“I don’t know either. I…”

Rubica shut her mouth and stood up. She felt sorry for leaving the ice cream that hadn’t even been tasted yet, but this wasn’t the time to enjoy her dessert.

Being with those panicked people wouldn’t let her find out what Edgar was up to. To know why he was doing that, she had to talk to him.

“Ann, come with me.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Ann understood what Rubica was about to do and nodded. She told the other maids to not follow her since she was going to serve Rubica on her own this evening, then she followed Rubica.

“Edgar!”

Rubica arrived when Edgar’s attendant was helping him get changed to his slippers. Edgar then saw Ann and Carl come in after her.

He nodded to his attendant who soon realized what was going on.

“Then, Your Grace, I hope you have a pleasant time.”

Nothing good will come by being present there. The duke and the duchess were going to have a very serious conversation. If rumors about it got out, he was going to be held responsible.

He tried to leave, but Edgar turned to Rubica and opened his arms.

“I’m not ready to have a pleasant time yet.”

The message was clear. He wanted the attendant to undress him. It appeared the attendant wasn’t going to allowed to leave before helping his master get changed into a comfortable gown. He glanced at Carl, but Carl wasn’t his master. Edgar was.

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Now he had no choice but to witness the couple’s fight.

“Edgar, I want to talk to you in private.”

Thankfully, the duchess gave him a chance to survive. The attendant silently let go of Edgar’s jacket sleeve, hoping to be unnoticed.

Actually, having to witness the fight itself wasn’t scary. He was sure he could do his job like a mute no matter what the two said. However, the problem would come after that.

When he left the room, the other servants were not going to let him go until he told them everything.

“Let’s just talk. It’s not like it’s that serious.”

But sadly, Edgar dismissed that chance. Rubica sighed, and Edgar hated it when she did it. However, this time, he pretended to ignore it and let the attendant undo the buttons on his sleeve.

“We are not getting mana quartz this year? What are you talking about?”

“I meant what I said, and I plan to not get that thing ever again.”

“What the- Edgar! I really can’t see why you are doing this.”

Edgar smiled, but Rubica truly didn’t know why he was doing that.

“I decided that getting mana quartz was unnecessary. Is there any other reason needed?”

“But…”

“I apologize again for interfering with your budget.”

“That’s not the problem!”

Rubica grabbed her skirt and then let it go again a couple of times. Ann and Carl couldn’t dare to speak and just watched the two.

“Finding mana quartz is about the Claymore’s honor, tradition, and history. It is also needed to test newly developed weapons and to check if there are any problems with them.”

It just made no sense. She was saying exactly what he had told her to convince her. It also had made her eventually admit he was right. But unlike her, Edgar didn’t lose the smile on his lips. He took off his shirt and wore a gown his attendant brought.

“I plan to make a new tradition.”

“Edgar.”

Rubica was so mad that tears swelled up in her eyes.

She had cried yesterday because she had been so angry that she had to give up on her values, but now she cried because she was mad at Edgar who always got his way.

Why was this man always trying to toy with her? She never thought of defeating him or toying with him, but he was always like that to her.

“It has always been a problem to count such a thing as domestic budget for the family.”

“Then, are you saying you will assign it to the outer budget?”

“No, not at all. I told you, I will never get mana quartz again.”

Rubica put a hand on her forehead while Ann found the situation quite confusing. It had originally been Rubica who talked about not getting mana quartz, and she canceled that yesterday. According to what Ann knew, Edgar had never been interested in the matter.

Before Rubica came, he let Ann handle the management of the household and the family’s tradition that were ‘things that, of course, had to be done’.

He hadn’t had any choice. He was always busy handling the matters right in front of him as he wasn’t just working on the weapons developed by Claymore. The king had already sent him a letter yesterday, asking him to come to his castle.

Perspective about the economy that was related to the price of mana stones and the progress of the military business. Such things couldn’t be decided without Edgar’s opinion.

In his letter, the king said he had waited for enough time for the duke and his wife, and he even used a mana stone carriage just to send that one letter instead of using a bird.

The messenger was under strict order to not go into the duke’s office, but he showed the king wanted the duke to go to the capital and attend meetings, even late at night.

The family could run three mana stone carriage partly because the kingdom really needed him.

Edgar was always, always busy. Now, it was a miracle that he never missed dinner with Rubica.

“Your Grace, I think your wife is right on this.”

Ann didn’t know what was going on, but now Rubica was the one who was saying getting mana quartz was necessary. So, she quickly sided with her, and Edgar looked at her with amusement.

“Ann, are you siding with her because you are the housekeeper?”

“No, of course not, Your Grace. I just think she is right on this matter.”

“I said I would find a way to replace the tradition.”

“But the tradition is old. If you break it, your relatives will immediately protest.”

However, Edgar only smirked at that.

“So, what can they do by protesting?”

“Edgar.”

Rubica stopped Edgar from getting limitlessly arrogant. How could the situation be reversed like this? She had been the one insisting on giving up mana quartz only yesterday, and he had made her give up her will, but now he was insisting on it himself.

Rubica was confused as she really didn’t know why he was doing that.

He was a smart person. Although he was a little too arrogant, he wasn’t the kind of person who acted like a stubborn child. Therefore, Rubica calmly called his name.

“Such a sudden decision will make everyone protest. Why don’t we take time and find a way?”

Edgar looked at her as she recited exactly what he had said the day before.

Carl and Ann were desperately looking at them, and although the attendant was trying to ignore everything, he couldn’t get rid of the curiosity in his eyes. Things were going exactly as he wanted.

“Okay. I will talk to my wife in private, so leave.”

Everybody sighed at hearing that, although whether they were relieved or giving up, it wasn’t known yet.

Before Ann left, she grabbed Rubica’s hand tightly. Although she didn’t say anything, her eyes were pleading to Rubica, hoping she would convince Edgar.

On the other hand, Carl watched the attendant leave the room worriedly. It looked like stopping words from getting out would be impossible after Edgar made the announcement at the dining hall.

As the servants lived in the annex, the Claymore’s relatives were going to find out about it very soon. It was only a matter of time. Probably the entire dukedom was going to know about it by tomorrow.

The duke who had announced to not get mana quartz and the duchess who was trying hard to stop it. Edgar was going to get piles of letters protesting in less than a week.

Moreover, those relatives were going to start knocking on Edgar’s office door first thing tomorrow morning. How was Carl supposed to get rid of them? It was the biggest crisis in his 50-year-old career as the Claymore’s butler.

“Your Grace, please.”

Now his only hope was Rubica. He erased from his mind the fact that it had been her who proposed to give up mana quartz in the first place. Even if he failed to do that, he would have no choice but to ask Rubica to stop the duke anyway. Rubica nodded as if saying, ‘I got this’. It felt so strange.

“Edgar.”

After they all left, Rubica determinedly called Edgar. He looked back at her with quite a pleasant expression. He didn’t know what she was feeling and was just happy.

“What on earth have you done?”

“You did well.”

“I did well?”

That answer eventually blew Rubica up.