The Villainess Enjoys Her Seventh Life as a Free-Spirited Bride (hostage) in a Former Enemy Country

Sure enough, Raul was aware of it, too.

The fact that the gold coin was too new was not in itself grounds for it to be counterfeit.

However, looking at the records of the money exchange Arnold had given Rishe, the existence of this gold coin was questionable.

Rishe initially requested this information in the hopes that by learning the trade status from the exchange records, she could possibly find out the trade trends between Garkhain and each country.

From the records, there was no account of Garkhain’s gold coins being exchanged for more than a certain amount of Fabrania gold coins in the past few years.

Hence, it was strange for a partner country that didn’t engage in significant trade and had no record of exchanging money in bulk at the nearest port to have a gunny sack full of new gold coins.

If anyone had doubt, they could determine whether it was genuine or not through appraisal. As a merchant in her past life, Rishe had tested the authenticity of items countless times.

What they had here was definitely a cheaply minted counterfeit money that lacked the legal amount of gold.

“Fabrania must have been involved in forging these gold coins. It’s hard to believe that Harriet-sama could have prepared it on her own.”

After all, Harriet was even restricted in the kinds of books she could read.

When she wasn’t allowed even a modicum of freedom, she couldn’t have possibly forged everything on her own.

Raul crossed his legs slovenly and smiled with his cheekbones propped on them.

“It’s so strange. What was the point of Fabrania forging Garkhain gold coins?”

Was he asking despite knowing the answer to test Rishe?

“The raw materials used to produce counterfeit currency can be kept cheaper than the face value of those coins. In other words, they can use cheap materials in exchange of expensive goods.”

“Mm-hmm. So Fabrania did this because they wanted to get rich in Garkhain.”

“…There are a number of results a nation can aim for when it forges another country’s currency.”

Remembering the future, Rishe said with a scowl.

“The circulation of counterfeit money is an economic drain on the other country.”

“…”

When counterfeit gold was circulated, the economy would be in turmoil.

In the future, that was exactly what would happen. With the discovery of counterfeit money in several countries, the trust in money itself was diminished, and it became necessary to confirm the authenticity of even the most trivial monetary transactions.

Thus, the economies of those countries slowed down very quickly.

There must have been confirmed cases of counterfeit gold circulating not just within Fabrania.

In her previous lifetime, she had heard rumors that the evil Queen Harriet impoverished her people to the point where she had to forge gold.

I’m sure that Harriet-sama’s act of buying jewelry from foreign countries itself was true.

Rishe clutched the hem of her dress tightly.

But to be exact, I think the correct answer is that the King commanded her to do so. It has never been about luxury, but about using another country’s counterfeit money to make the said country’s properties belong to Fabrania.

In fact, the King of Fabrania gave Harriet counterfeit money on her trip to Garkhain and told her to shop to her heart’s content.

According to the rumors I’ve heard about Harriet-sama in my past life, she bought only foreign goods, not domestic ones. The jewels, the dresses, they could have been bought anywhere in the country.

His purpose for this was probably to flood other countries with counterfeit money and rob them of their wealth.

Forging the currency of other countries by the Fabranian royal family to enrich Fabrania…It’s sorely considering short-term gains only.

Arnold was trying to take measures to protect the economy of Garkhain in a way that would not cause impoverishment of other countries due to lack of gold and silver.

In order for a country to be prosperous, the other countries with which it was trading must also be prosperous.

Whereas, what Fabrania was trying to do was a bad move that could eventually push their own country into a corner.

In fact, the economy of Fabrania went completely bankrupt after five years.

Fabrania pinned the blame on Queen Harriet’s splurging and accused her of crushing the treasury, sacrificing her to pacify the resentment of the public.

Harriet’s execution must have also meant to keep her mouth shut. When she was labeled a “sinner,” Harriet-sama’s accusations of forgery would have been less credible.

Thinking of Harriet’s life so far, Rishe’s heart tightened.

Even though the people were starving, the royal family of Fabrania had amassed a lot of wealth…That’s why Fabriana was able to join the war against Garkhain after adding Sigwell and others to their umbrella five years later.

Now that Rishe thought about it, the true intention of the Fabranian royal family was probably to win the war against Garkhain rather than to relieve the hunger of the people.

“Harriet-sama looked frightened the whole time we called the merchants in for shopping.”

“…”

“However, it was not because she was scolded by the head maid, nor because she was afraid of splurging…Perhaps she feared using the counterfeit money as her fiancé had ordered.”

In retrospect, the “mistake” she committed yesterday made sense.

“Yesterday evening, when we went shopping in town, Harriet-sama said that she had forgotten her Garkhain gold in her room. It’s a good idea to have a good idea of what you’re looking for. It was going to take some time to go back and get it, so we exchanged some of their Fabrania gold coins.”

“Hmm…”