6 Changes

I was sitting at a desk, working on the dukedom's public works budget. Only Therrion was in the room, standing in front of the door waiting for any order to be given. At that moment, someone knocked on the door. He walked over and announced.

(Therrion) miss, it's the duchess.

I waved my hand to signal him to let her pass, and the pitiful woman walked into the room, all smiles.

(Pitiful) pleasing morning darling, how did you wake up today?

I still had work to do and didn't have much time to waste, so I preferred to ignore her legal question and get straight to the point. I looked up without taking my hand off work, and I asked.

(Leonora) do you want something, mother?

I'm not sure if she noticed my total lack of respect for not answering his greeting, but if so, she didn't mind and preferred to save us both time.

(Pitiful) oh dear, as you know, we've been invited to her majesty's birthday.

(Leonora) mother will attend, but… is she going to participate with a dress from last season?

(Pitiful) oh, baby, that was just what I wanted to talk about. If I go in such an old-fashioned dress, I will be the mockery of the entire kingdom, and I will only bring humiliation to our house.

(Leonora) then don't say anything more, I'll have the dressmaker called to prepare a new dress that you can wear on her Highness' birthday.

(Pitiful) thank you very much, darling. I am incredibly grateful to you.

At the end of our slight exchange of words, the pitiful woman came out, and I continued working until another knock on the door.

(Therrion) the duke, miss.

I repeated the gesture, and this time the human waste came through the door.

(Waste) good morning. How did my little princess wake up today?

Again, with no time to waste on formalities that no one cares about, I just asked.

(Leonora) did you want something, father?

He only put his fingers together and requested a completely casual tone with nothing to replicate the human waste.

(Waste) yes, you see, in a week it will be Rosa's birthday. Or was it Rosy? Well anyway, his birthday is coming up, and I wanted money to give her a gift.

Although while I listened to their requests, my hand never left the work, this time, I was stunned by what I had just heard. Are you seriously asking your 5-year-old daughter for money for a gift from a lover you don't even know her name?

I looked at human waste for what it is, human waste, and I replied.

(Leonora) Will 5 thousand lilies be enough?

The human waste brought his hand to his chin, and I watched him mentally do the math until he finally responded.

(Waste) that's 10 thousand. I just remembered that Rubi's birthday is more or less around the same date.

I motioned for Therrion to bring the money. He left the room for a moment and returned with several bags of coins that he had prepared earlier. Each bag had 4 thousand lilies, so making a quick calculation of the value of the pitiful woman's new dress and the new pair of slippers that she's also going to ask for, I took three bags and gave them to the discarded human.

(Leonora) here is father, added a little extra for contingencies.

I want to match the sum I spent on the pitiful woman as I don't want to whine in the future.

(Waste) oh, thank you very much princess, keep up the excellent work.

The human waste took the money bags, weighed them, turned around, and left the room, taking my good humor with him.

Why am I giving them what they ask? I asked myself as I sighed. Simple, I replied. This way they spend less money. The pitiful woman used to buy dozens of dresses just waiting to be invited to a party, which rarely happened because of the bad reputation our duchy had, that's why many of those "old-fashioned" dresses she has, were never worn and are practically new.

On the other hand, the human waste used to buy gifts for his lovers almost every day to sleep with them. An interesting thing that shows human ingenuity is that the vast majority barely collect enough money in jewelry and more, leave the mansion, and return to their homeland, which forces human waste to start over with the next one.

All that stupid waste of resources was the cause of the duchy ending up in a precarious situation. Still, as soon as I gained control of the finances of the duchy, I improved public opinion by investing more in the quality of life. I also improved the economy by investing in businesses that I know will succeed and creating my industries using the original energy that I have rediscovered throughout my life. That's why, given my great superiority in managing the territory, my unfortunate parents left me, their 5-year-old daughter, in charge of everything with the only condition that I continue to give them money.

