The Tyrant's Daughter-in-Law Chapter 30
Lady Alence’s shop owner glared at Adam like a parent watching child abuse unfold and exploded with fury.
“No matter how much work you do, you don’t feed red sugar beets to your daughter! What kind of person eats that?! It’s so bitter adults can barely chew it!”
Adam… even in the city the reputation of red sugar beets was this bad.
Back when Lady Alence first made red sugar beets trendy, it was a brilliant move not to reveal the name right away. If people had known it was red sugar beets, no one would have tried them.
Chaos erupted and the other shop owners slowly crowded around to watch the scene.
“What? Feeding red sugar beets to a kid?”
“Whoa, the young guy looks perfectly fine.”
“Look at how skinny the kid is. Goodness, how can a person be like this?”
“This is a curse!”
Whispers rippled like wildfire.
Adam had become the child abuser in seconds.
‘I should’ve just said I was feeding him to the horse…’
“He’s this big and strong himself, look at the kid!”
“Only feeding it to the kid, tsk tsk.”
Someone even shed tears over the tragic story of a father giving his daughter only red sugar beets.
Hmm… now that things had gone this far.
I had no choice but to defend Adam.
I put both hands on my waist and declared confidently.
“Feeding it? Red sugar beets are my favorite fruit! I eat them myself!”
“Aigoo! My goodness!”
“The poor thing has never tasted anything but red sugar beets, has he?”
“It thinks something is the best because it’s worse than my shoes.”
Before I could say another word, the shop owners barged in, each carrying the fruits they sold and tossing them into one big pile.
“I’ve never seen such a pitiful story before.”
“You’re not really living like that, are you?”
A man with a dangerous expression tried to shut Adam up and denounce his lifestyle.
Adam gave me a look of utter injustice, but… I had only spoken the truth.
The misunderstanding came from the old men and aunties making up their own minds.
Still, I felt guilty for Adam taking all the damage and explained myself.
“It’s a misunderstanding… and I’m not his daughter. He’s my late father’s… that is, friend…”
The crowd’s reactions grew even fiercer.
“What?! Even his real father wasn’t his real father?”
“The dead real father trusted his daughter to a friend, yet here he is bullying the child with red sugar beets! It’s unforgivable!”
“Oh no… the dead father can never rest in peace.”
“You shouldn’t live like that, mister!”
The merchants, all condemning him, offered me the fruit baskets they had gathered collectively. Inside were overflowing trays of beautifully ripe fruit.
“Kid, you hang in there…”
An auntie handed me the basket, eyes full of pity, and cheered for me.
Without thinking I accepted the basket with both small hands and stared blankly.
Then I spoke again.
“No, really…”
“Miss, stop.”
When I tried to defend Adam one more time, he cut me off in a hurry.
And then he muttered in a low voice.
“…If you keep defending me, I become even more of a garbage person.”
***
In the end I went to buy red sugar beets and came home with nothing but fruit!
Adam’s face was gloomy as he grumbled he would never go to the market again.
He said he had already lived through a lifetime’s worth of insults today.
“Live your life straight! Mister!”
“Little boy, come back if you need help.”
“The public’s view of red sugar beets seems even worse than I thought. Then I won’t be able to gather many people for the tasting event…”
“Indeed. Actually, if I hadn’t been Lady Alence’s daughter-in-law, I wouldn’t have known red sugar beets existed. They say it’s the least preferred among horse feed.”
“Then what should we do…?”
“First, the common people need to know that red sugar beets are finally being completely reevaluated among the nobles.”
Adam gave a surprisingly reasonable opinion even in his gloom.
“That’s right! The truth about red sugar beets must be revealed soon so my shame is restored. So they can realize they misjudged an innocent person.”
His spirit revived instantly and he clenched his fist with dignity.
The misunderstanding of being called garbage must have been a huge shock.
“This matter needs Lady Alence too. It’s troublesome, but… I have to ask again.”
“Excellent idea, Miss. Lower nobles and the upper-middle class have a lot in common, so spreading a good image of red sugar beets mainly among the lower nobles would be good. Like the red sugar beet sherbet enjoyed at the masquerade ball.”
Among the common people, the upper class especially has a strong urge to imitate nobles.
To those people, if they learned that red sugar beet sherbet and sweets made with finely processed red sugar beets have become popular among the nobles, it wouldn’t be hard for the trend of red sugar beets to spread among the commoners as well.
“There were things lost in the market exploration.”
Like Adam’s honor, for example.
“There were things gained too!”
Our Maila Shop, which we named after brainstorming with Adam, was built predicting demand not only from nobles but from common people. It almost suffered a sales slump without changing the red sugar beet image.
“I should write a letter to Lady Alence.”
Act fast, prepare thoroughly!
I clenched my small fist and said.
“I will deliver the letter quickly.”
And not long after, a maid brought in a plate of beautifully cut fruits.
These were the ones gathered from the merchants in the market earlier.
I took a bite and the sweet flesh spread pleasantly in my mouth.
Mmm, delicious!
***
On the throne, Emperor Parmes listened to the chancellors’ reports. A faint smile lingered on his lips before fading.
According to Britain’s report, they had searched for internal spies and both confessed to being spies after interrogation.
Now they were interrogating them to uncover the roots of all the danger.
Those who dared to harm Arinell… they would be rooted out and eradicated.
Arinell, the cute son-in-law of the tyrant.
‘What is Arinell doing right now?’
Meanwhile, Lady Alence had noticed what thought was crossing Emperor Parmes’ mind during the state report.
‘Your Majesty, you really are the same whether in Galnem or here.’
So at the end of the report, Piolena slipped in her tail.
“The Imperial Palace plans to select red sugar beet sherbet as one of the new guest entertainment foods. We will also showcase red sugar beet foods at the trade fair where young nobles and the middle class growing around commerce will participate.”
Emperor Parmes gave a small nod at Lady Alence’s words.
“A good opinion.”
At this, Pamela’s eyebrows twitched. He puffed out his breath and bowed to the emperor.
“I also request permission to stock red sugar beet slices as military rations. Your Majesty. The storage period is long and easy to keep, so there is no better military rations than this. And if you send Arinell to the Military Department for a few weeks to demonstrate the making method…”
“Even military rations are the Imperial Palace’s job, Your Grace the Duke. Arinell is needed by us, the Imperial Palace. Hong-hong-hong!”
Lady Alence quickly snatched Pamela’s plan to bring Arinell to the Military Department.
Immediately Pamela’s neck stood out with blood vessels.
“Hah! To approach Arinell so early and monopolize time with her, your greed is excessive! I heard Arinell has no interest in the Imperial Palace’s affairs, so the lady has already won to me.”
“How could she not be interested? And Arinell hates being noticed, so she wouldn’t enjoy having the duke around with such noticeable looks.”
“Whoa, personal attack. It seems the Imperial Palace Chancellor’s sharp tongue is running out!”
“Duke, do you know how much trouble you caused Arinell’s reputation by making people scream at the masquerade ball? A rumor has spread among the young ladies that if they greet Arinell they will be taken by the Military Department Chancellor!”
The heated argument had not changed from the usual scene in Galnem.
The only difference was that the Economy Department Chancellor, at the peak of the fight, could not join because he was sent to another place on other business.