*** ( Changes in POV ) ***
"What should we do, Mr. Attendant?" she looked indifferent as she gazed at her coldly.
As the attendant began feeling anxious, Shin Hye already knew the outcome of their faceoff. It's her win. A landslide win. The moment the attendant showed a worry face, he already marked defeated.
[ Maintaining a poker face is the basics of everything. ]
"Butler Ian, how much compensation can we get from harming a duke's child?" Shin Hye ended up asking despite the heavy tension.
"Minimum of a fifty million gold, Her Excellency. If the injury received is much worser than it looks, then probably a hundred million gold," Ian fixed his posture as he calmly responded.
Upon hearing the worth of compensation, Shin Hye barely hid her amazement. She slightly raised her eyebrows while maintaining her indifferent expression. She doesn't know how much a hundred million gold worth but she was convinced that it's an insanely high amount that can make the attendant petrified.
"A hundred million gold? How should we deal with this, Mr. Attendant?"
"A hundred million is way too large, Her Excellency! Can we settle it for thirty million?" The attendant voiced out and tried to negotiate with her.
[ The damage on your side is too large compare to ours. You should be the one playing our game not us. ]
"Seventy million ..." Shin Hye didn't fell for his pity.
"Her Excellency! It's too hi--," as he started to complain, he was stopped by her sudden chuckled.
"Hahaha~" she chuckled so abruptly that also ended after a few seconds.
"What do you mean too high? It's already cheap enough you know?" Shin Hye slowly approached the two of them. She looked at them unconcernedly and smiled as she approached them.
"Pardot--!!" Caught taken aback, the attendant bit his tongue in anxiousness.
Shin Hye began circling around them as she calmly claimed her stance, "Think about this very carefully, Mr. Attendant. If the news like this spread in public, what do you think will happen? What will happen to your estate, Mr. Attendant?" Shin Hye stopped in front of him and directly looked at his quivering eyes.
"How about fifty million, Her Excellency?!" Despite the threatening Shin Hye gave, he still insisted on lower bidding.
Can't be satisfied with how the entire situation flowed, Shin Hye leaned forward and whispered something to the attendant that made him complied obediently.
"As Her Excellency had initially proposed, we will settle this with seventy million gold. We are grateful for giving us such light punishment," he said as he clenched his teeth and hands in frustration.
"What are you doi--," he covered Aubrey's mouth with his hand to stop her from talking. He then dragged the struggling lady outside the room and bid their farewell.
"Thank you for your mercy, Her Majesty. The gold will be sent here by next week," he bowed down and as he raised his head, he looked at her with detest while clenching his fist in anger.
Shin Hye was calm and composed no matter how rude they acted towards her.
"No worries about it, Mr. Attendant. If you don't send the gold, you know what will happen right?" Shin Hye ended up threatening them before they left.
"Of course, Her Excellency. Expect the gold by this week. We will take our leave now, farewell," he smiled in frustration as he bowed down before they totally left.
Ian who was in the room the entire time, finally had the chance to speak to me. He can't interrupt earlier as he had noticed that everyone was tense at that time.
"Her Excellency! Seventy million is too high of an amount. How in the world did you convince that attendant?" he can't help but expressed how speechless he was the entire time.
Shin Hye never answered and just turned around preparing to leave the room.
"I'll leave this matter to you Ian. About Lady Aubrey, never let her set foot in the estate ever again. For Baroness Ismenia, if she came here looking for a private audience, then let her enter," Shin Hye started walking towards the door with light footsteps.
[ Baroness Ismenia is desperately craving for power so she'll make sure to have me by her side. If that'll really happen, then it'll be easy for me to exploit her in every way I can. ]
"Understood, Her Excellency. But about those gol--," Ian followed her as she walked her out of the room. Still being persistent about that issue, Shin Hye cut her from talking.
"You don't need to worry about that Ian. I'll be fine on my own now, you may go," she calmly ordered as they both walked out of the room.
As Ian began to leave, "Ah! I forgot to tell you Ian. Please summon all the servants for me after dinner," Ian looked back as she heard additional orders from her.
"Understood, Her Excellency," he bowed down again and left, totally giving up on knowing her reasons for the sudden summon.
After Ian left, Shin Hye walkes by herself back towards the main mansion. As she walked, she can't help but think about her plans.
[ What should I do with those two? They looked timid and shy but if I trained them well, they might turn into a wolf in sheep's clothing which is really scary. ]
[ Let's cast aside that idea, for now let's focus on cleaning the entire estate. How bothersome ... ]
She sighed heavily as she passed by the garden.
*** ( Changes in POV ) ***
Just after leaving that stuffy, suffocating room, the two immediately took off and left the Faques estate. While in the carriage, the attendant was still completely frightened by what he had suffered.
[ They said that the duchess was a pushover and a dumb person but who in the world did I just saw? She's frightening. As if she'll eat me alive if I say something wrong. ]
The words that the duchess whispered at him, made him shivered in frustration.
