Chapter 5 #3
“Why has there been so much commotion lately?” Ruth complained, unperturbed by the fact that the lady of the castle had caught him sleeping on the library floor.
“W-We’re refurbishing the c-castle….”
“Yes, I know about the castle. But I was asking about you, Lady Calypse.”
“M-Me?”
“You’ve been sighing and muttering to yourself in the library for days. Are you aware that you are disrupting my sleep?”
Maxi stared at him, mouth agape. Should she be mortified that someone had watched as she tore at her hair over simple equations?
Indignant that Ruth had not made his presence known?
Or amazed that he had the audacity to reproach her when he was the one sleeping where he should not be?
At a loss for words, Maxi opened her mouth, only to close it soon after.
Ruth stood up and approached her. “Is this a ledger?”
Maxi hastily tried to gather the mess of papers scattered across the table, but she was too slow. Ignoring her attempt to hide the documents, Ruth picked up a few sheets and examined them.
He frowned. “Just how many miscalculations are there?”
“G-Give it back!” She tried to snatch the papers from him, but he simply turned around and raised them above her reach.
“Twelve liram for one marble tile?” He groaned quietly as he examined her work. “Surely that’s a mistake. Please tell me you’ve written the wrong unit here.”
“I w-w-w-was j-just about to c-correct it!” Maxi said frantically.
Ruth seemed to be on the verge of a fit. With narrowed eyes, he snatched away the accounting books she had hidden behind her back. Maxi gaped at his insolence. A true gentleman would never touch a lady’s belongings without her permission.
“G-Give those b-back!” Maxi demanded, her face flushed with anger as she pulled at his sleeve. “H-How d-dare you!”
“How much gold have you spent in just the last few days?”
Maxi flinched, her heart sinking into the pit of her stomach at Ruth’s frightfully harsh tone.
“Just. How. Much?” The sorcerer bit off each word in a short, angry burst.
“W-Well…” Cold sweat trickled down Maxi’s back. “R-Riftan said n-n-not to w-w-worry about th-the c-c…cost…”
“But you should still keep track of how much you’ve spent!”
His sharp tone made her face burn. She avoided his gaze, feeling as humiliated as she had when her tutor scolded her for stuttering.
“I-I d-d-don’t know exactly…h-how much.”
“Do you have an estimate?”
She slowly shook her head.
Ruth rubbed his temples in obvious annoyance. Maxi briefly wondered if he had the right to admonish her, but the fear that she had made some grave mistake overrode the thought. After a long pause, she decided to confess.
“I’m n-not used t-to handling such m-matters….”
“Then you should have asked for help!”
He was right. Maxi stared at her toes, feeling like an utter fool. “H-How…m-m-much of it is wrong?”
“The ledger is a complete mess. Some items are impossibly cheap, while others are ridiculously overpriced—the calculations are all wrong.”
Ruth pointed to a page in the ledger. “And do you see this list of expenses? None of it is essential! You’ve made too many unnecessary purchases. The Dragon Campaign may have brought Sir Riftan a massive fortune, but gold shouldn’t be spent like water!
“We need funds to pay the knights and guards of Anatol,” Ruth continued, almost breathless with the flood of his words. “Not to mention next year’s construction of the new road connecting the village to the port. Come winter, tax revenues will fall. We must not waste gold!”
Maxi shrank away like a turtle withdrawing into its shell. “I-I didn’t kn-know. I w-was n-never…told. R-Riftan j-just told m-m-m—just said to d-do as I w-wished….”
As her stammering trailed off, Ruth’s shoulders slumped, and he sighed loudly.
“I’m not saying that the castle shouldn’t be refurbished,” he said.
“Too great a focus was given to the castle’s fortification, and its furnishings were neglected.
The place looks more like a military base than a lord’s residence.
But if you continue to spend this lavishly, Sir Riftan will need to battle another dragon to rebuild his wealth. ”
“Th-That’s…” Maxi gripped the back of a chair to steady herself.
She wished to refurbish the castle only so that Riftan might be pleased with her. It was a task he had asked her to do. The thought that her efforts might anger him instead brought her close to tears, and she felt the blood drain from her face.
“Please t-t-tell me what I d-d-did wrong,” she pleaded with Ruth. “I’ll c-correct my m-mistakes.”
Ruth rubbed his temples, but eventually returned his attention to the ledger. As he flipped through it, Maxi hung her head low like a scolded child. When he began to sift through the pile of receipts, Ruth sighed deeply and ran a hand down his face.
