Rubica wrote a letter in return that said she would be happy to go to the countess’s tea meeting anytime, trying not to show how delighted she was.
“Well, I can see why Countess Tangt is famous as the society’s celebrity. She is much cleverer than the others.”
“She’s cleverer?”
“Look. You received too many letters, so the others will only get letters signed by you in return, but the countess has succeeded in receiving a letter written by yourself. All because she announced she was going to host a tea meeting herself.”
“Oh, thinking about it that way, it is a really clever plan.”
Rubica was impressed. Even though Edgar thought Countess Tangt was only a talkative lady, not anyone could become a celebrity in society. Rubica, however, suddenly became scared.
“Will I be able to do well among people like her?”
“But you are already doing well. Taylor Rose has become this popular all thanks to your idea.”
Ann replied casually as she sorted the letters for the other nobles. However, it confused Rubica and she had to ask back.
“My idea?”
“You gave a pot of rose to every guest who came to your meeting. They invited their neighbors to show it off, so now they are all eager to know what Taylor Rose is and where they can get it. It was the best promotion.”
Ann looked at Rubica with admiration, but she suddenly felt dizzy. She hadn’t given out those roses for that purpose, not at all. She just wanted to spend a lot of money and thought giving out gifts would be the best way for it.
Why did she keep getting such results? She tried hard to become a good daughter and a nice niece, but her hard effort never paid off. But now, the harder she tried to become a bad wife, the higher people thought of her? What on earth was going on?
“We should call Madam Khanna and order more dresses for the tea meeting. I think we must order at least five different tea meeting dresses.”
“Do I really need five different dresses for Countess Tangt’s tea meeting?”
“Your Grace, I bet on this pen that Marchioness Miramont will send you an invitation for her own tea meeting within a week.”
And just as Ann assured her, Marchioness Miramont sent her a messenger bird with the invitation for Rubica in less than a week. However, the problem was that she wasn’t the only one to receive such an invitation.
A few of those invitations were not addressed to Rubica but to the knights and scholars in Claymore.
If it had been only about befriending the duchess, the tea meeting wouldn’t have been so sensational. A few young women and men had been fond of each other at the meeting. And now, their parents just couldn’t stay still.
As it was not the time for balls yet, they wondered how they could let their children meet their crush again, but then they heard the countess was hosting a tea meeting. Soon, they realized that tea meeting was the best solution for the problem.
“I think I should also go to Marchioness Miramont’s meeting.”
“You are right. It wouldn’t be good to neglect the Miramonts too much.”
Maintaining a good relationship with Tangts was important, but Rubica couldn’t make it look like Claymore feared Tangt that much. Therefore, Ann added Miramont’s tea meeting to Rubica’s schedule.
“There are also some meetings Carl said you’d better go to.”
As Rubica was Duchess Claymore, she couldn’t neglect families that were Claymore’s business partners. Ann prioritized the meetings Rubica was supposed to go to. According to that, Rubica was going to be really busy a week later.
“I think the five dresses we’ve ordered won’t be enough…”
“Yes, Madam Khanna has been extremely busy lately. All the ladies who are going to host a tea meeting want to order from her. I heard Marchioness Miramont even sent knights and a mana stone carriage for her lest her order might be put back in the list.”
“Do they all want ribbon dresses?” Rubica asked, unable to hide how excited she was about it.
“Oh, but it is now impossible to get the fabric we used for the dresses. Especially Elise’s royal blue fabric. No one can get it now.”
That was a success beyond Rubica’s imagination, and she had to press her fast beating heart to calm it down.
“As it is pretty without any jewels and comfortable, some even wear it when they are not at tea meetings.”
“It’s good.”
“Yes, it’s also good for the dukedom.”
Ann looked at Rubica with pride. At first, she had been a little worried to see her mistress invest such a huge sum of money for her tea meeting. However, she hadn’t been able to stop Rubica as the duke was spending an enormous amount of money just to buy gifts for her.
