Lady Cinderella - Chapter 45

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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 45

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It had been a long while since their last outing. The snow-white carriage, bearing the Lion and Lily Crest, rolled down the street, drawing the gazes of passersby. Calaile and Ella sat pressed close together, their hands tightly clasped.
“You look lovely again today. All the effort Madam Rose Gold put in since early this morning was worth it.”
“Right? Once Mary gets her hands on an ordinary piece of cloth, it turns into a dress so beautiful it’ll make you gasp.”
Thanks to Calaile’s greedy wish to keep her from going out, Mary had been rushing around the Grand Duke’s Residence since early morning, busy dressing Ella up. Since this was an official visit to Stevens Bank, the Grand Duke had insisted she be made as stunning as possible, so that no one could find a single thing lacking.
Her silver hair shimmered beneath a lavish bonnet adorned with flowers, the hair at her temples curled and braided with a long, narrow satin ribbon in deep yellow. Around her neck she wore a brown choker with an antique pendant. The dress, too, was a sweet design combining deep forsythia yellow with chocolate brown. When Calaile saw it, he teased that she looked like a honeybee, and by morning he had been scolded soundly for it.
“You look like a very well-behaved lady today. You’re a complete tomboy most of the time, though.”
“Calaile!”
Calaile, who kept up his mischievous chatter beside her, ended up with a pinch from Ella’s sharp fingers. He grumbled that her hands had grown harsher lately, yet he watched with keen interest as she took on the poised, refined air of a noblewoman.
‘The more I look, the prettier she gets.’
He honestly thought she was dazzling even when he viewed her objectively, without the blindness of love, but whenever he said so in front of Kevin, all he got was a sharp rebuke asking whether he’d lost his mind. Tucking the braided curls behind her ear, Calaile stealthily toyed with the lobe of her ear again and again.
“How are you feeling today?”
“Good. I can’t even remember the last time I went out like this.”
“At the New Year’s Ball next year, you’ll be formally presented to His Majesty, and after that you’ll be dragged into proper social life. Things are going to get extremely busy, so enjoy taking it easy for now.”
It was already September, the early days of autumn, which left less than four months until Ella’s birthday in December. Under normal circumstances, he would not be attending that ball at all. He would be roaming the frontier of the Gordon Great Plains, cleaning up the remnants of the rebels he had failed to wipe out.
Amid a fate that was shifting beneath her feet, Ella could not shake off a trace of unease. She had not known he was this sort of person, but she had admired Calaile from afar and watched him for quite a long time. The man she had vaguely regarded as someone from another world now rested a hand on her shoulder and gazed at her with eyes full of affection. His heated stare made her uncomfortable, so she forced a composed expression and began chattering about something else.
“I embroidered a garden scene and gave it to the gardener as a gift. He even cried from happiness, and it embarrassed me.”
“To him it must have been an honor. The future Grand Duchess herself stitched it for him.”
“I’ve never seen a glass greenhouse as beautiful as that one. I’m happy that we’ll be able to see pretty flowers even in winter.”
“Shall we build another one?”
Just seeing her flush shyly and smile with delight made the corners of Calaile’s mouth refuse to come down. Ella had talked him out of it, saying there was no need to go that far, and he had held back only because of that. Otherwise, he looked ready to build an entire large botanical garden.
“We’ve arrived.”
The carriage had stopped in front of Stevens Bank. Calaile stepped down first and then helped Ella out in her dress. She took his hand carefully and glanced at Kevin with some apprehension. Kevin, who had always regarded her as a thorn in his eye, had gradually stopped his constant nagging.
Ever since the time Baron Lloyd and his wife had come demanding money and he had nearly grabbed her by the collar in his rage, Kevin had been courteous as though that had never happened. Ella had no wish to receive an apology. An apology offered without any sincerity was meaningless. He had probably understood that by now as well. As long as he understood that everything she was doing right now was for Calaile’s sake, that was enough for her.
“Thank you, Calaile.”
“I only did what I should have done, my lady.”
