In a room intentionally cleared of most furniture and decorations, now open and spacious, the thick carpeted floor was covered in toys of every kind. Amidst them, a chubby baby, soft and fair like a snowball, crawled rapidly on all fours—like a tiny beast freshly out of the nest.
His hair was jet-black like polished ebony, his skin as pale as snow, his eyes ocean-blue, and his lips pink like flower petals. Truly, he was the most adorable little angel in the world.
This was their very own Snow White… little Anthony.
At one year old, Anthony crawled fast and steady. He scuttled back and forth, holding a rag doll in his tiny hands, and when he reached Wei Wei—who sat on the carpet—he plopped himself down and stretched his little arms forward, flashing a toothy grin of small white teeth as he sweetly called out, "Ma~"
"My darling!" Wei Wei responded with a beaming smile. She looked at the doll he offered and asked gently, "Is this for Mommy?"
Anthony had been receiving early education and could already understand some simple adult speech. Hearing the question, he nodded vigorously, called "Ma" again, and shoved the doll into her arms.
Then he crawled off again, grabbed another toy, and brought it back—over and over again, thoroughly delighted.
This was his favorite game ever since he'd learned to crawl: picking his favorite dolls from the pile and bringing them to Mommy.
Soon, Wei Wei found herself surrounded by a mountain of plush toys.
Little Anthony looked at his hard-earned pile with great satisfaction and finally decided to deliver himself into Mommy's arms, too.
Wei Wei just sat there, watching as her little one scrambled up to her lap, sat down, and began playing with the dolls again.
Now and then, he would turn back to her and babble in his baby talk. Occasionally, he'd even manage to blurt out an actual word.
Wei Wei often didn't fully understand him, but that didn't matter. She would respond with an "Oh?" or "Mm-hmm," and that was enough for Anthony. Once he got a response, he'd turn around and keep playing on his own.
Though very attached to his mother, Anthony wasn't clingy or fussy. He didn't need constant attention or entertainment. As long as his parents were nearby, he could amuse himself for quite some time.
Besides, he usually had cousin Caroline to play with. Even though they were a few years apart and couldn't exactly understand each other, they had still become the best of playmates.
This toy-filled room belonged to both Anthony and Caroline. Many of the dolls came from Caroline's collection. On days they didn't go outside, they could easily spend hours in here. The number of toys kept growing: wooden fruit-slicing sets, beach toys, fishing games, building blocks, tangrams… You name it, it was here.
Even the servants couldn't help but linger outside the door, sneaking peeks to see what their little master was playing with now—then rushing to pester the resident carpenter to make the same toy for their children.
But today, Caroline hadn't come. She had run off to the garden early in the morning. Wei Wei suspected she was out preparing a birthday present for Anthony.
Under Wei Wei's influence, the Williams family had begun celebrating birthdays. Nothing extravagant—just the family gathering for some cake. Today was no exception.
Unfortunately, their little birthday star couldn't enjoy the most popular part of a birthday cake: the cream. He was only allowed a taste of the less-sweetened sponge cake.
Originally, both parents were supposed to be spending the day with Anthony, but Felix had been suddenly called away, leaving Wei Wei alone in the playroom.
After giving him some water and seeing he was starting to yawn, Wei Wei scooped up the squishy little bundle and kissed his plump cheek.
"All right, sweetheart. Time for your nap."
Anthony's schedule had been trained to near perfection. Every day, an hour after lunch, he would take a nap—without fail. Around the time he started yawning, he'd grab onto Mommy and signal that it was time to sleep.
On the way back to the nursery, he lay slumped on Wei Wei's shoulder, eyelids fluttering—and fell asleep before they even reached the room.
Wei Wei carefully laid the sleeping baby into his crib, sat by his side for a while to make sure he wouldn't suddenly wake, and finally stood up. She turned to Penny and instructed, "Keep an eye on him. If I'm not back around the usual time, wake him up."
Penny nodded and remained in the room with another young maid.
Since Anthony was still very young, Wei Wei hadn't assigned a full-time personal servant to him yet. The nursemaid they'd originally hired had also acted as his caretaker, but after Anthony no longer needed to be breastfed, Wei Wei reassigned her. Call it selfish, but she didn't like her son being more attached to someone else than to her. As for nursemaids or nannies—those could wait until she could no longer handle him herself.
