Chương 31: Chapter 30 - Ruining Carefully Laid Plans

She knew she couldn't turn down the offer though, this was an important part of their larger plan. They needed to be on good terms with Lord Grivalt for the time being. Just as she was about to nod, the doors to the kitchen opened again, and dessert was brought out. Kiara's eyes strayed to her mom, who was carrying one of the plates again. Her eyes looked red and swollen, as if she had been crying. Kiara suddenly felt terrible. Here she was, playing at being a lady, while her family was trapped here, suffering.

During the past few weeks, she had made sure they didn't seem to be in any mortal danger each time she came, but they certainly weren't comfortable or happy here. Although Dustin had warned her against it, she couldn't help herself. She wanted to try and see if she could rescue them here and now.

"Lord Grivalt," she began, "how many servants do you have here at your estate?" Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dustin stiffen at the question. She was going off script. Lord Grivalt was taken aback. The question was off topic, and he looked as if he had expected her to agree to his business proposition. He glanced at the servants for a moment before answering hesitantly.

"Around thirty, Lady Yountal." The dessert plates were placed in front of each of them, and Kiara's mom retreated back to the kitchen. Kiara nodded.

"And how often do you acquire new servants, or let old ones go?" He breathed out heavily, frustrated that the conversation was straying from the potential business deal.

"Not often. I did recently acquire some new servants a few months ago, but my staff is fairly stable here." Kiara glanced at Ava, who was still glaring at Lord Grivalt. Ava glanced her way, giving her another fierce stare. Kiara admired the fire in her eyes, but worried it might get her in trouble while she was living in Lord Grivalt's estate.

"Are they all employed? Do they receive fair wages?" Kiara asked. Dustin discreetly touched the back of her arm, trying to anchor her back to their original plan, but she ignored him for now. Lord Grivalt narrowed his eyes at her.

"An odd question… is this still relevant to my business proposal Lady Yountal?" Kiara nodded sharply.

"I like to know who I'm doing business with. Are all of your staff paid employees?" Lord Grivalt considered the question for a moment.

"I do have some indentured servants here. Their wages go towards paying off their debts." Kiara pursed her lips.

"I see. Would you be open to… selling some of their debts to me? I'd like to return home with some of them." Lord Grivalt glanced behind him at the line of servants, a hint of anger and disgust flashing across his eyes. Then he looked back at Kiara.

"Why? If I might be so bold, Lady Yountal, word has already spread of the talented staff that you employ at your estate in Easton. Certainly you wouldn't be interested in weak, talentless trash like what I have here?" Dustin had indeed been spreading rumors throughout Easton of how talented their estate staff was. All part of the plan to help promote the proper image of House Yountal.

"Well, I am interested," Kiara said, tilting her chin up. Lord Grivalt scratched his chin.

"Hmm… I'll consider it. Now, about my business proposal?" Kiara tried not to let his response get to her, but she couldn't help it. His demeaning comment toward the staff, followed by his refusal to discuss letting her pay off some of their debts had rubbed her the wrong way. She glared at him, then stood up abruptly.

"I'll consider it," she said sharply, then headed for the door. Dustin hurriedly stood and bowed to Lord Grivalt, then followed after her, followed closely by the two guards that had accompanied them inside. They hadn't touched their dessert. Things hadn't gone how they had planned, and Kiara knew that was because of her, but she couldn't help herself. She couldn't sit there for another second watching her mom and sister serve them while she pretended to get along with that cockroach of a man.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. All of her preparations, all of the etiquette books she had read, all of the training Dustin had done with her to prepare her for this night, none of it had mattered in the face of seeing her family there. She had seen them before, obviously, but this was the first time they'd seen her as well – acknowledged her presence. Those glares from Ava had been difficult to stomach.

* Back at her own estate, Kiara talked with Dustin in their usual room off the side hallway. It was a large room, meant for receiving guests, but Dustin had been using it as an office ever since they first interviewed newcomers to their estate staff. The carriage ride back had given her time to calm down, and she was embarrassed that she had ruined their carefully laid plans. She wasn't mad that she had tried though, if she had been able to get her family out of there tonight, it would have been worth it.

