secret wardrobe of the duchess
There is no end to extravagance as you can never have enough money. No matter how much Edgar wanted to keep Rubica, he would have to change his mind if she was extravagant enough to make his family go bankrupt. She decided to use all expenses she would get as a duchess and even get loans.
‘The national bank will be destroyed 4 years later because of the war, anyway.’
Duke Claymore’s inventions and every weapon produced based on them were the basis of the Seritos Kingdom. The duke’s wealth was the kingdom’s wealth. Most of his official property, except for the money he used for private purposes, had been entrusted to a national bank. Moreover, the war was going to destroy the kingdom and turn all the money kept in the bank into useless pieces of paper.
Money that was about to be destroyed, and wealth that would vanish eventually.
Rubica didn’t even have to feel bad about it, so she decided to enjoy spending money.
‘What shall I do?’
A smile appeared on her face since she had always been saving as soon as she matured enough. She had no memory of living without worrying about money after her mother’s death and till her own death at the age of 70. She had always eaten simply and had had clothes just enough to cover herself. Rubica had tried to find beauty in that life, nevertheless, she wanted to dress in silk from across the desert and put jewels, as shining as stars of the night sky, on her neck.
‘Let’s spend as much as I want.’
People would criticize her, saying she wasn’t behaving like a duchess. Extravagance was a great sin in Seritos. If nobles imported luxurious goods, there wouldn’t be enough money to buy agricultural products for the commoners.
However, in this life, Rubica wasn’t going to care about that. She decided to buy, dress, and enjoy all kinds of expensive stuff.
That wealth was about to be gone soon. What could possibly go wrong if she spent some of it? It wasn’t like anyone was going to get killed because of it.
‘They can’t criticize me for more than 4 years.’
That decision made her feel relieved, and soon she fell asleep.
She couldn’t even remember when was the last time she had slept in a comfy bed. She slept so well for the first time since forever that the maid didn’t wake her up, and she barely managed to open her eyes when the sunlight coming through the windows was bright enough to pierce her eyes.
“Ms. Rubica, are you awake?”
“What time… is it?”
“It’s noon.”
Rubica immediately sat up on the bed at hearing this.
“No! I must go and do Angela’s hair!”
“What?”
“I cannot be late…”
Then, she saw the interior of the carriage and the maid looking at her with worried eyes. She realized her new reality only then.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I guess I was still sleepy.”
“It’s okay, Ms. Rubica.”
Fortunately, the maid smiled as if she could understand Rubica. As soon as she got out of the bed, the maid brought a basin full of warm water for washing the face.
It was a white porcelain vase. Next to it, there were soft towels and two kinds of soap.
“I didn’t know which scent you liked, so I prepared two kinds. They are rose and olive.”
They were both high-quality soaps made of oil and natural soda. Rubica lightly put her hands in the basin and made foams with olive soap that had a not-so-strong scent.
Seeing soap made her think of Arman again.
***
Soap was used to wash away dirtiness and defeat diseases. It was only for the nobles. As there had been many patients at the abbey, Rubica had had no choice but to reuse dirty bandages.
“I wish we had clean bandages…”
Rubica sometimes sighed as she wrapped dirty bandages around the patients’ bodies. She always applied medicine to the wounds, but she didn’t know if it would work because of the dirty bandages. However, leaving the wound unwrapped made it attract flies, and it was an even bigger problem. Moreover, there weren’t enough bandages.
“Bandages won’t become clean, no matter how much we wash them with lye.”
“Why don’t you use soap?” Arman asked back as he heard about the patient’s condition and chose the medicines next to Rubica.
It hadn’t yet been a year since he started to work at the abbey, and Rubica burst into laughter at that innocent remark.
“Arman, you used to be a nobleman, didn’t you?”
“Why do you think so?”
“… soap is extremely expensive. Only nobles can use such a thing.”
“Real… ly?”
“Wow, you really don’t know. I was right, you must have been a nobleman of high rank, so high that someone like me wouldn’t have dared to talk to you.”
“No, no, Rubica. I just don’t know much about that kind of things, that’s all…”
“I was joking, Arman.”
Rubica smiled at seeing Arman’s ears turn red. At the time, making fun of Arman was her greatest pleasure.
“Oh, I hope soaps would rain from the sky.”
“Don’t most people wish for money to rain?”
“But money won’t make soap. Things are often not for sale on the market, the whole world is short on supplies.”
Rubica finished wrapping the bandage around the patient and finished it with a pretty knot. Then, she stood up to move on to the next patient. Arman felt it and quickly stood up as well. He could realize things as if he could see. Sometimes Rubica wondered if he was just pretending to be blind.
“It’s so strange, Arman. My homeland. They could make weapons that could fly, but why did they never invent cheap soap?”
“… cheap soap?”
Rubica took Arman’s hand so that he wouldn’t be lost. The hand was dry, but it warmed her heart.
“Yes, there are both expensive and cheap things in the world. I wish we had cheap soap for washing bandages, it doesn’t need to have a luxurious scent.”
“… cheap soap.”
Arman repeated after her, and he was nowhere to be seen on the next day. At first, Rubica thought he had temporarily left the abbey to run errands for the priests.
“Um, Father, where is Arman?”
On the third day, she eventually found the courage and asked a priest who was close to Arman. Arman was blind, so Rubica was worried if he was eating properly.
“He is at Lefena’s reference room, he said he needed to work on something.”
“… Priestess Lefena? She let him use her reference room?”
“Yes, she even said Arman could use her lab.”
Rubica’s jaw dropped at this. Lefena was like the right-hand woman of the abbot. She was the most ill-tempered woman in the abbey. She would often nag to Rubica, saying she wrapped the bandages in wrong way and used the wrong herbs. She extremely hated it when someone went into her reference room where she kept the rare books and herbs she had collected.
She would say fools could disturb the room’s order. And she had let Arman use both her reference room and her lab?
“And, what about his meals?”
“Do not worry about it, sister. Priestess Lefena is bringing him his meals.”
Rubica opened her mouth even wider at this. She imagined the bad-tempered priestess carrying a tray with food on it. She couldn’t help laughing.
“Thank you for letting me know.”
“I will tell him you were worried about him.”
“No! I don’t know what this is about, but I don’t want him to be disturbed because of me.”
The priest smiled warmly at this, and Rubica liked that smile. Always smile to people around you. That was Hue’s teaching. Because of it, the priests in the abbey smiled a lot. Rubica hadn’t gotten such a smile before she entered the abbey.
Rubica thought she would be able to see Arman again at least a week later. However, she couldn’t meet him even after a month.
‘Is he eating properly?’
She was even more worried as it was none other than Lefena who was bringing him the meals. She was the kind of person who would give only clear soup every day and think she had done her duty. She didn’t want Arman to faint because of malnutrition. She was more and more worried.
‘What is he doing? Why is he not coming out of the lab?’
Before she realized it, she started to think about Arman every day. Waiting, fear, and sighs were added to her worries. She even blamed Arman for leaving without telling her.
She worked even harder to get rid of the gloomy mood. She voluntarily took care of the patients with infectious diseases who even priests didn’t like to get near to. She did every hard work at the abbey. It was time to start worrying more about her than Arman.