The Duchess of the Attic

Two days after the proclamation of Opal, Hubert visited the attic.

But I just look around uncommonly for a moment and don't talk about the matter.

Apparently I'm surprised at how crude old beds, desks and chairs are just being pushed into a room with low and narrow ceilings.

"... Sir, what can I do for you?

"No, I... I've been thinking about what you told me last night."

"So you've come to a conclusion?

"Oh."

Opal asked what he had figured out when he waited in silence and wasting his time.

Hubert then hesitates to answer.

Hubert nodded with a serious look as Opal urged him to continue, thinking it wasn't a bad reaction in this way.

"About this one...... I deplored how arrogant and stupid I was. Originally, I wouldn't be eligible to take your generous offer. But from now on, I'm going to change my mind, beg the Count to teach with your assistance, and do my best. And let's pledge to buy the land back from you as soon as possible"

"... ok"

A little great, but I guess this is Hubert.

More important than that was Hubert's determination, to answer pale, yet Opal was considerably relieved inside.

If Hubert wasn't going to change his mind, he was going to push him further into a situation where he had to work.

Of course, I doubted how long this vow would last, but Opal nevertheless decided to believe it for the first time.

"So now that you want to move on with the process, are you sure you want to go ahead?

"- Oh. So... nice to meet you, please"

"I'll tell you more later"

Hubert still wanted to say something, but Opal ended the conversation by responding clerically.

And when Hubert leaves, he exhales with relief and writes to his father no sooner.

To my father who pressed Hubert, now I'm glad I can push him back.

But Opal, who was wrapped up in a little sense of liberation, was to be annoyed after this by the visits of the servants to utter words of reflection from next to next and to pledge new loyalties.

But not about Romit and Beth.

Opal has already hired a new butler and several servants, and if Romit quits, that's fine, he was going to put himself in the position of assistant to the new butler if he's going to stay.

As for Beth's treatment, there was no need for an opaled maid, and she was going to be demoted to a senior maid if she was going to stay.

And when I finally told him about it, neither Romit nor Beth gave me a humiliating look, but I didn't say I was quitting.

(What, you're like this...)

Opal, who thought he'd be more defiant, was clapping out.

In the end, they were both under Hubert's protection.

Thus a detailed procedure was completed in the attic, exactly five days later, Opal finally followed the Duke's residence.

"Uh, neat!

Opal, who was dropped off by new deacons and servants, including Hubert, shouted one small person in the carriage.

It's Cave who sends me to the consulate of the Duke's territory, and his wages are up twice as high as ever.

Cave tried to resign in total awe, but it was actually too little so far.

Also, the newly hired butler is my uncle's tattoo, and from now on, the Duke's residence will change.

His assessment of the other servants is at his disposal.

As for Mrs. Northam and Stella, I never saw her during the five days she was stuck in the attic, but honestly, I didn't care.

It's Hubert's problem about that parent and child, and it's none of Opal's business.

More than that, Opal awaits the rewarding task of reforming vast territories.

Thinking it was Omer's reform first, Opal was rocked by a carriage to go all the way through the former Duke of McCloud territory.

- Three years later.

Opal put a few cards he had on the table and sighed deeply.

"I lost. My loss......"

"Apparently, you do. Now, the wife will do the bookkeeping for this month, please."

"Unbelievable...... I wonder what I'm hiring you for with a high wage."

"That's to bring out the rewards of our servants."

"For that, it was unhelpful."

"You don't need any help fighting, do you?

Whether he was comforting or making fun of the moaning opal, Omer replied as he collected the cards on the table.

Card games have been a habit since Opal moved to the consulate.

He played card games every night with Deacon Lind and others to distract himself from Omer's vices when he returned to the janitor.

What you bet on is domestic labor, etc.

At first it seemed pretty scarce, it was a softening omer, but the surveillance eyes were tight and I couldn't get to the city of Novoli, and gradually the excitement to bet a lot of money seemed to have drawn me away.

For this reason, I now enjoy card games, etc. as a real play.

Omer is still a good administrator if he is serious, and Opal is often taught as well.