The good thing about it all is that I managed to turn the matter around and take the bull by the horns. Now my parents have realized that I don't need them at all, and as their legitimate daughter, if something happened to them, the title would fall on me. So they have learned to know their limits of how much they can ask me. That's why the pitiful woman can only have one new dress per dance, and human waste can only give gifts to her lovers on special occasions.

When it finally seemed like no one would knock on the door, I tried to resume work but couldn't. Seeing the unfortunate couple on in one day is enough to kill my spirits.

(Leonora) I'm going to take a break.

I declared, and upon hearing this, Therrion rings a bell. At that moment, half a dozen servants enter the room, in order and perfect silence, clearing the desk of papers, at the same time that they place a tray with sandwiches and a teapot with milk.

I hate tea. I think it is something that I carry from my original life. I have always been more of coffee, but the subject with it is a complicated matter.

While both the grains and the drink exist, it is not something that was grown or even known to the kingdom. There indeed are a couple of places where the climate and the land area suitable for cultivation, but they are places outside my duchy, so it isn't something I can profit from in the short term. For these cases, I prefer to create a shell company in charge of importing grains and arranging the arrangement with the peasants and foremen. So far, everything is going smoothly, so it will only be a matter of time before I can enjoy a good cup of coffee.

A maid takes the kettle, and drops a chocolate chip into it, joins her thumb and rings fingers, so the kettle begins to vibrate. When it stops, she serves me in a cup.

Have a cupcake, and then a sip of chocolate. Although I still prefer coffee or wine, I'm still five years old, and I have already verified that it's not a good idea to consume caffeine or alcohol at this age, be that as it may, chocolate is my third favorite drink.

I take another sip of the chocolate and let the sweet taste counteract the sour taste, allowing me to see the regrettable couple. Little by little, my mood improves, although I admit that a bit of rum with egg would not be wrong to sweeten the same situation, then I remember once again that I'm still five years old.

I relaxed and stretched my arms, taking another bite from a cupcake and turned to see Therrion.

(Leonora) Therrion, how is my schedule for today?

He takes out a small notebook from the pockets of his jacket and begins to read its content.

(Therrion) From 11:30 to 12:00, the head gardener requested to speak with you. From 12:00 to 13:00, the head of the maids asked that miss accompany her on a tour of the mansion. From 13:00 to 14:00, your lunch. From 14:00 to 16:00, miss afternoon nap. From 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm, Mr. Milccery wants you to review the dukedom's income reports, and from there, the only dinner remains, and that's all.

(Leonora) hmm, busy day.

After a good cup of hot chocolate, my mood had finally improved, so I was preparing to continue working on the budget before I meet with the head gardener. However, in honor of my legendary bad luck, there was another knock on the door.

Before Therrion even came close, the blows intensified, and I could hear an annoying squeaky voice.

(female voice) open up, Leonora! We want to enter.

Hearing the voice, I recognized it immediately. I no longer needed Therrion's introduction. I already knew that my sisters were on the other side.

Nobility is complicated, that ''s not news to anyone, it's full of strange rules that do not make any sense no matter where you look at them, and that's where it falls that I am the first daughter when I have three sisters and a brother who is older than me.

I am the first "legitimate" daughter, and that legitimate only indicates that I am both the daughter of my father and my mother's daughter. Marriage in this world is rare, you can only legally have one wife, but you can have the concubines you want as long as your partner or society does not tell you to stop. The problem is that children born from those relationships cannot be heirs and their political worth is almost zero for just being the children of concubines at best. That strange rule was perhaps taken too literally by my regrettable parents, and they both had children by their side long before they even cared about having a legitimate heir. I know it sounds absurd because it is, but now by the additional rules of society, I am the "eldest" daughter when I am the youngest and my sisters double or even triple my age.

Be as it may, when Therrion opened the door, three girls, ages 9, 14, and 15 respectively, got in.

Again, their names don't interest me, so they are always just little sister, Liz, and big sister.

As soon as they entered, Grande approached with a determined step and slapped the table with both hands.

(Big) you, I want to talk to you.

