Chapter 9

Arabelle stepped off the carriage and entered the castle in a hurry. She was a little flustered. Of all the things that could happen, she wasn't expecting this one.

Mathew was ill, severely ill.

To the point that she had to rush back to the duchy. Victor who arrived earlier greeted her at the door with an embrace.

"Slow down, I haven't seen you in so long."

She smiled and hugged him back in embarrassment trying not to notice the eyes of the servants around them.

Once she entered the castle Arabelle immediately noticed the tense air.

"You're back Arabelle," The Duke said," I'm afraid I have some bad news."

The Duke led them towards the sitting room and ordered the servants to come.

When they left after brewing some tea and placing some snacks, the Duke looked at them," Well, I suppose you understand a bit about what has happened."

The duke sighed after he took a sip of tea," I'm afraid things have got worse though."

Arabelle and Victor looked at each other in confusion.

"The duchess has also become very ill after trying to take care of your brother."

Arabelle gasped," What do you mean, father? Is the disease contagious?"

The duke nodded his head," Yes, the doctors weren't sure what it was and the duchess was nursing Mathew in hopes of making him better. The doctors thought it was a small fever and had warned her not to get close, but she insisted on giving all the medication herself."

"Mathew didn't get better even after a week, and the duchess' health also started deteriorating."

"The doctors checked again and they concluded that it was tuberculosis. It doesn't easily spread, but since the duchess was with Mathew the entire time…"

Victor sighed, "Is the duchess also infected?"

The duke nodded," Yes."

The room became quiet.

"They are being quarantined," the duke said.

The room became quiet.

The duke let out a tired sigh, before looking at them" Both of you wont be able to meet them, I brought you over because we may be having 2 funerals soon," the Duke paused," Go to your room and rest."

Not even one week later, the funerals were held.

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1 month later

The family was sitting around the dining table. Marilyn sat bleakly, her young face distraught by the major events that happened too suddenly. It was too much of a blow for a little 10 year old girl. Arabelle comforted her as much as she could.

She sighed, this was not what she thought would happen to the duchess nor Mathew. But it wasn't out of the blue, most families would lose family member to some disease in these times. Most of the times young children were the first to go. Yes, she didn't like Rosalind, but it didn't mean she dispised Mathew. He was a cute little boy.

The whole situation made Arabelle feel a little strange.

Wasn't there supposed to be some sort of difficulty they needed to face? Wasn't this... mind her for the lack of empathy, too coincidental? The two people that posed them a threat died of illness...

It left a weird taste in her mouth.

The duke didn't show any signs of sadness, but he seemed to look a little less enthusiastic as before.

"Arabelle," he suddenly said," I heard that you bought land near the sea and paid some civilians to do work? I also heard you started a company under your name."

Arabelle was surprised," Oh, yes."

She straightened up," Since the Duchy has been running out of funds recently, I've decided to start a small business."

"A business in what?" The duke said frowning, he looked at Victor," What are you selling?"

"Dad, you see," Victor started," Arabelle and I think that it's time for us to be more independent from the capital."

Arabelle nodded," We can't depend on them forever, besides the money we receive for protecting the border, we only have our fishing and timber industries."

"I've been working on salt making and salt refining," she revealed," The place I set up near the beach is where the salt is going to be harvested."

"Salt!?" The duke said, his eyes widening," You found out a way to refine and harvest salt?"

Arabelle nodded and signaled her maid," Go get the box that arrived today."

"It's a faster way and it's very profitable," she said as the maid hurried back," here is the finished product."

She handed a bag to the duke and the duke spread the contents out in his hand. Fine white snow-like granules filled his hand, the duke's eyes widened when he tasted a little bit.

"It's really salt!" He marveled, "It's so white and fine…."

"It's what I've been working on at the academy," she said sighing in relief seeing that the Duke seemed to be happy about it," I'll be selling it in our company, I'm thinking about calling it the Camellia Chamber of Commerce or the Northern Trade Association."

The duke nodded," That's is a good idea, the salt in the market now is not as good as this, we can sell it for a higher price."

Arabelle hesitated," Actually, father, I want to sell it for lower."

"Lower?" The duke frowned.

"You see, it's actually very easy to make. We can produce around 50 tons of salt per week."

"50 tons!"

"Yes, I want to completely eliminate the rivals in the market."

"The process of farming it is relatively simple, but I bought almost all the land bordering the sea as no one wanted it. The process of refining is divided into several steps and no one other than I know the full steps and procedures so it is relatively safe from being stolen."

The duke nodded dazed," This is very good," he turned to Victor," Did you know about this son?"

Victor nodded but sighed looking at her in surprise," I knew that she was going to start a business, but I didn't know it was this."

Arabelle smiled," Well, I will have to support you soon, I wanted to do my part."

The duke nodded," There was actually something I wanted to tell you children."

"I'll be handing over the duchy to you."

Arabelle looked at him in surprise, even Victor looked extremely surprised.

"Don't look that shocked," the Duke said," Even I know I'm old."

The Duke was around 48, nearing his 50s it was quite an old age for the time.

"I believe with this that you're both ready to take over the duchy. I will live in Woodchester mansion in the capital henceforth," the Duke said," I'll be taking Marilyn with me. The only thing I ask of you is that you take care of her wedding for me when she comes of age."

"I'll wait for you to finish your last year in the Academy Victor, everything else is the both of your decision."

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Arabelle frowned as she walked back to her and Victor's room. Victor was working on making preparations to graduate early and start working full time as the next duke.

Arabelle also had many things to do, but the whole situation made her feel like it was too unreal.

Sure, they were in a novel, but there must be some sort of fine line... First the duchess left and then the duke decided to retire... Was this really just circumstantial?

Never the less, Arabelle decided to start running her business, she had hired slaves as she didn't want to make any mistakes of leaking information in the initial stage, and slaves were usually treated very roughly and had no rights. Since Arabelle was from modern times, it made her bit uncomfortable, but she decided to accept the reality of it. She was thinking that once the civilians are able to become knights, slaves would also be able to enlist in the army and if they performed well, would be able to be freed from slavery but the plans haven't been thought of too deeply yet.

First things come first, to be able to support a large army, they would need to have money.