Interest Compounds on Revenge - Chapter 39

Terran was about to properly deal with the young punks who treated Grace like a filthy joke.

Just as he was about to swing his fist towards the nobles, hurried footsteps were heard from behind.

“What’s going on here?”

The Emperor of Rubeck had appeared.

“Your Majesty.”

Terran straightened his posture and politely greeted him. The nobles did the same.

“Duke, you were having a pleasant conversation with me earlier, so why are you losing your temper here?”

The Emperor, sensing the tense atmosphere, quickly surveyed Terran and the nobles. Then Luke stepped forward and explained the situation to the Emperor.

“The nobles have committed a great rudeness towards Duke Courtois.”

At the Emperor’s words, the nobles hung their heads like criminals.

“Duke, is it worth beating up these immature brats? You’d only be creating unnecessary discord among the nobility.”

“I apologize, Your Majesty.”

Terran also showed a respectful attitude. But that didn’t mean his anger had subsided. He greatly regretted that the Emperor hadn’t appeared just a little later.

“All of you, apologize to the Duke.”

At the Emperor’s command, the nobles approached Terran with small steps and apologized.

Most of them asked for forgiveness for their rudeness, saying it was a joke, and promising not to make such mistakes in the future. But Terran’s anger didn’t subside even after receiving their apologies.

Still, he couldn’t throw punches in front of the Emperor, so he barely held back and managed to speak with difficulty.

“If you see me outside, run away.”

The nobles were flustered that the Duke’s anger hadn’t subsided even though they thought they had apologized to the best of their ability.

“If even one of you catches my eye, you won’t be safe.”

At his words, the nobles stepped back in fear. That’s when the Emperor patted Terran’s shoulder and said,

“Isn’t this the time when they’re prone to having lewd words on their tongues? The Duke will understand with a broad mind. Instead, I’ll make sure to properly discipline those brats.”

‘Discipline?’

Terran was very satisfied, knowing how the Emperor would punish them. Only then did his rising anger seem to subside slightly.

“You lot will read ‘The Prince’ and ‘The Wealth of Nations’ thoroughly with me until tomorrow, and then we’ll have a discussion.”

“What?”

The nobles were not only surprised but turned pale.

The Emperor was very famous for his love of reading and discussion. It was said that once he started studying, he wouldn’t leave the imperial library for days.

“Why are you all making faces like you’ve eaten dung?”

“It’s… not that. We’re hon… honored to study with Your Majesty.”

“When else would we get to have a discussion with Your Majesty?”

“Please bestow upon us much guidance.”

The nobles answered with awkward smiles.

“I’ll do my best.”

The Emperor winked at Terran and headed towards the library with the nobles. However, their appearance looked like cattle being dragged to a slaughterhouse.

“Now, has your anger subsided?”

Luke asked with a smile.

“No.”

“Pardon?”

Terran felt a tightness in his chest. Of course, it wasn’t because of the nobles. The only thing burning him up inside was Grace.

“I don’t understand a woman’s heart well.”

“Is it because of the young lady?”

“Just when I think we’ve gotten much closer, we suddenly become distant.”

Even today, her complexion was very bad, though he didn’t know why she was angry.

Unlike himself, who watched her retreating figure until the end when they parted at the palace, Grace’s attitude was cold.

He couldn’t understand Grace’s feelings towards him at all.

‘She said she didn’t dislike me, but…’

How to put it, Grace was like a butterfly. She would sit on a flower, acting leisurely, but as soon as you approach, she would fly far away.

“Shall I tell you a secret technique?”

Luke said boastfully. Well, Luke wasn’t an outstanding beauty, but perhaps due to his friendly impression, women tended to follow him a lot.

“How many women have you dated?”

“Well…”

Luke started counting on his fingers but eventually gave up. That must mean he had a lot of dating experience.

“Anyway, there’s a surefire way to know if the other person likes me. It has never failed. 100% accuracy.”

“Really?”

Terran was intrigued by Luke’s words.

“Would you like to try it, Your Grace?”

100% accuracy… There was no reason not to try.

Terran nodded. If he could completely capture Grace’s heart that hadn’t settled on him, he should do it.

* * *

Lea felt like she had fought a war. After the tea party ended safely, many noble ladies approached Chainer first and didn’t spare their praise.

Of course, Viscountess Vallière remained cold until the end, but they had overcome a big hurdle with the Empress acknowledging Chainer.

Lea sat in the greenhouse where everyone had left and tried to calm her complicated feelings.

“Sister! Did I do well?”

Chainer brought her face close to Lea’s and smiled brightly.

“You did great, our Chainer.”

“Hehe!”

“The Duke will be waiting. We should get up soon, young miss.”

Pauline’s voice was low, as if she was exhausted from the fierce battle of wills with the noble ladies. Indeed, it wasn’t easy just watching the terrifying war of flowers.

“We should go. We have a lot to do when we get back to the Duke’s mansion.”