I Ignored her for now, I know exactly why she was coming here, and I was hoping it would take longer for her to figure it out, at least long enough to finish my morning work. On the other hand, Liz saw the tray of sandwiches and pointed to it, asking if she could take them, to which I made a gesture with my hand to tell her to go ahead. At that time, she pulled the tray to herself and began to eat. Alien to everything, and always living in her world was little sister, looking at the room from one side to the other as if looking for something, she has a simple mind, and she loves shiny things, so I made a sign to Therrion to watch her.

(Big) you little bitch, why did I get so little money this month?

I motioned for a maid to serve Liz a cup of chocolate, to which she thanked me with a smile. I smiled back and then turned to attend to Big Sister's tantrums.

(Leonora) in a tantrum, you threw half dishes at a maid, so I discounted the value of them and the treatment of your money.

On the other side of the room, little had found something that caught her attention, so now she was struggling to take the collection of coins I had on a shelf, but the maids did not leave it.

(Big) I had already told you that bitch dared to spill soup on my dress, and then she had the audacity not to apologize on the spot.

(Leonora) she did apologize, that's what all the witnesses say, and as if that weren't enough, they emphasize that it was, in fact, your fault since you tripped her up.

Big raised her head indignantly and replied haughtily.

(Big) It's not my fault that she can't do her job well.

I knew this conversation would lead nowhere, but I wanted him to leave quickly to finish my work.

(Leonora) look, let's do this. If you apologize to her, I'll give you back the money I discounted, plus a small bonus for being a "good girl."

She was outraged and began to complain, so I decided to ignore her.

Although the unfortunate couple is scum, they are smart enough to understand their place. When I showed that I could speak, everyone was surprised, so I took advantage of that moment of doubt to show my abilities to solve the problems of the dukedom. Little by little, I was entrusted with more of the duke's responsibilities until it ended in the current situation. Now they only have to lower their heads sometimes, and they can have a life of luxury without having to work or worry about anything.

On the other hand, Big was so stupid that she couldn't even understand where she was standing. If I wanted, I wouldn't give her any financial support. Who was she going to complain to anyway? With his father, the human waste?

If I wished she could end up as a maid in her own home or as the fourth or fifth concubine of a friend of the family, that's usually the fate of illegitimate children when there is a legitimate child in the family. However, I want to believe that I am a better person than all of them despite everything.

(Leonora) I've already said my last word. If you don't understand, you can withdraw.

For a second, she seemed enraged and made a kind of feint to come to hit me. However, she looked around and realized that everyone in the room was on my side, and no one will support her. With tears in her eyes due to her "impotence," she turned to glare at me and threatened me.

(Big) you... This isn't going to stay this way, you'll see.

I'm shaking with fear.

Big turned around and left the room, and the maids prevented Little from stealing anything. She left behind Big. Meanwhile, Liz made me a sign to the tray asking if she could take it, so I nodded. She took the tray and left.

Of the 3, Liz is the calmest. She's a quiet and plump little girl with oatmeal hair who usually combs her hair in pigtails that don't usually cause problems in general and only follows Big because she finds her tantrums fun. When I was not in such a high position in past lives, she was the only one who shared her food with me, for which I am eternally grateful.

The three of them left the room, and I sighed at the thought of them. I would like to be her friend, or at least have a minimally cordial relationship. In a way, neither Big nor Small are to blame for behaving as they do. I am sure that their attitude is due to the abandonment that human waste has with them. After all, my older brother is a little more "decent" in some aspects, as the pitiful woman pays more attention to him.

At the thought of my "brother," a chill ran down my spine. Indeed, he doesn't usually cause too many problems, but when he does, these are traditionally way greater than an injured maid and a broken vessel. He is a strange lottery that I have never made sense of, and the truth is, it has never mattered so much to me.

Calming my nerves again, I ask that they bring the papers again to continue working. However, once again, they knock on the door again.

(Leonora) and now who is it?

I asked, already a little tired.

(Therrion) is the gardener, miss.

Hearing it, I sighed heavily. I had wasted all morning.