarina nodded her head slightly, as if satisfied with him for grasping what she wanted without her having to say everything.

“Have you decided to make Dominic Rosenfeld Your Highness’s person?”

“I told you. If it’s proven that his preemptive purchase of a large amount of Canin wasn’t just a simple coincidence, I have to make him my person somehow.

Even if I have to give him everything I can. Especially in a situation like this, even more so.”

‘By the way, it’s a pity.

That he’s from the Rosenfeld family.’

The Rosenfeld family has a lot of wealth, but they are a commoner family.

Although they are connected to noble families through marriage, the Rosenfeld family itself doesn’t even hold a barony.

That one thing was regrettable.

He’s smart, and his abilities are outstanding.

He’s a talent whose future is anticipated, worthy of being called a hidden dragon.

Furthermore…

‘Looking at his picture, he was handsome too….’

If he hadn’t been from the Rosenfeld family but a child of a noble family…

If he had been of a high noble family lineage eligible for marriage with royalty…

“It would be worth considering offering him the position of future consort…….”

“Pardon?”

“Huh?”

Oops.

What she had meant to think to herself had slipped out of her mouth.

Thalia and Baldwin looked at her as if asking what she had just said.

Katarina, her face burning, tried to explain, but no matter how hard she racked her brain, she couldn’t think of a plausible excuse.

In the end, she hurriedly left the spot, clearing her throat unnecessarily.

Unaware that Thalia and Baldwin were nudging each other’s sides behind her back, whispering “What’s this~ what’s this~”.

No, was she pretending not to know?

***

At this point, such a thought occurred to me.

‘Should I just do nothing……?’

Should I live quietly, waiting until people stop talking about me, and then, when I’m completely out of people’s interest, run away in the middle of the night?

Then I soon shook my head.

It’s not just me; the whole family running away in the middle of the night is difficult, and the success rate is low.

Besides, in the first place, there’s no way my family would listen to me suddenly suggesting we run away in the middle of the night.

In the end, I have to keep trying something.

Without being discouraged even if the unfair accusations continue, with the positive mindset that ‘the unfair accusations will end someday.’

‘First, I need to escape from the Royal Assets Management Bureau……’

A thought that came to me while experiencing all the stocks I invested in without thinking, both domestic and foreign, hitting jackpots.

It seems I have a special ability to unconsciously recognize assets whose value will rise.

Tentatively named ‘Midas Touch’.

Isn’t it a common cliché I saw a lot in my previous life, where people who transmigrate into books or games have special abilities or skills?

Like that, I also have the Midas Touch.

I don’t know why I have such an ability.

I can only guess that being an investor in my previous life might have influenced it.

Anyway, otherwise, the series of events I experienced after coming to the Royal Assets Management Bureau cannot be explained.

When my thoughts reached that point.

The conclusion was drawn: ‘To escape this country, don’t I have to escape from the Royal Assets Management Bureau first?’

But the problem was…

‘This country isn’t a modern democratic nation.’

An official requesting a transfer of their department?

There’s no way that’s possible.

No, in the first place, such a concept itself doesn’t exist.

Of course, in the current situation, it feels like even things that are originally impossible would be possible if I asked.

But a department transfer request is definitely impossible.

The director, who comes to my desk every morning when I arrive at work, pats my shoulder and says, “The future of our Royal Assets Management Bureau!”

The same man who recently even pushed photos of three men at me and asked me to choose who would be a good son-in-law for his daughter.

There’s no way he would approve a department transfer request.

Furthermore…

“Ah! Dominic is deep in thought!”

“Oooh!! It seemed quiet for a while!!!”

“What future will he predict this time!”

‘F*ck.’

I was worried about what crazy things those guys, who act like that whenever they get a chance, would do if they found out I directly requested a department transfer from the director.

So…

I thought that when I had a private audience with the king again, I should subtly mention that it seemed like it was time for me to move to another department.

In the first place, the reason I was assigned to the Royal Assets Management Bureau, breaking the custom that the top candidate is assigned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the Ministry of Finance, was because the king willingly granted my request.

So this time too, I would be able to go where I wanted.

Then, I would tell the people in the bureau that I wanted to stay in the bureau, but His Majesty ordered me to go elsewhere, so I had no choice.

But…

The opportunity for a private audience with the king rarely came.

Indeed, how easy is it for a 4th-grade official to have a private audience with the king?

The previous private audiences were extremely exceptional.

‘Besides, in a situation like this, it would be even more difficult……’

Recently, the king has been noticeably reclusive.

He’s not attending cabinet meetings, and he’s not engaging in hunting or parties, which he used to enjoy so much.

Because of this, rumors that the king has a serious health problem are rampant within the palace.

And those rumors are true.

‘It’s about time for the king to die.’

As I remember, the king only has a few months left.

‘This is the perfect opportunity……’

In the novel, as death approaches, the king becomes even more violent.

He would show signs like an anger management disorder and immediately dismiss any subordinate who slightly displeased him.

Therefore, there’s no better timing to get fired than now…

‘Wait a minute.’

At that moment…

A memory I hadn’t recalled until now flashed through my mind.

‘It’s about time for the king to die?

If so…’

A major incident is about to occur.

An incident that was used as a fairly important device in the early part of the novel’s development, and therefore, as long as this world is the world of the novel, an incident that is bound to happen.

The time has finally come when I can use the future knowledge that only I know.

‘If I use that incident…’

No matter what ability I have, I will inevitably fail, and eventually get fired.