CHAPTER 4: EACH TRUTH AND EACH HAPPINESS (XI)
Part 077
After lunch, she was organizing the documents she received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Lady Dorode came before 5 o’clock as promised. When she told her that it must have been difficult because the Ministry of Home Affairs had the largest number of people, she smiled shyly.
“It so happened that only 6th and 7th level administrative officers were left in the Ministry of Home Affairs. I pushed for this identity card. Hoho.”
No matter what world it was, class was always a gangster. Fall was the season when taxes ware raised nationwide. The Ministry of the Interior’s job was to collect taxes and transfer them to the treasury, but in this chaotic situation, there were not enough personnel to settle taxes for each territory. Moreover, the problem was that prices were already rising noticeably. In a situation where it was unknown how long the war would last, if nothing else, the prices of wheat and potatoes had to be controlled. Fortunately, the southeastern region has had a bumper crop year, so food shortages are unlikely to occur. However, in the middle, the pranks of the top companies targeting war specials had already begun. This problem could be solved if the royal family bought wheat and potatoes and sold them back at a low price, but they also had to pay taxes to buy them and then sell them again. There was a severe lack of personnel.
As she was thinking about this, an idea came to mind and she asked Lady Dorothee.
“Lady Dorothee, what about this tax? Instead of collecting it with gold or silver coins, why don’t we collect it with grain? Since we’re going to ship it from the southeast via the Lorraine River anyway, why not open a place to sell the grain on the docks?”
“Huh? Tax on grain… It might not be impossible, but it wouldn’t be easy to convert the fluctuating grain price into a fixed tax amount, right?”
“What if we set an appropriate amount and convert it all together? Since we have to set the grain price in Midock, we set it lower than the current actual transaction price and convert it all together. Fortunately, the harvest is good, so there is plenty of grain in the southeast, and since there is a war going on, shouldn’t we consider some losses later?”
“And you mean to sell the harvested grain on the market?”
“Yes, if you sell it at that price, the merchants won’t be able to raise the price either.”
Lady Dorote, who heard my story, thought seriously about something and nodded.
“I’ll go and discuss it. Maybe we can solve two things at once. Once food prices stabilize, other things will gradually improve.”
“Yes, I will also consult with Captain Homer.”
And while she was reading the documents related to the Ministry of the Interior brought by Lady Dorote, she spoke to her cautiously.
“Hey, Lady Ethart?”
“Yes, my lady.”
“I heard that Count Rutvan has gone down to the estate.”
“Ah… Yes. He came down yesterday. Do you know my brother?”
“He took great care of me during my training at the Ministry of Home Affairs.”
She answered, but why did her face turn red? Oh? Then she carefully reaches out her hand and takes her hand in hers.
“He’ll be okay, right?”
Oh my? What are these big, tear-filled eyes? She didn’t know exactly what her relationship was with her brother, so she couldn’t pretend to know, but she was still thankful that there was someone who cared about her family’s safety. She also said, holding her hand.
“Of course. The Capital Army will soon send reinforcements, so everyone will return safely.”
At her words, Lady Dorote wiped away tears and clenched her fists.
“Of course! Until he returns, I will guard the Ministry of the Interior!”
She was grateful and cute, so she was about to say something more, but she heard a knock on the door and senior Tina came in. Lady Dorothee hid her expression and covered her face with her papers. She guessed she came early because she felt uncomfortable asking about her brother in front of senior Tina. So she pretended not to notice and accepted the documents that Senior Tina handed her. Even at a quick glance, it’s definitely senior Tina’s work. She came up with the perfect documents, as if she had prepared them in advance.
“The Ministry of Finance will also be short of personnel.”
“Still, the treasury is well-off. The commander must have already predicted the war, and has almost all the necessary supplies in stock. In addition, we have selected a candidate for the highest rank in the military to be in charge of purchasing additional supplies.”
“Yes, I will let you know after consulting with the leader. Thank you for your hard work.”
After Tina and Dorote go back, as she is checking the papers she received once again, Homer came in. She reported the situation of each department and talked about ways to stabilize grain prices. Homer nodded his head, and with the princess’s approval, he said that he would immediately send a charter to each territory. And the Ministry of Internal Affairs ordered all-out efforts to arrange warehouses at the docks to handle the sale and management of grain. The agenda from the Ministry of Finance was completed quickly. Senior Tina has designated three of the five places posted, and you can start preparing right away from tomorrow. She also relayed the news from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that she heard from Laurel, and Homer nodded. When she finished reporting and looked up, Homer was looking at her with a smile.
“I was worried because it was a sudden task, but it turned out to be unfounded.”
Why was he being polite again? Was he saying it’s the end of business hours? A person like this knife.
“Actually, I am completely out of my mind. Please scold me for my shortcomings, Sir Homer.”
“I like Homer.”
“I’m not big enough to call the first-class administrator by name.”
“Since you have become a second-class lady, you can be equivalent to grades 1 and 2.”
He smiles brightly with a kind face and asks, “What kind of novel nonsense is this?” How dare you say you have a temporary ID when you are a first-class finance minister. Thank you for just pretending not to notice the rudeness she committed.
As she shook her head, Homer smiled regretfully.
“Starting next week, you will have to report directly to the princess. It may be difficult, but please ask. And you can abuse your power as much as you like. Next week, there will be no one higher in rank than the princess other than the princess.”
Abuse of power was such a scary thing to say. She shook her head again and Homer laughed out loud this time.
* * *
After parting ways with Homer, she returned to the Bigor duchy with the documents she needed to see. She spent the evening being attended to by Ethan and the employees who were so welcoming, and after looking through the documents, she looked at the clock and saw that it was already ten o’clock. It’s already quite late, but was Adrian still there? She left the room to ask Ethan when he would be back.