Of course, from the high wages, Opal had the money loaned back a little bit.

"Oh, looks like someone's here, huh?

"... a letter?

When Opal tried to get out of the study thinking it was time to move on to his afternoon job, he heard a carriage coming down the road to the hall.

From the sound of the wheels, it would be a carriage for delivery or something.

However, since food and other deliveries were supposed to go around the back door, Opal decided to wait in the study with an idea that he might have come to deliver the letter.

Opal has barely left the territory in the last three years.

Naturally, there seemed to be all sorts of rumors going around because the season never started and I never showed my face to the social world.

Guess it's hard to maintain Hubert's vast territory, and this was still a marriage for property, he said.

And things like trapping a mundane wife in the territory, or Hubert, caught in Opal's manipulation on the contrary, doesn't get her out of much of the territory of jealousy.

(In the end, it doesn't make any difference that you're trapped...)

Opal laughed without worrying when he heard the rumors.

In fact, Hubert had asked me to come out to the King's Capital many times during the season, and he had asked me to go visit a friend's territory during the season off.

Opal had turned it all down.

It's not like I can't leave the territory.

The territory has been well developed over the past three years with the investment of Opal equipped and properly managed by Omar.

Thanks to the weather, Opal will be able to get back what he invested in soon if it stays this way.

It's just that dating in the social world is annoying to Opal, and whatever it seems to me as the Duchess, I didn't care anymore.

It was such an opal, but I was reviewing a little about Hubert.

Hubert has surprisingly already bought nearly 30% of Wang Du's mansion and territory back from Opal in the last three years.

Needless to say Opal was relieved that he was fortunate not to use his next hand.

Moreover, in just over a year Hubert was the first to buy back the Mansion of the King's Capital and just a little bit of land.

And when Opal first visited the Duke's residence in the King's Capital for a long time for the procedure, he was just warmly welcomed or what was available was the lady's husband's room.

"I would have been told Stella should be treated in a nice, airy place, wouldn't she? So I bought a relatively small plot of land and mansion in a rural area near Wangdu for sale. Mrs. Northam and Stella moved there. Bring a couple of familiar servants like Romit and Beth."

"Yes..."

"Truly, I am grateful to you. If Stella hadn't told me then so I could see a different doctor, Stella would by now... No, anyway, I'm glad I found a special effect. Thank you so much, Opal."

"... no. It's about your husband's loved ones. Until I did what I deserved."

The truth is, we haven't found any special effects, they've been around for quite some time.

Dr. Harrison, who was the attending physician for that, didn't know, he was just prescribing old-fashioned medication at an expensive price.

Apparently, Dr. Harrison was seeing the poor for free and prescribing drugs, and making up for that from the rich - not actually, but by charging Hubert for expensive medical bills.

Hubert finally realized that he had fired Dr. Harrison and sent Opal a hard letter of thanks.

Dr. Harrison's aspirations were great, but I was sure he had problems with how to do it, and Opal didn't speak up either, and he ended it by writing a reply that seemed familiar.

"No, still, let me thank you"

"Yeah..."

That's what he said. Hubert grinned holding Opal's hand.

Opal was puzzled by what could be described as this palm-back attitude, referred to as a good Hubert with other servants who have served for a long time, even without Romit or Beth.

But he swallowed everything he wanted to say and Opal spent the day laughing with love.

And the next morning, he left the mansion early because he was worried about the territory, leaving Hubert behind to hold back.

Even then, on a regular basis, Hubert bought back territory.

Count Holloway, Opal's father, was also amazed at this.

Initially, in a letter from my father, I asked him again and again, "Can I throw that fool out? It was written," but gradually the content turned into something that I might admit.

Apparently Hubert was working desperately, as promised.

Instead of now no longer requiring allowances from Opal, he had also been given an amount equal to the allowances paid for about a year.

Rumors of Hubert's successful investment have also recently spread to the social community, which seems to be gaining popularity among the women.

They don't even accompany their wives to occasional nightclubs, and they plot to keep the women away from Hubert, who talks to the men all the time.

Moreover, even more various speculations had been made because even though I had never accompanied my wife, I had been witnessed not only at night clubs but also at gentlemen's clubs and so on talking intimately to that father.

