113: I Want to Scare him
The former duke was frozen in shock, his eyes widen open while his face twitched. In front of him, Avril took a deep breath.
“Grace is the second daughter of a baron. She completed her primary education, and at the urging of her parents, enrolled in a normal school so that she could pursue a career in teaching instead of going to secondary school. However, Lord Dylan and Lord Chris, who were visiting the normal school at the time, noticed her talent and recruited her to become a senior servant of the future Duke of Lancester family.
“Back then, despite your reluctance to allow Lord Dylan to meddle in matters regarding personnel, but you relented because Grace passed the written exam you gave her with flying colors.
“One of the famous episodes between the former duke and Grace regards your morning schedule. When the former duke visited the townhouse in the capital, Grace took your temperament into consideration and decided you should be woken up 15 minutes early. Thanks to her actions, the former duke was able to avoid being late for a summons from His Majesty the King 13 times. Unfortunately, you were late twice, and on those occasions, you cut Grace’s salary. Lord Dylan compensated for it behind your back. Only those in the townhouse of the royal capital are privy to this matter.
“Furthermore, Grace can do everything from cleaning, doing laundry, and serving. In addition to that, she is a tactful person who remembers all my preferences and responds appropriately. As a side note, over the years, Grace has undergone five performance evaluations and flawlessly completed all of them. Not only did she do a terrific job when serving the former duke, who could be difficult at times, she is an exceptional maid for a villainess such as myself.”
Avril was satisfied with her closing statement, albeit it sounded like she was just bragging about her maid. Nevertheless, Grace, who had been as pale as a ghost, had now turned bright red as she tugged on Avril’s sleeve.
“Wait… How do you know that?”
“Because you are my favorite.”
“I am!? …Now that I think about it, I heard that you did something similar to Lady Alexandra and Lord Dylan at the tea party where she first met you.”
“? Something like that did happen, yes.”
When Avril tilted her head, Grace gazed off into the distance and said, “That was a tea party where aristocrats gathered, too… I feel sorry for the young master from the bottom of my heart.”
Indeed, at that time, Avril was playing the role of an annoying villainess who wanted to be the center of attention, just like Corinna.
…But now, it was different. Avril was angry.
After Avril had finished gushing and expressing her daily gratitude to Grace, she folded her arms and respectfully turned to address the former duke.
“This house is being maintained by Lord Dylan for my sake. So, it’s only a given that I remember everything that has to do with me. Lord Dylan and I are more suitable for this house than the former duke!”
“…I-I get it, you are on good terms with those maids. Of course, you’d remember about those you’re fond of.”
Despite saying that, the former duke couldn’t hide his agitation.
The Duke of Lancester recorded the backgrounds of the people they employed in detail, and the longer someone worked for them, the longer the information grew.
The former duke should have experienced it himself.
Moreover, leaving Grace aside, Sienna was a servant who worked at the main residence of the territory, and not the townhouse at the royal capital. Even if Avril had the opportunity to come across Sienna’s resume through Dylan, for her to remember it after only seeing it once was unnatural. By the way, of course, Avril didn’t even need to memorize it.
However, Avril, who was infuriated, continued to act arrogantly.
“When I said that I want to assume control over this house, I meant every single word. I’ll never give up on anything, no matter what. Not even on the single document lying at my feet!”
“…These are the documents from the study. It seems that you sometimes read the ledgers to support Dylan, but this is taking it to a whole different level. …The maid over there, Sienna, pick them up.”
Oh?
Avril was surprised when the former duke referred to Sienna by name. He had started to gather up the scattered documents, but then had her do it instad. Although Dylan did that on a daily basis, it was uncharacteristic of the former duke who only referred to his mistresses by name.
Suddenly denying the replacement like this and acting like nothing happened… The former duke is a somewhat elusive person, isn’t he?
But that didn’t matter at the moment. Avril wanted to retrieve the documents and make the former duke believe that his son and daughter-in-law were not to be messed with.
Avril placed a hand on Sienna’s shoulder and stopped her from picking up the documents. Then, Avril picked up the papers herself and carefully arranged them.
After that, she handed the duke former the stack of documents.
“These documents detail a report ordered to be submitted to His Majesty the King.”
“What about it?”
“Last year, the entire country fell into recession due to crop failure. This document is both a record and report of how only the Duke of Lancester was able to avoid deficits and turn their territory management into an upward trend at that time.”
At that, Grace, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, had a skeptical look on her face.
“…Lady Avril, wasn’t it thanks to the ‘exception to the law’ you noticed that the territories tax revenue increased significantly and the duke family was saved?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
***T/N: Phew, in other stories, I could see the former duke being one of the ML’s love rivals who tryna get with FL.
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