The Survival Strategy of the Contract Duchess - Chapter 122

Having finished his meal, Kyler quickly departed for the Imperial Palace. Sasha, in turn, hastened her steps towards Rose’s room.

Knock, knock.

“Rose? It’s me.”

There probably wasn’t anyone else who could address the rigid Rose so affably. Sasha knocked on the door and, without waiting for a response, announced her identity.

After about three seconds of silence, the door opened. As expected, a tired-looking Rose stood there.

“Ah, Lady Sasha. Did you have a good breakfast?”

Rose stepped aside, welcoming Sasha inside.

“Rose, what are you doing, not sleeping or eating? It makes me feel like I’m making you work too hard.”

Come to think of it, Sasha was holding a tray. Rose’s eyes widened as she finally recognized what it was.

“Surely, Lady Sasha.”

“Jeff prepared it simply. Eat quickly. Ugh, I didn’t bring anything to drink?”

What Sasha had brought was a simple sandwich with bread, cheese, ham, and vegetables, along with a steaming bowl of soup. It was just more of the breakfast she had eaten, so it wasn’t as if the chef had to do much extra work.

“No, why would Lady Sasha do this!”

“It’s just Jeff’s job anyway. I only carried it over. Is this the organized data?”

Sasha sat down at the desk where Rose had been sitting just moments before and rustled the papers. Rose, who had been staring blankly at the tray Sasha handed her, quickly placed it on the side table and approached Sasha.

“This is the organized data. If you look here.”

“Ahem!”

Sasha whisked the organized data aside and turned to Rose with a stern expression.

“Eat first. Or I’ll lock you in your room all morning to sleep!”

She tried to sound stern as she gave the order, but Sasha’s rigid face soon softened. Rose suppressed a chuckle and watched Sasha’s back.

Even though she hadn’t learned about managing a household, she was quite intelligent. However, it seemed she still needed time to get used to things and was a very cautious type, so making decisions on her own would take time.

And she didn’t need to be overly cunning beyond her intelligence. She had a charm that made people want to help her.

A mistress bringing food to a maid, who would have imagined such a thing? Especially the mistress of the Empire’s foremost Ignote ducal family.

“You’re planning to start preparing for the banquet in earnest, right?”

Rose quickly finished the sandwich and soup and approached Sasha. Sasha glanced over Rose’s data and tilted her head.

“Mm, that’s right. I wanted to see what scale was possible.”

It had been a year since the two had officially held their wedding in the Empire.

Cayler and Sasha were planning to hold a grand banquet to commemorate their anniversary. That’s why she had asked Rose to find out how much money was currently available and wouldn’t harm the duchy’s finances for the next six months.

“Duke Kyler hasn’t spent money privately in the meantime. The biggest expenses come from the knights, not the mansion, and even that is said to be no more expensive than elsewhere.”

Rose briefly explained to Sasha.

“I don’t want it to be too flashy, but I want to accommodate a lot of people. So, with this much, can we have the banquet I want?”

Rose smiled as she listened to Sasha’s words.

Although she was still far from understanding economic concepts, at least she wasn’t worried about the future of the Ignote ducal family.

When she suggested the social gathering for the young ladies last time, she asked for the opinions of the workers first, and now she’s checking the duchy’s finances before even holding a banquet.

“Lady Sasha, with this much wealth, you could hold a banquet of the scale you mentioned once a year for about 15 years.”

Rose answered seriously, suppressing her laughter, and Sasha’s mouth gradually widened. Her face, looking at the numbers and then back at Rose, was still full of surprise.

“And that’s if you do it very, very lavishly.”

Rose finally gave a slight smile, and Sasha silently mouthed “Wow.”

“So, I think you can do whatever you want to do to your heart’s content. Rather, a half-baked banquet could have a negative impact on the family’s name.”

Sasha had felt it herself while experiencing the social gathering. That’s why she wanted to check the financial aspects even more. She wanted to be properly prepared as much as she was allowed.

“I hope the time will come soon when I can do everything properly but until then, please take care of me. I think I’ll be relying on Rose a lot for this banquet too.”

