Boundless Family Upgrades For The Deadbeat Lord

Later that afternoon, Raymond sat behind the heavy oak desk inside the castle’s small administrative office, a stack of newly delivered parchments spread across the surface in front of him.

The room was warm enough thanks to the low fire burning in the hearth, but the dry wind outside had already begun carrying a sharper chill than it had a week earlier.

Winter was still some distance away from reaching its worst, yet the change in temperature was noticeable enough that Raymond could no longer afford to treat cold-weather preparation as something he could postpone.

Standing across from him were Lily and the castle’s head maid, Marianne Holt.

Marianne was thirty years old, with neatly tied dark-brown hair and the calm, composed expression of someone who had spent enough years managing noble households to understand that panic rarely solved anything.

Unlike many of the servants who had either fled or quietly distanced themselves after Raymond’s disgrace, Marianne had remained with him.

She wasn’t blindly devoted in the same way Lily was, nor did she possess the fierce military loyalty of Boris and the guards, but she was practical, experienced, and steady.

More importantly, she had been the adult responsible for most of the negotiations during the trade journey, which was precisely why Raymond had insisted she accompany Lily in the first place.

Lily, meanwhile, looked exhausted despite clearly trying her absolute hardest not to show it.

She sat straight-backed on the chair opposite Raymond, her small hands resting neatly on top of a thick bundle of purchase records as though she had personally conquered an enemy kingdom instead of surviving a trade trip.

There was dust clinging faintly to the hem of her oversized maid uniform, and her messy brown hair had somehow become even more unruly during the journey, but the smug satisfaction in her large blue eyes was impossible to miss.

Raymond stared at her for a moment. Then he stood up. Lily’s eyes followed him suspiciously as he rounded the desk and stopped directly in front of her.

Without warning, Raymond placed one hand on top of her head and began rubbing her hair.

”You did exceptionally well.”

Lily froze.

Then her eyes slowly narrowed in pure satisfaction. She tried to maintain a dignified expression, but the small movement of her head betrayed her completely as she subtly leaned upward into his palm like a cat demanding more attention.

Raymond’s lips twitched. ”You look very pleased with yourself.”

”I am simply accepting the praise that I properly earned, Young Master,” Lily replied with exaggerated seriousness, although she didn’t move away from his hand. ”The journey was long, the roads were terrible, and those merchants asked too many questions. I believe I deserve at least this much recognition.”

Raymond laughed quietly and gave her head one final rub before stepping back.

Ten years old. She was ten years old.

And somehow she had already crossed into another region, helped supervise a substantial winter purchase, assisted in inventory management, returned with an entire convoy, and still had enough energy left to sit in his office pretending she wasn’t exhausted.

Raymond stared at her. Then a completely unwanted memory surfaced. When he had been ten years old on Earth, he once threw such a dramatic tantrum because his mother refused to let him eat ice cream before dinner that he ended up crying under the dining table for nearly twenty minutes.

His expression immediately tightened.

What a disgrace.

Lily tilted her head. ”Young Master? Why are you looking like that?”

Raymond cleared his throat and looked away. ”Nothing. I was remembering something deeply shameful from another lifetime.”

Lily blinked her big eyes at him.

Marianne’s brows lifted slightly, but she politely said nothing.

Raymond returned to his seat and shifted his attention toward the older maid. ”Marianne, you also have my gratitude. Lily is capable, but she’s still a child. I know you handled most of the negotiations and made sure the caravan didn’t come back with half the money missing.”

Marianne gave a small, respectful bow. ”It was my duty, my Lord. Lady Lily was actually much more useful than you might expect. She kept track of nearly every item we purchased and caught two mistakes in the merchant ledger before I noticed them.”

Lily immediately puffed out her chest.

Raymond looked at her. ”Don’t let that go to your head.”

”It is already there.” Lily stuck out her pink tongue and giggled softly.

Marianne lowered her head slightly to hide a smile.

Raymond sighed and clasped his hands together on the desk. ”Alright. Enough celebrating. Tell me everything.”

The mood shifted almost immediately.

Marianne opened the first ledger and placed it carefully on the desk between them.

”We traveled southeast through the outer Zulor road and crossed into the Valmere Region after three days. The roads became considerably better once we left this territory, so the rest of the journey was much faster. We conducted most of our purchases through the Golden Road Merchant Company. Their local branch had enough stock to fill almost the entire order without forcing us to visit multiple towns.”

Raymond nodded slowly.

The Valmere Region wasn’t one of the richest parts of Solaria, but compared to Zulor it might as well have been another world. The land there could support real agriculture, the roads were maintained, merchants actually operated permanent warehouses, and towns didn’t look like they were being slowly eaten by dust.

Marianne turned one page. ”The primary order was winter clothing. We purchased one thousand three hundred complete winter sets.”

Raymond’s eyes narrowed with interest.

Marianne continued. ”Each set includes a thick wool tunic, wool trousers, a heavy outer coat, gloves, socks, and a basic winter cap with a scarf. The quality is not luxurious, but the material is thick and durable enough for the climate here. We deliberately purchased one hundred more sets than the current population requires so damaged clothing can be replaced during the winter.”

Raymond nodded in satisfaction. ”Good. What about blankets?”

”One thousand five hundred heavy wool blankets.” Marianne answered softly.

”Also good.” Raymond nodded with narrowed eyes.

Marianne moved down the list.

”We purchased approximately two tons of coarse salt. The merchant company tried to push a more expensive refined salt at first, but I refused because it would have been wasteful for preservation purposes.”