Chapter Four

"Carmella, do you prefer the 'me' now or the 'me' before? Be honest." I told her.

"I prefer the 'Lady Audrey' who could live her life to the fullest. For you to live your life with no regrets, my lady. It's not just me who wished that, it's everyone who had sworn loyalty to the house of Garrick." Carmella said solemnly.

"No regrets huh. What if I tell you, I don't want to marry the crown prince. That I want to take charge of our ducal house." I told her.

"Then I and the rest of your servants will follow my lady's order." She vowed.

"Be honest with me, how high are my chances in becoming the head of the house?" I asked.

"It's… impossible. The law doesn't allow it. Unless the law changes, there is no possibility for you to hold the title, my lady." She replied carefully.

"I see. Changing the law is not possible in the foreseeable future. What are your thoughts on Crown Prince Stefan?" I asked.

"The crown prince is a great man who values relationships he acquired after knowing that person deeply. He is someone who should be looked up not only by his good looks and royal blood but by his way of dealing with people." Carmella said with a barely hidden sarcasm.

I see. He's someone who flaunts his good looks and royal blood. He would rather believe those people who got in his good books and dealt with people according to what pleases him. He's an idiot, in short.

"As I stated before, marrying the crown prince would not be good for us. So the only option left for us is to marry another royalty or marry someone who would take the duke title to my father. But I don't particularly like to marry into royalty, no matter how great that sounds. So the only thing left is for me to marry someone who would be the next duke. But I'm sure my father would be displeased with that idea." I said.

Carmella only nodded in confirmation. 

Now what should I do? 

"Carmella, can I get married without my father's consent?" I asked.

"You can't, my lady. The duke would need to approve any engagement proposal for you." She replied.

"I see. Is there no way to bypass that?" I asked.

"There is a way, my lady but you will need His Majesty to grant you the marriage." She explained.

"That is also not possible since I'm currently engaged to his son." I said

I don't have many memories of the king. He seems to be a capable leader based on the current state of the kingdom. I wonder if he will allow me to cancel my engagement with his son. I probably need an official reason to cancel the engagement. I bet no matter how fair the king is he would not be pleased if I told him that his son is not up to my standards.

Now, what should I do? What are my options? How should I proceed?

If I want to live a comfortable life during my stay in this world where women are basically powerless and a person's status and rank seems to be the basis of respect, I would need to keep my nobility and a man who would understand my needs but before that I need people who would do my bidding. 

"Carmella, at home, who else could I trust?" I asked.

"Only a couple of people are left now, my lady. Butler Gervis, Head Maid Criselda, and the two Knights Reinhard and Derrick. Butler Gervis is also training a page boy Arnet, he can also be trusted. The master and Lady Madelyn had removed all the former workers of the mansion and replaced them with new ones that they had chosen. It's only the 5 of us who they can't replace because of the will of the former Duke that are left to take care of Garrick house, my lady." Carmella explained.

Lady Madelyn. It seems like my trusted aides call my stepmother that rather than mistress.

"How about the former employees of our house? Do you still have contact with them?" I asked.

"Yes, there are some of them that I am still in contact with, my lady." Carmella said.

"Carmella, can I ask you to keep in touch with them? Don't tell them anything yet but try to see which of them would still be loyal to the House of Garrick. Also, would you be able to send a message to those inside the mansion? I would like them to keep watch of those living inside the mansion now and send me reports of what's happening inside. Include also the expenses of that family that they are charging to the House of Garrick. Also, those two knights, what are their positions?" I gave her a list of orders.

"Knight Derrick and Knight Reinhard are being isolated by the others as they were originally from the old Duke. They are tasked with guarding the stable house, my lady." Carmella explained, sadly.

"How are their skills?" I asked.

"The former Duke chose them because of their skills. They are brilliant knights, my lady." She replied.

"Hmmm… I want my own group of knights also. We'll need that man power in the future. Do you think we could recruit those knights my father hired?" I asked.

"Even if we couldn't recruit them, I believe that the former knights working for the late Duke would still rally for you, my lady." Carmella said.

