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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: The First Lesson in Household Management
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“Pfft!”
I nearly spat out the tea I was holding in my mouth.
Barely managing to cover my mouth with a handkerchief, I looked at the Duchess with trembling eyes.
“Me… you mean me?”
“Yes, Lady Ansi.”
The Duchess met my gaze without so much as raising an eyebrow.
Why was my name suddenly being brought up?
*No, this can’t be right!*
I tried to persuade the Duchess somehow.
“Your Grace, this isn't a matter of hosting a short-term event like a salon.”
*So?*
As if to ask just that, the Duchess stared at me with a prim expression.
Her attitude, suggesting there was no problem at all, made me break into a cold sweat as I continued.
“This is the internal management of the Duchy of Claudius. How could I possibly dare to interfere?”
“I'm saying it's fine, so what's the problem? And strictly speaking, it's limited to the townhouse.”
“Even so. The budget itself will be on a completely different scale. You can't let an outsider have access to such a large sum of money, can you?”
I was only stating common sense.
I mean, isn't that obvious?
Typically, a noble family's budget is divided between the main estate in their territory and the townhouse in the capital.
The capital townhouse, in particular, was like the public face of the family, seen by many other nobles.
Each noble house tended to pay it considerable attention.
Even my own Viscounty of Ansi allocates a fairly large budget to our townhouse.
As the heiress to the Viscounty of Ansi myself, I had learned a fair amount about budgets and accounting.
*And the Duchy of Claudius is in a league of its own compared to other noble families.*
Though I didn't know the exact figures, I could roughly guess how massive the Duchy of Claudius's budget must be.
It was far too important a domain to entrust to an outsider.
So why…
…was the Duchess glaring at me so indignantly?
“An outsider? We signed a friendship contract!”
“W-what?”
“How can a friend be an outsider? I have no intention of asking anyone for help but you, Lady Ansi!”
Completely dumbfounded, I carefully opened my mouth.
“Well, I could have ill intentions…”
“Ill intentions?”
The Duchess scoffed, then narrowed her eyes and shot me a glare.
“So, are you planning to swindle me, Lady Ansi?”
“What? No, that's not my intention at all, but.”
“Then we're settled. What's the problem?”
It was truly a miraculous line of reasoning…
Staring blankly at the Duchess, I couldn't help but let out a small laugh.
“What is it? Why are you laughing?”
The Duchess chided me coyly.
“No, it's nothing.”
I quickly waved my hands, but it was hard to suppress the laughter that kept bubbling up.
This was completely different from when I was Serapina's fool.
How should I put it? The very fact that she would say such a thing…
…was proof that the Duchess trusted me, wasn't it?
*This is a first.*
Someone who acknowledges my judgment and entrusts me with something so readily.
…To be honest, I was incredibly happy.
Meanwhile, the Duchess's face was full of motivation.
“Now that I have my brother's permission, I plan to do everything I can.”
The Duchess began listing off the things she wanted to do, even counting on her fingers.
“First, I want to decorate the townhouse garden, and I'd like to change the layout of the living room a bit. I also want to replace the wallpaper in the drawing room.”
…Wait, she's going to do all of that?
My jaw dropped.
But the Duchess wasn't finished yet.
“I want to buy new furniture, and oh! I need to ask for a catalog of teapot sets. And…”
The Duchess, who had been chattering on, added as if she'd just remembered.
“About this whole thing. You don't need to feel so burdened.”
“Pardon?”
For some reason, a chill ran down my spine.
It's just my imagination, right?
At that moment, the Duchess smiled brightly and dropped a second bombshell.
“My brother said it was fine, too. About you helping, Lady Ansi.”
*Gasp.*
I froze on the spot.
“…The Duke did?”
“Yes.”
“He gave his permission for me to help?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really!”
Unable to stand my barrage of questions any longer, the Duchess snapped.
I swallowed hard.
It made sense. This was a matter concerning the household affairs of the Duchy of Claudius, after all.
No matter how much the Duke doted on his sister, she couldn't proceed without his permission.
*W-what am I going to do…*
The pressure was so immense my shoulders felt heavy enough to fall off.
But.
*Still, I have to do a good job.*
I steeled my resolve.
Since it had come to this, I wanted to do my best to meet the expectations of the Duke and the Duchess.
Above all, if this opportunity allowed the Duchess to truly establish herself as the lady of the ducal house…
…wouldn't she be freer from Serapina's clutches?
However, there was one thing we had to do first…
“It's not difficult for me to help you, but there's something you must do first.”
At my words, the Duchess's eyes sparkled.
“What is it?”
I replied with a bright smile.
“Studying.”
“Ugh.”
The Duchess's face, which had been so cheerful until now, crumpled for the first time.
***
Some old-fashioned male nobles tend to look down on the work of a lady managing household affairs.
*'It's just housework. Can't you just order the servants around and they'll take care of everything?'*
*'All they do is sit comfortably at home, sipping tea and preening themselves. Am I wrong?'*
This was the tired old repertoire those bastards endlessly spouted.
Hah, maybe a good smack to their damn mouths would knock some sense into them…
…Anyway, I digress.
They couldn't be more wrong.
To manage internal affairs, one must first become familiar with numbers.
Why?
Because ordering servants around, sipping tea comfortably at home, and preening oneself…
*…are all impossible without money!*
Which means.
The Duchess needed to become proficient enough not just to read a budget, but to draft one and spot any errors.
“Lady Ansiiiiii.”
The Duchess, who had been engrossed in the documents, went limp.
“I… I'm done…”
With her head planted on the desk, the Duchess held out a file with a trembling hand.
It was a mock budget she had drafted for the garden.
“You worked hard, Your Grace.”
I readily took the document from her.
The Duchess peeked up at me, her gaze pleading.
“H-how is it…?”
In my heart, I wanted to exclaim, “You passed!” but…
“You'll need to recalculate this part.”
I took a red pen and drew a long line under the erroneous section of the budget.
*Scrape, scrape.*
With each crisp stroke of the pen, her blue eyes filled with despair.
“Again?”
“Yes. The number of garden trees is incorrect here, and over here…”
The Duchess's face grew darker by the second.
Having finally pointed out all the errors in the budget, I offered an awkward smile.
“Still, Your Grace, you've improved a lot.”
“Never mind.”
The Duchess replied sulkily and buried her face in the desk once more.
A gloomy voice drifted out from beneath her bowed head.
“You don't have to try to console me.”
“Y-Your Grace?”
“I'm so full of mistakes. How can someone like me possibly manage internal affairs?”
…If she loses her motivation to study now, we'll be in big trouble.
Feeling obligated to resolve the situation somehow, I carefully began to speak.
“Your Grace, I mean it.”
“…”
As I said this in the gentlest voice I could manage, the Duchess's shoulders tensed.
I started to gently coax her.
“You had absolutely no knowledge of budgets before, Your Grace. But now, you're able to draft one according to the proper format.”
“…”
“That in itself is tremendous progress. I've never had a student as wonderful as you, Your Grace.”
Well, the truth is.
…it would be more accurate to say that I've never taught any other student besides the Duchess…
I decided to just gloss over that minor detail.
