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Chapter 43 Part 6 – We will once again challenge the nightmare ball that has driven mother to the brink of abandonment. Without realizing that Solomon is present there in the dark.

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Aquilegia

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Ahh, how wonderful it is that I can properly voice out what I want to say!!
When I was a newborn baby, I would try to laugh like this, but it would become 「Ah waa waa waa」.

I shook my fan, and in response to my call, a huge eight-horse carriage came to a sudden stop in front of our house’s entrance. Sparks fly as the corner of the stone steps collide with the iron on the wheels. The carriage skimmed the tip of my nose. A gust of wind rushed in, sending my hair and skirt flying. I tried to act nonchalant, but to be honest, I was quite frightened. That was overkill. Who told you to pull the carriage over to the point that it would graze against the stone steps? Later, I would have to scold the cross-dressing and smug-looking maid who is playing the role of a coachman.

「…… W …… W …… Wha …… !」

I realized that mother was standing behind me with a stunned expression.

「An eight-horse carriage ……!?」

She was speechless.
Even nobles rarely use an eight-horse carriage.
At most, it would be a four-horse carriage.
The more horses there are, the more people you need.
It wouldn’t be enough for the carriage to be driven by a single coachman sitting in the coach and wielding the reins and the whip.
It’s completely different from a mechanized car that only needs a driver.
Regardless of whether the horses are slowly walking or running, it is a huge task to handle them.
There is also a horse boy that will help in handling the horses when instructing them to start or stop walking.
While it’s a lot more convenient to open and close the door of a car.
If there are too many horses, it becomes too much for a single coachman to handle and he would need the support of additional horsemen. More horse boys would also be needed to take care of the horses. The more luxurious the carriage, the more money and manpower are needed. That is why a carriage can be a symbol of wealth.

The eight-horse carriage eight-horse cart was, well, a bluff.
Actually, I wanted to have even more horses, but Bradd decided to limit it to eight horses because he thought it would be difficult to make the turns along the way.

Nobles judge their opponents by their carriages.
The fight will already start from the point when we enter the ballroom’s outer venue.
That’s why, inside my heart, I call the carriage a battle chariot.
It is an important weapon for gaining a psychological advantage on the battlefield that is the aristocratic society by scaring the nobles out of their wits.

I also spent more than half a million dollars on the body of the carriage.
Gold leaves and gold accessories are pasted all over the carriages, which sparkle with the light of lanterns installed at the four corners of the carriage.
The flat wide surfaces of the carriage, such as the door, are decorated with gorgeous paintings.
In other words, the impression it has is that of a carriage covered with gorgeous paintings with a gold frame.
On top of that, it is decorated with tassels and decorative cloth. Not only the body of the carriage, but also the horses.
The interior of the carriage looks more like a parlor with a luxurious sofa than a carriage seat, but the difference is that the doors and walls are lined with high-quality, lustrous leather. Mother didn’t know of the existence of this carriage, as I had it secretly made in my secret factory.

「…… Um, Scarlet. How much did this carriage cost?」

Mother had a dumbfounded expression as she asked.

Looking away from the silver handle of the carriage door and the huge crest, I turned around and smiled.
Attached to the carriage was not only the crest of my family, but also the crest of the royal family that is engraved with silver.
His Majesty conferred me not only the title of a Baroness, but also a special permission to use the crest of the royal family.
Mother is not familiar with aristocratic society, so she did not realize the significance of this.
Just like Tokugawa Mitsukuni, from now on I will use the influence of the royal family to subdue the rogues.

「Don’t worry mother. The ‘basic components’ were not that expensive.」

Hearing the amount of money I had mentioned, Mother seemed somewhat relieved.
I apologized to her in my heart. What I had just mentioned was the price of only the chassis including the wheels, and the harnesses that connect the horses and the wagon. It does not include the value of the horses. And of course the price of the ‘body’ on top of the ‘basic components’ were not included as well.

If I were to be honest, mother would probably be on the verge of fainting and would be reluctant to even sit in the seat.
I would never reveal this to my mother, who feels more comfortable riding directly on a horse than in a carriage.
However, if she did so this time, her dress would be a mess and nobles have rules that they have to act in accordance with. This carriage is absolutely necessary because it will be useful for fighting while conforming to those rules.

Mother has a keen sense of intuition, so she sensed my reticence and looked at me with a doubtful expression. I rushed to hold her hand with both of my hands. Mother squinted her eyes and patted my head.

Mother’s dress is based on a light green color and is very pretty.
Unlike my dress, her robe is pulled up at the waist and tied with a ribbon. Perhaps as a backlash to Melville’s shocking traditional outfits, mother prefers classical dresses, so she was relieved that she had to wear the style of dresses from more than a hundred years ago.

To be honest, it was nearly impossible to procure fabric and tailor a dress in a week. But we had the Orange Privateers, a group of sea-faring merchants, and Mary, a sewing genius. Seraphy, the leader of the Orange Privateers, seemed to get along well with Mary, whose hobby is making cosplay costumes, and he would come to our house to deliver various kinds of fabrics free of charge. One of the fabrics happened to be suitable for the theme of the masquerade ball. In return, Mary is responsible for making new outfits for the Orange Privateers. She has been working day and night to create the dresses for us, and her skills have now reached a miraculous level.

Still, it’s fortunate that father is not here.
If that man, who considers mother as his everything, had seen her dressed up, he would have kneeled down, kissed her hand, and carried her off to his bedroom in a princess’s carry, ignoring the masquerade ball.
Even after three years has passed, their passionate love has not abated even a little.
This married couple’s relationship has gone beyond harmonious to an extremely sweet honeymoon.
I can only wonder why they aren’t having more children.
Maybe it’s because of the excess lovemaking?

My bashful mother wore a veil headdress.
She tried to hide her face by hanging the veil not only on the back but also on the front, so everyone became flustered and quickly stopped her.
Mother, if you did that, then you would have gone beyond modest and look like someone trying to hide their flawed facial features ……

「…… So Bradd, how’s the carriage?」

I looked up and called out to the coachman’s seat.
It’s definitely not because I’m short that I had to look up. It’s because the coachman’s seat in a luxury carriage is quite high.

「It’s perfect. …… Don’t you agree, everyone?」

Bradd raised the whip high enough so that it wouldn’t get into the horses’ field of vision and stimulate them. After hearing what Bradd said, the horsemen riding on the horses pulling the carriage nodded while smiling.

With eight horses in two horizontal rows of four horses each, Bradd alone could not handle such a large number of horses, so there were horsemen straddling the first and last horse on the left side row for additional support.
The four horse boys, who were standing with their feet on the steps at the back of the carriage and holding on to the leather straps, also dismounted and conveyed by hand movements that there was no problem. Our carriage is too wide ……

And this stupid Bradd. He made such a dangerous and sudden stop before the horse boys could dismount.
Look, everyone has a bitter smile. I’ll lecture you later.

They are all our footmen.
Today, they are dressed in custom-made riding outfits.
They are mild-mannered and friendly, but if their true identities were known, those who are well versed in martial arts or from the underworld would be horrified. They are legendary taboos who should never be made enemies with.

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