Chapter 77 Quiet Night
◎The little white cat yawned, then comfortably placed its paws on its belly and gradually disappeared.◎
Melia wrapped herself in the quilt, but couldn't fall asleep.
She reached out and rubbed her stomach, feeling a strange pain. Could it be that she'd died too many times and was experiencing phantom pain? No, absolutely no. If I were to live with pain in my flesh and neck, I might as well just close my eyes.
"Hmm..." His lips moved, wanting to drink water or eat something.
It's so late, I feel bad calling the maids over. I'm not really hungry, this kind of hunger is like a stomachache, a little vague.
The two little paws scratched the quilt twice and were suddenly caught.
"Shh, it's me."
Elena untied her light armor, kicked off her boots, and lay down beside her. "How are you today? Have you seen the witch doctor?"
"Phew~ You scared me to death. Why didn't you go through the main door~" Melia rolled her eyes and fell back onto the pillow.
As expected of the heroine, she walks without making any sound. The guards around her have been replaced three times, but none of them could detect Elena's infiltration.
Now even Taffi has given up. As soon as he saw that it was the princess, he squatted behind the screen and waited for orders, no longer running out to brandish weapons.
I seriously suspect that the reason why "Rose Princess" does not arrange for the heroine to assassinate every enemy is because the plot is too repetitive and not fashionable enough!
"It's faster to run down from the roof. Do you want to eat an apple? Father has plenty of them." Elena produced an apple from her hand, peeled the apple with a dagger in a few seconds, and stuffed it into her mouth.
"Woo, woo, woo!" Melia took the apple out of her mouth, handed it back, cut it into pieces, and ate a small piece.
As he was chewing, he suddenly slapped his knee and said, "It's broken!"
"What's wrong?"
"Ah - I forgot to use the ice cellar to store the fruit! Now I can only put apples in it - my money!" Melia slapped the quilt in pain.
With a large investment and Caesar's support, the ice cellar has been officially put into use, and she even secretly dug one in Shadow Rome.
If I had thought of it earlier, I could have stored the autumn fruits and sold them at super high prices in the spring to make noble leeks!
Now all we can do is buy apples and put them in as a control group to see the difference between keeping them in a dry, cool place and sealing them in an ice cellar.
Elena thought for a moment and consoled him, "You didn't have any ice at that time, so you couldn't put much in."
"Hehe, that's not necessarily true~"
Melia rolled her eyes. "Some desert dwellers have discovered a good way to store grapes. They store grapes—"
"Dry them into raisins," Elena replied immediately. "Not all fruits are suitable for drying. Preserving fruit requires a lot of sugar."
"Oh? I'm not talking about raisins, I'm talking about preserved grapes!"
Melia spoke excitedly, sitting up and gesturing with her hands. "They wrap fresh fruit, especially grapes, in dry mud cakes, seal them, and store them in a cool, dry basement. They say they can still be eaten after six months, and they have a unique, half-fresh, half-dried texture."
Of course there is a loss rate, but so many people in Rome like to eat grapes, so there might be an unexpected market for them.
Even if the experiment fails, I can still sell grapes in smoothies. Even if there are no fresh grapes, I can still make money by mixing crushed ice with dried fruit and pouring milk and syrup on it!
Seeing Melia's high spirits, Elena's depression was swept away.
She lay down comfortably, taking up half the pillow. "Meliya, many people have mentioned that you're looking for plants that can produce sugar. What's your progress now?"
"Well...it depends on the requirements. If they only ask for a one-third reduction in costs, it's already a success, but if they ask for a bigger reduction—then we'll have a lot of work to do!"
Melia whimpered and fell down, lying on Elena's stomach. "For some reason, the candies made now are all dark red. They are sweet enough to be eaten as a snack. It's quite different from white sugar."
It might be related to food processing. Although she knew some modern knowledge, she didn't know how to make white sugar. She could only use her experience in making maltose to guide everyone in making syrup.
The Romans also knew how to do this, with no technological gap. Maltose and brown sugar were very popular, and many merchants were happy to buy syrup: they wanted to mix it with wine to increase the sweetness.
Melia vaguely felt that without the help of modern equipment, some kind of solution should be used to filter out the impurities in the syrup, leaving only the white part.
But the most important thing now is the raw materials.
A merchant brought wild sugarcane, but the sweetness was not satisfactory, so an estate was established to breed it.
As for beets, there are many options: besides malt, Melia calls any vegetable that can be used to produce sugar beets. She has discovered at least a dozen varieties of "beets" and selected the one with the highest sugar yield.
Before the success of seedling cultivation, it was unrealistic to expect the sugar industry to make rapid progress. She could indeed rely on water and wind power to replace most of the labor force and improve efficiency, but in a slave society, labor was too cheap and too expensive!
"Red sugar? Try it."
"Get it yourself. It's in the bedside table."
There was a crunching sound in the darkness, and Taffy reached out from the bed curtain with two candies in her hand.
Elena took one, and Melia picked up the other and stuffed it into Taffy's mouth: "Okay, eat candy, remember to rinse your mouth before going to bed."
"How much is this candy?" Elena chewed the candy in her mouth. "It has a slight grape flavor and tastes good."
Melia raised her face proudly. "Yeah, I think so too. Production is too low right now. A small bucket of crudely processed syrup sells for 5 gold coins, and candy gift boxes range from 1 to 10 gold coins."
"That's fair."
"Remember to brush your teeth and rinse your mouth with the toothpaste I left by the bathtub~"
Gold still has its untouchable wildernesses, but sugar and salt are universal hard currencies: especially when they are refined and processed into small, easy-to-store cubes.
As Elena walked to the next bath to brush her teeth, she thought about the candy she had just eaten: a small, square-shaped sweet treat that brought a sense of pleasure to the taste.
