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Letticia sometimes called Lenard a workaholic, but in truth, he wasn't the type to be completely consumed by work. If anything, Lenoa and Marianne, who would spend their days off thinking about future products and call that "playing", were far closer to being workaholics.
Of course, when he did work, Lenard approached it with more thoroughness than anyone else. But unless it was an emergency, he never gave up his days off. He enjoyed a variety of hobbies and lived a life where he maintained his own balance between work and leisure.
One of those hobbies was watching polo matches. On his way back from watching a game, Lenard suddenly found himself craving an affogato.
'Should I stop by Faymont on the way?'
Although he wasn't as fond of sweets as his friend Ezkhiel, Lenard did have a few confections he liked. So, while he wasn't deliberately trying to help his sister's shop sales, he often dropped by Faymont. Letticia had even told her staff to escort her brother to the 5th floor whenever he visited.
But when Lenard tried to go up as usual, a staff member stopped him with an awkward expression.
"I'm sorry, but Lady Averil is currently on the 5th floor…"
"Lady Averil is here?"
At that moment, Lenard didn't think much of it. It was fairly common to bump into acquaintances at Faymont, and if someone of higher rank than himself was already there, it was only proper courtesy for him to go and greet them.
However, once Lenard entered the room on the 5th floor, he was caught completely off guard. Sitting there, apparently eating ice cream, was Ariette, alone. No maid, no escort, no one else. Truly by herself.
"Lady Averil, don't tell me you came here without even a maid accompanying you?"
"…I just wanted to be alone. I left only a note behind and rode out on my horse."
Though she was eating cold ice cream, Ariette's face was slightly flushed, perhaps from being out under the sun.
The fact that Ariette had ridden here on horseback in the middle of summer left Lenard more surprised than bewildered. He couldn't help but ask why.
"Why did you come on horseback instead of by carriage? It must have been unbearably hot."
"I just wanted to slip out quietly and return quietly too… but if I use the carriage, everything gets noisy with all the preparations."
"Even so, it's dangerous to come without at least a single escort. Leaving only a note behind won't stop people from worrying."
"…Yes, I suppose you're right."
Ariette murmured bitterly and set her spoon down. She looked at her half-finished ice cream with regret, and Lenard, holding back a sigh, sat down across from her.
"First, finish your ice cream. You still don't look well. And… are you even confident you can ride back on horseback?"
"Hmm… honestly, not really."
"Then leave your horse here and take the carriage I came with. Later, I'll have a servant bring your horse back."
"Oh! I didn't even think of that. But still, I feel like I'm troubling you too much, Lord Sharon…"
"I can't let Letticia's friend ride back on horseback in this heat. Think of it as no trouble at all."
When Lenard smiled warmly, Ariette lowered her head again, cheeks faintly tinged pink, and resumed eating her ice cream.
Abandoning the affogato he had wanted, Lenard instead ordered a few desserts to take home. Once Ariette finished her cup, they boarded his carriage together.
Sitting across from each other, just the two of them, Lenard frowned slightly to himself, already imagining how the Duke and his sons would react once they arrived.
Ezkhiel had described them as competent men in official matters, but since Lenard didn't work at the palace, he had only ever met them socially. He had never once seen this supposed competence firsthand.
And so, in Lenard's mind, the only image he could associate with the three Averil men was that of being "Ariette's madmen."
"It would be best if I drop you off and head straight back. I doubt the Duke or your brothers would be pleased to see an unrelated man alone with you."
"Ah… but since you brought me home, isn't it only right that I at least offer you some tea?"
"I'll take a rain check on that honor. More importantly, I'm curious, what happened with that proposal you said you'd show the Duke? Could you tell me?"
Just yesterday, after repeatedly correcting the format and revising the contents, Lenard had finally given his passing judgment on the business proposal written by Letticia and Ariette.
Though he called it "revisions," in truth, apart from the core ideas, Lenard had practically written more than half of it himself. The proposal in its original form was no better than a first-year business student's very first assignment.
