Foreigner Of Time [Book II]

29

Dead silence fell. 

Looks of astonishment was met with looks of astonishment...

No one had expected Jennie's answer. 

Even though Elon and Frederic were basically sure that it was Jennie, they had not thought that Jennie would admit it frankly.

They had even thought of what to say in response to Jennie's denial. 

They would tell her in a clever way that they had already guessed it, and then plead Jennie to leave some face for them by sparing some gold so that they may catch their breaths.

No one could have expected that Jennie would admit it just like that, without any hesitation or reservations.

Even Lisa was a little surprised, more or less. 

Although they haven't discussed things beforehand, in Lisa's understanding of the matter, it should be a 'secret' that was inadvisable to disclose. Why would Nini admit it?

While the crowd was in a daze, Jennie's calm and pleasant voice came again. 

She asked in the same mild tone as always, "What about it?"

Lisa's breath caught, and she put a hand over her chest. 

The beating of her fist-sized heart had suddenly sped up.

Putting her delicate finger on the knob of the teacup's lid, Jennie drew a leisurely circle as she asked, "Is there something that the two of you would like to say?"

Elon took out a handkerchief from his sleeve, wiped the sweat from his forehead, then he said with an appeasing smile, "Why did the lady withdraw so much gold all of a sudden?"

"Naturally, I have my own uses for it."

"This... As- As they say, the conditions of a place affects the people who grow up there. The province is greatly different from Winterfell; we mainly do foreign business here. We need a great amount of gold for a few specific months each year. I wonder if the lady could be so kind to raise your hand a little? Or perhaps... to carry out this matter after the eighth month instead? The foreign ships will start to arrive in fleets in the near future."

"My apologies, this humble woman has given everyone trouble out of ignorance for the local customs. However, I can't give you an answer right away. I hope that you may give me a few days' grace. This humble woman will give you an answer again, once I've discussed it over."

The two of them shared a look, then Jasper gave a courtesy with his hands, "The lady is kind and just. In that case, we shall not disturb you any longer. We look forward to hearing from you again."

"Goodbye."

"I am sorry that I cannot escort you further."

Psy gave a guilty smile towards Jennie and Lisa, then he left with them too.

Once all three of them were gone, Lisa couldn't wait to ask Jennie, "Nini, why did you fess up?"

"This kind of thing can be hidden once, but it can't remain hidden forever. If it's exposed, we'll only lose our trustworthiness. Since they have already come to our door, they must have some sort of evidence in hand, so what need is there to hide it? Additionally, so what if I lay out my cards? I have exchanged for the silver legally. What can they do about it?"

Hearing that, Lisa felt that that's true too. 

She asked next, "So what do you plan to do now? To agree to their request, or...?"

"Merchants will rarely say 'no' as long as it doesn't touch their bottom line. Since people have already come to our door, and big brother-in-law is caught in the middle, I won't pull down their faces too much. When you run the small estate in the future, you will most likely encounter a lot of things like this. Just remember one thing: it's fine to have conflicts between fellow professionals, and it doesn't matter how big it gets, as long as you don't do things like cut off their source of profit or plot for their lives. Any argument can be brought back to the discussion table no matter how fierce it gets. As for this matter... I'll leave them hanging for a few days. Once we meet again next time, it'll be time for me to set some rules for them."