Some people recognized Ella in an instant, having heard the rumors: a silver-haired lady with a doll-like face standing beside the towering Grand Duke. The man who was the only one permitted to embroider the Lion and Lily Crest onto a cravat had personally escorted her, and now, on a weekday morning, of all times, this lady had appeared at a bank. Passersby slowed their steps and gathered to stare.
“What on earth brings those two here?”
“Don’t tell me His Excellency is already setting aside a fortune for his fiancée?”
“Impressive, even before the wedding.”
The past, when she had appeared at the late Grandmother’s funeral in shabby clothes and drawn scorn, had been quietly forgotten. Even Calaile felt the whispers around them weighing on him, yet Ella herself remained perfectly calm.
“Don’t mind them, Calaile. They say you only know how green the pine trees are once the weather turns cold. Things like this will sort themselves out with time.”
“El.”
“Right now, just focus on the matter that needs to be settled.”
Far from being nervous, she carried herself with complete composure. Seeing her so self-assured, Calaile squeezed her hand and stepped ahead. Because the appointment had been arranged in advance, Lyman Stevens, Marquis Stevens and owner of the bank, came out personally to greet the esteemed guests, the Grand Duke and his fiancée, and led them inside.
“It’s an honor that you’ve come to see us, Your Excellency.”
“There’s no need to call it an honor.”
The matter they were about to discuss was hardly a pleasant one, but seeing the Marquis already fawning over them, assuming it was an investment talk, Calaile decided to step back quietly.
“If you’re planning to open an account in the lady’s name, we have several excellent products available.”
The Marquis spoke as though Ella had come to exploit Calaile and line her own pockets, and made no effort to hide it. Since they had agreed to leave this matter to her, Calaile quietly handed the reins of the conversation over to her.
“That’s not it. I actually have something I’d like to discuss with you separately.”
“Oh?”
The lady, who had seemed content to sit there smiling like a pretty ornament, was the first to speak. Caught off guard, Marquis Stevens let out a hearty laugh and sipped his tea.
“What could the charming young lady possibly be curious about?”
His openly condescending tone sent a surge of anger through her, but Ella recalled the Empress’s poker face and laughed innocently. Calaile felt a flare of jealousy at that dazzling smile, the same one that had melted even the Emperor, but this was not the time for jealousy, so he forced himself to hold it in.
“There’s something I’d like to buy. Your Excellency kindly offered to get it for me as an engagement gift, so I came to the bank in person.”
“Something you’d like to buy?”
If she wanted to buy something, she should have gone to the market instead of coming to a bank, so the whole thing sounded rather odd. Ella smiled brightly and slid across to Kevin a list the Intelligence Department had compiled, of delinquent debtors, to put it plainly, the troublemakers who never paid back what they owed.
“I’d like to purchase the right to collect the money lent to the people on this list. The bonds.”
“What?”
At a glance, it was a list of vicious debtors, every one of whom could be charged the highest legal interest rate. The idea that she would just show up and casually claim she’d been promised something like this as an engagement gift was hard to believe.
“Are you joking with me right now?”
“I’m not joking, so just hear me out first, all right?”
With Calaile’s solid support, Ella found her courage. Having one person beside her who believed in her made her feel unshakably reassured. Calaile had resolved to show Kevin, who kept flatly denying any credit for Ella’s efforts, exactly what she was capable of today.
With the Grand Duke glaring at him with narrowed eyes, Marquis Stevens had no idea how to respond to the impudent young lady. His own daughter, who was about her age, had quarreled with another lady at a tea party and had done nothing but babble that her father should sort it out for her. His son, meanwhile, showed no interest in taking over the business. He ran around with his crowd of friends, too absorbed in hunting and card gambling to pay attention to anything else.
It was strange enough to hear the word “bond” come from the lips of a young lady who wasn’t even legally an adult yet, and it was even more absurd that she wanted one as a betrothal gift.
“Where on earth did you get those lists?”
“Wellington holds more than fifteen percent of Stevens Bank’s shares. He also has the right to review information on its current operations.”
