Chapter 88
At Cayente’s question, Henry smiled broadly, and for some reason seemed genuinely excited as he answered.
“At first, it seemed like he didn’t know anything at all, but now he can easily handle simple document organization on his own. He seems to have a talent with numbers, too—he can calculate faster than staff who’ve been working for months. If he receives direct instruction before the manager leaves, he should be able to handle that kind of work.”
Cayente fell into thought for a moment. He had brought Ian into the office simply because he couldn’t leave him idle while taking a salary—he had never intended to train him or develop his skills.
“Besides, he’ll earn more than just learning office work, so wouldn’t that help in reviving the family?”
After the family had fallen into ruin, Cayente never intended to watch someone rebuild the Luper family. So even though he hadn’t paid much attention to Yulia’s recital story and had flatly refused, this idea seemed worth considering.
“So he wasn’t completely hopeless, huh.”
At the very least, Ian wasn’t the type to secretly embezzle funds while manipulating the books behind Cayente’s back. Even setting aside how clever he was, Ian always cheerfully greeted Cayente with a friendly ‘brother’ whenever they met in the office, showing unconditional affection as if he were following an older sibling.
When Ian was little, he often followed Cayente around while playing daily with Yulia. Even as a child, he remembered that, and now that he had become Yulia’s husband, he seemed to regard Cayente with even greater fondness. Despite the warning that family ties could not form, Ian never even imagined betraying Cayente, who had taken care of both him and his mother after the baron disappeared.
Actually, finding someone who wouldn’t betray him wasn’t that difficult, even aside from Ian…
“I’ll think about it.”
“If you do that, my lady will be very pleased.”
Cayente pictured Yulia’s delighted expression. Surely, if she entrusted proper work to her younger brother, she would clasp her hands together with joy and look at him with a grateful, emotional gaze.
The thought of seeing that expression made him hesitate. Even though he had no real intention of giving Ian any important responsibilities.
In the afternoon, when the sun was high, Yulia went straight to the leather workshop in the shopping district. With cotton-picking season approaching, she needed to send gloves to the farm soon. She had already placed a pre-order through Lucy that morning for hats that only needed to be wide-brimmed and light.
“How about buffalo leather from Lusad? It’s thin, durable, and just what you’re looking for.”
“I’m planning to make about 200 gloves—100 for men, 100 for women. Will it be possible before autumn?”
“We’ll make it happen somehow.”
“Then I’ll place the order.”
Without further browsing, Yulia picked the leather recommended by the shop owner and took out her check at the counter. As she was about to write the amount, a hand suddenly snatched the checkbook from behind.
“Count, what brings you here?”
“I figured you’d be out, so I came to check.”
Surprised, Yulia turned her head and saw Cayente standing right behind her. He reached over her shoulder, took the pen from her hand, and crossed out the number on the check, replacing it with roughly half the amount.
“The amount you wrote earlier is enough even if we were making custom gloves for all 200 people with Lusad buffalo leather. This price is sufficient for ready-made production.”
“Ah…”
He didn’t have to stand that close. Yulia felt almost overwhelmed by how near his breath was as he leaned over her shoulder. Cayente handed the check back to the merchant and scolded him.
“Even a noblewoman who doesn’t know much about money should be reasonable. Isn’t this a bit too much to pocket?”
“The labor costs and leather prices have gone up… I’m sorry, Count.”
The shop owner quickly apologized under Cayente’s cold gaze. Yulia, feeling reassured with Cayente behind her, suddenly realized she hadn’t checked the hat prices and spun around.
“The hats…! Were the prices okay?”
She had thought she was managing the household well, but clearly hadn’t. She had never bought such items before and always paid whatever the shop owner asked. Flustered, she leaned toward Cayente. He slightly stepped back and replied.
“Even if you wrote the check that way, you wouldn’t have had to pay that full amount.”
Yulia felt guilty, realizing that Cayente had probably gone to the study after work to check her checks.
“I’m sorry.”
“Didn’t you hear me? Even if you wrote it wrong, the money wouldn’t have gone out.”
“Still… we’ve worked so hard to earn it.”
It wasn’t as if having money meant she could just spend freely… Even though it was early afternoon, Cayente looked unusually tired, as if he should have already left work. There was a faint smell of sweat from the heat—something that might have been unpleasant from anyone else, but not from Cayente—which left Yulia feeling slightly flustered.
“I… should get back to work. I’ll leave now.”
Being so close to him reminded her of being in his arms on the bed, and she felt flustered. As she tried to step away, Cayente stopped her.
“No urgent work? What about you, do you have something pressing?”
Yulia, who had just been worried about his hard work, hesitated and began to back toward the door. Her sudden wary look and attempt to distance herself made Cayente instinctively reach for her.
He had expected she’d be out around this time. The laborers who had protested earlier weren’t in sight, likely having accepted the work offered. Cayente had come mainly to see her face, and it irritated him to see her trying to move away.
“Oh, nothing urgent… my errands are done.”
Despite claiming nothing was urgent, Yulia’s cautious steps continued. She awkwardly suggested going home, but the distance between them had already grown by a hand’s length.
“Do you have something to say?”
The gap was unbearable. But he had no concrete topic to stop her.
“Ian…”
“Ian? Why? Is he slacking again? I already warned him firmly after hearing from Henry. What is he up to now?”
“I was thinking of giving Ian a task.”
The words slipped out before he could stop them. Even though he had almost decided in his mind that Ian shouldn’t be entrusted with anything important, his mouth moved on its own.
As expected, Yulia immediately relaxed at the mention of her younger brother and looked at Cayente with hopeful eyes.
“Really? What kind of task? But… can Ian handle it?”
“I’ll start with something simple.”
She immediately closed the distance between them, asking exactly what kind of work it was and whether it would help him. Cayente, momentarily dazed by her sweet scent, finally spoke.
“Did you know I’m preparing a trading company?”
“Yes, Henry told me.”
The cotton farm work required supervision, so it wasn’t suitable for Ian. But there was other work he could handle… Cayente quickly thought of something Ian could do. Even though three previous attempts had failed due to unknown interference, Cayente wasn’t going to give up.
“It’ll be hard work.”
“That’s how you learn. Good, is it work that helps you, brother?”
“Definitely.”
“I see. Ian will like it too.”
Starting from the basics, he would give Ian menial tasks. Hard work, little immediate reward—perfect for Ian. Important, yet not overly significant. Yulia was delighted, and he remained undisturbed.
“Thank you for giving Ian this opportunity… Brother.”
Although he wondered what he had done to keep Yulia from moving away, seeing her smile with joy made him feel satisfied.
