Chapter 14 - Diving into the books

"Yes please?" I chuckled internally I assumed that I would say that a lot today. The door opened revealing the dark-haired beauty that I had seen outside in the garden earlier. She wore a set of neat glasses that were most likely only for reading and had a well-groomed, strict appearance. "Good afternoon. I am Gabrielle the second wife of the former duke." She raised her eyebrow at that before continuing. "Suha told us that you are taking over all the task of our former husband as well as potential becoming or next one Is that correct?" Her voice was similar to madam Laferin in that she was absolutely in control of her emotions. You could not tell if she was angry or exited.

I nodded carefully. "Um Yes that is correct, how may I help you milady?" A small smiled did creep on my face. She seemed to take it all way more relaxed then Suha. Maybe because she isn't under the impression to get kicked out at any moment. "Well ..." she steeped outside for a moment before returning with a large neat pile of paper that she gently placed on the desk next to me.

"Our former husband requested that all expanses of the harem are submitted in written form. He thought that he would be able to restrict us better with it." You could see the amusement in her brown eyes. "And these ..." she lifted teen pages. "Are the recent requests since his arrests. While these are the requests that he refused to look at most of the months." She pointed at the large pile remaining. I raised my eyebrow. "I am sorry I am not very experienced as a husband or well umm the one responsible for a harem. Is it typical to do it in written requests like this?"

I took the first page and glanced over it. It was common stuff like Food and cosmetics. Soap and similar everyday items. Everything was neatly arranged a tallied up with the expected prices next to it. In fact it was almost a work of art. The penmanship of whoever had written that was perfect. The tally was quick and clear so that even a person who had no deep understanding could understand what was added together and were.

She shook her head while letting me look at it for a moment. "I know only one so far, but this developed out of the ... the living arrangements that we had with our former husband." I could hear out of her words that there was a lot more hidden behind the living arrangements, but just shook my head slightly. "I believe that we all can agree that It would be more comfortable if there is only a list of things that have been spend instead of this. At least for normal living expenses. With big things like I well I don't know maybe something like buying a chariot or well expansive stuff I would prefer to be asked first but only so that we can agree on a decent amount of spending together."

She smiled and nodded. "We wouldn't mind that at all. How would that look with nonessential things like books, clothing or art and craft?" I just shrugged. "As long as it is not getting out of hand you are welcome to spend our money on whatever the Harem deems necessary or if it would make one of you guys happy. Just please don't buy half the bazar. I will need a certain amount of funding to be able to release all the slaves and keep your standard of living high. And well rule the Dukedome too." She smiled and it was a smile that could keep one warm in dark cold nights.

"Can you tell me who did write all of this?" I pointed to the huge pile of funding requests next to me. Her smile grew a bit wider and I was mesmerized even trough this time it was clearly a very proud smile. "I am in charge of the harems bookkeeping, expanse and organization. Although the later one is shared together with Suha of course." I nodded. "So umm would you be able to help us to gain an overview over all of this? I really need to know what all is owned by the house of Laris and how many slaves there are and where. Well for now at least those in the palace and the city. I will hire a book keeper if needed later but I wont let a stranger at it before I don't have at least a general idea unless that person comes highly recommended or like you has little to gain by hiding stuff since you already have full access to all of it anyway."

"I certainly can help there if you wish but ..." then I could see something stumpling her. "What do you mean full access?" I looked at her confused then noticed the culture difference. "Well isn't that how marriage should work? I mean sure I will have to keep overview since I have the responsibilities as a duke too but they are the books of the family right?" She nodded slowly. "But usually the husband keeps full control over everything." She mumbled confused. "I ... i don't believe that would be a good way of having to deal with it. Although with four wives I guess we should agree on restricting some access too all the funds to prevent a bad decision to ruin everything." I shrugged. "I guess we should talk about that tomorrow with the others if that's ok with you?"

I could see that she was in a mixture of excitement, happiness and deep thoughts of where to go from there. "Yes that would be great. Suha was right you are strange but well ... welcome home?" She chuckled a bit. A charming soft sound that send shivers down my spine. "About your questions of helping you. I think I can be of some help." She smiled then grabbed a small folder that we all had overlooked and began to explain the complex filling system of the former duke.

Serval hours did pass like in an instance. The head of the house came and introduced themselves. They all looked curious about my gender and plans but none looked hostile. It seemed that they were mostly happy to keep their job so I released them after just an hour of short introduction and explanations. Although the only big instruction given was to threat the slaves from now on like servants and not slaves anymore and if any of them needed medical help to make certain that they got it right away.

The first overview reviled that I was even richer than I had assumed. And we still had only scratched the surface. The duke was unbelievable wealthy and if I would choose to retire now I could life till the end of my days with no worries at all. But as tempting as that was my thoughts were focused on using all this money to make a big difference to the people under me. Well at least some of it.

