Two days after Opal declaration, Hubert visited the attic.

However, he just looked around the surroundings in an exaggerated manner and did not talk about the conditions mentioned in the last meeting.

Apparently, it seems that the room with a low ceiling, a narrow old bed, a cheap desk, and a servant’s chair pushed into it, was only visible to him now.

“… husband, what is your answer?”

“No, I… I just thought about what you said the night before yesterday.”

“So you came to a conclusion?”

“Ah!”

Opal thought that it was a waste of time for her to wait silently, and asked what he had understood.

Hubert then hesitates and answers.

Then, he nodded with a serious expression when Opal urged him to continue.

Opal thought that this reaction was not bad, after having to support all this time his previous attitude.

“This time… I realized how haughty and stupid I was. I wouldn’t have been eligible for your generous offer, if it were not the rumors that tarnished your reputation. But now, thanks to your generosity, I was able to see it, and decided that… I want to change. I will beg the Count to teach me and I’ll do my best, and I vow to buy back the land from you as soon as possible.”

“…understood”

Despite not asking for forgiveness about the mistreatment given to Opal until now, this is probably Hubert giving his best.

More important than that is Hubert’s determination, and while answering plainly, Opal was quite relieved inside.

If Hubert had no intention of changing, she was planning to continue being responsible for the people depending on him.

Of course, she doubted how long his vow would last, but Opal decided to believe it for the time being.

“Then I want you to proceed with the procedures, is it all right?”

“Ah. Then… Please. “

“I will tell you the details later.”

Hubert was angry at Opal’s answer, but he had an administrative procedure to follow to end the story.

Then, when Hubert leaves, she exhales and writes a letter to her father.

(I’m happy to be able to push back Hubert to my father, that was who pushed Hubert to me in the first place.)

However, after a little feeling of liberation from Opal, the servants uttered remorse one after another and she was troubled by their visits to pledge loyalty to her.

But, Romit and Beth are different.

Opal has already hired a new butler and a few servants, who will replace them if they quit.

Regarding Beth’s treatment, she did not need a maid, and if she stayed, Beth would be demoted to a senior maid.

Then, when she finally announced that, both Romit and Beth looked humiliated, but they did not say they would quit.

(What’s this like…)

Opal, who was wondering if they would be more rebellious, was staggering.

In the end, both of them continued with the attitude of being under Hubert’s protection.

Thus, the fine procedures were completed in the attic, and exactly five days later, Opal finally left the Duke’s mansion.

“Oh, it’s refreshing!”

Opal, who departed after being sent off by the new butlers and servants including Hubert, shouted alone in the carriage.

Cave sent her to the Duke’s territory, and his wage has been doubled.

Cave was so scared that he tried to decline, but the reality was that his wage has been too low until now.

Also, the newly hired butler is endorsed by Opal’s uncle, and so, the duke’s residence will change from now on.

He’s left in charge of assessing the other employees.

Mrs. Northam and Stella never met her during the five days she spent in the attic, since the last meeting, but honestly it didn’t matter.

Regarding that parent and child, it is Hubert’s problem, not related to Opal.

Rather than that, the rewarding task of reforming the vast territory is waiting for Opal.

First, it would be reforming the management of the territory, Opal thought as she was swayed by a horse-drawn carriage and headed for the Duke’s territory.

–Three years later.

Opal puts the few cards she had on the table and sighed deeply.

“I lost. I lost…”

“Oh, that’s right. Well, madam will do the bookkeeping for this month then.”

“I can’t believe it… why am I paying you and hired you for, if I have to do the bookkeeping?”

“That’s what makes your servants happy.”

“Well… for that reason, it doesn’t seem too difficult.”

“Is it necessary to play games to decide it?”

Whether he was comforting or teasing the lamenting Opal, the now reformed Omar, who didn’t gamble anymore for years, answered while collecting the cards on the table.

Card games between them have been a habit since Opal moved to the territory.

To get rid of Omar’s bad habit of gambling, she played card games every night with him, Butler Lind and others.

Betting money was transformed into a bet to define who makes the domestic labor, etc.

