Chapter 70: Chapter 20. Work for the Prince of the North
When Jeremy Seibel took the initiative to help the Duchess with her affairs, he honestly expected any reaction. To the point that the woman will take his words as nonsense and won’t even listen to him.
However...
Selina de Loon’s eyebrows furrowed, taking on the shape of a house. She put down her work papers and looked at him more closely.
— Do you even know what you’re talking about?
— And...?
— Do you think this is all child’s play? Don’t discuss sothing you don’t even understand.
There was a hint of disdain in the Duchess’s cold tone, which made the baron’s son exhale angrily. Of course, he knew that in her eyes, he was nothing more than a nobody. However, hearing it directly turned out to be doubly painful. Well, Jeremy didn’t think much of himself either. And yet.
— Your Highness, I know that I may be incompetent in such matters. However... I want to at least try to do sothing for you.
— And why is that?
— Because... It’s my house now, too, — the young man hesitantly replied.
They stared into each other’s eyes for several seconds. After which...
— If I were you, I would think carefully so that I don’t take back my words later, — the princess of the north chuckled coldly.
— I promise I won’t do that.
— ...
Their little confrontation over this ended with Selina de Loon agreeing to give him a job after all. And since the guy declared that he was ready to do anything, it, as expected, ca back to him a hundredfold. The work assigned to him could not be called particularly useful or exciting. After all, it was sorting docunts in an archive.
Since the baron’s son had no previous experience in household managent and estate managent, the duties that Selina entrusted to him were the simplest. To help the butler sort out the bills for previous years. More precisely, it was the butler’s job, and Jeremy’s own task was to sort these papers into the right sections. In general, nothing interesting.
When Jeremy realized what he was going to have to deal with, he beca sowhat depressed. But on the other hand... You have to start sowhere, don’t you? So this job wasn’t the worst either.
"Since I asked for it, I can’t complain now..."
Sighing, Jeremy Seibel just rolled up his sleeves and got down to this not-so-dusty job. At least it was better than just sitting around in my room. This morning started for the guy in the library, where the general archive was located.
Under the guidance of the butler, Jeremy carried out the task assigned to him.
— My Lord, please be careful. These are all important docunts. You should not confuse them!
??...??
The baron’s son could hardly keep his patience, because this was the third remark in the last five minutes. And it would be fine if it was really about sothing important. But in reality, there were only dusty boxes of docunts on the table in front of them, which no one had dealt with for about ten years.
If by "important docunts" the butler ant financial statents from twenty years ago, then Jeremy had nothing to say to that.
— I’ve already figured it out...
— My Lord, this is a report on the renovation work carried out on Christmas Eve of the year eighty-six. Make sure that you have correctly correlated it with other docunts for this period.
Despite the fact that the newly minted Prince of the North had already said many tis that he understood the butler’s instructions well, he still lood over him like a vulture and dictated his every action. It was as if he was dealing with a complete idiot or an unintelligent child, and not with his master.
Jeremy sucked in a deep breath.
— Thank you, Sir Phillips. I get it, — he repeated once again.
The butler narrowed his eyes suspiciously when, after a while, he finally fell behind him. There was silence in the library for a short while.
While the baron’s son was engaged in such a boring business as sorting papers, ti dragged by terribly slowly. And since the job wasn’t very demanding, there wasn’t much to think about. So soon the guy started doing everything automatically. Until he suddenly ca across a docunt that, for once, managed to attract his attention among all the others.
"Hmm... what is it?"
While sorting through the yellowed old docunts, an invitation to an event accidentally fell into Jeremy’s hands. Involuntarily interested, the guy read only a few lines and was surprised. It was an invitation to Celine de Loon’s birthday banquet!
And, perhaps, Jeremy was even more puzzled by the date of the event indicated in this invitation.
— I’m sorry... — Jeremy felt awkward breaking the silence, especially when the butler looked at him disapprovingly, — But isn’t Her Highness’ birthday already in two weeks? Why aren’t any preparations being made in the castle?
Jeremy was surprised by this, because it was completely uncharacteristic for mbers of high society. Usually, the nobles preferred to celebrate such events on a grand scale. However, despite the fact that the Duchess’s birthday was just around the corner, the residence was unusually quiet.
Therefore, the baron’s son just couldn’t resist asking about it.
When the young master asked a question that had nothing to do with his duties, the old butler clicked his tongue in displeasure. Nevertheless, he still had to answer.
— I answer my lord, — the butler grumbled, — Her Highness has not celebrated her birthday for the past twenty-five years.
— what? But why?
— I do not know that, — the butler admitted, — but in any case, this is not a topic that you should bring up here. Please just focus on your work, my lord.
Jeremy Seibel pursed his lips. He clearly felt that the butler was lying when he said he didn’t know the reason. However, he couldn’t put pressure on him, as he wouldn’t get an answer anyway. Phillips was as old as he was stubborn.
Therefore, Jeremy had no choice but to accept this answer and leave everything as it is.
He continued to go about his business, but this thought did not leave his head for the rest of the day. Experiencing conflicting emotions about this, the baron’s son was in turmoil.
"Selina... Is she really not going to celebrate her birthday?"
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