Chapter 21 - Investment
Two days after Opal’s declaration, Hubert visited her in the attic room. He looked around curiously but did not state his purpose. It seemed he was surprised by the shabbiness of the small, low-ceilinged room, which contained little more than an old bed, a desk, and a chair crammed inside.
"...My lord, what can I do for you?"
"Ah, well... I’ve been thinking about what you said the other night."
"So, you’ve reached a conclusion?"
"I have."
Figuring it was a waste of time to wait in silence, Opal asked the obvious question. Hubert answered, albeit with some hesitation. Judging by his demeanor, his response would not be a bad one. When Opal prompted him to continue, he nodded with a serious expression.
"This whole affair... has made me realize just how arrogant and foolish I have been. I know I do not deserve your generous offer. However, I intend to turn over a new leaf. With your support, I will seek guidance from the Count and devote myself to my duties. And I swear I will buy back the land from you as soon as I am able."
"...Very well."
He was still a bit pompous, but this was likely just who Hubert was. More important was his resolve. Though she answered calmly, Opal was inwardly quite relieved. If Hubert had shown no intention of changing his ways, she had been prepared to push him further into a situation where he would be forced to work. Of course, she doubted how long this vow would last, but for now, Opal decided to believe him.
"Then, as I would like to proceed with the arrangements at once, may I be excused?"
"...Yes. Well then... I leave it in your hands."
"I will inform you of the details later."
Hubert looked as if he had more to say, but Opal kept her response businesslike and ended the conversation. After he left, she let out a sigh of relief and eagerly began to write a letter to her father. She was pleased to be able to push Hubert back onto the father who had pushed him onto her. But this brief sense of liberation was soon interrupted by a stream of servants, visiting one after another to express their remorse and pledge their newfound loyalty.
Romit and Beth, however, were a different matter. Opal had already hired a new butler and several other servants. If Romit chose to leave, so be it. If he stayed, he would be demoted to assistant butler. As for Beth, Opal no longer required a personal lady-in-waiting. If she remained, she would be demoted to an upper housemaid. When Opal finally informed them of this, both Romit and Beth wore expressions of pure humiliation, but neither said they would quit.
So, this is all it amounts to, she thought.
Opal had expected more resistance and was rather let down. In the end, their defiant attitudes had been entirely dependent on Hubert’s protection. Having thus dealt with these minor matters in her attic room, exactly five days later, Opal finally left the ducal mansion.
"Ah, what a relief!"
Seen off by Hubert and the new butler and servants, Opal exclaimed softly to herself in the carriage. Cayve was to escort her to the estate in the ducal fief. His wages had been doubled. Cayve had been quite humbled and tried to refuse, but in reality, he had been severely underpaid before. The new butler came with her uncle’s seal of approval, so things would surely change at the ducal mansion from now on. She had left the evaluation of the other servants entirely in his hands.
As for Lady Northem and Stella, she had not seen them during her five days of seclusion in the attic, but frankly, she did not care. That mother and daughter were Hubert’s problem, not hers. More importantly, the rewarding work of reforming a vast fief awaited her. Her first task would be to reform Omar. With that thought, Opal journeyed in the swaying carriage, heading straight for the former McLeod ducal fief.
*
Three years later. Opal placed her hand of cards on the table and sighed deeply.
"I lost. It’s my loss..."
"So it would seem. Well then, I will leave this month’s bookkeeping to you, my lady."
"Unbelievable... Why do I pay you such high wages?"
"To motivate us servants, of course."
"And yet you showed me no mercy."
"There’s no need to hold back in a game, is there?"
Omar replied, gathering the cards from the table. It was impossible to tell if he was comforting or teasing the lamenting Opal. The card game had been a custom ever since Opal had moved to the estate. To distract the newly reinstated administrator Omar from his bad habits, she, along with the butler Lind and others, had taken to playing card games every evening. The stakes were household chores and the like.
At first, Omar had seemed restless, finding it all rather unsatisfying. But with a watchful eye on him, he was unable to visit the town of Nobori, and the thrill of betting large sums of money gradually faded. Now, he truly enjoyed card games and the like as simple pastimes. When he was serious, Omar was an excellent administrator, and there was much Opal learned from him as well. Of course, she was slowly being repaid the money she had lent him from his high wages.