In the beginning it seemed that he was quite unsatisfied, and he was fidgeting, but he could not go to the city of Novoli anyway because he had a strict surveillance, so he seemed to gradually get excited about betting on the homemade cards games.

Therefore, he’s now enjoying card games as a real game.

After all, Omar is an excellent manager if he takes it seriously, and Opal is often taught by him.

Of course, he was asked to pay back the money he lost gambling little by little.

“Oh, it looks like someone came?”

“…Is it a letter?”

When Opal was about to leave the study to get to work in the afternoon, she heard a carriage coming down the road to the mansion.

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

However, since delivery of food etc. should go to the back door, Opal decided to wait in the study, thinking that the carriage might have come to deliver a letter.

In the last three years, Opal hardly left the territory.

Of course, even though the season started, she did not appear in the social circle, so it seems that various rumors are now flowing.

It was speculated that she was having difficulties to maintain the vast territory of Hubert, and that it was a marriage for property, the one she had.

There’s also the rumor of her being a slutty wife who is confined in the countryside, and conversely there’s also the rumor of Hubert who caught Opal having an affair, and does not let her get out of the territory because of jealousy, etc.

(In the end, all rumors end with her being locked up…)

Listening to the rumors, Opal laughed without worrying.

Actually, Hubert invited her to come to the royal capital many times during the season, and she was invited to go to a friend’s territory during the off season.

Opal refused all of that.

Separately, it is not possible to leave the territory.

The territory has been developing steadily for the past three years, with equipment being prepared by Opal investment and being properly managed by Omar.

Thanks to the blessing of the weather, the amount invested by Opal could be recovered soon.

However, socializing for Opal was only a hassle, and it didn’t matter how the Duchess was thought of.

She was like that. The only times she did social interaction, was when revising Hubert’s progress a little.

Amazingly, Hubert has already bought back nearly 30% of the mansion of the royal capital and territory from Opal in the last three years.

Needless to say, Opal was relieved that he was happy and reforming himself.

Moreover, Hubert bought back a small temporal mansion in the royal capital and a little land in just over a year.

Then, when Opal visited the Duke’s mansion in the Royal Capital for the first time in a long time for the renew of the procedures, not only was she warmly welcomed, but the room prepared for her was the one the mistress used.

“I was told that Stella should be treated in a well-ventilated place, so I bought that relatively small mansion and land because it was for sale in a rural area near the royal capital. Mrs. Northam was there. Stella said, “I’ll take some familiar servants like Romit and Beth with me.”

“so……”

“I’m really thankful to you. If you didn’t tell us to call another doctor at that time, Stella now… I’m glad I could find a cure for her. Thank you, Opal.”

“…No. It’s about my husband’s important person. I did something right.”

Actually, no cure was found, it was there for quite some time.

Dr. Harrison, who was the attending physician, did not know that, and he only prescribed the old-fashioned medicine at a high price.

Apparently, Dr. Harrison seems to have examined poor people for free and prescribed the drugs they needed while making the rich nobility pay for it.

Finally, Hubert fired Dr. Harrison and wrote a letter of appreciation to Opal in a perky manner. ?

Dr. Harrison’s ambition was wonderful, but it was certain that there was a problem with the method. Opal did not say anything, and finished with a plain reply.

“No, nevertheless, let me say thank you.”

“Oh, yeah…”

Hubert smiled while holding Opal’s hand.

Even if there is no Romit or Beth, he called another servant who has been serving in the mansion for a long time, to serve them tea.

After saying everything he wanted to say, Opal spent all day laughing from his entertainment.

The next morning, she left Hubert and the mansion early because she was worried about the territory.

After that, Hubert regularly paid until he bought back the territory.

Then, Opal’s father, Count Holloway, was so surprised.

In the beginning, letters from her father came many times stating, “Is it okay to throw that fool?”, but the contents gradually changed to a reluctant admission.

Apparently, Hubert was desperately working as promised.

Instead of paying from the allowance Opal gave him, she now also received an amount equivalent to the allowance paid for about a year, in return of her favor.

Also, rumors that Hubert has succeeded in investing have recently spread to social circles, and it seems that he’s gaining popularity with women.

