The Romantic Trials Of A Transmigrated Empress

Sigrid threw her entire body to the ground and hit her forehead on the carpeted floor the way she had seen actors and actresses do in movies and dramas. It hurt, but to achieve her goal, she did it again and again, a total of three times.

"How presumptuous!!" The King exploded in fury.

A number of swords were pulled out immediately, Sigrid did not know how many, she only heard the sharp sound of swords being unsheathed. Even though her eyes were still staring at the carpet, she could fell the dramatic shift in the atmosphere. It was loaded with tension.

She tilted her head to the left a little and peeked at her grandfather, Lukas Menecius Thorin, the fifth Duke of Thorin. He was was standing tall and proud, his face revealed no fear or sense of panic, he was stoic as if nothing significant was about to happen.

Sigrid's little heart calmed itself, if her grandfather was not afraid, why should she be?

"I have already stirred the hornet's nest, I might as well dig my feet in" She thought.

She roused herself, and repeated her pleas, followed by the head banging.

King Raff maintained his silence, hiding his displeasure behind a plastic smile of dishonesty. His nails however scratched the two golden lion heads on the armrest of his throne.

"Small business!" he said slowly. "In the last two years your father has held the monopoly on salt trade in this kingdom. He also obtained management rights of the South port in Doriah, nothing goes in and out without his knowledge. I hear he makes no less than five thousand silver coins a day. In another five years, he might be wealthier than this royal family. This king would also like to own a small business like that." he said, sarcastically.

Sigrid clenched her hands, that darn salt monopoly was one of the reasons why the Thorin family was brought down.

According to the plot, the fake female lead wormed her way into the heart of the royal family initially by offering a fine salt formula. Currently, the salt being used in the kingdom was still clumpy.

The new fine salt ended the monopoly of the Thorin family, it was hard for them to squeeze into another business.

Why not beat her to the punch and do it first? Sigrid asked herself. 

It would lessen the suspicion of the King towards the Thorin family and ease her path to the throne as future empress. It could also buy some points for the Thorin family in the eyes of the public, at the moment, even though they were revered for their prowess in war, they were not very liked because they were kind of villains. 

"System, is there any way I can get a recipe for salt, fine salt?"

"You can make a financial transaction with the bank, when you were transmigrated, your cash from earth was transferred as well and an account was opened for you. In that account you currently have 55, 126,000."

Sigrid squealed in glee, an unnatural sound that displeased the King and surprised her grandfather. Not that she noticed as her eyes were still on the ground.

It was doubtful that she would have cared anyway, she still had fifty five million, she was rich!!

"Buy the salt recipe, hurry." she said.

"Please excuse my granddaughter your majesty she...." Duke Thorin started.

Sigrid suddenly cut him off. "Your majesty, our Thorin family is willing to hand over the recipe for refining fine salt. It is higher in quality, better than anything on the continent. My father gave it to me before the journey to your grand castle was made."

She reached for the purse around her waist and presented a piece of paper with both of her hands. One of the king's guards took it from her and gave it to the king.

The king, Sigrid noticed was now smiling as she expected, the sat trade was very fruitful in monetary terms after all. It was even used as tribute between kingdoms and empires, the higher the quality, the better.

"System can i get a handful of fine salt?" she asked.

"Of course, the bank will cater to all your needs as long as you pay and it's within the scope of your world."

Within two seconds, the handful of salt had arrived, it was in a small pouch that she handed over as well. It was taken to the king and he sent for two of his servants that tasted it for poisoning first before exclaiming over it's quality.

The king was laughing so loudly and Sigrid was afraid that he would give himself a heart attack.

"Something so cheap and common, they are excited as if it's life changing." She thought.

If salt was all it took to buy the heart of the king, it was no wonder the fake female lead had easily beaten the real female lead. Thinking of that brought another question to her mind, where had the fake female lead got the fine salt recipe from?

That bit of information had not been shared with her or mentioned in the book. Sigrid slowly shook her head as her mind made other quick brand new calculations. Initially, she was planning to use modern technology and knowledge to pave the path for herself but if the fake female lead was also from earth, she would know who or what Sigrid was immediately.

"No, I must hide deeply." she thought.

The real villain stayed in the shadows and pulled on the strings of his or her puppets. It was best to let the fake female lead take the limelight and then she would swoop in and pull out the rug from under her.

"System, what is the percentage of loyalty the king has to me?"

Loyalty Test. [Sigrid]

Subject: Raff Maximus.

Percentage: 1%

"That's it!" Sydney scoffed.

She had given him a fine salt recipe and agreed to marry his quick tempered son and all she was getting in return was 1% loyalty!

"What a stingy fox." she whispered. "What about the fake female lead? How loyal is he to her?"

Loyalty Test: [Emmah]

Subject: Raff Maximus

Percentage: 20%

"Twenty!!!" she loudly exclaimed.

She raised her displeased eyes to the king and lowered them quickly when she recalled who he was and how powerless she was. The king had been talking to her grandfather and her loud reaction to the shock of his loyalty to the fake female lead had interrupted.

Luckily for her, he was in a good mood so he did not question her.

"I will grant your Thorin family the medal which excludes your clan from death no matter what situation it is. You are right Sigrid, your Thorin family has always been loyal to the throne. I have always known that I can count on you Thorin's for anything." He laughed boisterously again.

Sigrid did not believe his sweet words, that one percent told a different story. As far as she knew, the king and Emmah, the fake female lead had yet to meet so how could he be 20% loyal to her? If that was the case, wouldn't he be 100% loyal after meeting her?

If he liked her that much, he could make her the crown prince's secondary which would fast track the path to Sigrid's death.

In the novel, that suggestion was made after the crown prince brought Emmah back. It did not happen because the original Sigrid threw a big tantrum and splashed warn tea on Emmah's face in the presence of all the nobles that had been present.

She even used the military power of the Thorin's to threaten the king and nobles. Emmah voluntarily backed off and swore never to marry the crown prince, acting afraid of Sigrid and her mighty background.

But even when she was acting afraid and swearing to have no other intentions towards the crown prince, she had been hiding her face in Roland's chest like a baby searching for a nipple to suckle on.

"How ridiculous!"