Chapter 2

The fragile child who has lost both her parents and brother stands in front of their coffins. Tears dried and the swollen eyes still did not injustice the beauty of the young lady who is in her early teens. The nobles and relatives who have come to the funeral of the Le Blanchet couple and their son, can't keep their eyes off from the lonely Veta. 

The said young lady has been known in the society because of her beauty, even though she has yet to make her debut, the fact that the family name has been known in the business, her existence as the eldest child and treasured daughter of the Le Blanchet made her the infamous lady that even other noble daughters envied. 

Intelligence, charming personality, wealth and status, Veta Le Blanchet who is a fortunate child lost everything in a night. Now, she is not the confident lady as she was before, but a mere cattle in the midst of predators. Although young, she knew the position that her father holds, a lot of relatives from the branch family will take the opportunity to be her guardian and take charge of the Le Blanchet household. 

"Who will manage the enterprise? Isn't the heir too young?" 

"Someone from the higher management must take over, if not the palace may interfere and take hold of their properties." 

In the Kingdom, the accepted age of inheriting a title is eighteen; however, before they fully have the authority to manage the property themselves, a guardian must be present in order to assure that the duties and responsibilities of the Lord will be guided. In Veta's case, she still has four years to wait until she fully inherits the title of count. For the meantime, the next successor is supposed to be the younger sister of her father who is a baroness from the countryside. 

Veta, who was lost in grief found a new light with the caring words of her aunt, the only blood relative of her late father. Only to find out that the trust and hope is all in vain.

Louie Gautbert, is one of her father’s late colleagues who was on the wrong side of business that they both decided to part ways. Even though they have the same vision of the trading strategy, Gautbert was known to be the greedy one and who always prefers the easy money. On one night that changed the friendship between Louie and her father, she heard the quarreling in the study room. The young Veta and her brother are supposed to greet their father who just came home from his long business trip when instead of a hearty welcome, two men who fought were seen.

“This cannot be possible, how could you make such a decision without asking us?” Her father shouted to the man who is crouching down, it seems as if he was hit by the count.

“T-that, I am also one of the shareholders of this business! Can’t I make a decision in tough times like that?” The man who was crying in pain looked up at his friend who was in rage.

“Yes, you are, however…” the count paused and grabbed a stack of paper, he was supposed to give it over to the man on the floor but then, he threw it on the man’s face instead.

“Forced labor, underpaid salary and even child working, these are the choices you are telling me?” Even at young age, the count’s children are well educated and since their family are in business industry they are familiar of these , and thus young Veta knew that what Louie Gautbert did is illegal and is considered as slavery in the Kingdom, if such are proven committed by any business entity, they shall face a consequence or much more, foreclose of the business.

The quarrel of two men continued, and when the screaming ended, the door opened and there Louie and Veta first met and made eye contact, she can never forget the anger that burns in the man’s eyes.

“Veta and Lito! What are you doing here?” Her father was surprised, then his attention got back to the man who was staring down at his children.

“Louie, please go ahead and I don’t want you to interfere in any of the Le Blanc business, I’ll give you enough compensation, this all ends here.” As if to push him away, embarrassed of being scolded in front of the children, biting his lower lip trying hard not to cry he left, until the small back of the man was never in sight. That was the last time Louie Gautbert was seen in La Blanchet County.

Back to the current situation, Veta looked at her wounded and dry hands, it was far from the hands of a young lady of a count family. Just a few more weeks and she will turn eighteen, she will be able to inherit the title of the count Le Blanchet. Then, she will contact her academy friends and restore the fief back to its bountiful life.

“My lady, the sun is almost down, we’ll take care of the rest.” The grandma, is one of the people whom she visits in the field, she was in contact with the old villager who knew her late parents and has seen her before in the academy, when she returns to the barren land, Veta cried and promised to do her best in order to restore the village’s wealth. 

“We have nowhere to go my lady, these overworked bodies are used to the labor, we just wished to see the lady to be able to live the Le Blanchet honor back.” The family has been kind to its people, thus, Veta who’s heart trembled at the sympathy of her, she decided to help them in whatever ways she can. For the past year, she has learned to plow the land, feed the animals and even dig up root crops in order to bring food to the table. 

She has spent most of the day doing farm work every weekend. In the other days, she would attend selected invitations from other nobles, most of which are those where she can meet investors for the business. One of her old friends in the academy sends invitations whenever the Marquis would be back from his trip overseas.

“Veta, I know that the county is in poverty, but how can you not pay attention to yourself? How will you be able to face the discerning eyes of the business people here?” Cecilia Phlox, the third daughter of Marquis Phlox.

“Cecil, I apologize for that, but most of my dresses are outdated, I can't seem to afford to buy a new dress when the county and its people are short of food and other supplies.” Feeling apologetic, she was now being dressed by Cecil, her worn out dress thrown aside on the couch. Colorful dresses that are in trend, Veta used to enjoy this simple luxury when she was younger, however, her current self can only indulge her eyes with the dresses that her friend has.

With a few more touches of make up and applying lotion and scented perfume, Veta whose beauty was hidden made the servants open their mouths in awe.

“Perfect! Let’s just do your hair and you’re ready to go!” Cecil joins the other maids in brushing Veta’s hair.

“Oh!” She reacts as her hair is being brushed off the tangles.

“It’s better to put off her hair since it was dry, also the white hairs can be hidden if we braid them tight my lady.”

“White hairs? Veta, I think you are overworking yourself.”

“Ah, that, it was normal, I have had that white hair since I was child, the doctor said it was a rare illness that causes discoloration of my hair, that’s why I often dye it with dark colors.”

“Illness? It’s the first time I'm hearing this.”

“Don’t worry it's not something serious, you may ask the others in the academy, they have seen me dyeing my hair before.”

 “Well, there was a time that your hair was darker than usual, I think I’ll believe you on that part.”

“Isn’t hair dye a bit expensive?” The other attendant who was braiding her hair spoke, Cecil sharply looked at the young girl telling her to shut her mouth.

“Well I use homemade dyes that can be easily found in the village, it is not as effective as the dye bought in the market, that is why you can visibly see the white hairs now.” Veta, who knew that she would be criticized by others as she used such a luxury product explained it. Her mother told her not to let the white hairs be seen as it will be a lady’s fault. Still noble inside, she takes hold to at least care of her hair.

“I think it’s a waste, it seems shiny and rare.” Cecil commented that the fault somehow attracted her.

“Right? However, I cannot let it be another flaw for myself, I may not be able to get married if this one was seen as well.” Laughing it off, as the final touch on her hair was done the two young ladies went down the party hall.