Since it didn't work though, she wondered how far she had set them back on their original plan. Dustin loosed his shirt collar and laid down on a couch.

"Well, that was a failure of monumental proportions." Kiara snorted.

"Don't sugar coat it," she quipped. He glanced at her side-eyed, then smiled softly.

"It isn't all bad. It definitely was not what we had planned, but all things considered… we can still salvage it."

"Oh?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. He nodded.

"You definitely tipped your hand too early, but I think given enough time that won't matter. Eventually, he'll need money, and we'll be the highest bidder." Kiara's spirits lifted a bit at that. Dustin continued, "Tomorrow, we should agree to his business proposition. We can send a courier to deliver the news. After we've established a business relationship, we can breach the subject of purchasing some of his servants' debts again. He may be more open to it once we've agreed to his original proposal."

Kiara's face soured. She hated the idea of developing any kind of relationship with that weasel, business or otherwise. It was probably best to let Dustin handle everything via letter from here on out.

"I don't think I can face him again," she confessed to Dustin.

"I can't keep my emotions in check when I'm in the same room as him." Dustin nodded.

"Not to worry. Now that we've established contact, communicating via letter is more than enough. Should additional face to face interactions be required, I can take care of them as the estate manager." Kiara breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thanks," she said simply." Dustin looked like he wanted to say more, or possibly ask her something about what had happened, but after a moment he thought better of it.

"Well, it's late," he said, standing up.

"I'd better head to bed." Kiara nodded, and he left to head upstairs, leaving her with her thoughts. * Monday morning, Kiara attended her sword class with extra gusto. Each class started with instruction time, then ended with sparring sessions. For instruction, everyone moved at their own pace, learning the steps, parries, and attacks from the instructors, then practicing them on their own for a time. The instructors would walk around, giving pointers and correcting form as needed.

After instruction time, the instructors would select pairs for sparring sessions. This helped the instructors keep track of everyone's skill level and progress. During sparring sessions, everyone wore a tight-fitting collar that helped even the playing field. A mage tier could be selected on the collar, and the collar would ensure the person wearing it didn't perform at a physical level higher than that.

If you moved too fast, the collar would react, giving you a small electrical zap and lighting up to alert the instructor that you had moved too quickly. If your collar lit up, you lost the spar. While the collars didn't actually restrict your movements or abilities, they did award the victory to the other person if you moved too fast, and handed out a small amount of pain as punishment. You learned quickly how to hold yourself back to the necessary speed levels while wearing the collars.

The collars didn't guarantee a completely perfect playing field though. They only measured the speed of the person wearing them, so Kiara's improved Mind stat still gave her some level of advantage, as she could think a bit more quickly than most. Her increased Durability stat also helped it not hurt as bad when she was struck during spars, and her Endurance helped her keep up an increased level of physical exertion. The same was true for anyone with higher stats than her though.

During the sparring session, her instructor paired her up with the best swordsman in the beginner class, Ron Venton. Ron was a thin, muscular man, and quite agile. He was a tier 3 mage who lived in a nearby city, but came to Easton each day to attend Handel's academy. He had picked up sword fighting as a hobby the year before. Kiara didn't know for sure, but she suspected that his Durability and Endurance were both higher than hers.

Since she operated around the level of a peak tier 1 mage, they both set their collars to the level 1 setting for the spar. During a spar, a hit to the arm was worth one point. A hit to the leg was worth two. A hit to the abdomen or back was worth 3, and a hit to the neck or head was worth five. After each hit, both fighters would reset. The first fighter to score five points won the spar.

If your collar lit up at any point, indicating that you had exceeded the selected speed limit, the other person would win the round. The practice swords were blunt on all sides to avoid accidental puncture wounds, but it still hurt to take a hit from one. One of the instructors would moderate each spar, tracking the score. Kiara and Ron lined up across from each other and gave each other a small bow. The moderator made sure they were both ready, then announced, "Begin!"