Chapter 167: Chapter 167
Soon after the tea meeting, Rubica started to get letters. The letters were enough to fill the silver tray, and there were a lot more than the number of guests who had come to the meeting.
“What are all these letters?”
“Well, I don’t know.”
Even Ann was surprised to see the letters sent by the high nobles who hadn’t even been invited to the meeting, including Marchioness Miramont. They were not even acquainted with Rubica, so why did they send letters to her?
“You should read them first.”
“You think so?”
For a moment, Rubica wondered which letters she should read first. She could guess why the people who had come to her tea meeting sent letters, but why did the people who hadn’t been invited send letters to her? She got curious and picked Marchioness Miramont’s letter first.
When she opened the envelope, some well-dried flower petals fell. They smelled sweet. Even if Rubica just suddenly became a duchess, the Marchioness, who was born in a prestigious family, wrote the letter with extreme care.
‘She has no reason to flatter me, so why did she send me a letter?’
The letter was written in a very elegant style. The Marchioness talked about the weather, asked how Rubica was, and she congratulated her about the successful tea meeting. Then, she ended with hopes to exchange letters with Rubica sometimes, just as she had done with the former Duchess Claymore. Rubica narrowed her eyes when she finished reading it.
The letter was extremely normal, but there was no way the Marchioness sent it without any purpose. However, she couldn’t read the purpose herself as nobles’ affairs were all so complicatedly intertwined.
“Ann, what does this letter mean?”
Rubica handed Ann the letter who read it and smiled.
“Oh, the Marchioness must want the Taylor Rose.”
“She wants the rose?”
“Yes. See, she complimented on how you gave roses to the guests at the tea meeting. She says it is a wonderful way to make friends. She is also making it clear that she wants to befriend you. It means she wanted to be presented with the rose too.”
Now that made sense. Rubica was grateful that Ann was at her side to interpret nobles’ the complicated way of talking.
“Should I send her some roses?”
“It would be better not to.”
“But why?”
“Marchioness Miramont and Countess Tangt are rivals.”
“Rivals? But aren’t they friends?”
“They have been competing with each other ever since they were maids. They have been pretending to be good friends after they got married to two families that are close friends, but actually, they hate each other very much. Countess Tangt must have not missed this opportunity, and she must have invited the Marchioness to show her the rose and talk about it. I guess it made her jealous, and she eventually sent a letter.”
“So, the countess will be mad if I send roses to the Marchioness.”
Tangt and Claymore had been close, but Miramont wasn’t close to Claymore. Therefore, Rubica decided not to send any roses to the Marchioness and opened the next letter.
“Huh? But this one is almost exactly the same as Marchioness Miramont’s letter.”
“Then that lady must want the rose as well.”
The next letter and the one after that were all remarkably similar, so Rubica wondered if they were sharing a template or something.
“I don’t know what to write back to them. The amount of roses Lord Sesar is growing now is not even half of what these people want…”
Moreover, Sesar was about to finish making yet another type of rose. He couldn’t pay his full attention to Taylor Rose. Thankfully, Ann gave Rubica a simple solution to it.
“We should ask the butler to hire some men to grow the roses.”
“Oh, yes, we can sow seeds in the greenhouse and then move the saplings to grow in the field. We should hire some men to take care of the roses, and as for the work that requires many hands for a short time, we should hire and pay the nearby farmers.”
And the weather was perfect for the roses to grow.
“The farmers will be delighted since it will be an unexpected earning.”
“Yes, right? Hmm, but I didn’t have the rose made to turn them into something to be given as gifts, so I should tell them to ask Lord Sesar if they want to buy it.”
“To Lord Sesar… but madam, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I think we’d better let Carl handle the selling.”
Rubica could immediately see what Ann was worried about. Lord Sesar wasn’t the kind of person who could manage a business. He would either demand an insanely high price or sell his roses at almost nothing.
“We can tell them Lord Sesar is busy with his work and they should ask Carl. That would do.”
“I think so too.”
As there were too many letters, Rubica couldn’t write back to all of them herself. So, she decided to let Ann write back to those who wanted the rose and only sign the letters later. Then, she picked one of the letters sent by her guests at the tea meeting with shaking hands.
Her heart beat fast with anxiety and expectation. Everyone looked happy as they left after the meeting, but in nobles’ society, looks didn’t always tell what people were thinking.
However, after reading only a few lines of the letter let her realize she had nothing to worry about. Most of the guests wrote they had been happy to participate in such a pleasant and meaningful meeting.
“Ann, look. Ms. Chartle wrote she wanted to come if I ever host another tea meeting.”
“She must have liked the tea meeting very much.”
“Oh, and this girl also asked me to invite her to the tea meeting again.”
Rubica rejoiced like a little girl while Ann smiled proudly. Rubica’s tea meeting had been a great success, and Ann didn’t have to worry about the society season.
“I guess my plan has worked well enough.”
“Of course. A maid from a baron family has even been to the lab. She said she was on an errand, but she only brought a small letter.”
“Aha.”
Rubica didn’t need any more explanation. She could see what kind of errand the maid had come to complete. As she had plotted, the seeds of love that had been sowed in her tea meeting were about to bud. Ann put a hand on her mouth and said in a small voice.
“Actually, Elise has gotten ten letters already.”
“Ten letters?”
“I’m sure she will get more soon.”
Ann raised her chin high as if she had been the one who was getting love letters. Well, nothing was better than love at making a meeting successful. Even the most boring meeting can be pleasant if someone you like is with you.
‘Oh.’
But then, Rubica suddenly thought of Edgar. He liked to sit on the sofa in the bedroom and put his long legs on a stool. Then, he would listen to her story without doing anything else.
Although Rubica always thought she had to stop talking as he had to be tired as well, for some reason, it was hard to stop talking to him.
She talked in detail about the tea meeting and her maids, and he sometimes made a cynical comment. Even though it was just gossip, he was never tired of it. The problem was that Rubica also liked that time very much.
-I like you.
Thinking of what he had said made her blush.
“Madam?”
“Oh, sorry. I was thinking about something else.”
Rubica said as she fanned at her feverish cheeks. She had been suddenly thinking of Edgar quite often lately. She tried to ban the thought from her mind and opened the letter from Countess Tangt.
“What would Countess Tangt think of my tea meeting?”
“As Marchioness Miramont couldn’t stand it and wrote you a letter asking for the rose, the countess must have shown off her rose to her, so… I think she must have liked your tea meeting.”
Even though Ann said so, she also sounded a little nervous. Although a number of nobles were thinking highly of Rubica’s tea meeting, if the celebrity of society said, ‘The rose was good, but the meeting was not,’ that was going to mean nothing.
Rubica wiped off the sweat on her palms as she read the letter. However, she widened her eyes as she reached the last paragraph. And so did Ann. What was written wasn’t something they had expected.
-I also want to host a tea meeting myself. If you know a merchant who sells good tea, please recommend him to me. I would also be delighted if you could come to my tea meeting.
Rubica couldn’t believe her own eyes. She took a deep breath and read the last part of the letter again and again. Thankfully, the letters didn’t disappear or change.
“Countess Tangt wants to host a tea meeting herself!”
“Oh my gods! Oh, there can’t be a better compliment for your tea meeting.”
“Ann, call Carl immediately. I must ask him to tell me about the tea sellers in detail.”
“Of course!”
When Carl came, he was so happy to hear the countess was planning to host a tea meeting herself that he almost knelt down on the spot. Then, he did his best to make a list of tea sellers. He even wanted to write down about which tea each seller sold and how to brew each tea according to its unique characteristics and Rubica could only barely talk him out of it.