Chapter 117

“I don’t regret it! I won’t regret it!”

“Really? Even if it’s a divine oracle?”

At my words, she shot up, clearly furious. Then she snatched the paper with the oracle written on it from my hand.

“What’s so special about this stupid oracle? Why should my life be tied to this scrap of paper? I don’t want it!”

Just as she was about to tear the paper apart with her hands—

“That’s enough. Yes, understood. Your Highness’s true feelings have been conveyed loud and clear.”

I quickly snatched the oracle from her hands. It would’ve been a disaster if such a crucial item got damaged.

Princess Florin blinked in confusion at my sudden change in attitude.

“You passed. Congratulations.”

“Passed what… exactly?”

“I read somewhere that matchmaking done wrong gets you three slaps in the face.”

“Where exactly did you read that?”

“That… I don’t quite remember…”

I mumbled vaguely. The bitter memory from a past life surfaced—how I was resented for years after setting someone up on a terrible blind date.

“But that’s not important right now. What matters is, I now understand just how much you like my brother if you’re willing to reject a divine oracle over it.”

Florin, whose face had gone pale with anger, slowly began to flush red from the neck up. She must have realized just how intense she’d been acting.

Watching her flustered reaction, I nodded.

“Of course, even if you had said you’d marry Armin because of the oracle, I had no intention of backing down.”

Friendship is friendship, but love is love. After everything I’ve done to get this far, did she really think I’d just hand Armin over?

I briefly squinted toward the direction of Gellang and shot a glare out the window.

“Anyway, since this involves both of us, I’ll help you with everything I’ve got.”

“Thank… thank you…”

At last, Princess Florin’s legs gave out and she collapsed into her seat. I slid a cushion behind her back and carefully reread the oracle.

“This is something that should be known to as few people as possible. Would you agree?”

The princess nodded, clearly looking at me with hope, expecting I had a good idea.

“Do you have a plan?”

“You’ll keep this secret, right?”

“Of course.”

I held out my pinky and insisted she link hers with mine.

“Promise. Not even Sasha. Swear you won’t tell Sasha, Your Highness.”

After all, it’d be a little embarrassing if people found out the lengths we went to just to keep our men.

Princess Florin quickly hooked her pinky with mine. I even had her stamp and seal the promise.

“All right then, we’re accomplices now.”

“Accomplices…”

“Accomplices in forging a divine oracle. But the two of us alone won’t be enough—we need one more.”

With that, I got up and opened the door. Andre, who had been dragged into the princess’s mess at the crack of dawn and forced to visit the mansion, was sitting on the front steps getting water from Michelle. From the way she was gently wiping the sweat off his forehead, their romance was clearly in full swing.

“Andre!”

Startled by my sudden voice, Michelle bolted away in a panic. Honestly, they were already engaged—no need to act so shy. But since even Michelle shouldn’t know about this, maybe it worked out for the best.

Andre looked at me with a miserable expression, and I beckoned him with a flick of my hand.

* * *

As soon as Andre stepped into the room, I covered his eyes. He tensed up—unusually so—as I tightly wrapped a towel around his head, completely blocking his vision.

“Miss, what… If Michelle sees this, she’s going to get the wrong idea.”

I gave his head a light smack as he squirmed, and only then did he settle down a bit.

“I’m going to place a letter in your hand now.”

“A letter?”

“Yes. But you mustn’t read it. Reading it could be dangerous. Want me to take the towel off, if you’re okay with that?”

Andre knew exactly what kind of danger my subtle threat implied. He hurriedly tightened the towel again to make sure it wouldn’t slip. He tied it so tightly, in fact, that his ears were bent red and bruised from the pressure.

“You okay?”

“A little pain is better than getting caught up in something worse.”

He held out his hand, silently asking for the letter. I carefully placed the paper with the oracle into his palm. Andre gently ran his fingers along the edge of the letter.

It was as if he had sensors in his fingertips—he touched it, sniffed it, even flicked the paper to listen to the sound it made. After a moment, he spoke in a confident tone.

“This paper is produced in Gellang. It’s a standard thickness, beige paper often used by noble families, but mostly supplied to the temples.”

At the mention of the temple, Princess Florin’s eyes lit up. Without untying the towel, I asked Andre, “Does the merchant group carry this?”