She went downstairs and saw Ethan entering the mansion.
“Isn’t the miss asleep yet?”
“Is Adrian there yet?”
“Yes, miss, he will be coming home late again today, so please rest first.”
As expected, he was late today too. It was already late enough, so she took a deep breath and was about to go up when she asked Ethan.
“Ethan, I heard that Adrian is going on a mission this weekend. There must be a lot to prepare, right?”
“Huh? Yes, more than the lord, the knights need to move together, so we are preparing. Why are you doing that?”
“Is there anything I can do to help? I don’t know anything about war preparations, but the whole mansion looks busy, and I feel like I’m the only one taking it easy.”
At her words, Ethan looked at her with the joy in his eyes. He said, shaking his head so that his red hair flew around.
“You have no idea how much it means to us that you stay comfortably. There is nothing special you can do for us, but if you have any questions, I will tell you to let Louise know.”
When she came up to the room, Millie and Louise came into the room with their eyes shining brightly.
“I heard you’re curious about what the Duchess is up to!”
No… She denied it vehemently, but Millie and Louise talked back and forth about the Duchess’s mission. It was said that Ethan, the butler, was in charge of preparations for the expedition. A typical family mistress would encourage the knights, handle the affairs of the Duchy of Bigor on behalf of the Duke, or take charge of managing the mansion. None of that was worth doing. What if the Duchess really told them what they should do? At least Franz was there, and Hegel and Sir Thierry, whom she met before, were also knights, so it would be worth a try to encourage the knights. She heard there was a knights’ quarters beyond the sponsorship. Should they at least get some food and go? When she lay in bed thinking about various things, it was already close to midnight, but Adrian had not returned.
She seemed to have fallen asleep for a long time. As she came to her senses, she heard the sound of a door far away. She opened her eyes, looked at the clock and it was three in the morning. When she got out of bed and put her ear to the door, there was noise inside.
Looks like he’s back!
She knocked on the door and opened it before she could hear an answer. When she looked up, she came face to face with the surprised face of Adrian, who must have just come out of the wash, his hair all wet, and his body covered in only his pants and a sweatshirt. His strong cleavage was visible through the loose gown. She was surprised and quickly looked up, but she had already seen everything. She saw both the white and firm chest muscles and the lean abs underneath them.
Adrian, who came to the door with a smile, did not enter her room, but asked through the door.
“Aren’t you sleeping?”
“Hmm. I slept. I just woke up. Are you here now?”
“I guess I woke you up.”
No, basically, once she fell asleep, she never knew who would carry her. How did she wake up? When she poked her head out again, she saw that the gown was well-tailored and tied with a waist strap, hiding the luxurious muscles.
‘No, I’m not saying it’s disappointing.’
“That’s not it. I just woke up. Are you going to sleep now?”
“Yes, Damian. Damian, you should sleep too.”
“I’m going to sleep after making sure Adrian falls asleep right away without looking at the documents.”
While answering, she walked one step into Adrian’s room. As he moved out of the way for her to come in, he stopped. As she was trying to walk, she got stuck and looked up at Adrian, who was avoiding her gaze with a red face.
“What?”
“…”
Unable to speak, he glanced down at her and then returned his gaze to the distant window. Why was the side of his face so flushed? Shee tilted his head and called him. He looked down at her outfit and quickly took his foot away. It was only now that she could see that she was wearing only a thin, white one-piece pajamas. The fabric wasn’t so thin that it was see-through, but this wasn’t it.
She quickly went back to the room, found a robe, put it on, tightened the belt, and crossed back to Adrian’s room.
Hehe, the face log that couldn’t help but laugh also burst into laughter.
She was about to tell him to lie down, but Adrian’s hair was still wet. Looking at him, he didn’t seem to be wearing any pajamas, just pajama pants. If he sleeps with his hair wet, he might catch a cold. She took the towel Adrian had around his neck, held it in her hand, and pounded the bed. Then he sat down on the bed nicely.
She rubbed Adrian’s beautiful hair with a towel. She had someone do her hair, but she had only ever had to dry someone else’s hair once. After rubbing it awkwardly, she took off the towel and saw Adrian smiling with his hair like a bomb hit, which made her burst into laughter. How could it be that the majestic Commander’s hair ends up like this? She giggled and ran his fingers through his hair. She slicked it up to make his hair all white, and her man has a pretty forehead too. She thought it was cute that he was being gentle with her even though she was playing with his hair, so she kissed him loudly on the forehead. Adrian’s fingertips, which had been gently placed on the bed, were seen twitching for a moment. When she looked down, his face was still smiling brightly, but his once golden eyes were slowly turning red. Well, it shouldn’t have been like this. Although she came to this realization a little late, she knew that it was no longer dangerous.
In the middle of the night, she made the man she loved sit on the bed, and before she knew it, she was standing between his legs and playing with his hair. They say you’re brave if you don’t know, but also be bold. She handed him a towel, took a step back, put her back on him, and smiled. Adrian, seeing her smiling face, smiled as if sighing. When she saw him drying his hair and putting down the towel, she approached him again and this time patted his pillow. Then Adrian got into the blanket without making a sound and lay down. She returned from the nightstand and spoke to Adrian, who was lying down quietly.
“Are you going to sleep now?”
Adrian smiled and took her hand.
“Please hold my hand until I fall asleep again today.”
“Is it so? Please let me get a chair for a moment.”
“You can just sit here.”
Adrian went in next to her and laid down, making room for her. She sat down on the bed, leaning against the headboard with her right hand held.
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Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
If you like my work please support me with Ko-fi or Patreon. Next post will be released on November, 24.
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