Chapter 4 – Suspicion (Part 8)

Elysia regretted handing the letter to Ronan Hass to deliver to her father. She thought she should have sent it to her mother or Marion instead.

Elysia had put a lot of thought into writing the letter because it was the first time she had ever written to her father in her life, which could be considered long or short.

Thus, even starting the first sentence was a challenge.

[To my dear father,]

Elysia shuddered at how cheesy it sounded as soon as she wrote the first line and crumpled the paper. Considering her carefree and lazy behavior at home, her father would immediately sense something was amiss from such a formal introduction. He would surely think that life at the Duke’s estate was so harsh that she ended up writing to him.

[Father, I am doing well. I have one request: please get me a pair of garden shears. As soon as possible. Yours, Elysia.]

This didn’t seem right either. Since arriving at the Duke’s estate, she had written to Marion or her mother but only inquired about her father’s well-being in passing. She had never written directly to him. For her first letter to her father, this seemed too businesslike.

It felt as if she were a debtor demanding money, treating her father like nothing more than a cash dispenser. Elysia crumpled this letter too and tossed it into the fireplace.

Struggling to figure out how to write a letter that would seem typical of his daughter, it took longer than expected to complete the letter.

While at the Serenze estate, there was never a need to write to her father. When he traveled for trade, it was Marion or her mother who wrote letters, while Elysia would just add a word or two verbally.

Feeling suddenly like an ungrateful child, Elysia filled the letter with content that might seem a bit softer. But after sending it, she began to worry that it might lead to misunderstandings.

***

“Dear, Lillian! Elysia sent me a letter!”

As soon as Tobias received Elysia’s letter, delivered directly by Ronan Hass to his office, he rushed home to his wife, filled with joy.

Knowing Elysia’s personality, Tobias had been content with the news in the letters sent to Lillian or Marion, but he had been slightly disappointed not to receive one addressed to him.

So when a letter finally arrived for him, he was overjoyed.

Without questioning why Ronan Hass had delivered it, Tobias hurried home to share the news. Lillian, just as delighted as if she had received the letter herself, urged Tobias to read it quickly.

Tobias began reading Elysia’s letter aloud.

“Father, how are you? I am doing well at the Duke’s estate. The servants here are all kind and courteous. While it lacks the warmth of the Serenze estate, it has the majesty befitting the name of the Grendel Duke’s estate. The Duke, though seemingly stern, is considerate in his own way. …However, I have one request. Being here, I have developed a desire to learn… a new hobby?”

At that passage, Lillian and Tobias exchanged puzzled looks.

“Dear, did you read that wrong? Elysia, a new hobby?”

“Look here, Lillian. That’s exactly what it says.”

Tobias showed the letter to Lillian to confirm. Even after verifying Elysia’s handwriting, Lillian tilted her head in disbelief and urged Tobias to continue reading.

“…The garden at the Duke’s estate may not have the charm and quaintness of the Serenze estate’s garden, but it has a natural beauty. I’ve found a part I’d like to decorate a bit like the Serenze garden, but I’m worried it might seem like I’m disregarding the gardener’s taste if I say something. So, I’d like to try my hand at gardening myself. Could you send me a pair of garden shears? To start with pruning… I’ll take it step by step… Yours, Elysia.”

“What on earth does this mean, dear?”

Lillian asked in a worried voice.

“It seems there’s some hidden meaning between the lines, doesn’t it?”

Tobias said, and Lillian nodded in agreement. It was unlikely that Elysia would suddenly take up a hobby, especially one as labor-intensive and time-consuming as pruning.

“Do you think she’s being pressured for being idle at the Duke’s estate?”

“More than that, this phrase ‘a place of majesty’ concerns me. It might imply that she’s under constant pressure.”

Just then, Marion, having returned from the library, came to greet her parents and noticed their worried expressions. Knowing that Marion could be more objective about her sister than they could, Tobias and Lillian let her read the letter.

After reading it, Marion frowned and thought for a moment.

“The most important sentence in this letter seems to be about the ‘garden shears for pruning.’ She might have used this expression thinking the Duke’s estate might censor her letters. Perhaps there’s someone there bothering her, and she wants to ‘prune’ them away.”

Tobias and Lillian were surprised by Marion’s interpretation. It seemed that, as with many high-ranking nobles, the Duke’s estate might be monitoring each other’s correspondence, just as the previous Duke had done with his wife.

“The previous Duke didn’t trust his wife and had her watched. Like father, like son. How could someone with a face carved from marble be so petty?”