We need to issue a correction notice right away, and also take a photo of the purple lace cape I wore today and place an advertisement.

Just as the three of them were about to leave the greenhouse, the head maid came looking for them.

“Lady Bizac, the Empress wants to see you separately.”

“Me?”

“All three of you.”

“!?”

Before they knew it, they had followed her to the Empress’s palace. After passing through a long marble corridor and several exotic arched doors, they finally arrived at the Empress’s palace.

The Persian carpet was complemented by Rococo-style furniture and decorations that added to the splendor. The Empress was sitting on an expensive velvet sofa.

“Welcome, Lady Bizac and company. And the frightened maid…”

The Empress looked over the three of them and even joked towards Pauline, whose face had frozen stiff.

“We are honored, Your Majesty.”

After Lea greeted on behalf of everyone, the three sat down on the opposite seats. However, seeing the Empress up close felt different from during the tea party.

While she had a gentle face, it was impossible to know her true thoughts, but the Empress in front of them seemed down-to-earth yet overflowing with dignity.

It felt like an ordinary fence that you still wouldn’t dare to cross.

“Personally, I support Grace. Her excellent ability to recognize talent and thoughts ahead of her time. Above all, I like her enlightened thinking that’s not trapped by prejudice and stubbornness.”

The Empress spoke as if she had seen the newspaper advertisement and guessed that it was all Grace’s clever idea, even though she hadn’t come to the forefront.

“What’s Grace’s dream?”

“Pardon?”

For a moment, Lea was at a loss for words.

The Empress was giving excessive praise, but in reality, she had no dream. Only revenge disguised as a dream.

“I want to do business. Especially, I’m trying to start a business related to women’s products in earnest.”

Terran had told her never to talk about the subject of the business. However, the Empress already knew, so obvious excuses wouldn’t work.

“That’s wonderful. This era is very harsh on women. We need a guardian to go to the bank, and we can’t even properly inherit. I also support Grace’s ideology.”

“My ideology?”

“I mean, recognizing and helping people shine regardless of their status if they have the ability.”

“You’re too kind.”

Lea felt uncomfortable the more the Empress praised her. Did she ever have such pure intentions? She was just a vengeful spirit struggling to bring down Allen.

“Actually, I called you here because I have a personal favor to ask.”

The Empress told Grace her business.

In three months, there would be a horseback riding competition in Bellis, and the Empress would participate with her ladies-in-waiting. Of course, other royal families would also participate, making it a fierce competition.

“Is it a general horseback riding competition?”

“Not quite, it’s a competition to showcase horsemanship, but the problem is the riding attire. As Grace knows, it’s a great flaw for women to ride horses with their legs spread.”

“But to show horsemanship, wouldn’t the posture need to be stable?”

“The fortunate thing is that at the competition, it’s not an issue to ride with legs spread. It’s necessary for the competition. So each royal family puts great effort into their riding attire.”

She said that hiding spread legs with voluminous skirts would be cumbersome, and wearing men’s riding attire would result in almost no artistic points.

“I want Grace to make it. Riding attire that’s practical while not losing dignity.”

“Me?”

“It would be a shame if we couldn’t participate in the competition just because of riding attire. I want to show that women can display horsemanship no less than men.”

Lea was impressed by the Empress’s spirit of challenge.

It was admirable to see her seeking change instead of settling for being in the highest position as a woman.

Moreover, the Empress’s efforts to boldly break free from the shackles that this era had filled as if they were virtues for women greatly stimulated Lea.

She was greatly impressed by the solid self-confidence of constantly trying and achieving something.

“I’ll do it.”

Lea found herself accepting without realizing. The psychology of not wanting to succumb to the Empress’s spirit played a big role. Moreover, she understood why Terran liked the Empress.

Even if she were a man, she would have liked the Empress. But a strange heat swirled in Lea’s heart as if it had caught fire.

‘She’s an amazing woman.’

It would have been better if Terran’s first love had been below expectations. She stimulated people’s competitive spirit and made them jealous. The desire to become an even more excellent and wonderful woman than the Empress welled up.

“Your Majesty, I have a condition too.”

“What is it?”

“If you like the riding attire we make, may we commercialize it?”

“Alright.”

“One more thing, we’ll provide the riding attire for Your Majesty and your ladies-in-waiting free of charge. However, if you win the competition, when we sell the riding attire, we’d like to promote to consumers that Your Majesty wore it.”

At Lea’s bold statement, the Empress fell into slight contemplation. But her answer didn’t take long.

“If it helps the economy of Rubeck, there’s nothing I can’t do. That’s the duty of the Empress after all.”

“Thank you, we’ll make it with all our heart.”

At that moment, the Empress stood up and offered a handshake to Lea. At that sight, Lea fell for her once more.

“Let’s shake hands for the success of our partnership.”

Lea firmly grasped the Empress’s hand. Just like men would.