Starry Inn.
Ever since Rowan had poached the Starry Inn's star chef, business had dropped off considerably.
Illucia had chosen to stay here long-term precisely because there were fewer guests.
"Is the chairwoman in?" Lusen asked the maid, a stack of documents in his hand.
The maid nodded slightly and bent forward to open the door for the butler.
Illucia was in her room, wearing a pale yellow gown and no makeup. With war breaking out in the Outer Sea, business meetings had become much less frequent. If she wasn't going out, she couldn't be bothered to put on makeup.
"The major merchants' guilds and families of Boralus would love to skin Rowan alive right now. That reckless young master has really gone too far." His face livid, Lusen handed Illucia an itemized price list.
Illucia pressed her lips together, her crescent-shaped eyes narrowing slightly, and casually set the list aside.
"Normally, if someone harmed the family's interests, I'd have turned against him already. But we're under a wartime economy now, and I can understand him a little. Rowan is incredibly shrewd. He must understand the chain reaction caused by such aggressive economic measures better than anyone. I honestly admire him for daring to do this in the face of so much opposition."
Illucia had lost interest in Rowan, but this series of audacious moves had given her a new perspective on him.
"He doesn't understand the rules of commerce at all. No matter how much wealth the Norwington Family has, he'll squander it all." Watching gold coins that had practically been in his hands slip away, Lusen was seething.
"Old Butler, it's only a little money. The Norwington Family has nearly a century of accumulated wealth. We can afford this much."
Hearing his young lady say that only made