Schönbrunn Palace, small classroom.
Thalia nodded instinctively and said,
"I had no choice."
Franz's expression darkened. Helping Thalia with a small favor and getting rid of a man who was harassing her was no problem.
But Thalia had gone behind Franz's back and used him to do her own bidding. That was a serious problem.
It was something no one in a position of power could tolerate. Franz had to make Thalia understand that she had been wrong.
Thalia wasn't stupid. She immediately realized her mistake: she had deceived a powerful man who was sensitive to such things. She regretted thinking herself clever, because she had betrayed Franz's trust in her—and trust, once lost, wasn't easily regained.
Being coquettish was a woman's natural weapon. Thalia hadn't expected she'd have to use it on a child.
"I don't want to be pursued by a man with a face full of whiskers. I'm only twenty-two. I don't want to get married. I still want to take care of you."
At twenty-two, in an era when people had children at sixteen, Thalia was undeniably an old maid among old maids.
"Hmph! You're lying to me!" Franz put on an angry act, looking completely impossible to appease.
Thalia clung to Franz for a while. When she felt she'd almost won him over, she changed the subject.
"Mr. Costa has proposed a new deal. He didn't find the legendary City of Gold, but he did find a kind of wheat he'd never seen before, and brought back a batch of seeds."
"Wheat seeds? Isn't the Amazon a tropical rainforest?" Franz asked, puzzled.
"Yes. While searching for the ruins of the City of Gold, Mr. Costa happened upon a village that had been abandoned for many years. This crop was growing in an open space in