Leaving the nursery, Wei Wei went downstairs to find Felix.
She recalled that Felix had been summoned over something to do with a ship.
Sardinson owned two ships purchased from the Royal Harbor shipyards. They were mainly used for cargo transport and were always busy. Since Felix had been called away so suddenly, Wei Wei feared something had gone wrong.
And indeed—it had. But not directly with their ships.
To be exact, not yet.
"Royal Harbor was attacked by pirates. They lost several ships, and one was even set on fire."
Though the fire was discovered early and only one ship was lost before it was put out, the fact that pirates had managed to strike Royal Harbor—a heavily guarded royal port—was considered a national disgrace.
Upon hearing the news, the King was so furious he smashed a porcelain figurine in his hand—one he later reportedly regretted destroying—and summoned all the officials in charge of Royal Harbor to berate them. Several were dismissed on the spot.
Wei Wei's eyes widened. "Pirates are that bold now?"
This wasn't the Age of Exploration, nor were they in the middle of the vast ocean. Though there were pirates in the Mediterranean, they were usually small-time. Daring to raid Royal Harbor of all places—that was insanity.
Felix agreed. Royal Harbor was known for its tight security. The pirates had not only snuck in unnoticed but if they hadn't lit that fire, their theft might not even have been discovered for days.
Naturally, the first reaction was to suspect an inside job—someone on the inside tipping off the pirates, working in tandem with them.
But oddly enough, the stolen ships weren't military vessels or anything especially valuable. They were new, yes—but regular merchant ships. Hardly worth the enormous risk of attacking the Royal Harbor.
Some speculated this was a political maneuver—a trap set to oust the current harbor officials. Others thought the pirates wanted to provoke Pradi intentionally to boost their notoriety. They had even left behind their pirate insignia on the scene.
Rumors abounded.
Originally, none of this should've had anything to do with Sardinson. And the royal harbor certainly didn't want to publicize such an embarrassment.
But as luck would have it, the ships that were stolen—and the ones that got burned—were the same ones Felix had recently ordered. The shipyard had only just finished building them and was preparing to run their final tests before delivery. Then the incident happened.
So the Royal Harbor shipyard had no choice but to notify Felix, explaining that his ships were gone, and they would need more time to rebuild replacements.
Felix, ever reasonable, understood that the fault wasn't with the shipyard. They were the biggest losers in this mess. So he agreed.
Wei Wei, on the other hand, was furious. She couldn't understand the pirates' motives. The ships they ordered were just merchant vessels for cargo transport. Out of all the ships to steal, why theirs? And what were the odds they'd only burn their ship?
"This has to be targeted! Why else would they ignore all the other ships and go after ours?"
These ships were meant to kickstart Sardinson's maritime fleet. Wei Wei had long been planning to send a team across the Mediterranean to explore Africa. That continent, though considered backward in her previous world, was incredibly rich in natural resources.
Whenever she met merchants from foreign lands, she always asked about rare and exotic goods—and was willing to pay well for them.
Now, word had spread among overseas traders that the Countess of Sardinson had a fondness for curiosities. Every merchant coming to do business brought a collection of strange items. Some truly delighted her, though most were disappointing.
Still, relying on these merchants was too uncertain. Wei Wei wanted to send her own expedition to Africa—to explore its flora and mineral wealth. That place was a treasure trove of untapped potential. Rich in iron, manganese, chromium, cobalt, nickel, vanadium, copper, lead, zinc, tin, phosphates… Not to mention gold and diamonds. Sardinson had no mines of its own and had to buy expensive materials from other nobles and merchants.
If they could find their deposits in Africa, hire locals to mine them, and use their ships to transport the goods, they'd slash both costs and risks dramatically. It would be far more profitable than buying from others.
And Wei Wei had reference materials. Even if this was a parallel world and some details might differ, the general locations of major mineral deposits shouldn't be too far off.
Additionally, while Africa wasn't the original home of rubber trees, its climate was very suitable for growing them. Maybe the region had native varieties that had simply never been discovered.
With such a vast treasure trove just sitting there, how could she not try to explore it?
Now that the crew was ready and the ships were nearly in hand—bam, stolen and burned. The cost might fall on the shipyard, but what about the time lost?