Even though she was told that receiving help was normal, she believed that being able to do things properly herself was essential.

Rose was sometimes impressed by Sasha, who always thought and acted in this way.

It seemed that she thought of maids and servants more as people who helped with the household chores rather than as subordinates. Although she spoke comfortably, she was aware enough to treat them with respect as elders.

“Okay. Then, shall we start by listing the people we want to invite?”

We need to decide on the scale first and then the details. Rose regained her usual calm expression and began preparing for the banquet in earnest.

–

Kyler, having arrived at the Imperial Palace, headed straight for the Emperor’s office. It wasn’t as if he would move to the audience chamber just because he heard that he had arrived.

Now, the Emperor didn’t even bother, telling him to come to his space whenever he wanted.

“Are you sure it’s okay to let me wander around like this?”

There wasn’t even anyone stopping him in the office. There was no one guarding it. Of course, just by looking.

His guards might be hiding somewhere, but still.

“Kyler, are you a guest? Just come and go whenever you want. Anyway, it would take a whole crowd of guards and knights to stop you.”

Lydian, who seemed busy looking at documents, didn’t even look up.

Kyler watched him for a while and then went to sit on the sofa. Lydian, who had previously insisted on formalities, now treated him like a truly close friend.

“I haven’t seen you lately, what brings you here today?”

After sitting for a while, Lydian finally spoke. He still seemed to be working on the documents.

At the same time, maids came in from outside and set up a simple tea table in front of the sofa where he was sitting, and then left.

Kyler, who had been trying to speak in a more formal setting, simply chuckled. He had now adapted to some extent to Lydian’s freedom.

“I’m thinking of holding a banquet. Please allow it.”

“A banquet?”

Lydian was surprised by the word “banquet” and raised his head. He asked Kyler again, his face full of doubt as to whether he had heard correctly.

“Yes, a banquet.”

A brief silence flowed between the two men. There was no sound of a pen scratching or paper rustling. Lydian stared intently into Kyler’s eyes, as if trying to see if he was hiding something.

“I wondered if the person in front of me was someone else wearing your skin. You’re going to hold a banquet? I have no reason to stop you. What kind of banquet?”

In the end, Lydian had no choice but to get up from his seat. He sat on the upper seat of the sofa and was still carefully examining Kyler.

“It will be a year next month since Sasha and I held our wedding. So, I would like to hold a banquet to commemorate it. I haven’t treated people since I became Duke, so I’ll do it in conjunction with that or so she says.”

“Sasha’s idea, then.”

“That’s right.”

Lydian’s eyes deepened. She was truly a lovely person. Who would have thought that a banquet could be held again at the Ignote ducal residence?

The new Duchess was settling in, but there were rumors spreading about her previous life, so there were no expectations.

In fact, there were some concerns. He was worried that the other ladies would hear about her and think she was an ignorant woman who was difficult to associate with.

“Midienna was already saying that she should take care of her first, but I thought it wouldn’t be good, so I was trying to stop her.”

Lydian comfortably called the Empress by her name. He seemed very comfortable calling her name in front of Kyler.

It wasn’t just that he hadn’t brought up her name often before, but he used to create a subtle atmosphere when he did.

He was aware of the twisted relationship between the three of them, but he couldn’t touch it carelessly, so the two men had been quite cautious about that part.

“She seems to have been very careful about the banquet. The first thing she did to prepare for the banquet was to have the head maid check the duchy’s finances.”

The men didn’t know much about banquet preparations, but they knew that it wasn’t something that would drain the finances in one go. Lydian burst out laughing at her actions.

“There’s no way the Ignote ducal family will go bankrupt because of money in the future.”

“When she prepared a gathering to invite about four young ladies before, she gathered the maids and the chef and asked for their permission. She asked if it would be too much work for them.”

Kyler wasn’t a chatterbox, but the only exception was when he was talking about Sasha. Every time he came, he had so much to say, and he would talk about Sasha in a gentle, low, and resonant voice.

The content was one thing, but Lydian still found his change amazing.

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