“Lillian, I’ve often told you that a man’s face isn’t everything. During the marriage contract negotiations, the Duke seemed like someone who had forgotten how to smile. If he always shows that face to Elysia, how much mental pressure must she be under?”

The couple began to worry about how dangerous Elysia’s situation at the Duke’s estate might be. Censoring mail might be the least of it. Perhaps the servants were bullying her, or worse, the Duke himself might be harassing her daily, warning her not to overstep her bounds.

The Serenze couple seemed ready to dash to the Duke’s estate and demand their daughter back. However, Marion stepped in to calm them down.

“If it were that dangerous, Elysia wouldn’t just endure it. Instead of brooding, she might be hinting that she’s so angry she wants to ‘prune’ someone, just like cutting branches.”

Tobias pondered.

“Then we should send a self-defense weapon instead of garden shears.”

Marion shook her head at her father’s suggestion, as if it were foolish.

“If you do that, it could get caught in the Duke’s estate’s mail inspection and be confiscated.”

“There are items that look ordinary on the outside but are enhanced through alchemy to function as weapons.”

“Instead of sending it through the servants, how about finding a safer and more reliable way to deliver it? Perhaps ask someone from the trading company we deal with?”

At Lillian’s suggestion, Tobias thought he had no choice but to rely on Ronan Hass, who had delivered the letter. Although it felt like incurring a debt to Ronan, who never made a losing deal, there was no other way to avoid the eyes of the Duke’s estate.

Having decided on a courier, the next step was to find something that looked ordinary but could serve as a self-defense tool. If there were more time, he could have ordered from a foreign workshop, but thinking of Elysia alone and trembling in fear at the Duke’s estate, he couldn’t afford to delay even a day.

In the end, Tobias had no choice but to request Haas Trading Company, which would also handle the delivery, to procure a specially ordered, enhanced item in the shortest possible time.

With urgency, Tobias personally visited Haas Trading Company, made the request to Ronan Hass, and returned home feeling slightly relieved.

Left alone after seeing Tobias off, Ronan couldn’t hide his delight and smiled broadly.

“Thanks to the Duke’s well-chosen fiancée, opportunities arise naturally.”

Tobias’s request was as follows: to quickly procure a ‘pair of garden shears that could double as a self-defense tool or something equivalent,’ precious enough to suit his daughter.

Ronan Hass thought this request could lay the foundation for the significant deal with the Duke’s estate he had long hoped for.

One of Ronan’s main efforts after inheriting the trading company from his father was to expand dealings with the Grendel Duke’s estate.

Before Ronan took over, his father struggled with conservative nobles who were reluctant to deal directly with a commoner-run trading company. Although the trading company was among the largest in the entire kingdom, most nobles refused to trade with them solely because the head of the company was a commoner.

However, when Aaron Hass, Ronan’s younger brother, was selected as Cassius’s close aide, the previous Duke of Grendel, Aisar, was the first to request supplies from Haas Trading Company. Although the Duke’s estate only wanted minor items, maintaining this deal would undoubtedly lead to transactions with other nobles.

Thus, Ronan’s father decided to start trading with the Grendel Duke’s estate, even though it offered little profit and was labor-intensive.

However, Duke Aisar was demanding.

“Even though Haas Trading Company is one of the most prominent in Brunchia, I’m concerned about trading without seeing financial stability. I’d like to see documents that confirm the company’s stability.”

Despite being the one to initiate the transaction, Duke Aisar was hesitant to trust Haas Trading Company and wanted to see various documents. Ronan’s father made excuses to hide the most important ones but still had to show some to gain Duke Aisar’s trust.

The scale of trade obtained with the Grendel Duke’s estate, even after providing internal information about the trading company, was minimal. However, once established, the trade could not be cut off. The mere fact of supplying to the Duke’s estate was enough to serve as effective advertising among the nobility.

“Father, it seems that Duke Grendel initiated trade to access the company’s internal information. At this rate, we’ll keep incurring losses. Wouldn’t it be better to stop supplying them?”

“I know. But this situation won’t last forever. A seasoned merchant should lower himself and seize opportunities when they arise. You can’t skimp on bait if you want to catch a big fish.”

Following his father’s teaching, Ronan continued trading with the Duke’s estate, even at a loss, after becoming the head of the company. After the sudden death of Duke Aisar, he tried to recoup his losses through the new Duke, Cassius. However, Cassius showed no interest, making it difficult even to see him in person.

But now, the Serenze family, soon to be the Duke’s in-laws, opened a new avenue.

‘In any way possible, I must win the heart of the future Duchess.’