It couldn't be helped. Letticia had no real background in business, relying solely on intuition and boldness to decide ventures, while Ariette, though she had experience as a civil official, had only just begun learning the basics of business management. Expecting more from them was simply unrealistic.
Still, the ideas themselves were good. As long as they had help, success seemed within reach.
In particular, bringing Eskis and Hailey into the project was, in Lenard's eyes, a wise decision. Not only would they secure a perfumer and distribution routes, but the venture would also draw attention by presenting itself as a collaboration between influential families, both old nobility, rising houses, and neutral factions alike.
But when he asked about it, Ariette's expression grew darker and darker. Worried that something had happened, Lenard was about to press further when she spoke up first, looking dejected.
"I showed the proposal to Father and my brothers over lunch today. They said the business idea itself seemed fine… but my brother Alexander opposed me personally running it."
At this unexpected response, Lenard furrowed his brows and asked again.
"Did he oppose the business itself, or only the idea of you participating in it?"
"Only me being involved. It seems Lady Sharon had already given Father a hint beforehand, so he'd even been looking into which fruits might be good for perfume."
"So, he's positive about the business itself. Then what is his concern, why try to stop you?"
"…Because neither I nor Lady Letticia have studied management, he said we might fail if we took it on ourselves. He suggested leaving this project to the family for now, and after I study more, I could try again later. He also said that since it's a project involving multiple houses, it would be too heavy for me to handle alone, and that it should be managed between the heads of the families."
The reasoning was far more sensible than Lenard had expected. It seemed that, just as Ezkhiel had said, even if the Averil men were madly devoted to their sister, they could still exercise rational judgment when it came to official matters.
"But then Father said, since it was my business, he would never allow it to fail. He promised to find and send excellent perfumers and staff, and even introduce me to merchants already trading with our house…"
As Ariette continued, her face only grew gloomier. Lenard, however, took it more pragmatically.
"That's a proposal we can work with. Even if Eskis supplies the perfumer, Letticia is already putting together the rest of the workforce. As for the sales outlets, the Hailey Company will likely sign the first contract. We can just accept the list of merchants from your family for now, and review possible contracts later."
"…Do you really think that's okay? Maybe Father only said that to interfere unnecessarily…"
"Of course, the review and final decisions will be made on our side. And let me say this, my lady, when you hear a proposal, you mustn't let fear be your first reaction. If you're going to run a business, you have to weigh carefully how much benefit it brings and what risks it carries."
Seeing Lenard calmly assess each point without being shaken, Ariette seemed reassured, her tense expression softening slightly.
"So then… it doesn't mean we have to accept everything Father suggested, right?"
"Exactly. This is your and Letticia's business. If Letticia had heard the Duke's words, she would have said the same thing I just did."
Of course, his fiery little sister would probably have scolded him for "being a doting fool again," but even if she got annoyed, she would still take the matter seriously, discuss it with Kenneth, and then make her judgment.
Besides, they had already anticipated that the Ducal House would try to step in under the guise of "supporting Ariette," so it wasn't particularly surprising.
"But if you accept too much manpower from them, you risk handing over control. That's something to be careful about. I'll make sure to warn Letticia to bring up that point when she goes to explain things to the Duke."
"……"
Ariette fidgeted with her fingers, eyes darting about as if something Lenard said weighed on her. After a pause, she finally looked at him with a face full of unease.
"Lord Sharon… am I really playing my role properly?"
"What?"
The sudden, self-doubting question caught Lenard off guard. Ariette lowered her head deeply and continued.
"When my brother spoke earlier, or when Father made his proposal… the words you just said were the ones I should have spoken. But I couldn't say anything. And honestly, when Lady Sharon comes next time to explain things, I'm not confident I'll be of much help either…"
Perhaps because she had so little experience of truly succeeding at anything, Ariette often voiced these anxieties and questioned herself.
Lenard couldn't understand why she didn't pick up even a trace of his little sister's brazenness, Letticia, who would recklessly invest on instinct, lose most of the time, yet shamelessly argue that "succeeding once was enough."
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