"Oh, it seems we have a visitor."
"...A letter, perhaps?"
Just as Opal was about to leave the study to begin her afternoon work, she heard the sound of a carriage approaching on the road to the estate. From the sound of the wheels, it was likely a delivery carriage. However, deliveries of food and other supplies were supposed to go to the back entrance, so Opal guessed it was a letter and decided to wait in her study.
For the past three years, Opal had hardly left the fief. Naturally, she had not appeared in high society even when the season began, which gave rise to various rumors. It was speculated that she was struggling to maintain Hubert’s vast fief, leading people to conclude that it had been a marriage for money after all. Some whispered that he had confined his promiscuous wife to the fief, while others claimed that Hubert, ensnared by Opal’s wiles, was so consumed by jealousy that he would not let her leave.
So in the end, I’m still confined, aren’t I...
Opal had laughed without a care when she heard the rumors. In truth, Hubert had repeatedly invited her to the Royal Capital during the season and to visit friends’ fiefs during the off-season. Opal had refused every invitation.
It was not that she could not leave the fief. Over the past three years, the fief had developed steadily thanks to Opal’s investments and Omar’s proper management. Blessed with good weather, it seemed she would soon recoup her initial investment. It was just that Opal found socializing in high society to be a nuisance, and she no longer cared what people thought of her as the Duchess.
Despite this, Opal had started to see Hubert in a new light. Amazingly, in the past three years, he had already bought back the mansion in the capital and nearly thirty percent of the fief from her. It went without saying that Opal was relieved she had not needed to resort to her next plan. In fact, Hubert had managed to buy back the mansion and a small portion of the land in just over a year. And when Opal visited the ducal mansion in the capital for the first time in a long while to handle the paperwork, she was not only warmly welcomed but was also shown to the mistress’s chambers.
"They said it would be better for Stella to convalesce where the air is fresh, didn't they? I found a relatively small estate with some land for sale in a rural area near the capital and purchased it. Lady Northem and Stella have moved there. I sent Romit, Beth, and a few other familiar servants with them."
"I see..."
"Truly, I am grateful to you. If you hadn't told me to have Stella see another doctor back then, she might have... Well, anyway, I'm just glad they found an effective remedy. Thank you so much, Opal."
"...Not at all. She is someone important to you, my lord. I only did what was natural."
In truth, an effective remedy had not been found, it had existed for quite some time. The previous physician, Dr. Harrison, had been unaware of it and had been prescribing old-fashioned medicine at exorbitant prices. Apparently, Dr. Harrison treated the poor for free, and he made up for it by charging wealthy clients like Hubert, though he was not truly wealthy, excessively high medical fees. When Hubert finally realized this, he dismissed Dr. Harrison and sent Opal a long, effusive letter of thanks. Dr. Harrison’s intentions may have been noble, but his methods were certainly flawed. Opal did not interfere, simply sending a conventional reply to close the matter.
"No, still, please allow me to thank you."
"Y, yes..."
As he said this, Hubert took Opal’s hand and smiled brightly. The about-face in attitude from Hubert and the other servants who had served there before, even without Romit and Beth present, left Opal bewildered. But she swallowed everything she wanted to say and spent the entire day forcing a pleasant smile. The next morning, despite Hubert’s attempts to detain her, she left the mansion early, citing concerns about the fief.
After that, Hubert continued to buy back his lands at regular intervals. Even Opal’s father, Count Holloway, was surprised. Initially, his letters had repeatedly asked, "May I just cast that fool aside?" but the content gradually shifted to one of grudging acknowledgement. It seemed Hubert was working desperately hard, just as he had vowed. He no longer needed the allowance from Opal and had even repaid the amount equivalent to what she had paid him for about a year.
Recently, rumors of Hubert’s success in investments had spread through high society, and he was gaining popularity among the ladies. It was said that he attended evening parties but never with his wife, or any woman for that matter, and spent his time talking with other men, making women scheme for ways to get close to him. Moreover, though he never brought his wife, he was often seen talking amicably with her father not only at parties but also at gentlemen’s clubs, which only fueled further speculation.
