093. If you trust me and leave it to me
William continued speaking calmly, not knowing whether he knew Bianca's feelings or not.
“But then, just then, Josef gave his consent to the engagement, and the plan was aborted. We wanted to push through and completely shake off that woman, but Kaitlyn suddenly opposed it.”
At the somewhat strong expressions of 'that woman' and 'I wanted to make her fall off,' Hannes felt his heart pounding again.
He didn't want to be a mean person in front of his lovely daughter anymore.
“Well, that’s your opinion. I didn’t mean to go that far.”
Hannes continued to speak as if making excuses.
“Didn’t you get stubborn? In a way, it’s no different from interfering with the matter that Prince Meyer should handle on his own. Didn’t you try to dig up that woman’s back and interfere privately?”
“I won’t deny it.”
William admitted with a smirk.
“Well, Kaitlyn must have felt the same way. She must have felt that her family was being left with such a risky and burdensome burden, including a broken engagement.”
Bianca nodded silently.
“But I doubt if it was serious enough to keep me away.”
“Yes, I agree with you. I don’t think Madam Meyer would shy away from you over something so trivial.”
There was silence. Bianca, who had been thinking deeply about something, opened her mouth again.
“Now that I know what you think, I will meet Mrs. Meyer and hear her true feelings. I will say it again, I hope that the three of you will walk together at Prince Meyer’s graduation ceremony, which will be held soon. There is no better signal for investors.”
William raised both arms toward Bianca, as if agreeing with her words. Then he added:
“While I’m entrusting you with a difficult task, Grand Duchess... may I ask you one more favor?”
“Yes, anything.”
“Honestly, I’m more curious about Prince Meyer’s intentions than Kaitlyn’s.”
Bianca's once bright eyes became slightly clouded.
“I have no idea what he is thinking. Recently, I even thought about sending someone to investigate him. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. As you said, we are allies with close blood ties. It would be bad to sow the seeds of distrust.”
“What are you so... suspicious about?”
William suddenly laughed hollowly again.
“Well, actually... there’s nothing suspicious about it. Prince Meyer has respected our wishes so far and done his job. I just want to be a little more certain. About how strong his faith is in the joint venture or the alliance, what he plans to do with Meyer Steel, when he’ll marry you, little things like that. Prince Meyer is notoriously unpredictable, you know. Sometimes even his mother, Kaitlyn, seems to be at a loss.”
Kaitlyn Meyer was an easy opponent for Bianca. But Hardius was different. There was an unwritten rule between them that the one who liked more had to lose.
Above all, she didn't want to resort to such a cowardly method to win a man's heart.
But William Richards did not stop tempting people like a snake with the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in its mouth.
“You’re going to marry him sooner or later. So there’s no harm in trying to get to know him by getting someone to talk to him or having a deep conversation. You two are going to get married anyway, so it won’t be a big deal between you two. Right?”
Charlotte never told.
No matter how she got the courage to go to the festival or what Lord Meyer had said, the child would just keep her mouth shut and give a secretive smile.
“You’ll find out when you go that day.”
Emilia glanced at her younger sister and then just smiled.
The relationship between Hardius and Charlotte had long since left Emilia's hands.
Since we're going to a festival for the first time in a while, let's forget everything and just enjoy ourselves.
A faint smile appeared on Emilia's lips without her realizing it. Someone blocked her path.
“Hey, Elaine.”
It was the chef, Mr. Hellock. He stared intently at Emilia's face,
“Are you feeling a little better?”
And asked.
The unexplained fatigue, nausea, and dizziness did not completely go away, but they were very temporary and did not interfere with her daily life.
Emilia answered by curling the corners of her lips.
“That’s great. Then, could you help Tilly out with some work this afternoon? I have an order from Waldorf’s General Store that’s supposed to come in, but I’m a little short-staffed.”
“Yes, I will.”
And that afternoon, as Mr. Hellock had said, a cart from the general store arrived and filled the back door of the restaurant. Emilia and the kitchen staff diligently carried meat, fruit, and sacks of wheat.
Emilia, who was working frantically, caught sight of the scene just as the cart was starting to empty.
