The Hidden King's Stolen Wife-Chapter 206: Weight in Gold

"I heard you robbed us dry."

Soleia stiffened at her work desk before hurriedly spinning around. As she did, she spread out her arms and quickly gathered the papers on the desk, determined not to let any wandering eyes see their contents. When she saw Prince Ricard leaning against the doorframe, she rolled her eyes and scoffed, the puff of air that left her lips causing her fringe to fly as a result.

"Your Highness," she lazily greeted as she turned back to her work, gathering all the pieces of parchment into one neat stack, "to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Well, after how you cleared out the royal treasury, I was interested to see if you had made any developments over the course of the last few days," Ricard said with a laugh. He kicked off the doorframe and straightened up, a bright smile on his lips.

"That’s an exaggeration," Soleia said. "I barely made a dent. If the royal treasury can be cleared out by a single woman, then you might wish to make a bank deposit rather than build such an impractical dungeon just to store two shelves of semi-precious stones."

"Well, it was most certainly not the case, according to Minister Goldstein," Ricard replied as he sauntered over to the desk. "You ought not to scare the poor little old man like that. He’s getting on with his age, risky with heart attacks."

Right as he placed a hand on the table to support his own weight, Soleia packed away the last of her research papers, perfectly out of Ricard’s sight.

His smile widened.

Soleia, on the other hand, lazily looked up at him with a raise of her brow.

"Minister Goldstein looks fit as a fiddle to be able to scale the steps of your treasury like that," Soleia fairly replied. "Is there a reason why you are in my chambers, Prince Ricard? It’s improper for a man to visit a woman like this in her private quarters without additional supervision."

"Nonsense, the door is wide open," Ricard said as he gestured to the door. "Everyone who walks past can see that everything that is happening in this room is entirely innocent."

"I admire your... surprising innocence, if that’s what you truly think."

Picking up her bag, Soleia crossed the room and made her way to the door. When she was about to step out, a sharp tug on her wrist caused her to gasp in surprise. She looked down at her hand instinctively, only to see a red whip coiled around her wrist. Then, with a sharp tug, she tumbled back into the room, her bag dropping to the floor.

"Why the rush, Princess Soleia?" Ricard asked, his carnelian aglow. "I thought we were just having a fabulous conversation."

"It is only so if both parties agree," Soleia said through gritted teeth. "Now, please unhand me at once, Your Highness, or I will scream bloody murder."

"Relax, Princess Soleia, we’re friends, aren’t we?"

Soleia was just about to refute his statement when the playful light in Ricard’s eyes dimmed. She held her tongue and kept quiet, waiting to see what else he had to say before speaking up.

"I got you those crystals, and now, it seems only fair that you repay me in thanks, yes?" he asked. Even though the tone of his voice hadn’t changed, his expression turned much darker, more dangerous.

Soleia pursed her lips.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Half of the gems you nicked from the treasury for gold," Ricard said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a familiar-looking pouch. "I am sure you are well acquainted with this nifty invention?"

Soleia stiffly nodded when her eyes landed on the bag, the very same that Rafael had lent her a few days ago when she took all those crystals from the vault.

"If you have that much gold, you should be able to buy yourself a nice little private stash of crystals yourself," Soleia slowly said. freēwēbηovel.c૦m

"Nonsense," Ricard said with a mirthless laugh. "You are a princess. You should know that every kingdom’s crystal sale is strictly controlled by the government. Without my father’s knowledge, I would not have been able to buy even a dust speck of those stones."

"When you become the king, you will have all the right to restock your treasury," Soleia argued.

"That may be true, but," Ricard said as he nodded towards the pouch that Soleia had strapped to her waist, "nothing in the black market will measure up to the ones kept in the royal treasury. And I would like to rule over a kingdom that’s not entirely helpless, thank you very much."

"I need the gems for my research―"

"If you don’t agree," Ricard said, cutting in, "then I shall accidentally reveal your little scheme right now. I wonder what my dear younger brother would do when he finds out you have conned his feelings, and I am even more curious to know if my father would ship you back to Vramid, or keep you locked up in the very same treasury you so blatantly robbed in plain daylight."

This time, whatever argument Soleia had was immediately clogged right up in her throat. She said nothing as she looked down at her little collection. Then, begrudgingly, she dug her hands into the bag and began to pluck out a few stones.

Every time she wanted to stop, she would be egged on by the jingle of coins that came from Ricard’s pouch, until eventually, exactly half of those stones were placed into a second magic pouch Ricard produced.

He peered in and smiled satisfactorily, nodding.

"Thank you for your patronage," he said before holding out the bag of gold. "As promised, its weight in gold."

At first, Soleia took the pouch filled with gold with a bitter heart. But when she opened it and stuck her hand in to check, her eyes widened. She couldn’t see it exactly, but what she felt was as though she had stuck her hand into the black cauldron of gold at the end of the rainbow, guarded by the leprechauns.

Her wide eyes caused Ricard to burst out in laughter.

"Work for me, and you will never go poor," he said. Then, he leaned in a little closer, causing Soleia to jump as she took a step back to create distance between them. "Would you really not consider becoming my wife instead of Rafael’s?"