Chapter 5 Wishing for the Future
In the past, Rod actually had many opportunities to make money.

Let’s not talk about things far away, let’s just talk about the essential oil extracted from the lavender in the garden.

Even if we ignore the most important ability to resist infection, the unique aroma that relaxes the body and mind is enough to be popular among the upper aristocratic circles of the kingdom and earn Rhodes a lot of gold coins.

It's a pity that his wizard progress cannot be improved by spending money. As the second son, the risks of making money far outweigh the benefits.

If the traces of magic in lavender were discovered by the church and others, it would be somewhat troublesome.

Rhodes looked at the garden below and shook his head. The sale of luxury goods requires publicity, and it is definitely too late now.

It would be better to think about which nobles on my father's side I could try to attract investment.

How about going to the capital and trying to get close to the king? After all, we are family, so he should let me into the palace, right?
Rhodes was not sure. His father, Duke Bert, did not seem to have a good relationship with the king. He was in a bad mood every time he came out of the palace.

This time when he came back, he kicked himself out of the house and sent to the northern border.

The most direct way is definitely to demonstrate the knight's strength and let Duke Bert increase his investment and give more gold coins.

It is easy for him to have an impression of himself that changes from one extreme to another.

In the history of the kingdom, there are many tragedies in which the second sons were ambitious, concealed their strength, turned against their brothers after the death of the lord, fought for power and profit, and finally caused the decline and destruction of the entire family.

Rhodes had no objection to his brother Anthony inheriting Jianling, but his father might not think so.

Duke Bert obviously has strong feelings about the position of king.

After thinking about it, Rhode felt that it would be more reliable to go to the royal capital, Renaissance City.

Just as he was thinking about which wealthy relatives in Fuxing City could play the victim, a golden figure below was waving happily at Rhodes.

After seeing the petite and cute girl in the garden, Rhodes' mood improved and he walked down the castle with a smile.

The girl had royal golden hair with slight curls at the ends. Two carefully braided pigtails hung on both sides of her chest. She had a delicate face, a wreath on her head, and a white dress with a blue waist. She skipped to Rhodes.

There are two boys and one girl in Rhodes's generation. The girl in front of him is his sister Alice, who is twelve years old.

Rod and she have a good relationship because they spend a lot of time together at home.

The most striking thing about Alice is her pale golden eyes, which were inherited from her mother and originated from the barbarian king of the northern border. They are exactly the same color as some ancient giant beasts.

Both Rhodes and Anthony have royal orthodox emerald blue eyes, and only Alice inherited her mother's.

This is not good news. The nobles of the kingdom despise and reject such eyes and have an irreconcilable prejudice against them.

"Rod, why are you going to the North?"

After Alice came in front of Rhodes, she changed her previous cute and cheerful appearance.

After standing on tiptoe, she puffed her lips angrily and pinched his cheek.

He didn't use any force, and it felt quite comfortable to be gently pinched by her soft little hands, so Rhodes didn't stop him.

"Your wreath is falling off."

In order to make herself look at Rhode at eye level as much as possible, the 1.4-meter-tall Alice stood on tiptoe and raised her head, causing the woven wreath on her head to slide down.

Rhode reached out and helped her back. "Rose? It seems that this time it was mother's garden that was eaten by the cat."

“Don’t change the subject!” Alice’s puffy little face turned a little red.

"The North is very dangerous. The people there are very fierce. Can we not go there?"

"I will have to leave sooner or later." Rhodes held the scabbard of his sword. "The North is our homeland. They will welcome me. I will build a bigger castle there. If you are unhappy one day, you can come and live with me."

"We live very well here." Alice looked at Rhodes' determined eyes and her voice gradually became softer.

Thinking of her father's attitude, she knew that what Rhodes said was right.

As he gets older, Rhodes' situation in the castle will only become more and more awkward.

And under her mother's guidance, she too will probably leave the castle and marry into another territory in a few years.

Thinking of the glaring disgusted looks those kingdom nobles had on her, Alice's puffed-up mouth deflated, and she let go and pushed Rhodes toward the castle.