Listening to the butler Lind conversing with someone at the entrance, Opal waited, her thoughts drifting. Omar, unconcerned with the distracted Opal, had already resumed his work. The lands Hubert had bought back were still managed by Omar, who occasionally traveled to the capital to report and teach Hubert the details of management, so there were no worries for the future. At this rate, if things went well, Hubert might regain half of his fief by the end of the year.
He was always capable of it, she thought. He was just so spoiled that he had abandoned his duties...
However, luck had also been on Hubert’s side. The story her uncle had told her three years ago, about the civil war in Taisey Kingdom, had apparently ended in about six months. Now, the demand for various goods for postwar recovery was boosting their own country’s economy.
It’s infuriating that war stimulates the economy, but this time it was mostly a conflict within the royal palace, and the common people were spared bloodshed. That’s a credit to the king’s younger brother’s faction, the victors.
Originally, Taisey Kingdom was a country rich in resources with extremely high technological capabilities. Unfortunately, much was lost in the civil war and the plague that preceded it, but it seemed to be recovering under the leadership of the king’s younger brother, the new king. Just as Opal’s thoughts had drifted to Taisey Kingdom, Lind entered after a knock, carrying a letter on a tray.
"A letter for you, my lady."
"Thank you, Lind."
As expected, the carriage had come to deliver a letter. Opal took it from the tray, turned it over, and checked the sender. Her face immediately fell with disappointment.
Seeing her reaction, neither Omar nor Lind said a word. Everyone at the estate knew that Opal had been waiting for a letter from someone for nearly three years. But though they wondered who it could be, they never brought it up. Including Omar, they all wished for the happiness of their beloved Opal and refrained from prying into her personal affairs.
"Oh my..."
Opal let out a small gasp as she quickly scanned the letter. The sender was Hubert, so she had assumed he was planning to buy back another piece of land, but she was mistaken.
"Is something the matter?"
Lind asked with concern, knowing who the letter was from. He glanced at Omar, who had also stopped working in concern, and conveyed that it was from Hubert. When Opal first arrived at the estate as its new lord, the air between Lind and Omar had been tense, but now their friendship had been restored.
Lind had blamed himself for not noticing Omar’s misconduct after the previous duke and duchess passed away. He had believed Omar’s occasional trips were for land management, thinking he was struggling since the great drought. Then Opal had arrived and exposed Omar’s deceit. For a time, he had been furious with Omar for being reinstated as administrator, but as he watched him diligently apply himself to his work this time, his anger subsided.
"His Grace is coming here soon, to this estate."
"That can’t be..."
Opal turned to look at Lind, who had muttered in disbelief. She was surprised by the uncharacteristic reaction from the usually calm and collected butler. Seeing her expression, Omar spoke up to explain.
"His Grace has not returned to this fief in... seventeen years. Not since the accident that took the lives of the previous Duke, his parents... After Lord Northem also passed away here, it seemed His Grace came to despise this land. So..."
Omar trailed off, his face flushing red as he fell silent. He had been able to get away with his misdeeds because Hubert had left the fief entirely in his hands, even after coming of age.
"You see... when the previous duke and duchess had their accident, His Grace was only twelve years old. And yet, it took us two days to find their carriage... For that entire time, His Grace was trapped inside with the bodies of his parents."
"That’s..."
Opal grew pale hearing Lind’s story. She had known that Hubert stopped visiting the fief after his parents died, but she had never imagined he had gone through such a traumatic experience. She recalled how she had blamed him for being irresponsible without knowing anything.
"B, but, the fact that His Grace is coming here must mean he has found some peace with his past. We will do everything in our power to help him forget those memories."
"...Yes. I’ll be counting on you. I should go tell Debby as well."
Seeing Opal’s shock, Lind quickly added his reassurance, to which Opal replied with a smile. She left the study and headed for the housekeeper, Debby’s, rooms. But she could not help but think of the wounded young Hubert, and she now regretted not having tried to understand his past sooner.