章 10: The Duke's Doubt
Duke Henry was sitting in the living room reading a business magazine. It looked like he was reading, but he had only opened the same page ten minutes ago. He felt uneasy because of his last talk with Helena. His granddaughter was indeed very good at creating uncomfortable conditions in his heart. Helena did two surprising things this month.
Firstly, Helena's sudden marriage instead of Benjamin's made Duke Henry suspect that Helena was planning something that had to do with the conditions he gave her a few days ago. There's nothing wrong with Helena's decision on this one because he didn't like Benjamin. Benjamin's personality was a bad mix when combined with Helena's temperament.
After Duke Henry saw that Ethan looked like a nice guy. He felt that Helena's decision to leave Benjamin and marry Ethan was the right one. Ethan's gesture and appearance reminded him of someone special, his old frenemy from Akiya Kingdom, King Lucas II. He admired him from the bottom of his heart. That's why, even if Ethan was just an adopted son of a baron, the duke accepted his granddaughter's marriage.
The second thing was that Helena's attitude toward her cousin was getting more aggressive. She always made the kind and obedient Liana looked guilty or even stupid. Some time ago, Helena reported that the perfume store run by Liana had experienced a drastic decline in profits. Even though he had given her a branch in a strategic place in the middle of the city. It would have been different if only Helena had taken care of the perfume store.
Not only that, this morning, Helena had Liana cornered again by accusing her of being too nice to Ethan when her grandfather reprimanded her for not paying enough attention to her husband.
"James, call Liana here!" said Duke Henry to the butler.
"Yes, Your Grace!"
The butler immediately walked quickly to Liana's room. The maid knocked on the door several times, but it was not opened until five minutes later.
"What's wrong, James?"
"His Grace called you, Miss. He is in the study. It looks like he is in a bad mood," said the butler, afraid of something bad would happen to the kind lady, his angel.
Liana, who was dressed up and ready to go to the perfume store with an angelic appearance, nodded and said that she would soon meet her grandfather. Her heart was pounding with fear that her grandfather would talk about the thing she was most afraid of, about the almost intolerable management of her store in Erast.
"I presented myself to you, Grandfather," said the beautiful young lady in the pink dress gently, greeting her grandfather.
"Where do you want to go, honey?" Duke Henry reached out to welcome his beloved granddaughter. He shifted his sitting position so that his beautiful granddaughter could sit close to him.
"I was about to go to the perfume store," Liana glanced at the watch as if she had a tight schedule. She just wanted to look busy so she could escape from this conversation as soon as possible.
"Liana, is it really hard for you to manage your store? Do you need help?" asked Duke Henry curiously. "If you want, I can ask James to help you." James, the middle-aged butler, was good at bookkeeping and also close to Liana.
Liana shook her head. "I am so sorry for the big losses. Will you ask Helena to take my place now, Grandfather?"
The grandfather shook his head. "Liana, I know you can do it. A humble figure like you will be liked by employees. Take them all and embrace them so they can fully support you!" Duke Henry's said, supporting his granddaughter.
"But—"
"Don't worry. This is just the beginning. Remember, you are the daughter of Frederick, my proud child who has extraordinary achievements that help me bring this family business to this stable position. You have to be confident, ok?" Duke Henry stared closely at Liana's round and shining eyes as he patted his granddaughter's shoulders.
Liana's heart moved, hearing Duke Henry talk about her father proudly. When she was reminded of her late parents, Liana's fighting and competitive spirit did indeed reappear. Especially when Duke Henry told her how great her father was when he won the competition challenging his younger brother, Justin, Helena's father, who was good for nothing.
This reason made Liana still passionate about working. She wanted her grandfather to feel proud of her, just like how he was always proud of her father.
"Okay, I will try my best!" the lady confidently answered.
"Hmmm, one more word, Liana." This time, Duke Henry hesitated to say it. "Don't you want to get married soon too, just like Helena?."
Liana shook her head. "I …. Let me find my partner, Grandfather. I will find a husband like Ethan."
The grandfather's eyes widened at the statement. His worries about Liana were not wrong. Did his granddaughter pay special attention to Helena's husband?
"Ethan? Why does it have to be like him?" asked Duke Henry probingly.
"Aaah! Did I say that?" screamed Liana, gasping. She covered her mouth while cursing herself in the head, for letting go of something taboo that she shouldn't say in front of other people. It was true that she harbored admiration for Ethan. However, she should keep that to herself, right?
"I meant, I want to find a good man like Ethan. One who gets along well with you, Grandfather," said the long-haired young lady nervously. "Unlike the player Ben … or other silly men."
"Oh, that's right! You deserve the best man in Altara." Duke Henry then added in a serious tone and look. "Remember Liana! Our family has never had a shameful scandal, let alone an affair. Be careful when you talk to people. Don't let people misunderstand your words and think that you love someone else's husband! Understand?"
"Okay, Grandfather!" Liana nodded nervously. She gulped because her stupid mistake had made his grandfather suspicious. Something she should never have done.
"Grandfather, Ethan is Helena's husband. How could I have the heart to steal someone's husband?" Liana sulked as she pulled her grandfather's hand and shook it like a whining child.
"Sorry, I'm just worried. Not accusing! There's nothing wrong with being careful, right?" obviously, Duke Henry defended himself too because he did not want his granddaughter to be offended and hate him.
Liana then kissed Grandfather's cheek and stepped outside after saying goodbye. Duke Henry also looked at his granddaughter's departure with relief because he was overthinking things.
"James, help Liana manage her perfume store! Don't make her be Helena's laughing stock!" said the duke to the butler. "Don't let Helena win the competition so easily! I want a better version of the Duchess of Eastland."
James complied with the order. He loved Liana since she was his master's daughter. He was very close to Liana's father and hated Helena's father wholeheartedly. He then did a brief evaluation to check what problem occurred in the perfume store.
At first, James didn't believe that Liana was making a failure due to a mistake. He believed that Helena sabotaged Liana's work. How come, a daughter of a talented businessman like Frederick Arkwright would make such a failure?
He believed that an evil lady like Helena would do dirty things to make her dream come true.
"What an evil woman she was! She even treated people like tools to be used as her pawn."
However, when he realized that there was unnecessary large spending on parties for the employees, he knew that the lady was the one to be blamed for the failure. However, he didn't have the heart to report it to the duke. if the duke knew what truly happened to the store, he would get angry and scold the lady.
James knew that the lady was someone so generous to other people. She loved giving charities to the commoner in need. He believed that the lady just wanted to cheer up her employees. That's why she threw parties once a week for them. This kind of accident happened due to her kindness.
James was in denial. He wanted to hide the fact that the young lady couldn't manage the budget well.
"Maybe, I will just ask Lady Liana to cut the budget for the next parties. I have to do that before the duke asked another confidant to check on the store bookkeeping," James muttered. "I will not let that evil woman win over the title of the duchess."
However, he was shocked when he found out about another mistake: the store bought some cheap products from an amateur perfumer. "What? What do I have to say to the duke? At this rate, the duke would think that you are incapable, my lady!"
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