Redemption of the Blue Rose Princess - Chapter 7.5
Chapter 7-5
“…Huh, Princess, you’re also a quite peculiar person, aren’t you?”
Said the young lord as he stared at the Princess in amazement.
Clovis turned his gaze toward the young lord, who was in a trance. His gaze was sharp, as if he was a wolf, locking his gaze toward his prey.
“By the way, Lord Jude, we still need your help. I wish you could be the person in charge of the company’s establishment.”
“Huh?”
The young lord, who was reaching his hand out to grab his mug, froze after hearing the statement as he was caught off guard by it. Clovis disregarded the young lord’s condition as he continued on with his words.
“You have plenty of connections with the merchants, which is something we desperately need for the project. You are a noble with a mindset of a merchant, so, you would know what is best for the project compared to other nobles. There’s no one that’s more qualified to be the center of this project than you.”
“W-wait a minute.”
Jude brushed his bangs out of his face, a habit he developed whenever he felt upset.
“I wrote that as an advice for the Privy Council’s bigshot to take care of, you know? The proposal was just an advice from me, I don’t really want to become the head of the project or anything.”
…This attitude is probably why the Council rejected his proposal in the first place. Alicia smiled wryly at the young lord.
Beside Alicia, Clovis patiently tried to convince the young lord.
“Of course we will be the ones who will take care of the domestic affairs, so you don’t need to worry about that. But the reason why we asked for your cooperation is that we will need a headquarters for the trading company. And the best location for the trading company, considering its purpose to strengthen our trade, is the Port City Held, in other words, your territory.”
“That might be true if your main operation is focused on the sea. But there’s a lot of better candidates if your main operation is focused on the land route! Try to go to Duke Sherford’s Viola! Anyway, I can’t do it. The other nobles will never agree to work under the eccentric Jude anyway.”
“Lord Jude!”
Alicia stopped the young lord who stood up in the heat of the moment. The latter turned his gaze toward the Princess, his face filled with confusion.
“Pardon me, Princess Alicia. To be honest, I’m not used to this kind of situation.”
“It’s fine, we are sorry for startling you.”
Alicia shook her head as she looked up toward the young lord and smiled at him.
“I’ve heard from the rumors that your connection with the nobles isn’t the best, but even with that fact, I still believe that you are the right person for this.”
“Then how about this?”
After nodding a few times, Jude made a quick suggestion.
“I can introduce you to a few reliable merchants, and if you were to ask me for my opinion as a noble, I’ll happily give you that, but you can’t make me the head of the project. If you do it, the project will fail without a doubt, I guarantee you.”
After saying that, Jude left the room in haste. Alicia tried to call out to him, but Clovis stopped her from doing so.
“Princess, let’s give him some time. We still have plenty of time, no?”
“…Right…”
Answered Alicia as she stared at the door.
* * *
In the end, no more discussion happened that day.
That didn’t mean the Princess was idling for the rest of the day, as she hanged out with Jude’s wife, who heartily told the former stories about Rozen’s citizen’s lifestyle, the bustling port of Held, and even showed her some of the family’s rare items that hey got from overseas.
Jude had also regained his cheerful bearing and friendly tone when they met him again at the dinner table, though it was evident that he tried really hard to avoid the previously discussed topics by talking in length about the goods that he had purchased from the merchants he had connections with.
“I guess I’ll try to talk with him again tomorrow…”
“As expected, the negotiation ended in failure, huh, Princess?”
It was nighttime. Inside the guest room assigned to her, Alicia sank down on the sofa she was sitting on, exhausted, as she blurted out that sentence. After hearing her words, her maid, Annie, immediately responded to her.
Alicia and her two maids were the only people staying inside the room.
The other members of her entourage, Clovis, Robert, and the other knights, were staying in another room that Jude prepared for them. Aside from a couple of personnel who were guarding Alicia, the other knights should be resting inside that room since most of the matter regarding the security had been taken care of by the Northern Knights of Rozen.
After hearing her maid’s words, the Princess puffed up her soft cheeks as she tried to correct the former’s words.
“It wasn’t a failure… But, still…”
“Uh-huh.”
“I mean…”
Annie and Martha shot each other a glance as the Princess tilted her head, puzzled over the behavior of her two maids.
“When I first saw him, I thought he is a my-pace kind of person, but he isn’t actually a difficult person to get along with, is he? But still, to think that he is actually that kind of person…”
“Besides, Princess, while he’s capable as a lord, he isn’t much of a noble at all.”
Annie said as she shrugged her shoulder, which Martha followed immediately afterward.
“Lord Jude reminded me of that one merchant who occasionally visits the castle.”
“Right? That’s why I can’t picture him being assertive in front of the nobles of the Privy Council at all.”
Apparently, they had been observing various people who came and went to the castle. As she admired the surprising talent of her two maids, their keen eyes, Alicia fell into silence as she pondered about something.
TL: Iyo
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