‘Well, I don’t need to worry about this father and daughter.’
Carlyle, who had been looking up and down at his clever but foolish tutor, smiled again and played the generous prince.
“I’d like to tell you to go in and rest quickly, but it’s only right to greet the owner of the castle… Please wait a moment. I told them to call Countess Pervaz earlier.”
At the mention of ‘Countess Pervaz’, Dorothea became nervous.
According to her father, she was a ‘beastly looking woman who couldn’t even eat properly’. She was said to have killed many barbarians on the battlefield, wielding a sword and running around with burly male warriors.
‘How scary will she look…?’
Dorothea worried that she might be surprised or grimace without realizing it when she faced Countess Pervaz.
On the way here, the only people of Pervaz she had met were the soldiers who opened the gates, and they all had expressionless faces and dirty clothes, which made her frown.
While she was lost in such worries, not long after, the servant announced the arrival of Countess Pervaz.
“Countess Pervaz has arrived.”
“Let her in.”
Dorothea, who had been hanging her head, took a deep breath and slowly raised her eyes.
She made a resolution to greet her politely with a natural expression, no matter what she looked like.
At that moment, the person who had been outside the door entered.
“Did you call for me?”
“Ah, you’re here. There’s one more guest staying on the second floor, so I’m going to introduce you.”
Countess Pervaz turned her head this way at Carlyle’s words.
“……!”
It was unexpected.
Countess Pervaz was not as burly as the barbarians he had seen in the illustrations in books, nor did he have strange paint on his face, nor were his teeth or fingernails long.
On the contrary, she was more aristocratic than any noblewoman Dorothea had ever met. Her cool eyes, straight back, and unreadable expression…
“May the utmost glory be upon Your Highness. I am Dorothea Ralphlet, I see you, Your Highness.”
Dorothea greeted her more naturally than when she stood before Carlyle. There was no need to force an expression or attitude.
“Dorothea Ralphlet… Then, Sir Ralphlet’s…?”
“Yes. She is my daughter. I called her here to keep her by my side and do some errands.”
It seemed that Giles was the one who needed to hide his true feelings, but Asha didn’t care much about him, who still looked somewhat dissatisfied.
“The same goes for Lady Dupret and Lady Ralphlet… I’m worried if you’ll be okay living here.”
It was none other than Carlyle who was stung by that remark. Somehow, he felt like he was constantly telling his wife that he was going to live with other women.
“……I didn’t ask them to come.”
“I know, but they are here to help Your Highness, so you shouldn’t say that. It’s disheartening for those who are listening.”
Asha criticized Carlyle’s behavior and then turned her attention back to Dorothea.
“You’ve likely heard this already, but Pervaz is still not safe. Please stay inside the castle as much as possible, and if you need to go out, make sure to inform Sir Bailey or Sir Raphelt, so they can arrange you an escort.”
“I will. Thank you for your concern.”
Carlyle watched Asha speak a few words to Dorothea, and then, as he did with Cecilia, he proposed dinner.
“Well, whatever.”
Asha responded hesitantly and indifferently, just as she did before.
For some reason, he was bothered by her indifferent attitude.
‘It seems like she is not interested in my female guests at all.’
Carlyle is well aware of Asha’s misunderstanding about him.
‘She probably thinks that Cecilia and Dorothea are my lovers or something like that. She likely considers me a womanizer.’
‘I don’t like it.’
He didn’t know specifically what he didn’t like, but for some reason, Carlyle felt wronged and displeased.
A while later, Giles emerged from Carlyle’s room, turns to look at Dorothea following behind him, and snapped at her in a low voice.
“What do you mean by ‘Your Highness’? Just call her ‘Countess Pervaz’.”
He didn’t like the way she greeted Asha with the same respect she would give to a royal.
Giles could never treat Asha as a royal.
And he didn’t like the idea of his daughter, who would be the ‘real’ empress in the future, bowing down to Asha.
However, Dorothea had a different viewpoint.
“Father, regardless if it’s contractual or not, Countess Pervaz is the Crown Prince’s wife. If we ignore that, I think it’ll be hard to make a good impression on His Highness.”
Giles, who had already been scolded by Carlyle for this, shook his head stubbornly.
“Who do you think doesn’t know that? There’s something called the power of words!”
The reason why he, even though he knows everything, can’t help but make disparaging remarks about Asha.