At some point I actually want to go and spend some of the money on just myself and close friends but that had to wait until things were back to normal for most around me. Gabrielle stayed with us for hours, but she stayed on the topic of the current task. Any unnecessary chatter was quietened by her raised eyebrow or just meet with short non committing answer. Still she seemed to be content to be able to work with me and she was the one who most understood the finances that should have done by the old duke or the butler but since both were unavailable they had been piling up over the last week. Most of these were simple things that still had time to be done later but a few items were already overdue and needed my input as well.

Like there had been a bill of a butcher that had been overdue since three months. According to her he had refused an additional request of the duke because it was simple not possible in a reasonable amount of time so the duke refused to pay the butcher already done work because he didn't complete the contract completely. Even though the original contract did not contain the items that were so impossible to obtain.

Apparently, he did that to drive the butcher into ruin so he could buy up the store to do something with the land. I just shook my head, muttered about the arrogance of the old Duke and signed the bill. It was such a small amount especially with all the numbers floating around but it showed clearly to me how he operated before.

"Its despicable." I muttered to myself. "Well most people who have a lot of money to everything they can to gain more of it." She shrugged a bit while continue to write down some figures. "After all if I understand it correctly you yourself don't want to give this all away either." She smiled a bit while i shook my head. "No, I think I got now this much wealth and while I want to use it to improve those around me it would be a shame to let it go to waste. Still it should be possible to make money without forcing others into ruin."

She nodded. "Well we have to see but I am exited about the prospect of being able to work and manage the books of the house. Of course I will have to discuss it with Suha first." I tilted my head a bit. "How ... I mean how are things in the Harem?" She looked at me then around. Johanna was already asleep on a couch while Marie and Elena where going trough the slave books on the other side of the room.

"You mean how live is general in a harem or how this one is?" She said without sounding offended. "This one mostly. I mean you where 5 wives with a large age gab between each of you how do you get along?" She chuckled. "Well for us it was mostly our united dislike of the old duke that made it easier to get along. Suha is clearly the head of house. No question there and well once we two got along the other followed suit."

She hesitated a moment before continued. "The biggest problem was always to keep ourselves busy. Since our husband was using us mostly as representatives, our entertainment was only provided when it was to impress others. I found my distractions in taking care of the harems finances and well part of the education for our younger members. However, I think I will not talk to much about the others. You will see them tomorrow and I don't want to give wrong impressions."

I smiled a bit and nodded. It felt good to have at least one of the houses who was open towards me. "I assume that the reason why Suha wants to wait till tomorrow is to calm down a bit?" She chuckled. "Not for herself but yes. The messenger did caused a lot of fear for us so she wants a bit of time especial for Neile and Lizbeth. And it is excellent example of how quick she can think on her feet. Of course please don't tell her that I told you that." She chuckled again. It was a pleasant sound one that I hoped to hear way more in the future.

"Well ..." another soft knock at the door at the door got my attention. "Yes, please?" A young blond-haired servant opened the door. Her head lowered and hands folded. "Forgive me milady but madam Suha said that you haven't had a meal yet. Do you and your friends wish to have an meal here or in the dinning room?" I raised my eyebrow. "Hmm I think this will be a good point to take a break. We will take our meal in the dinning room thank you. After we finished up so give us a moment. " I turned to the dark-haired beauty next to me. "Will you be joining us?"

"I think I can have a bit of a evening snack yes but let me finish up this note first." I smiled and finished my own small notes before leaving towards the first meal of the day. The meal was plentiful but nothing big. We where enjoying it quietly, none of us were really in the mood to chat much but we shared a bit of our finding. The biggest was that almost half of the slaves where way overdue for release by the current laws. But since nobody had complained it wasn't found until now. Thankfully I don't have to pay the fine that would normally accompany such a find since I wasn't the one that caused the delay but still, I want to get these set into freedom as soon as possible.

The duke seemed to have many separated books. One of them for the family business and one for the Dukedome. Others were for businesses owned by me that were all over the kingdom. They were for mining, trading as well as farming even apparently a wood workshop in the capital city. Getting overview of all of that seemed a bit daunting but fascinating as well. Only Johanna wasn't it it since it was all quite dry. The small dining room as i learned. Was big enough for a group of our side with enough space for servants walking behind us. The walls to one side were decorated with beautiful paintings of a city while the other had a large window front and balcony looking out towards the inner garden we walked trough earlier.

We were served by two young woman that seemed to be well used to the task. Both of them were quietly but did not look fearful and served us with soft smiles. It really would need some getting used to being served like this. I could see that my two friends where a bit nervous as well while Elaina didn't seem to mind it at all while we chatted about what we had found. I resisted the temptation to make the servants sit with us. Changes need time and i know how important it is for their culture to have separation.

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Well then .. not the most interesting of all chapter but after 2 reworks i am happy how Gabrielle presented herself here. She is a trick character for me to write because a lot of things happen inwards. Next chapter will hopefully take less time to write now that i had time to focus on where i want to go. ^^