“I need your help.”
Lady Klara looked up from her tea. “…With?”
Cinderella handed the registry of sales to the stately woman. Lady Klara skimmed the papers, her mouth twisting the longer she read.
“I want to sell it to pay off Aveyron,” Cinderella said. “It is only a small manor, but since Trieux is no more, Loire real-estate has climbed higher than ever. The buying price should be enough to cover Aveyron’s debt.”
“But?”
“Papa didn’t claim it in his assets. If I claim it now I may be jailed.”
“I see,” Lady Klara said, setting the paper on her lap. “Why have you come to me with this problem?”
“Because I have no one else,” Cinderella said, holding the woman’s gaze.
Lady Klara nodded, accepting the truth in the statement, but said nothing more.
“Please,” Cinderella said, her heart tightening. “I don’t know what to do.”
If Lady Klara wouldn’t help, she would turn Cinderella in. Her future depended entirely on Lady Klara’s reaction.
The Erlauf woman studied the papers again, and Cinderella’s mouth went dry.
“I will claim it as mine,” Lady Klara said.
Cinderella blinked. “Pardon?”
“As an Erlauf widow—with a low-ranked title and no landholdings—any income taxes I accrue will be significantly lower than what you—the Duchess of a profitable chateau—would encounter. After the taxes are paid, you can use the remaining amount to pay your debts.”
“How can you claim it?” Cinderella asked.
“I did marry your father,” Lady Klara wryly said. “You inherited everything to do with Aveyron. It is not entirely ridiculous that he would will a small manor to me, provided you agree with my story.”
“And they will believe you?”
“Unless they are cads, no. I am of Erlauf heritage, your Father of Trieux. However, if you support my word as his heir, there is nothing they can do to prove otherwise.”
“Won’t they be angry with you for withholding the inheritance?”
“My husband was a slain war hero, and even after his death I followed my orders and married again, an enemy even. Queen Freja will not arrest me, if that is your concern,” Lady Klara said with great firmness.
She’s going to help me? Cinderella wondered as she stared at her step-mother. The surprise numbed her body, and she felt slack-jawed.
“You look surprised,” Lady Klara said, folding her hands in her lap.
“I am surprised,” Cinderella said.
Lady Klara sipped her tea and rearranged the papers.
“Why are you doing this?” Cinderella asked.
Lady Klara arched a formidable eyebrow. “It was you who requested my help, Cinderella.”
“Yes, but I didn’t think you would actually give it,” Cinderella said, the words spilling out of her mouth. She hesitated, wondering if she should apologize, before she tucked her head. No, this was important.
“In spite of what you may believe about those of us from Erlauf, I am not entirely unfeeling, Cinderella,” Lady Klara said.
“I have been haunted by debts. I have looked to you for help before, but this is the first time you will give it.”
“Perhaps that is because I could not help you before,” Lady Klara said.
“I beg your pardon?”
“I don’t think you understand just how wealthy you are.”
“…Is that a joke?” Cinderella said. Confused and as hopeful as she was, Cinderella felt so overwhelmed she grew angry. “I have beggared myself and lost most of my possessions to keep this duchy going. I am on the verge of losing it, and you call me wealthy?”
“Aveyron is twice, no, three time the size of the largest Erlauf estate. Queen Freja has taken so hatefully to you because you are the sole Trieux estate that has lost not a single acre, servant, or animal. If your father was alive and Duke of Aveyron, I very much doubt she would attack you with the same vigor.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your father would have sold parts of Aveyron to keep his personal comforts.”
“My father was a kind and generous man!” Cinderella said, her eyes flashing.
“He was, and yet he bought a manor in Loire which you—dressed in a servant’s uniform—stand before me, desiring to sell so you may keep your estate.”
Cinderella was silent.
Lady Klara stood, her chin lifted as she fixed her eyes on Cinderella. “Once Queen Freja finishes giving land and titles to army officers, you will own more land than the Erlauf royal family. She fears you, because you have done what no one else has—in Trieux or Erlauf, for we in Erlauf have also been hit with taxes—has done. You are extraordinarily wealthy, just as you are extraordinarily stubborn, Cinderella.”
Cinderella stared at the floor. “I just want to keep all my servants,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.