Although she had not learned the knowledge of later generations and knew that sugar cubes were an energy food that was easily absorbed and immediately effective, Elena's intuition made her immediately realize the functions of sugar cubes beyond their huge business opportunities: they could be provided to the army, perhaps to boost morale and combat effectiveness, and could also serve as emergency food when necessary.
Well...it can’t be made so delicious, it has to be a bit less tasty, otherwise it will be all eaten on the first day.
She walked back to the bed thoughtfully and told Melia her thoughts, then she saw her burst out laughing.
"Hahahaha, what's so difficult about this? If only we could find cocoa nut... oh, maybe not. Go to sleep, go to sleep. If you don't sleep now, the sun will be up soon."
Melia prayed that the history of "The Rose Princess" hadn't been learned too well. She'd never assume that the cocoa nut originated in Africa; that would have significantly accelerated the time it took to make chocolate.
She loosened the pillow and leaned back on it, and they both closed their eyes almost at the same time.
When the sound of Melia's breathing was heard, Elena on the other side carefully lifted the quilt and walked onto the balcony on the carpet.
While lying next to your partner can relieve stress, now is not the time to relax.
…
Suddenly - the wind blew, and the cat hair swayed from side to side like a dandelion.
Although it is a fairy kitten, its fur, which was already fluffy enough, becomes even denser in winter. I wonder if it becomes solid or hollow after getting wet.
"Yawn~ Meow?" Melia stretched out on her paws and slipped, almost falling down. Fortunately, Elena was quick-witted and caught her little paws.
Looking closely, I realized that I was yawning on the narrow balcony handrail on the second floor of my house!
"Good evening." Elena was used to it and lifted the kitten up with a flick of her wrist.
She was a little surprised. Originally, this elf kitten was very light, like a soft cushion. But recently, it had become much heavier, almost as heavy as an ordinary cat.
Considering the little white cat's pride as a fairy, she kindly avoided the question of weight: "Long time no see, are you hungry again? Melia's house has a lot of delicious food. I'll ask Mi Li for you later."
Tsk tsk tsk, am I a little glutton in your eyes?
The little white cat hummed and jumped onto her shoulder, leaving red paw prints. "It's so late, why aren't you sleeping yet? I, I say, her bed is super comfortable~"
“…”
Elena looked up at the night sky. No matter from which angle she looked at it, there was always a bright, full moon on the night of the Moon Goddess Festival.
"In the eyes of you fairies, Melia should be much cuter than me." She sighed softly.
Hey, what kind of mood are you in when you say something like that? The little white cat shook his whiskers: "Fine, fine, does this have anything to do with you not being able to sleep at night? Are you crazy about her cuteness?"
Whoosh, the cold wind blew past.
"Tsk." Elena covered her lips, her previous worry gone. "Father...Father has allowed me to form my own legion."
Melia was stunned for a few seconds, then clapped her paws frantically: "Congratulations, congratulations, great news!"
In "The Rose Princess", Elena did not get the formal right to form her own legion like Marcus until Caesar's death.
Forming your own army is certainly a big deal, but you won't see much return in the short term. This is because having the power to do something, being able to do it, and being able to do it well are unrelated.
As the eldest son and heir to the throne, Marcus was automatically entitled to establish a legion from birth. This legion was independent of other Roman legions, and he paid for it partly himself, partly from the state, and partly from his father, the king, and his mother, the queen.
Some generals even had permission to raise their own legions, but their legions were all regular Roman troops, answerable to Caesar. They had to charge headfirst into battle and share the rewards generously.
For princes and princesses like Elena who are given permission halfway, it is mostly a reward: You are very good, you can try to form your own legion, your parents have high hopes for you.
In simple terms, it's all your own money. When to recruit, how many people to recruit, and what the construction should be like are all up to you. There are no additional subsidies, and there's basically no chance for you to take advantage of the battlefield and gain experience, except when you're short on manpower and need to take the blame.
Even so, this is excellent news, because—
"It's time to congratulate me." Elena smiled bitterly: "I'm finally entering their field of vision, let's celebrate." She finally has the right to be noticed and invested in.
Without her own team, it would be a waste of time to seize that position. She was confident that she could build a strong army.
The little white cat blinked its round eyes for a long time, then raised its paw and rubbed her robe. "Elena, you don't want to borrow Melia's power, do you?"
"...Yeah, it's ridiculous."
As early as half a year... no, even this morning, she couldn't think of a time when she was unwilling to use a certain person or a certain force.
The exchange of interests is normal. Everything and everyone has a floating price, it just depends on whether others can afford it.
"Elena..."
"I'll still talk to her tomorrow."
"Eh~" The kitten's touched expression instantly lengthened. It was so entertaining!
"Heh." Elena rubbed her elongated cat face vigorously: "Because she said she hopes to be my [ally]."
A covenant more powerful than marriage? I'm a little...looking forward to it.
She turned away from the windowsill and walked silently back to the bedroom.
The girl was sleeping peacefully in bed, her breathing light and shallow.
Swish... A thin, pale blue veil was pulled from her bosom and slowly placed over Melia's forehead. Elena carefully lifted the side of the veil and moved the headband onto the pillow, so that its gems and silk threads would not prick her lover's cheeks or temples.
She took out an exquisite wooden box, opened it to confirm the velvety white fur pad and colorful shell stones inside, then slowly closed the lid and stuffed it under the pillow without making any sound.
Rustle, rustle. She took a few steps back on the blanket, the peaceful sleeping face in her mind.
"Good night, Melia."
[See you tomorrow] Elena silently moved her lips, placing a kiss. Then she quietly opened the window and blended into the night.
Yawn~That's so awkward.
The little white cat yawned, picked up its paws and used them to support its belly comfortably, then gradually disappeared.
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