From a distance, she could see Ingrid bowing her head before an old gentleman with white hair.
The old man opened his ledger roughly with a very angry face and immediately started swearing at Ingrid. Ingrid didn't know what to do and just rubbed the back of her neck.
Emilia approached Hellock with a worried look in her eyes.
“What happened to Miss Ingrid?”
A sigh suddenly escaped Hellock's mouth as he turned his head to where Emilia was pointing.
“Miss Ingrid is getting scolded.”
“Are you... scolding?”
“Yes, that old man is her father, Mr. Angel.”
Emilia was so surprised that she couldn't close her mouth. Now that she thinks about it, the old man with white hair and the skinny woman kind of look alike. Even more surprising words came out of Hellock's mouth.
“Mr. Angel is a commoner like us, but he is said to be a very wealthy man, so much so that everyone in Rheinsbuch knows him. He is also a very successful businessman in the spice wholesale business.”
Emilia looked at Ingrid again with eyes filled with surprise.
“But why is he scolding his daughter?”
“They say that Ms. Ingrid opened this store despite her father’s opposition. She insisted that she didn’t want to get married and wanted to start a business.”
Emilia remembers when she first met her; she was a little surprised that a woman was the CEO.
“But business is something that can be done with just a few pennies. The president was a woman, so it wasn’t easy for her to borrow money, and in the end, she had no choice but to go to her father and get on her knees and beg him. She thought it was the last time and asked him to invest in her. Mr. Angel said he lent her the money on the condition that she would show some kind of results within a month.”
“A month?”
“Yes, no matter how unreliable a spinster daughter may be, it’s too much. To expect results within a month of opening a business...”
Emilia then understood many things. It wasn't simply because business was not going well. Ingrid had to sigh almost every day while looking at the ledger because she had promised her father.
“But what can I do? His father told him to do so.”
Emilia turned her head away from the thudding Hellock and looked back at Ingrid.
In the meantime, the old man left the restaurant, and she just looked down at the ledger with a dark face and sighed deeply.
That day, when Emilia was about to leave work, Ingrid stopped her again as she was saying hello.
“You were right. The teacup was a fake. My father found out and scolded me again.”
Emilia didn't know what to say in response to the voice that was filled with frustration.
“Today was the worst day ever. I had to keep hearing that I was a stupid woman who didn’t know anything about business. From a man who was my father.”
“....”
“You know what? It’s not me who doesn’t know the lion’s share of business; it’s that old man who is so stale. Even though I’ve been duped into buying counterfeit goods, the finest cutlery, silver candlesticks, and chandeliers are never bought for vanity. I want my guests to feel like they’ve been invited to a noble house, like the splendid dining rooms of the mansions that line Nowak.”
Emilia looked around the hall. She hadn't paid much attention to it because she was so busy working in the scullery, but now that she looked at it, it seemed pretty plausible.
It was quite shabby compared to Basilion House or the Meyer family home, but at least it was as good as the Cavendish dining room.
“Then wouldn’t it be okay to say that to the boss’s father? What you just said sounded very convincing to me.”
Ingrid's eyes sparkled with emotion, but only for a moment. She sighed deeply again and shook her head.
“I can’t communicate with my father. He thinks that the food business is all about quantity.”
The face that had been frowning in discontent suddenly turned towards the ledger.
“He has no sense of aesthetics at all, so he has no interest in interior design. All he does is nag me to show him their ledgers all the time. What’s so important about these ledgers?”
Emilia's eyes were drawn to the messily written letters and numbers without a moment to stop.
As she had checked last time, Ingrid was naive enough to be fooled by counterfeit goods, and the ledger was seriously messed up. Emilia seemed to understand a little why the old man was so angry.
Although she thought she shouldn't interfere rashly, Emilia's mouth moved on its own again.
“Didn’t your father say earlier that you were spending too much?”
"Huh?"
Ingrid's head suddenly rose.
“...How did you know?”
“It will be hard to gain your father’s trust with these kinds of ledgers. If, as the president says, your father considers ledgers to be the most important thing in business, then so be it.”
The round eyes grew even bigger.