"What do you think will happen if Prince Reyner finds out that the Gussalen Family was the reason why Faques Family pulled over their alliance to the third prince's faction?"
"Hahaha~" he brushed everything he had suffered with a depressing laugh. "What the heck is this ..." he mumbled.
[ If Prince Reyner finds out, the Gussalen will ceased to exist. How can lady Aubrey messed up big time like this? ]
During the carriage ride, Aubrey looked at her attendant with a domineering expression.
"What in the world was that, Lucas? Why did you yield just like that? She's the trash duchess you know? What do you think fath--," she never regretted her actions and even dared to complain.
Attendant Lucas held his patince but he exploded and let all of his frustrations out. He removed the gloves he's wearing and ...
'SLAP!'
He slapped her.
"What an ungrateful brat you are, my lady," he glared at her coldly as he tried putting his gloves back on .
"How dar--," she tried to fought back but Lucas never yielded in.
'SLAP!'
He removed his gloves once again slapped her again. That's the 6th time she got slap that day.
With a domineering voice, Lucas fized his glare at Aubrey on her as he bluntly stated, "You should thank me first for saving the entire Gussalen Family from being destroyed. Everywhere you go, you'll always represents the Gussalen Family. You should feel ashamed of your actions before ranting out to me like you did nothing wrong. If I didn't agree to the duchess, your head should already been hanged at the center plaza by tomorrow. How dare you treat the duchess's daughter like that?" he finally put his gloves back.
Hearing those words from Lucas, she instantly pulled herself together and stayed quiet the entire carriage ride. After arriving at the estate, Lucas warned her.
"I'll talk to your father about this issue. Be prepared of what's to come. I can't assure you that everything will end up good," he coldly said as he offered his hand and assisted the lady from getting out of the carriage.
She just took Lucas's hand and nodded. Aubrey went back to her room not saying anything even after they splitted up. Seeing her in that state made Lucas sighed heavily.
*** ( Changes in POV ) ***
With the duke's sudden passing, Ian already readied himself for the fall of the family he's serving. The duchess whom was alive was useless. She's just a pawn picked up by the duke. He ended up mumbling to himself as he walked around the mansion.
[ How in the world can we trust such duchess? The twins were still young to run the entire estate. ]
He sighed heavily as he can't hide his worries. He's been serving the estate for years yet he never imagined everything that's happening.
[ Should I consider changing estate? It's not too late if I leave now. ]
As he was immersed in his thoughts, a maid rushed towards him.
"Her Excellency, Excellency needed you in exactly a minute. She's at the Young Mistress's room right now," she delivered with clarity despite being exhausted for all of that running.
After hearing the maid's words, Ian rushed immediately towards the right wing mansion. He can't help but felt restless as he ran his way towards the mansion.
[ What in the world did she do this time? I already told her before not to go at the right wing mansion. The Young Mistress is currently in an etiquette lesson. Did she perhaps offend Lady Gussalen? ]
As he ran with all his might, he already pictured out everything that's happening. He also prepared a bunch of reasons that he can say. But after arriving at the said room, everything he saw was totally out of his comprehension.
"Quickly announce this to everybody ... the Faques Family is declaring their neutrality"
The moment she said that, Ian was really surprised to a point that he had his jaw dropped.
[ What in the world is this duchess saying?! Did she even knows the weight of her words?! Is he planning to wipe the entire Faques Family sith her?! Don't drag us with your mess! ]
Althought he disagreed to what the duchess had ordered, he just maintained his silence and listened. He's been serving the Faques Family for years and he can't dare to disobey an order from the one he's serving.
The attendant of the Gussalen Family and the Faques duchess continued arguing. It was totally out of what Ian had expected. It's really surprising for him as he saw the useless and troublesome duchess he served for four years was pushing the Gussalen attendant in a corner. He never thought of such possibility. He can't help but watched how the duchess act the entire time.
[ Her words, her actions. The moment I looked at her at that moment. She was like a totally different person. Her words were heavy and beared no lies. Her reasoning was flawless and on point that even the attendant can't speak up. ]
Hearing that the Young Masters was hurt totally infuriated Ian but seeing the duchess defended the twins and was trying to protect them, he was speechless.
[ Is this really the same duchess? The duchess who cared nothing for the twins? During her stay here, she nevered ever care about them and yet she's here arguing. ]
The duchess Ian saw that time was elegant and has her ways with just words. The way the duchess supressed the opposing party with just her smile. At that time only one thing popped out of his mind, a woman befitting to be the head of the Faques Family.
Just after the two left, Ian was intrigued.
[ What in the world did she said to the attendant for him to totally compensate us such a high amount of gold. ]
He was curious but she just smiled at him. He tried to brought up what happened but the duchess kept on evading that topic.
As Ian left the right wing mansion, he began doubting the duchess's sudden change.
[ Is it really okay for me to trust the duchess? Is she really being sincere to all of this? ]
Ian just sighed as he deliver the order of the duchess to every servants.
[ For now, let's just trust her and watch her actions. After that, let's decide whether she is really the duchess befitting to bear the entire Faques Family. ]