Blossom

Chapter 8: Friction

Castle renovations proceeded at a fast pace and Max was never seen without her trusted nanny by her side. It was well known throughout the castle that while lady Calypse may well be in charge in the absence of her husband, it was in fact Joanna that ran the show.

Max in turn was incredibly happy with how the renovations were proceeding under Joanna's guidance. Her nanny may fuss and nag her a lot, but she was an educated woman who knew the correct way to run a household. She was incredibly shrewd, knowing where to spend money to maintain appearances and where to hold back.

Max had been incredibly surprised by this. She had expected Joanna to order the best of the best as her father would expect her to outwardly appear to be living in the lap of luxury, but Joanna appeared to be incredibly conscious of the Calypse's purse.

When the merchant had attempted to sell them a fountain for the courtyard, Joanna had sniffed and informed him that the continent was currently at war, and while it was indeed pretty, it was incredibly expensive to run and maintain. There was no use potentially putting the household into a position where they would have to tax the village more heavily for the sake of vanity, especially if the war stretched on longer than they thought it would.

She had also turned out to be a master at haggling. They had not paid the asking price for a single item purchased for the renovations. The merchants who visited had on more than one occasion been close to tears but always succumbed to her expert negotiating skills giving massive discounts. When Max expressed concern to Joanna later in private, she explained that the merchants had inflated their prices as soon as they saw a young woman they thought they could make easy coin from.

Max became more grateful with every decision that was presented to her that Joanna had come to Anatol with her. How an earth would she have coped without her?

⚝──⭒─⭑─⭒──⚝

Max sat reading in front of the fire in the office, while Joanna sat at the desk going over the receipts the merchant had provided them with this morning. A few days ago, she had come across the lord's journal where he had documented the goings on in the castle. She had battled with herself for a while as it felt invasive and improper to read through them without his express consent, but curiosity about the man who had become her husband gnawed at her relentlessly and had eventually won out.

She ran her hand over the handwriting. It was neat and legible, but not written with the penmanship of someone who had spent hours upon hours practicing their cursive. She had often been reminded the last few weeks that she had resided in Croix castle by both her father and her sister about her husband's low birth. But she knew little else about his past. Where had he come from? She had been surprised that his family had not resided within the castle, but she was too embarrassed to ask the servants about their whereabouts. It was shameful how little she knew.

The ledgers offered little insight into what type of person he was. He wrote brief notes that stated facts and nothing else. He was obviously a man of few words as Max had suspected. But the one thing that had shone through his writings was his dedication. He had tremendous plans for Anatol. There was a long list for how he was going to ensure that Anatol prospers, including plans for a road linking the town to a nearby harbour and a list of connections he could use for getting merchants to travel through the port. As Max read through page after page she marvelled at the hours of careful thought and planning that went into this.

She was even more surprised when she read how Riftan planned to use his own personal coin that he had accumulated through raiding for the expansion of the town. Even she, with her very basic knowledge of finance, knew that was not done at all. Her father would have rather died than use his own money for the good of his citizens.