The reason why that fox-like Cecilia Dupret also uses the title ‘Countess Pervaz’.
“If you keep calling that woman ‘Your Highness’, His Highness Carlyle will eventually come to recognize her as his own. That must never happen!”
Giles knew very well the power of words.
Brainwashing starts with those ‘words’.
Giles, who had already been sensitive because of Carlyle’s order to call Asha ‘Your Highness’ in front of the servants, vented his anger on Dorothea for no reason.
“Anyway, you have to make sure to leave a lasting impression on His Highness Carlyle while you’re here! Cecilia Dupret is a hungry wildcat who is blinded by greed for power, so show him that you’re not as shallow as her. Do you know what I mean?”
“…Yes, Father.”
Giles glared at Dorothea from head to toe, criticizing her clothes and hairstyle, and clicked his tongue before turning away.
Watching her father’s retreating figure like that, Dorothea sighed deeply without a sound. However, she wasn’t completely against her father’s plan either.
‘At least if I become the Crown Princess, I’ll be able to read as many books as I want.’
She could even have the Imperial Library, rumored to have all the books in the empire, next to her.
Politics or heir-related issues might be a headache, but if she marries into another noble family, she won’t be able to read books freely on top of that, so the position of Crown Princess was better.
‘I have to try as long as I’m doing it.’
Dorothea resolved to harden her heart.
***
The day after Dorothea arrived, Asha also welcomed a new member of the household.
“I’ll be counting on you to take care of Pervaz Castle from now on.”
“I’ll do my best.”
The newly appointed butler was Samuel.
He had worked as an accountant in another city and was the nephew of the previous steward, Nathaniel. After receiving Decker’s job offer, he decided to come after some deliberation.
He was well-versed in financial matters and taxes, and at his age in his mid-40s, he wasn’t too young to handle the servants.
‘Samuel seems even more meticulous and knowledgeable than Uncle Nathaniel. He seems overly cautious, but it’s better to be cautious as a steward managing the castle than to be hasty and clumsy.’
Moreover, since he occasionally exchanged letters with Nathaniel, Samuel also had a rough knowledge about Pervaz’s situation.
Asha entrusted him to Della with a somewhat relieved expression.
“Della, you must be busy, but please help Samuel settle in for a while.”
“Of course. Then,Mr. Samuel, please follow me. I’ll show you around, starting with the rooms.”
“Yes. Goodbye, My Lady.”
Della led Samuel out. With only Asha and Decker left, Asha chuckled and patted his shoulder.
“The weather is nice. Want to take a stroll around the castle?”
“Sure.”
The two of them left the office and leisurely wandered around the castle. Just seeing the servants bustling around with lively faces made Asha feel content.
After walking in silence for a while, they reached a small bench near the center of the castle and decided to sit down and rest.
“Ah… it’s autumn.”
“Yeah.”
The sky above was paler than it had been in midsummer, with feather-like clouds drifting. When that sky turns paler, Pervaz’s winter will come.
As Asha gazed up at the sky absentmindedly, she murmured.
“Thanks for persuading Samuel, Decker. Now, it feels a bit more like a Count’s estate.”
“It was no trouble. Mr. Samuel made the decision himself.”
“I know it’s not that simple. Thanks to you, I feel a bit relieved too.”
Though still a long way off, seeing the household gradually improving made Asha realize that Pervaz was getting better.
“Now, the first harvest will begin. Twenty percent of the harvest will come in as taxes, so we’ll be able to stock up on emergency rations for the winter.”
This year, it will only be about stocking up on food, but next year and the year after, they’ll be able to sell surplus food for cash.
“Even if we’re out of the imperial jurisdiction, we’ll have to prepare taxes for the imperial family as well…”
Rich lords might scoff at it, but Asha dreamed of Pervaz receiving proper estate treatment by saving up every penny and paying taxes to the imperial family.
“That’s why I was so proud to finally fill the long-vacant position of butler.
But Decker, who had been acting strangely for some time, called out to Asha, who was humming a tune with a hopeful expression on her face.
“Wait, Asha.”
“Yes?”
“This is a different story, but… I’m talking about the two women who recently came to our castle…”
“Two women? Oh, Cecilia Dupret and Dorothea Ralphlet?”
Decker nodded tremblingly.
“They both look like well-bred young ladies from a noble family… Why did they come here?”
🩵🩵🩵🩵