New World, New Life: I Became A Bigshot In The Ancient World
Chapter 147: RANDALL’S REPORT

Chapter 147: RANDALL’S REPORT

At that moment, some girls approached them.

"Princess Aristia, Miss Lauren, Miss Nova, can we join you?" They asked, looking a bit wary and skeptical, but also looking eager.

They were all around her age.

The three of them nodded simultaneously. They had no objections. The girls smiled happily before moving closer.

One of the girls smiled politely and asked Nova, "Miss Nova, do you enjoy tea parties?" They seemed to be thinking of something to start a conversation with.

Nova nodded enthusiastically, "Oh yes, I love them! Especially when there are lots of sweets like today. What about you, Miss Ellie?" She asked back.

Aristia agreed with her on that part. The only good thing about tea parties was that there would be food served.

After watching Nova, she observed that the latter was a social butterfly. It wasn’t hard for her to engage in a conversation, just like how she had done with Wade during the Kingdom’s anniversary the previous year.

[I don’t even know any of their names.] Aristia thought to herself.

"Yes, they’re delicious. But I love the desserts sold in The Vanilla Courtyard. My favorite is the lemon tart. Have you tried it?" The girl called Ellie said.

The other girls joined in, "Yes, it’s so tangy!"

Another girl said quietly, "Um, I like the scones. They’re quite good with jam."

Aristia said, hiding her smirk. "They are, aren’t they? Miss Ellie, do you like scones too?"

Ellie was a bit surprised, but nodded, "Yes, they’re delicious."

"I have lunch at The Vanilla Courtyard everytime." Aristia said.

"I do too. Mother and Father also have lunch at The Vanilla Courtyard."

"Yes, the food they make is very delicious..."

The others chorused. Neither of them wanted to be left out when it came to speaking with Aristia.

Was the princess always this easy to talk to? They wondered. She indeed seemed different from before, even stooping low to speak to them nicely.

"Princess Aristia, do you like the scones?" Another child asked curiously.

"Yes," Aristia grinned mischievously, but masked it with a friendly smile, "I like scones when they’re warm and I can put extra jam on them."

"Extra jam?" The children exchanged glances, feeling confused.

"Of course, you can ask for extra jam in The Vanilla Courtyard. Not only extra jam, but extra anything— sauce, gravy, anything." Then she feigned confusion, "You didn’t know that?"

The children shook their heads, eyes wide with surprise. "I didn’t know."

"I didn’t either."

Aristia nodded, "You just have to ask the servers for it. It comes with a different price though." She said as though it was a secret.

The children bobbed their heads in understanding. The princess was so kind to tell them that. They would make sure to tell their parents.

[I bet now you’ll have to pay for extra.] Aristia smirked and then nodded at them in agreement.

The hostess, Marchioness Kiran, finally announced that it was time for lunch, officially. Everyone resumed their seats at the round tables as the servants served lunch. Each table had four chairs placed around it even though it could contain six chairs.

Lilith Anton refused to stay at the table her mother and sister were sitting and instead chose to sit in Catherine’s table. Aristia was sure it was because she wanted to hear Alaric telling the stories, even though Duchess Alistair’s table was right beside theirs.

Because Avery Eldridge was alone since Alicia wasn’t with her, she sat on her older sister, Alistair’s table.

After the servants served lunch, the noblewomen and children began to eat and drink tea amidst conversations.

"Thank you for inviting us, Marchioness Kiran. Your tea party was most enjoyable."

"I hope Marchioness Kiran can invite us again."

Eventually, as the sun began to set, signaling the end of the tea party, the guests began to leave.

However, Catherine didn’t leave. She and the other three madams of the Anton, Eldridge and Kiran went to the drawing room, leaving their children alone.

"Let’s go to my room." Nova suggested.

They headed to Nova’s room. The servants all bowed when they passed by them on the hallway and quickly went about their activities.

Alaric, Lilith and Juno had gone to the garden with a servant assigned to look after them.

Paige knocked on the door and entered.

Seeing all of them threre, she walked further into the room.

"Hello, princess " She waved at Aristia.

"Sister Paige," Aristia responded.

Paige sat down on the bed beside her cousin, Lauren, and listened to her sister chat with her cousin and her cousin’s cousin.

Knock. Knock.

After a long time, a knock on the door interrupted their discussion.

"Princess, young misses, the Madams have asked me to inform you that it is time to return home." The maid bowed.

Aristia turned to Paige, Nova and Lauren, "Looks like our mothers are done with their discussion."

They nodded and together, the four of them left the room.

Alaric and the others were standing outside the mansion with their mothers and waiting for them.

They bade farewell to each other and prepared to return home.

With Alaric’s hand in hers, and Catherine beside them, they made their way back to the waiting carriage and headed back to the Grand Duke’s Mansion.

By the time they arrived at the Mansion, the sun had already set and darkness was beginning to spread across Amberale.

"You’re back, princess Tia." Adeline smiled once Aristia returned. Owen was standing quietly behind her.

"Yes," Aristia nodded.

"Would you like to take a bath and then have something to eat?" Adeline asked.

"Just a bath will do. I’m not hungry." She replied. She really wasn’t hungry after all the snacks and tea drinking.

Adeline nodded and left to prepare the bath.

After taking her bath, Aristia sat on the study table in her room.

A timely knock sounded on the door and Owen opened it after receiving permission.

He was holding a document in his hands. "Princess Aristia, this is a report on the art store. Randall sent it." He handed it to her.

Aristia nodded and collected it. She read through the report.

As she read it, her thoughts moved to the art store.

The art store had been renovated three months ago. Because it had been greatly improved aesthetically, it had drawn the attention of many. A lot of people visited the store and were beginning to frequent it.

In just a few months, the art store had gone from being on the verge of closing to being on par with the other fancy art store that nobles and wealthy commoners in the Hemsworth Fief usually frequented, even almost surpassing it.

It was a big feat to achieve in just a short while of three months.

As Aristia read through the report, her lips curled up. "That art store is targeting my art store?"

Owen nodded. "They’ve begun to secretly intercept the goods when the merchants are delivering it, disguised as bandits."

Aristia’s brows furrowed. She never took on any losses. She wouldn’t endure that.

She closed the report with a sharp sound and turned to Owen, "Inform Randall to carry out the plan. Nobody messes with me and gets away with it."

"Yes, princess." Owen nodded.

[They wanna play games? Bring it on!] A smirk slowly formed on her lips and her eyes filled with disdain.

Owen unconsciously shivered. Sometimes Aristia was scarier than she looked.

He left to write to Randall. He didn’t feel any pity for those people. They brought it on themselves. He snickered to himself.

Unknowingly, he was just like Aristia in a way. He shook his head.

The next day in the North.

Randall unlocked the door to the art store and stepped inside early in the morning. The place had changed a lot but it still retained its warm tone, only now, it had a classic feel.

The store now had two floors too. The ground floor was for art supplies on sale and the other floor would be used as an art gallery. It hadn’t yet been opened to the public though.

Behind Randall, the workers arrived one by one.

"Good morning Mister Randall," his workers greeted as they passed by him.

"Good morning," Randall replied. Unlike before when he managed the store alone, he now had people employed. Randall had a large smile on his face when he thought about it.

But remembering the recent plots of the rival art store, his smile faded and a frown replaced it.

He looked opposite the store and saw the manager of the other store glaring at him. Since the store’s door was open, he could see the other side.

When the store manager, Mister Robert, saw that Randall had noticed him, he smiled knowingly. Randall moved his gaze away and pretended to not have seen it. He was sure they were behind the looting of his store’s goods.

"Mister Randall." A voice snapped him out of his thoughts.