"That would be great but as much as I want to rally them. I have no money to pay them. I guess that would be our first goal. Earn money." I said.

But how can I earn money here? I'm ostracized by people. I don't even know the market status. Also, marketing and sales is not part of my skill set. What to do? How can I earn money? 

"Do you have any ideas on how we can earn money?" I asked Carmella after pondering about it more.

"I could do some embroidery work and sell them, my lady." She suggested.

"No, I don't think that's a good idea. You already have a lot to do. I can't put more workload on you. Let's both sleep on that thought and maybe we'll get a better idea tomorrow. " I said as I stood up and proceeded to my bedroom.

Carmella followed me to my room after a while with a basin of water and a towel. I let her wipe me and dress me for sleep.

"Carmella, what we discuss here today, stays here, okay? It's better if we don't alert the enemy with my new found resolve. We still lack a lot of things to revolt against them. Let's use my former attitude as a shield while we gather resources and strike back." I told her.

"Yes my lady." She obeyed.

The following morning, we follow the same routine of wiping and getting dressed.

"Carmella, can we wash my hair?" I asked when she was about to help me get dressed.

"I'll go prepare another basin of water, my lady." She said and left.

I should really consider creating a soap, a bigger basin, and a ladle. What do you need again in creating soap? Uh… I watched too many videos on youtube about how to create soap that I don't know which one to follow and if I still remember the right process. Let's go with trial and error. The important ingredients I remembered were lye water and lard, and essential oil for a good smell? I'm pretty sure there was coconut oil somewhere and vegetable oil. Never mind, let's mix them all up and hope for the best.

When Carmella returned I asked her for the materials I needed for my experiment while she washed my hair. I asked her to buy them then I realized another big problem. 

"Do we have money?" I asked her.

"We do, my lady. We are given 2 Large silver coins a week." Carmella said but she seemed unsure.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"The truth is my lady, the large silver coin didn't come from the Master. It's from the money, the old duke left Butler Gervis. The old duke might have foreseen that your father would not give you enough money. We did receive 5 medium silver coins from him but with that amount we could barely afford the food the chef had prepared." Carmella explained.

Medium silver coins? Large silver coins? How much are those worth?!

Based on Audrey's memory, the currency here is small copper coin (scc), medium copper coin(mcc), large copper coin(lcc), small silver coin(ssc), medium silver coin(msc), large silver coin (lsc), small gold coin (sgc), medium gold coin (mgc), and large gold coin (lgc). The conversion is 100,000,000 scc = 10,000,00 mcc = 1,000,000 lcc = 100,000 ssc = 10,000 msc = 1,000 lsc = 100 sgc = 10 mgc = 1 lgc. 

"Carmella, how much is our 1 meal?" I asked.

"For your lunch or dinner, my lady, it's approximately 5-6 small silver coins. For your breakfast and afternoon tea, it's 3-4 small silver coins." Carmella replied.

Woah. Wait lemme calculate that. 5 medium silver coins is 50 small silver coins. That's not really enough for my meal. The allowance also includes Carmella's meal, right?

"Carmella, the weekly allowance is for both our meals and all the other extra expenditures we might have, right?" I asked.

"Yes, my lady." She answered.

That cheap father!!!! 

Audrey calm down, you need to think. At least your grandfather had thought of leaving you money.

"Carmella, if we buy our own ingredients and prepare our own meals, that would be cheaper, right?" I asked.

"Yes, my lady but I can't let you eat something like that. My cooking is not as good as the chefs and the quality of food is not as good as theirs." Carmella explained.

"It's okay. I don't really mind and right now we need the money also. Let's save what we can save. Also, the nutrition is the same whether the chef made them or not. It's already late to start today. Let's talk about this again tonight. For now, we'll continue how we always do things here." I said and Carmella reluctantly agreed.

Carmella then started to prepare my breakfast while I started listing down the menu for tomorrow. 

Before I left to go to my lessons, I gave her a list of what I needed for my soap making. I've also asked her if there's a stove we can use or if we can ask to have one installed here.