It seems that women do not even accompany their female friends in the evening balls that they occasionally attend, and they approach Hubert who is talking with men all the time every occasion they have.

Moreover, even though he never had his wife with him, he was never witnessed not only at night meetings but also at gentlemen clubs, etc., when she talked with her father, he said that there were various speculations going around.

Listening to the voice of Butler’s Lind at the front door, Opal waited vaguely.

Omar does not care about the dull opal and resumes his work as soon as possible.

While Omar continues to manage the territory that Hubert bought back, he will occasionally go to the royal capital to report and give detailed management instructions, so she does not need to worry about the past mistakes repeating.

Hubert’s will was so strong that he could regain half of his territory by the end of the first year.

(In short, he could have done it from the start. But he had been so spoiled all the time that he just gave up his duty…)

However, luck was on the side of Hubert’s success.

Listening to her uncle three years ago…the civil war in the Taisei kingdom seems to have settled in about half a year.

And now, since various supplies are being provided for post-war processing, the economy of this country is also good.

(It’s annoying that the economy will improve with war, but this time it was almost a battle in the royal palace, and the blood did not flow to the people, which is the achievement of the royal who won.)

Originally, the Kingdom of Taisei was a country with abundant resources and very high technology.

Unfortunately, many have been lost due to the civil war and the plague before that, but it seems that thanks to the royal brother who won, they are recovering again under his guidance.

When Opal was thinking about Taisei Kingdom, Lind came in with a letter on the tray after knocking.

“It’s a letter to madam.”

“Thank you Lind”

As expected, it seems that the wagon just came to deliver a letter.

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

She was discouraged immediately.

Omar and Lind did not say anything when they saw such Opal.

Everyone in the consulate knows that Opal has been waiting for someone’s letter for the last three years.

However, the people in the territory wondered who she was waiting for, but did not talk about it.

Everyone, including Omar, is hoping that she will be happy and find someone worthy of her instead of someone scrutinizing the personality of their beloved Opal.

“Oh dear……”

Opal quickly glanced at the text and screamed.

The sender was Hubert, so she was wondering if he was planning to buy another territory, but this time she was surprised.

“What is it?”

Lind worried and asked because he knew the sender.

Lind also glanced at Omar who was worried and stopped working, telling him that it was from Hubert.

When Opal came to the territory as their lord, there was an awkward air between Lind and Omar, but now friendship is back again.

Lind blamed himself for ignoring Omar’s injustice since the death of the previous Duke and his wife.

Opal came to expose Omar’s injustice when he believed that Omar would occasionally go out for land management that has been difficult since that great drought, which in fact was all untrue.

After that, he was angered with Omar who returned as a manager again, but as he watched Omar all this time seriously working, that anger was subsided.

“My husband will be here soon–he’s coming to this territory.”

“No way…”

Opal turned back to Lind, who murmured unintentionally.

Opal was surprised at the unconventional attitude of the butler who is always calm.

Omar who was watching the situation opened his mouth to explain.

“Master has not returned to this territory for seventeen years now. His predecessors, died in an accident… Since his parents died here master seemed to hate this place”

So far, Omar smirked with his face red.

Omar was able to commit fraud because Hubert kept entrusting his territory to him and not supervising anything even after he grew up.
“Then…when the predecessor Dukes had the accident, master was only twelve years old. Yet, two days later we found the carriage on which they were riding. All that time until we found the carriage, master stayed in the car along with his parents’ bodies.”

“Such…”

Listening to Lind’s story, Opal’s face turned pale.

She had heard that Hubert hadn’t visited this place since his parents died, but she never expected it to be such a tragic experience.

She’s blaming herself for not knowing anything.

“But, master’s visit to the territory now, means that he has arranged his mind. We will do our best to help him forget the past.”

“…Yes. Thank you. Well then, I have to tell Debby.”

Opal laughed and answered Lind’s words in a hurry when he saw the shocked Opal.

After leaving the study, she heads to Debbie, the housekeeper.

However, Opal thought of Hubert, who was injured when he was a child, and regretted her past-self trying to know nothing about him.

Translated by Djurasico (dot) home (dot) blog