Opal waited with a blur in mind as he heard deacon Lind responding at the front door.

Omer doesn't care about the obnoxious opal, he's getting back to work early.

While Hubert's bought back territory continues to be managed by Omar, he will not have to worry about it in the future, as he sometimes travels to Wang Capital to teach him how to report and manage in detail.

At this rate, Hubert had so much momentum that by the end of the year he would have regained half of his territory.

(In short, I could have done it. I was just relinquishing my duty because I've always been spoiled...)

However, I was also on the side of Hubert's success.

I was hearing from my uncle three years ago - he said the civil war in the kingdom of Tysey had healed in about six months.

And now, with all kinds of supplies going on for post-war processing, the economy of this country is fine.

(Although it's frustrating to see the economy get better in the war, this time it's almost a dispute within the royal palace, saying there was no blood flowing to the people, and that's a triumphant feat of His Royal Highness the King, isn't it?)

Originally, the Kingdom of Tysey was a country rich in resources and very highly skilled in technology.

Unfortunately, many have been lost in the civil war and earlier plagues, but His Royal Highness the victorious King's Brother - under the leadership of the new King - seems to be rebuilding again.

When Opal's thoughts were flying all the way to about the kingdom of Tysey, Lind came in with a letter on the tray after Knock.

"I am writing to your wife"

"Thanks, Lind"

As expected, the carriage came to deliver the letter earlier.

Opal took the letter from the tray and turned the envelope over to confirm the sender.

I get discouraged as soon as possible.

Seeing an opal like that, neither Omer nor Lind said anything.

Everyone at the consulate knows Opal has been waiting for a letter from someone for the past three years.

But the consulates, while questioning who the hell they were, never talked about it.

Everyone, including Omar, is hoping that instead of prying into the personal things of their beloved Opal, they will just be happy.

"Well......"

Opal glanced at the text and raised his voice unexpectedly.

The sender was Hubert, so I was wondering if he was going to buy out some territory again, but his expectations were off.

"How did they do?

Lind inquired worried because he knew the sender.

Likewise worried about Omer, who stopped working, Lind turned a blind eye and told him it was from Hubert.

When Opal came to the consulate as a lord, there was no shortage of air between Lind and Omar, but now friendship is back again.

Lind blamed himself for Omer's wrongdoing since the death of the previous Dukes, something he hadn't noticed for a long time.

Sometimes going out is for land management, and where I believed it must have been hard since that great drought, Opal came and uncovered Omer's injustice.

Then again, I was causing Omer, who returned as an administrator, to be quite angry, but now it was time for that anger to subside as I watched him take his job seriously.

My husband will be here shortly. He's coming to this consulate.

"No way......"

Opal looked back at Lind, who shrugged unexpectedly.

He always seemed surprised by the calmly settled butler's rash attitude.

Omer opened his mouth to explain how it was going.

"My husband has not returned to this territory for seventeen years. My predecessor, the Duke - much more than the accident in which your parents died... My husband seemed to abhor the land because Sir Northam had died here ever since. So..."

That's it, Omer blushed and mumbled.

Omer was able to work wrongfully because Hubert had left the territory to him even after he had grown up.

"That... My husband was only twelve years old when the previous Dukes were in an accident. Yet it took two days for us to discover the carriage in which our husbands were riding… Meanwhile, our husbands remained trapped in the car with your parents' bodies for a long time"

"Oh no..."

When I heard about Lind, Opal blued.

I had heard that Hubert had stopped visiting the land since the loss of his parents, but I never thought he'd had that tragic experience.

I recall blaming you for not knowing anything and being irresponsible.

"So, but your husband's presence in this land would mean that you've organized your mind. We will do our utmost to make sure your husband forgets his past."

"... right. Nice to meet you. Well, I'll have to tell Debbie too."

Opal laughed and replied to Lind's words, which he hastily said with his eyes on the shocked Opal.

And when I leave the study, I head to Debbie, the housekeeper.

But Opal thought of Hubert, who had been hurt at an early age, and now regretted not knowing anything.