43.
Although she had anticipated it, the House of Kaylas was a sight of magnificent grandeur. The House of Count Felon was by no means small, but the Duke’s residence was so vast it felt more like a palace.
‘No matter how big it is, it’s still just a place where people live.’
Harriet tried to keep herself from being intimidated.
As her carriage arrived at the entrance, a footman with striking features approached and escorted her with formal grace.
“The audience with the daughter of the House of Listerwell will begin at exactly 11:30. I shall guide you to the waiting room first.”
Following him into the residence, she was surprised to see a significant number of people passing through the first-floor lobby. They appeared to be aristocrats of some standing; some were engaged in conversation, while others were following footmen just like Harriet. The atmosphere was distinctly different from the House of Count Felon, where guests were few and far between.
“Are all these people here to see the Duke?”
When Harriet asked in a small voice, the footman replied with a kind smile.
“Some are here to see the Duchess Dowager or are retainers of the House, but a great many indeed have business with His Grace, the Duke.”
“Ah….”
Harriet felt embarrassed on her own. How naive she had been to think that securing an audience with Duke Kaylas would be simple. She had only been lucky; he was a man standing near the very pinnacle of the Empire’s hierarchy, likely occupied with meeting countless people and deciding on crucial matters. If she missed this opportunity today, another chance to bring up business or investment in front of Cedric would never come again.
“Please wait here for a moment.”
The waiting room the footman led her to was not particularly large, but it was decorated well enough to be called a reception room. A portrait of the first Duke and Duchess of Kaylas hung on one wall, and the moment she saw the late Duchess, she could tell that Cedric took after his mother.
‘He’s the spitting image of his mother. It seems the only thing Duke Rowan Kaylas passed down to his son was a soldier’s constitution.’
Of course, Rowan Kaylas had been handsome enough to fit the rumors of Princess Jeremiah’s fervent love, but compared to Cedric, who carried an air of languor about him, he had a somewhat dry image. And the couple in the portrait did not look particularly affectionate. Their circumstances were known to every aristocrat: the Princess’s one-sided pursuit, Rowan, who could not refuse the marriage proposal from the Imperial Family but never reciprocated her love, and the Princess, who took lovers in an attempt to provoke his jealousy. Yet, Rowan acted as if he knew nothing, and the Princess, disillusioned and having abandoned love, swapped out lovers whenever she pleased.
‘It’s amazing that they never divorced despite all that.’
Harriet could not understand what meaning a marriage without love, trust, respect, or consideration could possibly have. Was this just standard for the high-ranking elite? Did it not matter what the couple’s relationship was like as long as they produced an heir?
‘Looking at Cedric Kaylas, who is praised as the proper master of this house despite being born between those two, I suppose that might be the case.’
The Imperial Family had granted Rowan the title of Duke because they could not marry the Princess off to the second son of a Viscount, but everyone knew that the title and this vast wealth truly belonged to Jeremiah. And perhaps because the two were so distant, the Imperial Family regarded the House of Kaylas even more as “the collateral branch of the Imperial Family.” Furthermore, Cedric was a child who carried the blood of the Imperial line so strongly that it wouldn’t have been strange if Jeremiah had borne him all on her own.
It was said that many people looked down on Rowan when he was Duke, but the atmosphere of deference toward the House of Kaylas had only strengthened since Cedric inherited the title.
‘In any case, he must not have grown up normally either.’
Honestly, it was a world she couldn’t quite imagine. It was natural to feel pity for a child who grew up watching his parents’ discord, but for some reason, it felt like Cedric Kaylas had carried this same attitude since childhood.
As she tilted her head, trying to imagine his youth, the door on the opposite side of the waiting room clicked open, and an elderly man approached.
“You have waited a long time. Please, follow me.”
“Ah, yes!”
Harriet jumped up from her seat, forgetting Roxana’s lessons on elegant posture. Her heart was pounding so hard she felt like she might get a stomachache, but she gritted her teeth and followed the man who appeared to be the butler into the reception room.
“If you wait here, His Grace will be in shortly.”
Even though he surely knew who Harriet was, he did not acknowledge it in the slightest, treating her with nothing but formal kindness. It was a starkly different attitude from that of the guards.
The sofa was adequately plush, and to the left of the marble table, an inkwell and a pen were placed neatly. The placement of the pen, in a spot convenient for the host rather than the guest, made the implication clear: ‘The Duke of Kaylas holds the power in every contract made here.’
Harriet smiled bitterly. How many people had managed to sway Cedric Kaylas’s heart in this very spot? No, if they had even made it this far, the content must have already passed through his aides, so perhaps the chances of a deal succeeding were actually higher.
And she might be one of the rare cases that failed.
‘Am I… doing something utterly ridiculous?’
Would the House of Kaylas, which invested in massive-scale businesses, even have an interest in a mere soap-selling venture?
Her mind felt like it was going blank. Just then, the door opened, and a man of tall stature walked in. She knew it was Cedric just from seeing his blonde hair reflecting the summer sunlight.
Harriet stood up and, after waiting for him to approach, bent her knees in a curtsy. Cedric watched her in silence before asking.
“You, who were so earnest about not tainting my name, requested an audience. I couldn’t help but be curious about what on earth this was about.”
Harriet barely managed to stretch the corners of her mouth into a forced smile.
‘So he was nursing that grudge.’
She couldn’t snap back before even opening her business plan. However, due to her strange resentment toward Cedric, her words didn’t come out very softly.
“Last time, because Sir Julian was involved, I was concerned that the Duke might be seen in a bad light by those around him. I apologize for failing to consider that you, who helped out of goodwill, might have felt disrespected.”
A jab implying, ‘I quickly stepped out of the way for your sake, so why are you sulking without knowing that?’ It was a response that both Harriet and Cedric understood, yet neither could point out.
However, it seemed Cedric found it quite amusing. The way he burst into a rather unreserved laugh suggested as much.
‘So that’s what his face looks like when he laughs.’
To be precise, it wasn’t that she had never seen him smile. Even when she had seen him from afar in the past, he always had a smile on his face, and he had seemed like a man of good character at a glance. But his laughter right now seemed to well up from sincerity. She couldn’t pinpoint exactly what the difference was.
Even so, she couldn’t be fooled by that relaxed atmosphere.
‘He’s a man accustomed to such contracts and transactions, so even that look could be calculated.’
She gritted her teeth to keep from being intimidated, and Cedric gestured for her to be seated.
“Please, sit. I am not in such a rush that I must hear this while standing.”
There was a grace to the way he even sat on the sofa. Was it just her imagination that it looked so refined? Hoping to appear at least somewhat confident, Harriet pushed her chest forward and straightened her shoulders.
“Including the incidents at the convent and the Vanderbilt party, I ask that you forget about my past rumors for this moment. I have come here today because of business.”
Cedric’s red eyes twinkled. He simply gave a slight nod without answering.
It felt unpleasant to be placed in a defensive position like this, as if she were being swept away by his pace, but what could she do? She was the one in need.
“Before we discuss the business, I would like you to sign a non-disclosure agreement.”
“And what is it you wish to keep secret?”
“You may think it’s nothing, but this business proposal contains details known only to me. Do other businesspeople not request this?”
If it became known that the products of St. Clarissa’s Convent were superior, there would be people who would try to contract with them by promising higher profits than she could. She had come prepared with an exclusive contract to prevent that, but one never knew what people might do.
Cedric did not answer Harriet’s question; instead, he scribbled his signature at the bottom of the non-disclosure agreement she held out.
“Then, I would like to examine the details of this business that require such a contract.”