And now, she thought it was good that she didn’t try to stop her.
Khanna received a lot of down payments and orders, so she immediately started to hire skilled tailors. Moreover, supplies, including good fabric, started to flow into the dukedom. Its inns were even making high profits thanks to the servants who came for Madam Khanna.
The same was with Taylor Rose. Even though Claymore was famous for its weapons business, its subjects were not. Peasants who didn’t have skills that let them get a job at Claymore’s factories lived lives that were no better than the peasants of other domains.
However, thanks to the success of Taylor Rose, Claymore was now hiring farmers to grow roses which led to extra jobs and profit for the peasants. And after the farmers’ financial status improved, various seeds and farming tools that met their demands entered the market. Of course, more deals were made at shops now. Rubica’s bold spending had been a clever investment to make the dukedom flourish.
‘I used to believe saving was the only virtue…’
The kingdom didn’t have enough supplies. Even though it was buying its food with mana stone, the price of food soared up immediately when famine would strike the continent.
That was why Ann had always tried to practice saving that was called the virtue of Seritos’s nobles.
To prepare for the famine that could come at any time, she tried her best to save while she managed the household in the absence of Duchess Claymore.
However, even though Rubica just got what she wanted to eat, what she wanted to wear, and even what she wanted to see, she was doing a better job of managing the household than Ann.
If Ann had stopped her from investing on Sesar and hosting such a grand tea meeting, this day wouldn’t have come.
“Your Grace, the queen also wants to see Taylor Rose. I think we should send it to her.”
“Of course we should if Her Majesty wants it. Oh, we should send this new rose along with it.”
Rubica said as she touched the flowers in a vase on the table. It had the opposite gradation from the Taylor Rose, white in the edge and red in the middle. Edgar had presented it to her yesterday.
Rubica wanted to ask why he was bragging about it when Lord Sesar was the one making those roses, but he looked so hungry for her compliments that she just said what he wanted to hear.
“The queen must be happy to see it.”
“And Lord Sesar said he is going to make light purple roses as his next work.”
Now he had become really confident thanks to his series of successes. Even the relatives who had ignored him were now showing up at his greenhouse, wondering if they could get some roses.
Each time that happened, Sesar poured a bucket of water on them and laughed heartily, saying they should have been nice to him.
“Maybe he’ll even make a rose that bloom in winter.”
“Haha.”
Rubica laughed, but she thought it wasn’t completely impossible for Lord Sesar.
“Anyway, as you are going to be busy, we should order more dresses and accessories.”
“But I already have enough accessories…”
“What the duke has bought for you are splendid, but they don’t match the dresses you are going to wear to tea meetings. You should save them for balls.”
Ann was now so enthusiastic about it which made Rubica anxious. Ann had been worrying about the budget and had tried to make Rubica spend at least a little less.
She had been really worried about the duke’s great spending till only a while ago.
As Rubica had bought a lot, it was time for the budget to run out. However, Ann wasn’t worried at all.
‘I know Taylor Rose is being sold well, but it’s just a rose…’
Plus, they hadn’t planted it much as they hadn’t known it would become so popular. Unlike manufacturing goods, it took time for roses to bud, grow, and bloom.
Rubica couldn’t understand Ann’s reaction, even though the dukedom’s financial status had somewhat improved.
‘I haven’t looked at the books as I was busy preparing for the tea meeting and writing back letters.’
She had entrusted Ann with the matter, believing the housekeeper would tell her if something wrong happened.
If Rubica’s memory was right, she had spent more than the budget. Something must have gone wrong by now, but Ann wasn’t saying anything, and it worried her.
Now that she decided to save Edgar no matter what, she couldn’t have thoughts like before where she didn’t think it was her problem whether Edgar was in debt or not.
“Ann, about the books…”
“Oh yes, you haven’t had the time to look at the books after you assigned the budget. I will have Carl organize it and bring it.”
The housekeeper sounded extremely relaxed, so Rubica thought this couldn’t be right.
