Chapter 29: Forging Alliances in the Dead of Night

Aurora and Keen talked from lamplighting into the deep dew—through long-term visions and short-term plans, combing through Happy Water, the bakery, grain channels, and personnel arrangements inside and out.

Finally.

Based on the basic principles of equality, mutual benefit, and win-win cooperation, the two sides exchanged in-depth views on the grain distribution and public security issues currently facing Franania City, reaching broad consensus.

Both sides agreed that promoting urban infrastructure and maintaining social stability and prosperity aligned with their common interests, and decided to establish a long-term friendly cooperative relationship on the basis of mutual respect and non-interference.

Both sides agreed to establish fixed communication channels as soon as possible, maintain close contact on subsequent cooperation, and ensure consensus was implemented.

Both sides agreed that this meeting was candid, friendly, and constructive.

Keen promised to send her men to follow the smuggler merchants and investigate the circulation channels and spread of Happy Water in the city. Aurora led Keen to the storage room where the captives were held, letting her confirm they were safe and sound.

Keen took a few lightly wounded men away. Aurora arranged for Vapgis to accompany them, and also to visit the guild’s contact point to leave a way to get in touch.

Balian proposed to go along, saying he was stronger in combat and could protect Vapgis and intimidate the guild. Aurora agreed without much thought.

They bustled until early morning and finally saw Keen off.

Aurora collapsed into the armchair, sprawling out in a huge stretch. She yanked the hairpin from her head, letting wavy blonde hair spill over the armrest. Her skirt bunched around her legs, revealing black garters. She pillowed her arms behind her head, tilted her face up, her violet eyes half-closed like a lazy cat that had completely given up on dignity.

“I’m dead tired.”

Juliet set her violin on the table with a dull thud and flopped over the case.

“You’re dead tired? I’m the one who’s dead tired. I played the violin all night.”

“That’s your own fault.”

Aurora shot her a sidelong glance.

“Who told you to lie and say you were Keen’s relative, and lead us straight into their territory? If it weren’t for my tactical arrangements, you’d have been grabbed and sold as a prostitute by now!”

Juliet shrank her neck and said nothing.

But come to think of it, if not for her, Aurora wouldn’t have been able to hitch the guild to her chariot.

Not a bad outcome.

With the help of the guild—the ultimate local powerhouses—the investigation of Happy Water would be much easier.

Through the baker plan, she could use the guild’s strength to reach into the grassroots administration of Franania City. There were plenty of tricks she could pull.

Finally, the guild’s military strength was not to be underestimated.

They could provide excellent guides and skirmishers. If that foolish father Ed really got overthrown from below, she’d still have some capital to fight with.

Aurora stared at the carved beams on the ceiling for a while, silently giving tonight an A in her mind.

“Alright, quit playing dead.”

She turned to look at Juliet.

“What are your plans next?”

“Keep traveling, of course.”

Juliet propped her chin on her hand, eyes brightening.

“I’m going to keep exploring Franania. Once I organize my stories from this trip, I’ll have enough for three travelogues—”

“Is it possible that you’re a fugitive?”

Aurora interrupted her calmly.

Juliet’s mouth stopped mid-word, frozen for two seconds.

“…Well—”

She slowly turned her head, squeezing out a flattering smile. Her fox ears drooped, and her tail gave a gentle wag.

“Ah”The beautiful and kind Miss Aurora will surely solve this problem for me, right?”

Juliet’s tail wagged even faster.

“…Fine.”

Aurora sighed.

“Be kind to others. This Juliet seems very unreliable, but she can use bard magic. Helping her now might pay off later.”

“This isn’t hard. I’ll write you a note; take it to get it handled.”

“I’ll give you an identity—say you’re a retainer of the Marquis, a wandering bard from the Olivia Marquisate.”

“I’ll reserve a place for you to stay; the Marquis’s mansion has no shortage of guest rooms.”

“Really?”

Juliet jumped up.

“You’re so kind!”

“But!”

Aurora cut her off.

“First, you are not allowed to cause trouble. If you do cause trouble, you must not implicate the Marquis’s mansion. I’m helping you like this; you can’t screw me over, right?”

“Right, right. I won’t cause trouble.”

“Second, if you come across any intelligence related to Happy Water or the Queen outside, remember to pass it on to me, understand?”

“Got it, got it! Leave it to me.”

“Alright, find a place to sleep. I still have things to do.”

Aurora waved her hand, shooing Juliet away.

After sending Juliet off, Aurora curled back into the chair, legs propped on the armrest, eyes closed for a while.

Not long after, a night breeze slipped through the gap in the not-quite-closed window, chilling her into a shiver.

She shook her head, tucked stray strands behind her ears, pushed herself up by the armrest, and lifted her gown’s hem to walk into the corridor.

The Marquis’s mansion was silent in the deep night. Her footsteps echoed on the stone floor, all the way to her father’s study door.

She pushed the door open herself, groped in the dark to light the lamp.

The study smelled familiar—a mix of old paper and pine wood. Aurora stood before the bookshelf for a moment, pulled out Ed’s dossier, opened it, and read page by page, committing several key figures to memory.

After reading, she put the dossier back exactly as it was, sat down at the desk, drew out a blank sheet of paper, and began to draft the bakery proposal.

She couldn’t directly tell Ed—that rigid middle-aged man—about cooperating with the guild, so she had to disguise it as a harmless proposition.

She picked up the pen, wrote the heading, then paused to weigh her words.

First paragraph was written with heartfelt emotion: roughly, Father has been toiling day and night for city affairs lately; his daughter sees it and truly feels for him, wishing to share the burden and offer humble help.

Aurora finished writing and read it herself; she thought it was quite touching.

The second paragraph cut to the chase. The number of refugees was growing, grain relief was urgent. But if the wheat was directly allocated to the public bakeries under churches, rich merchants, and nobles, after layers of handling, how much would actually reach the victims’ bowls? Hard to guarantee. She didn’t name names, just wrote lightly: “avoid wastage.”

Looking at those four words, she nodded in satisfaction.

The third paragraph proposed the plan: build several new public bakeries directly under the Marquis’s mansion, recruit new bakers specifically to make bread for relief, with accounts managed directly by the Marquis’s mansion to eliminate middlemen. Additionally, building needed craftsmen, daily operations needed workers—these could be selected from the refugees, paid wages, solving both bread supply and some refugees’ livelihoods, two birds with one stone.

In the final paragraph, she paused her pen before continuing: regarding the recruitment of bakers, your daughter wishes to personally handle it, but needs to go out with her people to make visits.

After writing, she put down the pen and read the whole proposal from start to finish.

She knew very well what Ed would think—that rigid middle-aged man, seeing the last phrase “go out with people,” his first reaction would definitely be: This girl wants to run off again.

He would never agree to let her out, but the proposal itself was fine, so he could only hold his nose and approve it while continuing her house arrest.

That was enough.

Asking to go out was just a smokescreen anyway; the bakers were what she really wanted.

Aurora folded the proposal, pushed it to the corner of the desk, propped her cheek, and daydreamed for a while.

If everything went smoothly, she would have five carriages under her: the Olivia family, the guild, Vapgis, Juliet, and Balian.

With so many forces to check Balian, let’s see how he can stage an overthrow from below!

The future looks bright (approving).

As she thought, drowsiness crept over her again.

She lay down on the desk, pillowed on her arms, planning to take a short nap before continuing.

Not long after, she really fell asleep.

She vaguely heard some sound?

“Uh… cough cough, cough!”

Aurora opened her eyes, thinking she was dreaming.

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