“From his perspective, he couldn’t help but feel angry. He must have felt like you were spending money more recklessly because the cause and effect of your spending was unclear.”
Ingrid's mouth slowly began to open, for the last words were exactly what her father had told her over and over again.
“How did you know?”
“I have a little experience with bookkeeping,” Emilia answered quietly.
Ingrid looked her over from head to toe.
What on earth is the identity?
It was confusing, but at least one thing was clear: she was too good to be used as a dishwasher.
As Ingrid thought quietly, Emilia suddenly raised her head.
“Fathers are human too, and sometimes they make wrong decisions. But it’s not because they do it in the wrong way. It’s definitely because they love their daughter.”
Emilia's eyes suddenly became hazy.
“If someone were to ask me to pick one regret from my life, I would pick the fights I had with my father. Like Ingrid, my father arbitrarily decided my life and future. I resented it at the time, but now I regret it a little.”
“Why?”
“He passed away. So suddenly.”
“Oh my, really... that’s too bad.”
The atmosphere became solemn. Emilia smiled brightly, not intending to darken the president's mood any further.
“I hope you, too, Miss, reconcile with your father before you regret it like I did.”
It was the moment when Emilia turned around at the counter and said, “Well then, goodbye.”
"For a moment!"
Ingrid stopped Emilia.
“Didn’t you say earlier that you know how to read ledgers?”
“...A little bit.”
“Well, could you please take a look at this ledger? I have no idea what the problem is. Just fix it so that my father doesn’t get angry.”
The dishwasher's eyes immediately took on a complex look. Ingrid could tell that the woman in front of her was overly timid and wary.
“I can’t afford to hire a bookkeeper. I’m desperate for anything. Of course, I’ll pay you a stipend. I don’t know your skills yet, so I can’t pay you much, but I’ll pay you more than what you’re getting at Scholarly.”
It was Emilia's turn to widen her eyes. Ingrid must be a novice in business, showing her ledger to someone she barely knew.
Of course, Emilia had no reason to refuse.
“Yes, if you trust me and leave it to me, I’ll give it a try.”
William continued speaking calmly, not knowing whether he knew Bianca's feelings or not.
“But then, just then, Josef gave his consent to the engagement, and the plan was aborted. We wanted to push through and completely shake off that woman, but Kaitlyn suddenly opposed it.”
At the somewhat strong expressions of 'that woman' and 'I wanted to make her fall off,' Hannes felt his heart pounding again.
He didn't want to be a mean person in front of his lovely daughter anymore.
“Well, that’s your opinion. I didn’t mean to go that far.”
Hannes continued to speak as if making excuses.
“Didn’t you get stubborn? In a way, it’s no different from interfering with the matter that Prince Meyer should handle on his own. Didn’t you try to dig up that woman’s back and interfere privately?”
“I won’t deny it.”
William admitted with a smirk.
“Well, Kaitlyn must have felt the same way. She must have felt that her family was being left with such a risky and burdensome burden, including a broken engagement.”
Bianca nodded silently.
“But I doubt if it was serious enough to keep me away.”
“Yes, I agree with you. I don’t think Madam Meyer would shy away from you over something so trivial.”
There was silence. Bianca, who had been thinking deeply about something, opened her mouth again.
“Now that I know what you think, I will meet Mrs. Meyer and hear her true feelings. I will say it again, I hope that the three of you will walk together at Prince Meyer’s graduation ceremony, which will be held soon. There is no better signal for investors.”
William raised both arms toward Bianca, as if agreeing with her words. Then he added:
“While I’m entrusting you with a difficult task, Grand Duchess... may I ask you one more favor?”
“Yes, anything.”
“Honestly, I’m more curious about Prince Meyer’s intentions than Kaitlyn’s.”
Bianca's once bright eyes became slightly clouded.
“I have no idea what he is thinking. Recently, I even thought about sending someone to investigate him. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. As you said, we are allies with close blood ties. It would be bad to sow the seeds of distrust.”
“What are you so... suspicious about?”
William suddenly laughed hollowly again.
