Chapter 74  

Roman was stunned to silence. She blinked rapidly in surprise and worked her mouth like a fish out of water until she was finally able to utter a faint, “Sorry? Me?”

“Yes,” Amethyst said without hesitation, “Do you perhaps have someone else in mind?”

The question was not a hard one to answer.

“No, Madame,” Roman managed.

Lunia, who had been silent throughout the entire conversation, finally spoke up, “I too think Roman is a good match for the position.”

“Madame,” Roman spluttered, “I am not a suitable candidate. I beg of you to look for someone else.”

Amethyst fixed Roman with a contemplative look, “Please explain.”

Roman summoned her courage, “Firstly, I am not familiar with the workings of the main mansion.”“Pon will see to that. Right Pon?” Amethyst glanced at him.

“Of course,” Pon said with more enthusiasm than he felt. He’d thought that with Amethyst finally stepping into her role of Lady of the House, his workload would lift somewhat. It appeared he was mistaken and he had to admit; he was disappointed.

“I’ve only done cleaning in the past!” Roman countered, “I’ve never been in charge of anyone before.”

“Lunia will teach you what you need to know,” Amethyst replied calmly, never once giving any indication that she was going to back down.

“Yes, Madame but,” Lunia fumbled as she was drawn back to reality. She’d been so caught up in her resentment she hadn’t realized she’d been glaring. She already had enough to deal with being Amethyst’s personal secretary, she didn’t need to add to her burdens by mentoring Roman as well. She managed to swallow her protest and pass it off with a light shrug. “Of course,” she answered instead, internally berating herself for falling to such a petty trap.

Roman refused to give in, “Even so…”

“Roman,” Amethyst cut in, her voice softened, “I know how stressful it is to be responsible for others. It’s hard knowing that no matter what you do, no matter how hard you work, you can never please everyone and it will never be enough.”

“Then why me?” Roman deflated a little, allowing her shoulders to slump forward.

“You have the qualities of someone for this position. You are honest, you are responsible…”

Roman shook her head slowly, “Just because I’m honest doesn’t mean I’m good.”

Amethyst gave a small smile, “Agreed, but you have shown me you can persevere through anything. For the last 10 years you relentlessly faced every hardship head-on. You never gave up, and that is reason enough. And anyway,” she returned to her business-like manner, “the prince as agreed that honesty is one of the leading characteristics for this role.”

Roman looked up, “So you trust me?”

“Of course. If I don’t trust you, who can I trust? So, from now,” Amethyst said formally, “you are the Appointed Manager of the side mansion. Do your best, please.”

“Madame…” Roman trailed off as her words failed her again, “Thank you… thank you…” she choked on the last word. Her emotion didn’t stem from the fact that she had just been promoted, it was more that Madame trusted her. Madame’s trust alone was compensation for the hardships she had faced for the last 10 years. She couldn’t bring herself to say thing else.“I know you are going to do a wonderful job,” Amethyst said in the comforting tone of someone who already knew what lay in wait, “I have full faith in you.”

Roman left without another word.

As Pon was making ready to leave, Amethyst called him, “Pon, I am thinking of shopping tomorrow. Call the merchants, will you?”

Pon blinked in confusion, “Merchants?”

“Yes, Alec said I should shop within the mansion.”

This was an excuse. It was more for the sake of comfort than anything else. She was used to shopping online to accommodate her busy schedule.

“Ah yes. Which should I call, Madame? There is a large variety of categories.”

“From A to B. All of them,” Amethyst said.

“I will contact only the best,” Pon replied. He managed to cover his surprise at her request. He had thought the Lady of the House was uninterested in appearances, he must have been mistaken.

“And an arms dealer. Guns and swords to be precise.”

This time Pon was unable to conceal his shock.

Amethyst said no more, only gave him a smile and nod.

Pon took this as his cue to leave.

Amethyst was left alone in her office. She was starkly reminded of her workings day. Even though the company had had a welfare system, it had never been anything but a rumour to her back then. This was something that had to change. Here in her own company was a start, even if she couldn’t change the entire social system.

As she idly gazed around the room, her thoughts wondered to how being pregnant could make someone feel like one of the lowest ranked members of society. Being pregnant was meant to be a joyous, special time, not one fraught with fear and hardships. And this wasn’t counting the stress one received from their manager and disapproving colleagues. Rotating between kindergartens, nurseries, one’s mother-in-law and own mother was no way for a mother to raise money and no way for a child to live. For her, maternity had been nothing more than a dream and paid maternity leave nothing short of a miracle.

This was Amethyst’s driving force, this was what had inspired her to become the standard for the other nobles. She knew it was a process, things wouldn’t change immediately but word would spread, as it is prone to do, especially through employees, and this would draw more people to work at the prince’s mansion. By pure ripple effect, this would impact the other noble families who would have to do something to keep up.

If such a small change was possible, if it could change the lives of some people even just a little, then it was enough.