Lady Cinderella - Chapter 43

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Lady Cinderella, Chapter 43

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At last, peace had returned to the mansion. At the request of his beloved fiancée, the Grand Duke was working diligently, and the swift investigation into Stevens Bank, based on Lady Ella’s advice, was also progressing smoothly.
Kevin, who had looked at Ella with suspicion, too, had begun to waver. It was he who had recommended Stevens Bank for its high returns. He had assumed she was only opposing his opinion out of resentment over the matter of her parents, but once he lifted the lid and looked inside, the reality was beyond his imagination.
‘No questions asked, no scrutiny! Loans approved within thirty minutes!’
To borrow from Royal Prince Bank, the largest bank in the Empire, one had to pledge land or a house as collateral, and furthermore, two or more guarantors were required, meaning someone who would repay the debt if the borrower fled. There had even been nobles who lost their titles for failing to repay what they had borrowed. By comparison, borrowing from Stevens Bank was far too easy. In exchange, the interest rates were at least five times, and in severe cases ten times, those of Royal Prince Bank.
Even if one borrowed a hundred gold, Royal Prince Bank required only three to five gold in interest per year, whereas Stevens Bank demanded forty to fifty gold, so that within about two years, one would have paid interest roughly equal to the principal. Still, people in desperate need of money flocked to Stevens Bank to borrow.
‘Just this once, only this time,’ those who borrowed out of habit eventually became slaves to usury, becoming the chief contributors who swelled the bank’s coffers. Cold-blooded Kevin thought the scheme was worth investing in as long as money kept flowing in, but Lady Ella’s opinion had its merit as well.
“How long do you think that can last?”
Much as he hated to admit it, the lady was right. The bank was attracting investment capital with promises of high profits, yet in reality, Stevens Bank’s profit margin had fallen markedly behind other banks. On top of that, there were quite a few so-called bad debts, debtors who were unlikely to repay. If things continued like this, it was not impossible that the bank would collapse within a few years.
‘Should I just admit it already?’
The lady coolly laid out only the essential evidence for her conclusions and then closed her mouth. It had been the same with the spoils of war the other day. Instead of boasting in front of Miro, who had praised her accomplishments, that the work was hers, she credited the Grand Duke with every achievement. In devoting herself to the Grand Duke, their interests aligned. Besides, the lady did not seem to mind the Grand Duke’s earnest campaign of affection.
The one-in-a-million chance the Grand Duke had taken. Perhaps she had saved him in a moment of crisis and, at the same time, recognized in him someone who could appreciate her talents. Kevin, too, had been called a prodigy, graduating from the Academy at the youngest age and serving the Grand Duke, achieving countless feats, yet because of his relatively young age, opposition to him had been fierce. It was the Grand Duke who had overcome all that opposition and appointed him chief aide.
“Consistent, you might say.”
That made him all the more grateful for such a master. Even when the rest of the world refused to trust him, the Grand Duke alone believed in Kevin. This matter was no different. The Grand Duke was utterly besotted with his fiancée, yet he did not turn his back on the people around him for her sake.
The Grand Duke said he trusted the lady. But he did not try to forcibly steer Kevin’s opinion, which still regarded her with wariness and doubt. Had he ordered him to obey simply because he loved this woman, Kevin might have felt resentment instead. This incident had clearly been Kevin’s own presumptuous meddling, yet the Grand Duke did not hold him accountable.
“You went too far this time.”
“Miro.”
“Lady Ella may look delicate, but she has a sharp, clear-headed temperament. If she were some fool trying to seduce our Lord, I’d have cut you out long ago.”
“That’s—”
“I understand you’re worried about His Grace, but you went too far.”
“If you do it one more time, I won’t sit idly by, so you’d better watch yourself. Our dear Lady Ella only ever worries about His Grace, waking or sleeping.”
With Olga chiming in, Kevin felt as though he were sitting on a bed of needles. He was unwilling to admit he had been wrong, and blood rushed to his head. If she had at least scolded him, he could have apologized, but Ella remained completely composed as she dealt with Kevin. Her maturity beyond her years and her consideration for his position. The more kindly Ella treated him, the more Kevin was tormented by his own faults.
“Kevin! His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived!”
“What?”
The Grand Duke was in the middle of his work. He had declared that as soon as the six o’clock bell rang, he would finish his duties and rush to the Inner Residence, since they had agreed to view the glass greenhouse that had been newly renovated for his fiancée. In this situation, where every second counted, it would be troublesome for an unwelcome intruder to interrupt. Kevin hurried down to the lobby of the Main Building.
“Calaile, of all people, is engaged? What is the meaning of this!”
“Welcome back, Your Highness.”
Immediately after the ball, the Crown Prince had become a member of an envoy and remained abroad, unable to return home for over a month and a half due to the Empress’s schemes. And when he finally returned, the capital was in an uproar over the Grand Duke’s engagement, so he was fuming with rage. Because they had known each other since childhood, even Seth, the chief housekeeper, could not be firm with Crown Prince Johannes. As a result, Kevin became the one assigned to handle the Crown Prince and had to step in personally.
“Your Highness, this is most inconvenient.”
