♦Chapter 26: Digging the Rich Man's Money♦
Today, as well, I tasted a new tea recipe during my afternoon meeting with the Duke.
The flavor was quite delightful. However.....
"Does it not suit your taste?", Wendell asked while he looked at my blue expression.
".....No. It has a very wonderful flavor.", I replied with an empty smile.
After that, I took a sip of the tea, once more.
Ever since the incident during several months ago, nothing much have changed with the Duke's course of actions. Though, it's just a wild guess of what I've observed.
Nonetheless, it still bugged me.
It was more strange for that to have no meaning behind it at all.
Am I just being paranoid, I wonder?
During my pondering, I took the last sip of my tea and placed it down.
Then, I carefully rose from my seat.
"I feel under the weather today, father. I'm truly sorry but, I will excuse myself here."
"It's okay. Your well-being is also my priority."
"Thank you very much for your concern, father. Well then."
And so, I normally walked away with the maid that followed me from behind.
(Note: The tea party was held indoors because of the season of winter.)
Soon, we arrived by the ghostly long hallway where the handmaiden started to utter something to me.
"It seems like the make-up worked well, Lady Melissa.", she said with a straight face.
"Please rest assured. I will reward you properly after this."
".....Is that so."
Viola Chamiret. She was the person that I've personally assigned as my personal maid after Helen got kicked out from the mansion.
I couldn't get away from being told off by Wendell that I should assign a new servant to take that role as soon as possible. And so, I picked this girl, knowing that she was different if I were to compare her to the other attendants in this manor.
It's not like I actually trust her that much. I just had the awareness that she was a person that cared less about everything around her, based from my past memories. Furthermore, the fact that she can be bribed easily makes it a lot better for me in many ways.
Also, my money-making is proceeding well so far.
I've done it so good and I never really expected this outcome.
First of all, I don't go and buy seasonal clothes, accessories, or anything at all. And noticing that, the Duke was always the one that brought me such things. Moreover, it was very promising that he had a good taste.
At times, he also gifted me plenty of well-made jewelries. And to not make things obvious, I also use them for a while. Then once used, I'll seal those away to my secret treasury.
Then last but not the least was the allowance that he always gave me to allow me to buy what I wanted. Using that, I purchased several jewels.
'Jewels that was brought to get sold away in the near future.'
Thinking about money made me feel a lot better.~
At present, I was very thankful that there would be no problems between the money and me when I sneak away from the Shevaria Household.
Well technically, I was supposed to thank the Duke since he was the very source of my wealth.
Duke Shevaria was wealthier than I expected. He was wealthy enough that I thought of his existence as money, itself.
However, he was a man that didn't have much interest in purchasing unessential things. And as a result, he most likely deposited millions already in several banks out there.
Maybe I should just take away ninety percent of his wealth from the bank. I thought, smugging.
Losing a million seemed nothing to him in my previous life, so that might not have been a bad idea at all, apparently.
"Oh my. Good day."
Before I knew it, I have encountered someone that I met for the second time already today.
"To think that we would meet again this soon..... The world sure is small, Duchess Fleurette."
"We rarely meet like this, don't we? Ah-............."
The Duchess immediately stopped speaking after she noticed the maid beside me.
"Please rest assured, Duchess. Viola's mouth has been sealed for a long time.", I said once I guessed why she suddenly paused.
"So this was the maid that you've mentioned the other day."
"Yes. I am quite fond of the fact that she's a very promising one. Viola."
I called the handmaiden's name and signalled her of an instruction through our eye contact.
Then, she elegantly greeted the Duchess with a proper etiquette among attendants.
"This humble servant, Viola Chamiret greets the Duchess of Shevaria."
After Viola's greeting, Duchess Fleurette looked at the servant from head to toe and smiled.
"You have a good eye, Melissa."
"Thank you for your compliment, Duchess. Come to think of it, where have you gone to?"
"I went to see my son. He persistently wanted to meet up with me... or so it seems.", she phrased and looked straight at my eyes.
I averted my gaze from her, making it obvious that I was guilty.
Today is surely a bad day.....
I don't know if this was pure coincidence anymore or a simple misfortune.
Either way, I'm definitely in big trouble right now.
"H-have the Duchess ever wondered why is the sky called sky...?"
"What nonsense are you spouting now? You don't need to worry about it. It's not like I'm going to scold you or anything."
"Eh...?"
I couldn't believe what the Duchess just said. Rather, it was surprising.
Was she just being too nice? Or perhaps...
"I'm not that attached to that child than you think, young lady."
This was the first time that I've heard of this case.
I've always thought that Duchess Fleurette cared about Lucian like most parents do. But hearing what she just said, it appears that my assumption was wrong.
"".....""
The silence lingered between us.
It was either because I was lost of words that time. Or maybe because the Duchess didn't intend to dodge the bullet.
Once again, I couldn't seem to read what she was thinking.
Does this mean that it's not much of a private matter...?
When I had such thoughts, she started to speak.
"Well, you'll know eventually."
While she phrased that statement, she went ahead and passed through my side, without even knowing that she was tickling my curiosity.
"You know what to do, Viola."
(Note: It's an order saying that Viola should keep Melissa's meeting with Fleurette as a secret, as usual.)
"Yes, milady."