Black Jade

The next day, Ki was standing opposite her mother as they were perfectly dressed up.

Her mother had dressed up neatly in a simple white and dark blue layered scholarly woman's robe that had long sleeves and a high neck.

Ki dressed up to match her but hers used white and powder blue colours and had several small powder blue mulberry tree prints on the white outer robe.

Their makeup had been put on lightly and their hair was neatly pinned or clipped in place so there was not a single thing out of place.

Each of them wore a newly designed and matching necklace with a small black gem embedded in the centre along with a matching bracelet and hairpin or clip.

Several of the mines that Ki had purchased in the past didn't just contain salt or metal veins but there were also some that contained various types of raw gemstones and high quality jade that could be crafted into various types of jewellery, accessories and ornaments.

After many crafters were found and recruited but also many of her grandmothers previous investments were finally out to some use, many types of designs were made using small to medium sized crafted and polished gemstones.

Jade has always been a popular item to be purchased, especially if it is of a very high quality or unique colour like the blood jade or emperors jade but what Ki and Elizabeth wore was the result of Ki knowing of a large mine that was believed to be highly profitable in the future.

After a long period of burning time, manpower and money on this mine in particular, they had finally broken through to discover the location of the gemstones.

Since ancient times the black jade gemstones had always been a popular trend among the nobility as it was known as the guardian stone.

The people who bought this mine ended up selling it until it passed through many families hands before finally producing many high quality black jade gemstones.

Many of the previous owners were regretting their decision because of the large profits that were made from just the sale of the raw gemstones themselves.

The owner of the mine continued to draw from the mine until eventually it was overdrawn and caved in killing many workers.

However with all of their money, they handled any problems that were brought on from this with some hush money and then moved to the Capital and were believed to be living a lavish life.

However there was something very wrong with the series of events behind this as that person was never heard from again a long time after they and their relatives had entered the capital.

It was almost like they had been absorbed or disappeared within the Capital only to never be seen again.

Ki guessed that perhaps one of the noble factions took a liking to the sudden gold mine that had appeared so they made a plan to exploit it until it runs dry and then remove anyone that was connected with it.

The original owner was real but it was unknown if he or she was still alive or not, before or after they had reached the Capital.

It was like they were either being controlled or replaced by someone with a similar appearance that was loyal to those influences and then controlled and used until their worth had run out.

The people behind it would have to be of high influence to be able to handle it so well without being noticed but also someone greedy and ruthless enough to set up such a scheme.

Ki suspected that perhaps even the Emperor may have had a hand in it to draw more funds into his royal treasury or his connected families growing army.

The Emperor or his mother's family usually had a very good reputation but they were always some suspicious movements and the unusual growth of their army and the Emperors power over the years that allowed him to maintain his position and be so heavily valued by the Martial Alliance during his reign.

In order to keep their private funds a secret they would have to secure those funds under someone else's name or drain those funds from other sources.

A large and profitable mine owned by someone who had got lucky on their purchase and was vulnerable enough to be manipulated or replaced would become a target for them.

Even if it was an illegal act and damaging to their reputation, as long as they were not discovered it would not bring any trouble to their family or damage to their reputation because it was difficult to find a connection after the owner had disappeared and the witnesses connected to it were silenced.

In order to reduce the chances of drawing attention to the family and increase their profits over a longer period of time, instead of selling the raw gemstones it was best to sell them in their completed form as jewellery, accessories and ornaments for a much higher price and keep the uncut gemstones to be used for to be cut at a later date.

The black jade jewellery wasn't overly flashy or large enough to create a large visual impact and be too extravagant to leave an imbalance with what she and her mother were wearing but instead subtly stood out and complimented their simple dress.

Unlike her grandmothers sister who enjoyed living a life filled with expensive clothing and jewellery before her death, she usually wore jewellery that was too big with many or large sized gemstones on them which took far too much attention from her clothing and herself, the jewellery were designed to compliment the small sized gemstone and look elegant on those wearing it.

These pieces of jewellery were the first batch of a long line of designs that will be released in the future to be sold in Elizabeth's jewellery stores.

Elizabeth had occasionally used her own designed dresses and jewellery in her tea parties with the noble ladies that she had built relationships to promote her products but today she wore her clothes like a suit of armour to protect herself from what is to come next.

She even carried a fan to conceal the emotional changes on her face behind so that those people wouldn't be able to take advantage of her during their visit.

The mother and daughter looked at each other and then shared a determined look in their eyes as they headed towards the room where the visitors had been waiting.