Chapter 26: Steel Turned Into Gold

Days slowly blurred into weeks, and time slipped away relentlessly.

Throughout this entire period, Seraphine Karsfeld focused primarily on expanding and drilling the militia.

She had already met her baseline quota for the infantry - four companies numbering one hundred soldiers apiece. The field artillery battery was also coming together nicely, grouping eighty women operating five steel twelve-pounders.

Though she was closing in on her initial objective, deep down she deemed it insufficient. Before the war-torn chaos enveloped the Kingdom of Alaria, she wanted to command a full, self-contained battalion supported by two complete artillery batteries.

The drills were conducted so that outside observers saw only the flaws and limitations of the new weaponry.

Thanks to this deception, Cordelia Karsfeld never once thought to alert her allies in Arnsbruck, and Baroness Adelgarde harbored no intention of incorporating these formations into the standing army, which suited the young heir’s designs to perfection.

On this particular day, Seraphine found herself in high spirits. After a lengthy separation, Rosalie von Rosenfeld was finally slated to return from her native Greifenmark.

The young futa had genuinely missed the company of her charming betrothed, and she was eagerly anticipating the shipment of gold and silver serving as payment for the ten tons of steel sold to Countess Margarethe von Rosenfeld.

Armed with such capital, she could initiate the next phase of the barony’s modernization. Alongside Adelgarde, Isolde, little Marielle, and Vivienne von Drachenberg, she stood in the castle courtyard to formally welcome the retinue.

After a long while, the banners of House von Rosenfeld of Rosenheim appeared upon the road - a field parted per bend in azure and sable, bearing a golden swan with silver beak and claws.

In comparison, House Karsfeld's coat of arms was austere and modest: parted per bend in sable and or, with a silver bend running across the center.

The caravan rolled into the cobbled courtyard. The moment the elegant carriage ground to a halt, its door swung open with a bang, and Rosalie came tumbling out.

Before anyone could react, the thirteen-year-old girl threw herself into Seraphine’s arms, wrapping around her waist like an agile little monkey. The heir barely kept her footing as she caught the maiden’s petite frame, and Rosalie immediately planted a warm, luscious kiss on her cheek with her soft lips.

“I missed you! Did you miss me?” she cried without an ounce of embarrassment, right in front of the entire aristocratic family.

While Adelgarde and Isolde stood frozen in astonishment at such an unreserved display of affection, Vivienne, standing just off to the side, pursed her sensual lips in a venomous pout.

The arrival of the official betrothed meant she would have considerably less private time alone with Seraphine.

Fortunately, the household was far too absorbed in the greeting to notice the jealous grimace flitting across Lady von Drachenberg’s porcelain face.

Seraphine gently disentangled herself from the girl's embrace before asking the crucial question:

“So... did everything arrive safely?”

Rosalie quickly caught herself, realizing just how much familiarity she had flaunted in public, and a scarlet blush flooded her cheeks. Straightening up with highborn poise, she gestured toward the servants unloading the heavy ironbound crates:

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“My Sire, Countess Margarethe von Rosenfeld, always keeps her word. The agreed-upon payment in bars of gold and silver rests inside those chests. The Countess extends her deepest thanks for the delivery of such exquisite steel and looks forward to fruitful cooperation in the days to come.”

Seraphine instructed trusted retainers to verify the contents. Though she trusted the girl, prudence demanded tallying the bullion before depositing it into the castle vault.

Now she could freely invest in the textile manufactory, expand the mountain adits, and amass steel for her next wave of inventions. As the irrigation network relieved the peasant women of manual field labor, the freed-up hands were funneled directly into the mines and emerging workshops.

That evening, a banquet was held in the Great Hall in honor of Rosalie’s return.

The young lady eagerly feasted on the exquisite, herb-spiced delicacies she had craved so desperately throughout her travels.

Seraphine watched her appetite with fond amusement, while Vivienne, seated at the far end of the table, hurled murderous glares at her younger rival.

Lady von Drachenberg could scarcely stomach the gentle indulgence with which the heir treated her betrothed - a stark contrast to the unyielding dominance she herself tasted behind bedchamber doors.

Rosalie noted the hostile stares, chalking them up to political animosity between their houses, never suspecting that both had fallen under the spell of the exact same futa.

Right after the banquet, Seraphine returned to work. While she longed to spend the evening with her betrothed, organizing the engagement ball, arming the troops, and managing the manufactories demanded her personal oversight.

Adelgarde, witnessing her firstborn’s drive, ceded ever-greater control over the mines to her, providing Seraphine with the ideal proving ground ahead of her eventual regency.

She introduced modern safety protocols from the Industrial Revolution into the mines, overhauling the archaic adit networks from the ground up.

The pivotal innovation was a miner’s safety lamp wrapped in a fine wire gauze, preventing the ignition of accumulated firedamp and coal dust.

Mining was hazardous trade; fair wages and safeguards for human life were, to Seraphine, the very bedrock of productivity.

Dynamite was indispensable for accelerating rock excavation, yet the modest Barony of Karsfeld lacked a learned alchemist she could train in modern chemistry.

Thus, she resolved to earmark a portion of the funds toward building and outfitting a small laboratory, disguising the ledger expense as “minor mining innovations.”

As she pored over schematics for alembics and retorts, a knock sounded at the door. Opening it, she found Rosalie clad in a pastel-pink velvet dress, balancing a tray of pastries.

Though she knew the heir was buried under stacks of parchment, she simply longed to be near her. Resting on the tray was a fluffy cheesecake topped with crumble, prepared by the castle cooks to Seraphine’s exact specifications.

Biting into the pastry, Seraphine felt tears prick beneath her eyelids.

It tasted just like her mother’s homemade baking from her previous life. A sudden, sharp ache of homesickness swelled in Evelyn’s chest. She thought of her parents, from whom she had drifted during university and military service before falling on a foreign deployment.

As an only child, she had left them no grandchildren, condemning them to grieve in solitude.

Rosalie immediately caught the glisten in her betrothed’s sapphire eyes:

“What is it? Are you unwell?”

Seraphine brushed away the tear, silently berating herself for showing weakness before a thirteen-year-old:

“Everything is fine... The taste simply dredged up old memories.”

She met the maiden's blue gaze, recalling her question from the courtyard:

“I truly missed you, Rosalie. Forgive me for not telling you straight away.”

The girl’s cheeks burned crimson in an instant. For the next half hour, she kept her company, happily nibbling on sweets before returning to her chambers in pure bliss.

Rosalie had no inkling of Vivienne’s nocturnal visits, and Seraphine intended to ensure things stayed that way for as long as possible.

When the dead of night arrived, the mine expansion plans were dispatched to Sabine Keller, and ledgers stamped with Adelgarde’s seal filled the coffers.

Seraphine settled back into her leather armchair, watching the moon outside the window. Any moment now, Vivienne would knock on her door, seeking punishment and pleasure for her public pouting in the courtyard.

Being a futa noblewoman carried a mountain of responsibilities, but certainly no shortage of sweet privileges.