The late-autumn evenings came early. Before it was even time for dinner, dusk had already begun to fall.
Frederick received Lady Sophie, who had just returned from a long voyage across the seas, in the parlor. He also invited Archbishop Viktor to sit in, to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
Lady Sophie studied Frederick in silence for quite some time, then said in her oddly accented Rhenish, "Not bad."
She wore a plain white robe without a single decoration. A scarf and veil covered her head and face, leaving only her golden eyes and the wheat-colored skin around them visible. Her voice held not a trace of emotion.
Frederick said smugly, "How could there be a problem? With your help, it'll be a piece of cake."
"I meant that my own divination went well. You'll get through this crisis. I wasn't talking about you," Lady Sophie said coldly. "Sophie and you have nothing but a pure merchant-client relationship. Don't make it sound as if I'm conspiring with a heretic."
"Got it, got it!" Frederick's voice turned almost coquettish. "Don't worry. I've kept the money for the seeds set aside all this time. Even when I was short on cash recently, I didn't touch a penny of it—not even when I sold the goldware at home."
As he spoke, he gestured, and Tarot set a silver casket on the coffee table in front of Lady Sophie. It was filled with beautiful gemstones.
The heretical merchant had spent two years making a trip to the East. Though it had drained the inheritance Frederick's grandmother Elizabeth had specifically left him for emergencies, the seeds she'd brought back were enough to make Frederick grin in his sleep.
There was no need to mention the winter-storage cabbages, the tasty Shanghai Bok Choy, or the chili