At the moment I was walking father down to present the successful tourist attraction that saved his accounts.
As difficult as I'd thought Orson would be, he surprised me with his response to my request.
After I'd set into what I'd learned from Mathilda was an authoritative position; legs apart, arms crossed behind the back and chest puffed out with absolutely no slouching, I began narrating the basic idea behind my plan and why it needed his contribution, to which he replied;
"So…you need my help?"
"Yes, Orson, I do."
"For the Duchy right? This doesn't sound personal at all."
I'd been smiling all through but at his mention of my personal interests being intertwined with the events threatened to turn my gentle disarming smile into a wide goofy grin.
"Yes, it's always for the Duchy, for father," I emphasized my loyalty and devotion by fingering the pin on my chest.
Seeing and hearing all my responses, Orson agreed with no further queries or unnecessary obstructions. At first, I was extremely paranoid that he was just going to bail once I left the room, so I had him watched while I was away.
And my little spy, the young child of a builder, too little to work the fields but grown enough to understand the value of fifty coppers coins, quickly reported back to me that Orson had left the mansion and went off to join Dagena, Oteri and Edward at the roughly completed building at the time I'd told him to.
I still am quite surprised that all it took to get Orson to play ball was clear cut honesty. But at the same time, I found myself relived that I didn't have to worsen our relationship by pulling rank on him.
"I honestly did not think the economic turn in would be this much, Rainald," father said unable to keep the sound of happiness for staining his voice as he flipped through the records Edward had estimated "I am very pleased with this, Rainald, rest assured, that pin will be stuck on your chest for a long time."
Success! I was permanently the Special Advisor of the Duchy of Aville.
Father slammed the book shut with a chuckle, "I see the grin you try to hide, Rainald." At this, I finally let the stoic professional look fall and a had an excited smile plastered over my face. "But don't get too relaxed, you have a lot more responsibilities to face now, Rainald. By proxy you are my regent when I'm incapacitated or out of the Duchy. That responsibility would have fallen to Desmond since he is chancellor but I'm glad it falls to you now, and it couldn't be any sooner, I'm travelling bright and early tomorrow."
We'd finally gotten to the open house, the candle lights shone brightly and I could hear the crowd awe at our arrival along with the trotting of the guards nearby, but all of this was really just white noise in the background.
I was still reeling from the thought of being in charge of everything in the Duchy while father was away in Eriow for about a week. Thinking about organizing affairs with the military, the yeomanry, commoners and local nobles had me wanting to back out.
As we were approaching the first of the acts in the open house; Dagena, I shook away my troubling thoughts and put on a cheery smile to hide the bubbling anxiety.
As we got to her, she was dressed in a humble white flowery dress, not dissimilar to what the peasants wore in their day to day lives. She had an empty teacup held to her lips-she must have gotten tired of drinking actual tea-her seated posture was in impeccable form and the sweat running down her cheeks made her look radiant.
Being the nobility we were, it was with an afterthought that we cut in the line to have tea with a member of the ruling family; our family.
We went in and took seats in front of her, there was a pot of hot tea ready to be poured into cups of good quality. Father smiled sheepishly at Dagena and her face quite soured, I let out a sigh and poured some tea into a cup for myself.
It had a sweet yet sour taste about it that calmed my nerves and got me thinking rationally once more. Much of the tea I had the maids prepare for Dagena's little tea room was gone. This was part of the reason why the accounts were so high right now.
The tea, along with Dagena dressed up and propped with a teacup in hand, gave a quiet message to the men and women coming into the room that it was tea time and it would only be proper to join in on tea time with the beautiful noblewoman seated in front of them.
But tea was not free to the visitors.
Every cup poured was twenty copper coins, cheap, but ultimately a trap as commoners did not have the patience to savour tea. Here Dagena would encourage them to have another, and another, and another. Until they run out of money or their time with her runs out and the next person comes in.
In a rough estimate, a single bronze coin, capable of buying a night in a rundown inn, could be gotten from a single commoner in a single sitting with Dagena. She made us quite a bit as many men came in to sit with her more than once, and this too cost a fee.
"Rainald! How long do I have to sit her drinking hibiscus!?" Dagena's outburst brought me out of my little pat-on-the-back session, I shook my head and smiled wryly at her.
"It's going to be a while, the line for you hasn't shrunken down one bit, and we still have tea. While you have father and I, why don't you tell us about the characters of any of the local nobles you've sat with?"
"Ah, yes, Dagena, I've been meaning to mention the courting of a certain Lord Rudolf Bastille to you," at this Dagena visibly rolled her eyes and groaned as if being tortured, but father pressed on, unfazed, "He is a prominent member of the Bastille family, they own many baronies across the Kingdom, their influence even reaches the King's court."
The guard at the entrance peeked in to interrupt, "My Lord, My Lady, it's time for the next visitor."
Father nodded, understanding that no special treatment could be given in this as it ultimately helped his matters. He promptly stood up to leave with I following his lead and straightening my clothes, "They are essential Dagena, and they will be guests at Orson's feast, we will talk in detail about your responsibilities for that night, in the meantime, good work."
With his piece said father turned to leave. Dagena had lost all appearances of deviance, now only sunken and defeated.
I wish I could reassure her. But it just wasn't the same. In my past life and old world, women could be breadwinners with little to no problem. But this world just wasn't ready for such convenience as of yet. Dagena would suffer much if the man she wanted to elope with couldn't provide her with the essentials, and I knew he couldn't, Herbert was as noble as and rich as any of these commoners salivating at the chance to be in the same room with us.
In truth I was no different from these commoners either, I was snuck into this status I somewhat enjoy by my dead mother. I suppose it wouldn't be farfetched to say I should be grateful for her death, her death and father's guilt. For if she had lived I would have been left beside her as father would inevitably cast her aside to preserve his noble image.
But I placed myself a peg above Herbert for a single reason; I had limitless ambition and the will to see it blossom, and blossom it had.
I grasped Dagena's hand firmly and squeezed, reassuring her silently, it was the most I could do. I walked out the door with father, he wanted to see the other revenue-generating strategies I'd spoken of in action.
I stood aside, my thoughts entirely immersed in plans for potentially usurping father while he was away.