“Well, actually... there’s nothing suspicious about it. Prince Meyer has respected our wishes so far and done his job. I just want to be a little more certain. About how strong his faith is in the joint venture or the alliance, what he plans to do with Meyer Steel, when he’ll marry you, little things like that. Prince Meyer is notoriously unpredictable, you know. Sometimes even his mother, Kaitlyn, seems to be at a loss.”
Kaitlyn Meyer was an easy opponent for Bianca. But Hardius was different. There was an unwritten rule between them that the one who liked more had to lose.
Above all, she didn't want to resort to such a cowardly method to win a man's heart.
But William Richards did not stop tempting people like a snake with the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in its mouth.
“You’re going to marry him sooner or later. So there’s no harm in trying to get to know him by getting someone to talk to him or having a deep conversation. You two are going to get married anyway, so it won’t be a big deal between you two. Right?”
***
Charlotte never told.
No matter how she got the courage to go to the festival or what Lord Meyer had said, the child would just keep her mouth shut and give a secretive smile.
“You’ll find out when you go that day.”
Emilia glanced at her younger sister and then just smiled.
The relationship between Hardius and Charlotte had long since left Emilia's hands.
Since we're going to a festival for the first time in a while, let's forget everything and just enjoy ourselves.
A faint smile appeared on Emilia's lips without her realizing it. Someone blocked her path.
“Hey, Elaine.”
It was the chef, Mr. Hellock. He stared intently at Emilia's face,
“Are you feeling a little better?”
And asked.
The unexplained fatigue, nausea, and dizziness did not completely go away, but they were very temporary and did not interfere with her daily life.
Emilia answered by curling the corners of her lips.
“That’s great. Then, could you help Tilly out with some work this afternoon? I have an order from Waldorf’s General Store that’s supposed to come in, but I’m a little short-staffed.”
“Yes, I will.”
And that afternoon, as Mr. Hellock had said, a cart from the general store arrived and filled the back door of the restaurant. Emilia and the kitchen staff diligently carried meat, fruit, and sacks of wheat.
Emilia, who was working frantically, caught sight of the scene just as the cart was starting to empty.
From a distance, she could see Ingrid bowing her head before an old gentleman with white hair.
The old man opened his ledger roughly with a very angry face and immediately started swearing at Ingrid. Ingrid didn't know what to do and just rubbed the back of her neck.
Emilia approached Hellock with a worried look in her eyes.
“What happened to Miss Ingrid?”
A sigh suddenly escaped Hellock's mouth as he turned his head to where Emilia was pointing.
“Miss Ingrid is getting scolded.”
“Are you... scolding?”
“Yes, that old man is her father, Mr. Angel.”
Emilia was so surprised that she couldn't close her mouth. Now that she thinks about it, the old man with white hair and the skinny woman kind of look alike. Even more surprising words came out of Hellock's mouth.
“Mr. Angel is a commoner like us, but he is said to be a very wealthy man, so much so that everyone in Rheinsbuch knows him. He is also a very successful businessman in the spice wholesale business.”
Emilia looked at Ingrid again with eyes filled with surprise.
“But why is he scolding his daughter?”
“They say that Ms. Ingrid opened this store despite her father’s opposition. She insisted that she didn’t want to get married and wanted to start a business.”
Emilia remembers when she first met her; she was a little surprised that a woman was the CEO.
“But business is something that can be done with just a few pennies. The president was a woman, so it wasn’t easy for her to borrow money, and in the end, she had no choice but to go to her father and get on her knees and beg him. She thought it was the last time and asked him to invest in her. Mr. Angel said he lent her the money on the condition that she would show some kind of results within a month.”
“A month?”
“Yes, no matter how unreliable a spinster daughter may be, it’s too much. To expect results within a month of opening a business...”
Emilia then understood many things. It wasn't simply because business was not going well. Ingrid had to sigh almost every day while looking at the ledger because she had promised her father.
“But what can I do? His father told him to do so.”
Emilia turned her head away from the thudding Hellock and looked back at Ingrid.
In the meantime, the old man left the restaurant, and she just looked down at the ledger with a dark face and sighed deeply.
That day, when Emilia was about to leave work, Ingrid stopped her again as she was saying hello.