Though he liked to call himself the owner, the stake he actually held in the bank amounted to little more than a third. Besides, the money circulating through the bank far exceeded the assets he owned by several hundred times.
To secure large investments, he had handed over part of his rights to his investors, and in return for pouring in a substantial sum, Wellington was able to exert influence over Stevens Bank.
“Normally, when a bank lends money, it examines how grand a mansion or estate the borrower owns. If the person fails to repay, the bank can simply seize the rights to that property in their place.”
“That’s true.”
“But Stevens Bank doesn’t work that way. It asks no questions and demands no explanations, but in exchange it charges steep interest. Royal Prince Bank, the national bank, charges around five percent, while Stevens Bank charges as much as fifty percent. In two years, the interest alone grows as large as the principal.”
That the maximum rate reached fifty percent was also the result of years of the Marquis’s lobbying. Greasing the right palms behind the scenes, he had managed to squeeze interest out of wretched debtors who could borrow from no one but Stevens Bank, like a rake dragging through the soil.
“I run my business entirely within the law.”
“Oh, I’m sure you do.”
Not even the lady’s mocking remark made Marquis Stevens so much as blink. If something this small could shake him, he’d never survive in business. Speaking with the confidence of a man instructing a child, he addressed her.
“It seems Your Ladyship is still too young to understand, but the more interest a bank collects, the more it earns. Isn’t our work to earn that money diligently and then reward the customers who trust us with their large sums?”
In fact, Stevens Bank was now posting profits day after day, and the interest rates on its regular savings accounts were several times those of other banks.
Even though he stood there so confidently now, Ella knew of his miserable end.
Because of one man’s mistaken judgment, hundreds of people lost everything they owned and took their own lives. Meanwhile, people who had been buried in debt, like Ella’s father, shamelessly rejoiced openly that their debts had vanished.
Why had such a tragedy befallen decent, honest people? One such tragedy was enough. Ella had no intention of tolerating that kind of grief ever again. That brazen man would never admit he was wrong, and by burning every piece of evidence, he had destroyed even the last shred of hope.
“Marquis, you seem to have a tremendous amount of pride.”
“Naturally. My bank is my greatest source of pride.”
“But not everything in the world goes the way you wish, Marquis. What if a recession comes?”
Business was good for the moment, but that would change. The Emperor would soon begin moving in earnest, preparing for the Minette War as well as the Northwestern Great Expedition. Once war began, the entire nation’s economy would be reshaped to support it.
When prices are controlled and consumption shrinks, people naturally stop spending money. Then shop owners see their sales fall, and the debts they took on to open their stores become harder to repay. What happens if more and more people can’t pay back what they borrowed?
A bank whose coffers are running dry has no choice but to cut the high interest it has been paying its customers. Then investors, fearing they might lose their principal, will rush to pull their cash out of the bank and pour it into gold or other assets that hold their value.
While the economy is growing, everything runs smoothly. But once the Emperor starts a war, the whole nation sinks into what is known as the Wartime Economic System, a severe recession. To prepare for war, the Imperial Decree forces production to concentrate on mass-manufacturing food, clothing, and weapons for the troops, and the Crown goes so far as to ban the consumption of luxury goods by law.
The temporary measures taken during the Battle of Minette drove Stevens Bank into bankruptcy. Because of that, the Emperor was forced to postpone his plans for the Northwestern Great Expedition. And the grand campaign, so lavishly prepared, ended with a whimper, its surrender extracted within three months by the Grand Duke’s ability alone.
Ella remembered the moment she had been overcome with emotion while reading the newspaper’s report of Calaile’s victory. Calaile had been her hero. She clenched her fist tightly, determined to live up to his expectations.
“Your Ladyship is making absurd assumptions. Your Grace, am I really expected to keep listening to this?”
“What assumptions? To my ears, every word she’s said sounds perfectly correct.”
Appealing to the Grand Duke had been a waste of effort. Calaile let out a snort and pulled Ella close by the shoulders. Seeing him so openly take her side, Ella felt as though she had gained an army of a thousand horsemen.

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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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