“I don’t even know where to start, my lady. Are these all the receipts?”
Suppressing her desire to dig a hole in the ground and bury herself, Maxi managed to respond. “Y-Yes, they are!”
He narrowed his eyes at the pile of parchment, then closed the ledger with a thud. “It’s late,” he said sullenly. “Let’s continue tomorrow.”
“You c-could show me n-now.”
“Look at the state of this ledger. It isn’t something we can take care of in a day.”
Maxi could hear his teeth grinding. There was nothing more she could say. Crestfallen, she nodded.
—
The next morning, Maxi rushed to the library as soon as she awoke, eager to begin work on the ledger.
“You’re early,” Ruth greeted her with a yawn.
Maxi narrowed her eyes at him. She could tell by his unkempt appearance that he had slept in the corner of the library again.
Meanwhile, she had slipped out of her room at sunrise just to avoid being humiliated by Ruth’s sharp tongue in front of the servants.
She had barely had enough time to wash her face, but here was the sorcerer lounging about without a care in the world.
Ruth rose from his corner and sat down at the desk. “Let’s have a look at the list of purchases first. We must cancel unnecessary orders at once.”
“Th-The merchant will c-come th-this afternoon. T-Tell me what I sh-should c-cancel, and I’ll d-do it.” Maxi seated herself across from him, running her fingers through her uncombed hair.
“Very well,” he said, organizing the receipts by date.
Maxi clutched her skirt while he inspected them.
“Twelve liram for a slab of marble that is two kevette long and wide,” he recited from the ledger. “You’ve written the wrong currency here. It was twelve derham, not liram. And considering the cost of construction, that’s a rather inexpensive price.”
She sighed in relief, but Ruth was not finished. Tapping the desk with the tips of his fingers, he continued his review with painstaking detail.
“Is it really necessary to change the flooring of the banquet hall and the great hall to marble? The flagstones are only a few years old.” He paused, considering.
“I suppose there’s nothing to be done now since construction has already started.
And Lord Calypse does deserve some luxury, so we’ll just leave that be. ”
“B-But c-construction on the g-great hall hasn’t b-begun yet. There’s still t-time to c-cancel…”
“If you please, my lady,” he replied dryly and flipped the page. “Nothing else seems amiss. Banisters, railings for the balcony, window frames, curtains and carpets, tapestries, furniture, chandeliers, sculptures, a fountain—fountain?!”
His flat voice rose sharply, and Maxi flinched as if he had lashed her across the back. Ruth whipped his head up, his eyes demanding an answer. Maxi looked at the floor, stammering excuses in a barely audible voice.
“Th-The merchant s-said it w-would look s-splendid in the g-garden.”
“Do you know how much work it takes to maintain a fountain? The plumbing alone requires large-scale construction! And the fountain is to be made of marble and crystal?! This accursed merchant is trying to swindle the Calypse estate.”
Maxi shrank away from his outrage, but the admonishment did not end there.
“Whose idea was it to use high-quality glass panes for all the windows? Only Roemian emperors would pay for such extravagance! Have you any idea how expensive glass is?”
“Th-The w-windows of m-m-m—of C-Croyso Castle were all g-glass.”
“Your father is easily one of the wealthiest people in the Seven Kingdoms!” Ruth pinched the bridge of his nose before continuing.
“But it’s not just a question of affordability.
This type of glass window is impractical for Anatol’s climate because it can’t insulate against the cold.
It would be no different from keeping the windows open in the winter.
“And don’t forget, my lady, that the knights’ training grounds are in the courtyard.
The day will come when one of those fools misfires his blade aura and shatters these expensive windows while showing off.
Besides, glass scratches easily, and the servants will have to work twice as hard to keep it polished. We’re shorthanded as it is.”
These points had never crossed Maxi’s mind. She remained silent.
Ruth’s voice softened only after he finished examining the receipts. “I see that not everything listed here has been ordered yet,” he said. “Let’s replace the windows in the great hall, banquet hall, and a few of the guest rooms with the high-quality glass.”
He pulled out a fresh piece of parchment and drew a blueprint of the castle, indicating the halls and rooms he had mentioned.
“Balt glass or a double covering can be used for the remaining rooms. Adding shutters would be practical as well, so that the windows can occasionally be opened for air flow during the winter. That should be more than sufficient for convincing visitors of our wealth.”
Maxi listened, nodding at each solution he outlined. “I un-understand. I’ll t-tell the m-merchant.”