章 11: Unfair Treatment
Ethan was wondering why the duke, who loved Liana so badly, wanted to give both of them a fair chance to win the title of duchess. However, after seeing how Helena ran her boutique himself, Ethan knew the duke's doubt. Helena was so talented despite her attitude.
Ethan tried to remember the storyline. He was one year before the announcement of the winner. According to the original story, the duke gave both of the granddaughters the fair chance to win. However, the heroine won, despite her lack of experience. But why?
Ethan couldn't bring his memories back in an instant. He decided to make a coffee to help his brain work. However, he found something strange with the cloth filter.
"This is so bitter," Ethan murmured, blaming the cloth filter for the bad taste.
He took a brass cup and punched holes in the bottom. He then placed a sheet of blotting paper from a book on top of the cup and filled it with coffee. The result was a clear, flavorful cup of coffee without any sediment.
"Good! This is better!" Ethan shouted, tasting his coffee cheerfully.
Before he realized it, he was surrounded by many people in the break room.
"What are you doing?" asked Helena, looking at her husband as if Ethan was doing something silly.
Ethan realized that in the book, the paper coffee filter was something new. "I …. make my coffee."
"I know that you make coffee. But what is that?" Helena pointed to the paper filter.
"The filter?" Ethan asked again.
"You made a filter from … paper?" Helena's brows furrowed, picking up the wet filter and evaluating it closely. "Is the result better?" she muttered, bringing Ethan's cup closer to her face.
Ethan was about to say something when Eric entered the room and brought important news for Helena. "My lady, I got the report!"
What Eric was talking about was the report from Liana's perfume store. Helena asked her butler to check the bookkeeping if possible. However, Eric could only gain the information roughly from one of the employees.
"So, that was Liana herself who came up with the idea of partying every weekend?" Helena almost couldn't believe the information.
"Not only that, my lady!" said the butler. "She even bought cheap fake products from an amateur perfumer and signed a contract for a year!"
Helena's face reddened. Liana's mistake was so unforgivable. "Does my grandfather already know about this?" she asked, gritting her teeth.
"Not yet. His Grace asked James to help Lady Liana. That butler surely will check the problems by himself. However, I am sure that he will protect Lady Liana no matter what," Eric explained, looking at the lady with a panicked look. He knew that James would never be on Helena's side since he was Liana's father's loyal dog.
Helena sighed, feeling frustrated at the unfairness of the situation. Despite Liana's obvious mistakes, she knew that her grandfather would never allow her to take action against her cousin. She couldn't help but feel like she was constantly being overshadowed by Liana, even though she was more qualified and competent in managing the family business.
"Thank you, Eric. You can leave now," Helena said, dismissing her butler.
As soon as Eric left the room, Helena sat down on her plush armchair and took a deep breath. She needed to think of a way to attack Liana and embarrassed her cousin in front of the duke.
***
At night, in the mansion, everyone was having dinner.
"Today's dinner was made by our beautiful, talented Liana!" said the duke, who wanted to cheer her sad-looking granddaughter.
Liana looked pale. She was afraid that her grandfather would find her mistakes.
The jealous Helena then looked at her grandfather cynically. She hated the fact that the duke was still willing to support her cousin despite the big failure.
"If you have time to cook every day due to please grandfather, why don't you invest your time to check your store bookkeeping?" said Helena. "So you will realize that you should not spend much money on unnecessary things."
Liana's face turned red as everyone at the table turned their heads toward her. She knew that Helena was trying to embarrass her in front of the family, but she didn't know how to defend herself.
The duke looked at Helena disapprovingly and said, "Helena, that is not a polite thing to say to your cousin. She is doing her best to improve her business."
James, the duke's trusted butler, cleared his throat and said, "Your Grace, may I speak? I have something to report regarding Lady Liana's business."
The duke nodded, and James continued, "I have found some irregularities in the bookkeeping of Lady Liana's perfume store. However, I believe that it was due to a misunderstanding and not intentional wrongdoing."
Helena snorted, "A misunderstanding? How convenient."
James shot a stern look at Helena and said, "I suggest we investigate the matter further before jumping to conclusions. We should give Lady Liana a chance to explain herself."
The duke agreed with James and turned to Liana. "What do you have to say about this, my dear?"
Liana swallowed hard and said, "I...I made a mistake. I was trying to cut costs and increase profits but took the wrong approach. I should have been more careful with my suppliers and the quality of my products. I am truly sorry for my actions."
The duke nodded and said, "I appreciate your honesty, Liana. I will have James look into the matter further and see how we can help you improve your business."
Helena rolled her eyes, knowing that her cousin had once again managed to escape punishment. However, she knew that she had to bide her time and find another way to bring Liana down.
James sighed with relief. He was happy because Duke Henry was still on Liana's side even though the fact that Liana's management failure had been uncovered.
***
"This is so unfair!" Helena snapped, rampaging in her study.
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