"Where are you taking me?" Rhodes asked puzzledly while being pushed by her.

Seeing that she didn't answer, Rhodes had no choice but to let her take him to the living room at the innermost part of the castle.

This is Alice's bedroom. Looking at the familiar cute style of the room and the wooden sign at the door, Rhode felt a little nostalgic. After she turned ten, she often tinkered with various strange plants in the room, many of which were poisonous, so Rhode did not allow Alice to enter his room.

Six-year-old Alice was understandably angry, and angrily hung a sign on her bedroom door saying "Rod is not allowed in," along with a drawing of a child sticking out his tongue in anger.

Rhodes turned the blank wooden sign over and saw the childish and cute picture, and laughed out loud.

Alice, who was barefoot and kneeling at the head of the bed searching for something, turned around, saw this scene, and quickly ran over and kicked him.

"Don't laugh! Bad boy Rod, come here quickly." After pulling Rod in, Alice stuck her head out and quickly closed the door when she saw that there was no one outside.

"Why are you so secretive?" Rhodes followed her to her bedside.

Alice moved a wooden box out from behind the bed.

This is an exquisite wooden box made of walnut and inlaid with exquisite ivory relief carvings.

"It costs a lot of money to build a castle. These are all for you." Alice pushed the wooden box to him.

Rhodes opened the wooden box curiously and saw five gold coins placed on red velvet.

His sister was so rich? Rhode was shocked. Apart from the 60 gold coins for starting up, even if he sold himself, he might not even have five gold coins.

Just as he was about to express his gratitude, Rhodes soon realized something was wrong.

He picked up a gold coin and looked at it carefully, and found that it was printed with the portrait of his grandfather William.

Due to commercial needs, the Kingdom of Rosa uniformly uses the portrait of the first king on its gold coins, with only rare exceptions.

That is, if this generation of kings has achieved great achievements that are praised by the world, a special commemorative gold coin will be issued that year and will only be on sale for one year.

This is the case with the William gold coin. Since its gold content is 95%, while ordinary gold coins of the same specifications only have 10%, one William gold coin can be exchanged for ten ordinary gold coins.

Rhodes looked ahead with a serious expression.

Fifty gold coins, this couldn't possibly be the amount Alice could save for pocket money.

At this time, he noticed that there was another layer of the wooden box. After opening the next layer, he instantly understood the situation.

Various precious jewellery were displayed inside, the most eye-catching of which was a small and exquisite platinum crown.

What's stored here is Alice's dowry!

Can this thing be given away casually? Rhodes was touched and put the gold coin back with a smile, "When mother gave you the things inside, she should have told you something, right?"

"I know." Alice looked at him seriously. "Mom said that we should use them when we need them most."

What your mother meant was that after you get married, you would be able to win over the people below you so that you would not be left without anyone to use. This was a compulsory course for noble women before marriage.

Rhodes thought to himself, but did not speak, and his hand that was putting the gold coin suddenly stopped.

The earliest that will happen is two years later. What about me then?

He didn't think he would die in the North.

After looking into Alice's pure and sincere light golden eyes, Rhodes changed his mind.

He picked up the five William gold coins on the first layer and returned the wooden box to Alice.

Then he found a piece of paper and a pen on the table next to him and started writing something on it.

Alice was somewhat happy to see him accept the gold coins, but then the movement of Rhodes writing reminded her of the men who had borrowed money from her father.

After a moment of silence, she pursed her lips, with a look of grievance and unhappiness in her eyes.

"This is for you." Rhodes handed her the note.

Alice took it with a hum, but soon the grievance in her eyes turned into confusion, and she tilted her head cutely to look at him.

"A wishing ticket?"

"That's right, 'Rod's Wishing Ticket'. You can use it to fulfill any wish in the future." Rod rubbed her little head with a smile.

"What? You're treating me like a child."

Alice rolled her eyes at him, but her expression became cheerful and she put the wish ticket into the wooden box with a smile.

(End of this chapter)