“You were right. The teacup was a fake. My father found out and scolded me again.”
Emilia didn't know what to say in response to the voice that was filled with frustration.
“Today was the worst day ever. I had to keep hearing that I was a stupid woman who didn’t know anything about business. From a man who was my father.”
“....”
“You know what? It’s not me who doesn’t know the lion’s share of business; it’s that old man who is so stale. Even though I’ve been duped into buying counterfeit goods, the finest cutlery, silver candlesticks, and chandeliers are never bought for vanity. I want my guests to feel like they’ve been invited to a noble house, like the splendid dining rooms of the mansions that line Nowak.”
Emilia looked around the hall. She hadn't paid much attention to it because she was so busy working in the scullery, but now that she looked at it, it seemed pretty plausible.
It was quite shabby compared to Basilion House or the Meyer family home, but at least it was as good as the Cavendish dining room.
“Then wouldn’t it be okay to say that to the boss’s father? What you just said sounded very convincing to me.”
Ingrid's eyes sparkled with emotion, but only for a moment. She sighed deeply again and shook her head.
“I can’t communicate with my father. He thinks that the food business is all about quantity.”
The face that had been frowning in discontent suddenly turned towards the ledger.
“He has no sense of aesthetics at all, so he has no interest in interior design. All he does is nag me to show him their ledgers all the time. What’s so important about these ledgers?”
Emilia's eyes were drawn to the messily written letters and numbers without a moment to stop.
As she had checked last time, Ingrid was naive enough to be fooled by counterfeit goods, and the ledger was seriously messed up. Emilia seemed to understand a little why the old man was so angry.
Although she thought she shouldn't interfere rashly, Emilia's mouth moved on its own again.
“Didn’t your father say earlier that you were spending too much?”
"Huh?"
Ingrid's head suddenly rose.
“...How did you know?”
“It will be hard to gain your father’s trust with these kinds of ledgers. If, as the president says, your father considers ledgers to be the most important thing in business, then so be it.”
The round eyes grew even bigger.
“From his perspective, he couldn’t help but feel angry. He must have felt like you were spending money more recklessly because the cause and effect of your spending was unclear.”
Ingrid's mouth slowly began to open, for the last words were exactly what her father had told her over and over again.
“How did you know?”
“I have a little experience with bookkeeping,” Emilia answered quietly.
Ingrid looked her over from head to toe.
What on earth is the identity?
It was confusing, but at least one thing was clear: she was too good to be used as a dishwasher.
As Ingrid thought quietly, Emilia suddenly raised her head.
“Fathers are human too, and sometimes they make wrong decisions. But it’s not because they do it in the wrong way. It’s definitely because they love their daughter.”
Emilia's eyes suddenly became hazy.
“If someone were to ask me to pick one regret from my life, I would pick the fights I had with my father. Like Ingrid, my father arbitrarily decided my life and future. I resented it at the time, but now I regret it a little.”
“Why?”
“He passed away. So suddenly.”
“Oh my, really... that’s too bad.”
The atmosphere became solemn. Emilia smiled brightly, not intending to darken the president's mood any further.
“I hope you, too, Miss, reconcile with your father before you regret it like I did.”
It was the moment when Emilia turned around at the counter and said, “Well then, goodbye.”
"For a moment!"
Ingrid stopped Emilia.
“Didn’t you say earlier that you know how to read ledgers?”
“...A little bit.”
“Well, could you please take a look at this ledger? I have no idea what the problem is. Just fix it so that my father doesn’t get angry.”
The dishwasher's eyes immediately took on a complex look. Ingrid could tell that the woman in front of her was overly timid and wary.
“I can’t afford to hire a bookkeeper. I’m desperate for anything. Of course, I’ll pay you a stipend. I don’t know your skills yet, so I can’t pay you much, but I’ll pay you more than what you’re getting at Scholarly.”
It was Emilia's turn to widen her eyes. Ingrid must be a novice in business, showing her ledger to someone she barely knew.
Of course, Emilia had no reason to refuse.
“Yes, if you trust me and leave it to me, I’ll give it a try.”
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