Thomas left the study, feeling a sense of loss. When he went downstairs, he stopped at the corner of the stairs. He wanted to take out a cigarette and light it, but he found that the cigarette was hidden under the pillow.
The butler, Mr. Carter, strictly forbade the servants from smoking in the castle.
"Thomas, what are you hiding here for?" A maid, about thirty years old, wearing a black and white maid skirt, came up from downstairs, carrying a mop and a bucket.
"Nothing."
"Doesn't Master let you serve him?"
Thomas patted the wall in annoyance: "Maggie, tell me, why doesn't Master like me? Although I have never been a valet before, but I once served as Viscount Roosevelt's first valet. I am competent for this job."
"How would I know? I am not a maid of Tulip Castle, I have never seen Master before."
"I just asked you, is there anything I have not done enough?"
"You should ask Mr. Carter or Mrs. Morrison … Moreover, I don't think you have anything to worry about. Master only has three valets, Jesse is an assistant, and Tom is clumsy and can't serve Master. Perhaps Master's character is like this. In this small town, no one is more suitable to be a valet than you. "
Thomas cheered up a little: "Yes, I heard that Master is not valued by the Baron in Tulip Castle. Perhaps he will just be the Flower Town Baron for the rest of his life, living in the poor countryside."
"Maybe."
"Maggie, do you regret following Master here?"
"I don't care. Life in the castle is bad, but it is better than going back to the farm and starving to death. I have already sold myself to Master, so there is no need to think about regrets. "
Thomas was about to speak, when someone interrupted him: "Don't you need to work? Thomas, Maggie, watch your behavior, don't whisper outside your bedroom and kitchen!" Coming up the stairs, the person was the butler of the simple and crude castle, Carter.
He was patrolling the castle with a bunch of keys and a bottle of red wine.
"Okay, Mr. Carter, I'll go to work now." Thomas and Maggie left in a hurry to do their own things.
If the lesser nobles were the servants of the greater nobles, then the male servants and female servants were the servants of the butlers. The aristocratic system had always been this clear-cut.
Although the castle was small, there was a lot of work.
Even though there was only one noble, Liszt, to serve, the daily workload could be said to be enormous. For example, hygiene. Every morning and night, the inside and outside of the house had to be cleaned. They also had to wash clothes, boil water, prepare food, and clean the toilet bowl. Most of the work was left to the servants.
But this didn't mean that Carter didn't need to work. On the contrary, in addition to managing the servants, Carter was also responsible for welcoming guests, pouring wine, supervising the serving of dishes, receiving and sending letters, keeping the high-end tableware, managing the underground wine cellar, and taking care of the most important guests.
Old Carter was already fifty years old this year. In this era where the average age was less than fifty-five, he was already an old man.
Dang dang dang.
He knocked on the door of the study.
"Please come in." Liszt's gentle voice sounded from inside the door. He had a "steel voice" that was popular in the upper class. In the Iron and Steel Ridge Kingdom and its vassal states, countless nobles were distinguished with a steel voice.
Old Carter took a deep breath.
In Tulip Castle, he didn't have much contact with Liszt. He was mainly responsible for one of the Count's villas. A while ago, during Liszt's coming-of-age ceremony, the Count assigned him to Liszt as a butler. His position was promoted. Being a butler was the ultimate goal of all servants.
But the treatment definitely declined.
However, Carter didn't have any complaints. He had sold himself to the Tulip family at the age of fifteen. It had been thirty-five years since then. He didn't marry and was alone. He had long regarded himself as a member of the Tulip family.
If he could follow the descendant of the Tulip family, Baron Liszt, and spend the last few years of his life, it would undoubtedly be a happy ending.
"Master, reading at night hurts your eyes. You have to pay more attention. No matter how many candles there are, they are not as good as the sunlight during the day. "
Liszt smiled slightly. His eyes moved away from the thick bast paper book on the table and looked at the somewhat old butler: "Mr. Carter, have you checked all the rooms?"
"Except for the room where the servants still have to work, all the other rooms have been locked."
"Very good. Then, let's have a drink together." Liszt had already noticed the red wine in Carter's hand. The nobles were addicted to alcohol, so much so that it formed an unwritten custom. The master of the castle would drink a few glasses with the butler before going to bed at night and talk about the castle.
Liszt didn't like to drink, but his predecessor liked to drink, so much so that his body had a need for alcohol.
However, the alcohol content here was very low. Unless he drank like crazy like beer, it would be difficult not to get drunk.
Each of them had a glass of red wine.
He lightly touched it.
Swaying back and forth, Liszt took a sip: "Can the castle's expenses support this year's taxes?"
"I'm afraid that it will be a bit difficult. You didn't bring much alcohol from Tulip Castle, and there isn't much wheat flour left. The Flower Town is very remote, so no caravans are willing to come. Even if we have gold coins, it will still be very difficult to buy wheat and alcohol. However, the good news is that there are a lot of wild fruits in the Thorns Ridge, so there is no need to worry about having no fruits to eat. "
Liszt wasn't valued by the count. When they separated, he naturally didn't get much.
According to his memory, when his sister Li Weiwei separated, there were a total of thirty carriages, while he … didn't even have a carriage. He only had a few horses and a team of commoners carrying some luggage.
The difference in treatment was like heaven and earth.
However, this was also good. He didn't have to bear too much kindness, so he didn't have to worry about how to express his closeness to the Earl Of Coral Island.
"It won't do without wheat." Liszt put down the glass and said in an unquestionable tone, "The Flower Town must develop as soon as possible! The trade route must be opened!"
Bread was the staple food here.
If there was no white bread made of wheat, then they could only eat the rough and unpalatable black bread made of rye and oats. Liszt already couldn't eat his favorite hometown food, so he would starve to death if he couldn't eat fine white bread.
"Opening a trade route is not easy. The Thorns Ridge is too dangerous."
"You can rest assured that I will take care of it. The Flower Town's future will not be limited by poverty, and the castle won't be so simple that it doesn't even have a name. "Liszt said solemnly.
Only a magnificent castle could have a name. Calling a simple and crude castle like Liszt's was already praiseworthy. If it had a name, then it would be laughed at by the other aristocrats.
"Has the sprite worm been taken care of?"
"It is very stable, Master."
"That's good."
The glass of wine was finished.
Old Carter took his leave tactfully: "Master, rest early. Good night."
"Good night to you as well, Mr. Carter."
After Carter left, Liszt looked at the thick bast book describing the customs and practices of the Grand Duchy of Sapphire for a while. The book was very thick, about the thickness of a dictionary. However, the content was actually very little. The thick bast book lived up to its name. Its thickness was almost as thick as pig skin.
"How was paper invented?" Liszt recalled. He found that he had a pretty good memory. He could clearly remember the papermaking process that he had seen on the Internet, "When there is time, paper will also have to be invented … The Industrial Revolution seems unlikely, but there are still many ways to get rich."
In a trance, he became lost in thought again.
Sure enough, smoke Serpentines once again appeared before his eyes.
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