The Echanting Duchess

Chapter 10: The Duchess' Outings

After five whole days of arranging the entire new wardrobe of the Duchess of Kargaz of the North, the previous sets of bright and outrageous dresses, shoes, jewelries and other accessories were disposed right away.

However, the duchess herself had meant something else when she instructed Leonor, the head maid of the estate, to 'dispose' of the previous wardrobe.

Although those five days were truly hectic and tiring combined with the renovation of the Duchess' room, Atallie herself was not the least bit bothered by all the bothersome details and questions that Leonor had asked her in order to bring out a satisfying outcome. Atallie, except for the first two days that she had personally opted to visited the Blue Blossom Boutique to purchase ready to wear dresses and commissioned some customised sets of dresses, shoes and accessories, the remaining three days were spent in the mansion as jewelers and merchant practically marched into the mansion one after another, offering their special products and goods to the newest member of the high society and the infamous Duchess of Kargaz of the North. Most of them were just too eager for the buzz or either too excited to take advantage of the duchess, looking forward to entice the duchess of how special their products and goods were and rip off huge amount of money from the naive and low birth duchess.

Leonor would have just recommended a few decent ones to the duchess, but to her surprise, Atallie didn't let her do that. Leonor was left confused by this decision of the duchess. At first, she didn't know whether it was naiveness or capriciousness of the duchess behind the ridiculous trouble.

However, when Leonor witnessed the duchess calmly looking over the presented goods and listening to the jewellers and merchant as she gracefully sipped on her favorite tea and eventually trampling over their pride and intelligence at the end of their visit, one after another, Leonor knew then that it was a comprehensive plan of the duchess herself.

Leonor was fully aware of the reputation of the Duke of Kargaz in the eyes of the outsiders, how much more the reputation and the gossips around the new member of the high society, the new Duchess of Kargaz?

Considering her low birth and how the news had spread so far and wide and so fast that her own father has literally sent a county bumpkin to the doors of the wild and scrupulous duke in order to be a pawn and gain good graces towards the opposition, the image of the new duchess, although she was not yet seen by the public and made her social debut, had already been plummeted down and scowled at.

If Leonor knew all of these, surely the duchess had already heard of them or somehow already had figured out the kind of situation she was currently in.

But after Leonor had seen and heard how the duchess subtly and elegantly handled a few hiccups that were clearly seen with the visitors and how each of them left with the same sour, shameful and shocked expression on their faces after the presentation and the talk, Leonor couldn't express more how her respect to the always quiet and cold faced duchess has increased for a few levels.

Truly, the duchess was not a simple one. She was level headed and humble most of the time. She was also unyielding and stubborn at times. But her calmness and elegance were indeed on a different level that people would always find her presence completely impossible to be disregarded.

To Leonor's slightly old and wrinkly but sharp eyes, the duchess' demeanor and character was not something that a county bumpkin could have. It was as if the lady was born with such elegance and grace that could only be found on those people who were raised meticulously and those who were taken good care of in a noble house.

Based on her background, the duchess is definitely not taken good care of...

But what about her elegance and grace that couldn't be simply disregarded?