“Kevin, who exactly is this Lloyd Count’s daughter? Is it possible there’s a woman in this capital I don’t know?”
Johannes, who branded Calaile a womanizer without meaning to, not turning away any woman who came nor stopping any who left, grew especially hot-headed whenever Calaile’s affairs came up.
“Lloyd Count’s daughter is the niece of Marquis Ruth.”
“Marquis Ruth? That old man? Then how old is the girl?”
“She is eighteen this year.”
Johannes swore he knew every lady from every distinguished family who had reached marriageable age. Since the influential houses had long been angling for the vacant position of Crown Princess, he could not help but memorize that list whether he liked it or not.
To Johannes, the fact that Calaile, both his childhood friend and his cousin, was engaged to the daughter of a family he had never once heard of or seen was nothing short of shock and dread.
“This was Father’s order, wasn’t it? It must be. That damned old man!”
“Please watch your words. And the engagement was entirely at His Grace’s own will.”
“What? Cal?”
“He’s been enjoying a rather lively romance these days.”
Right up until Johannes had left for his vacation, Calaile had not breathed a word of such a thing. Even at the ball, Johannes had been about to introduce him to a rather pleasant lady, but Calaile had shuddered as if disgusted and fled.
Since that incident, Calaile had changed into a deeply cynical man. No matter how earnestly Johannes argued the merits of a sweet, clingy young lady, Calaile would coldly snap that a man with such a light backside was of no use to anyone.
For such a man to become engaged, and to be in a romance not born of a political arrangement, a man as dull as one who would not bleed even if stabbed, made Johannes’s eyes flare.
“What on earth have you been doing? Even so. And what about Lloyd? Did you just let him rush into an engagement with some nobody girl with no proper background?”
“Your words are excessive.”
“Excessive, my foot. From what I hear, her reputation is the worst. She must be after his fortune, isn’t she?”
Kevin had been growing irritated the whole time he listened. Still, Lady Ella was the one fiancée the Grand Duke had chosen on his own. At first, she had seemed a little suspicious, but considering her achievements up to now, and now the Stevens Bank affair, Kevin had come to see her in a new light, setting aside his own rashness and judging by the objective circumstances.
Even from what he heard from Miro, she did not care much for luxury, yet she was not a stingy miser either. While wary of the Grand Duke’s excessive spending, she also had a generous heart that quietly looked after those beneath her. Not only had she become the Grand Duke’s source of vitality, but Olga also doted on Ella dearly. Where on earth had he found such a proper lady, Olga had said, delighted that Ella was the Grand Duke’s lucky charm.
―If not for Ella, by now we would have been driven back to the battlefield side by side.
Recalling the Grand Duke’s faintly bitter monologue, Kevin’s heart grew heavy as well. Much as he hated to admit it, it was thanks to Ella that the spoils of war had been protected, and relations with the Emperor had considerably eased. Johannes, unaware of the circumstances, raged and stormed, but the soldiers following Kevin’s orders blocked the staircase leading to the upper floor entirely, so Johannes’s “Play with Calaile” operation failed once again today.
“Be honest. That brat Cal is with that girl so much he won’t play with me, isn’t he?”
“Well, I won’t deny it.”
“You traitor! With some girl I’ve never even heard of!”
Talk of children was still premature, but if their hearts truly matched, then there was no need to oppose her becoming Grand Duchess either. Kevin had reached that far in his thinking when the Crown Prince began tearing Ella down, and Kevin, too, felt his temper flare.
“He’s the nephew of Marquis Ruth. His family is respectable enough, and he has the refinement that would impress His Majesty himself.”
“Father? Come to think of it, he has been cursing Calaile a little less these days.”
Morning, noon, and night, the Emperor used to curse Calaile like clockwork, three times a day. Lately, the rumor went, it had dwindled to once a week. Word had also quietly spread that the Emperor had taken a great liking to the Grand Duke’s fiancée.
“She is as delicate and pure as a single white lily. If you carry on so rudely in front of her, you will hardly escape the Grand Duke’s wrath, so please exercise some restraint.”
“What, Kevin, are you on that brat’s side too?”
“She is not a brat. She is Lady Ella-Dis, and she will one day become the Grand Duchess of Wellington. Please show her the respect she deserves.”
Even the word “brat,” which he kept throwing around, grated on Kevin, and before he knew it he had blurted out a sharp rebuke. Of everyone, it was Seth who was most astonished by the change in Kevin’s attitude, the same Kevin who had been itching to tear Ella apart.
“What’s gotten into you? Taking Lady Ella’s side like this.”
“I’m only stating the facts.”
“Weren’t you the one who disliked Lady Ella?”
I did. I resented how she had shown up out of nowhere and meddled in matters of the Frontier that she could not possibly understand. And it unsettled me that the Grand Duke kept paying her so much attention. Fearing she might bring harm to my master, I stayed on constant guard. But the more he opposed her, the deeper Calaile sank into his devotion to Ella.
The day Baron Lloyd and his wife came demanding money, the last thread of my reason snapped. Convinced that she had finally shown her true colors, I was so consumed with fury that I went to Ella without even confirming the facts and poured out my rage.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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