Andre looked a little offended as he nodded. Even though his eyes were covered, I’d known him long enough to read his thoughts just from the lower half of his face.

“Of course. Our merchant group carries everything.”

“Is that so?”

“I’m telling you, of course we do.”

“Then go fetch a letter just like this one. Right now.”

“Can I take this thing off now?”

“Wait a second.”

I handed the letter back to Princess Florin. She carefully slipped the contents back into the envelope. After patting his shoulder a couple of times, Andre finally removed the towel.

“I’ll be back quickly from the merchant group’s warehouse. Just this letter, right, Miss?”

“We also need a sharp engraving knife. Oh, and do you happen to know what ink the Gellang temple uses?”

“Of course. They only use ink made from Mediterranean squid ink. Nothing else.”

“You have that too, obviously?”

“Yes, of course. Anything else you need?”

Andre had known me long enough to realize this wasn’t the end of the list.

I gave him a wide grin and nodded.

“Yep. And bring as many erasers as you have in the warehouse.”

“Erasers…?”

Andre looked genuinely confused and made a rubbing motion with his hand.

“Miss, don’t tell me you’re planning to… erase the ink or something?”

“You think I’m stupid? Just bring them. They’re going to be useful. Bring all of them. Got it?”

Andre nodded reluctantly.

“Yes, understood.”

As if I’ve ever understood a single thing the young lady asks for anyway…

He muttered under his breath as he left the room.

* * *

Andre, clearly sensing the urgency of the situation, returned to the Viscount’s residence not long after leaving. When I opened the door at his knock, he came in and set down a large box brimming with supplies.

Inside were sheets of the exact same stationery that Princess Florin had brought, along with several bottles of slightly bluish-black ink. There were also plenty of engraving knives and erasers.

“Good work.”

I spoke with a satisfied smile and promptly ushered Andre back out. As I pushed him toward the door, he twisted his body and couldn’t help asking, curiosity bubbling in his voice:

“What exactly are you planning to do with all this?”

“You don’t need to know, Andre. Just go finish that date I interrupted.”

“Is this how you treat someone who helped you?”

“Tsk. I guess the merchant group isn’t that important to you?”

I raised an eyebrow. With another mouth to feed now—was he planning to make our Michelle suffer? I pushed him out with a bit of force.

Bang!

I quickly shut and locked the door, then dragged the box over beside the desk.

“Princess, please give me the letter.”

“Here it is.”

I sat at the desk and stretched my fingers out, loosening them. This was going to be a delicate job. I hadn’t done something like this in my current life, and even in my past life, it had only been a few times, so I wasn’t exactly confident of success on the first try.

“What… are you trying to do?”

“Princess, what I’m about to do is really a secret.”

Even I, someone not exactly known for aristocratic decorum, felt a bit embarrassed showing off my old school report card-forging skills in front of my closest friend.

But I shook my head. No—this wasn’t something to be embarrassed about. If you grew up in Korea and never made an eraser stamp* at least once, then step forward and prove me wrong!

[*T/N: An eraser stamp is exactly like it sounds. You carve an image or word into an eraser to create a stamp that you can use with ink.]

First, I carefully brushed ink over the letters on Princess Florin’s letter. Right before the ink dried, I made a rubbing of the letter. I needed a backup copy in case I messed up—better to prepare in advance and minimize the damage.

Fortunately, even though my body was different now, my brain remembered the entire process. As the duplicate letter appeared before our eyes like a decalcomania*, Princess Florin’s eyes widened in amazement.

[*T/N: Art technique where designs are transferred from one surface to another]

“How… is this even possible?”

“Now, please store the original safely.”

I handed the original letter back to Princess Florin, then cracked my knuckles and stretched again.

Now comes the real work.

Grabbing a carving knife, I began to carefully carve out the inked letters, one by one. It was like creating a stencil pattern.

“How do you even know how to do something like this, Vivi?”

“Me? I have lots of hobbies.”

I chuckled to myself as I recalled a past life spent obsessively making Christmas cards, New Year’s greetings, and Lunar New Year cards with stencils. The script used in Gellang was full of neat, squared-off letters—nothing too tricky. My hand moved smoothly as I carved, wielding the sharp knife Andre had brought with practiced ease.

The letter was fairly long, but turning it into a stencil template took less than an hour. The only parts I left untouched were the names and personal details of Armin and myself—the rest had holes cleanly carved through.