Katiana sat down next to me.
Her hands sought out my hand that was closest to her.
"I've been meaning to ask my Lady... you always say 'dear' and smile at me, and seem comfortable around me... and now this. When did you get so close to me?"
She looked down at her hands that had grasped my left one.
"Oh...... I've had a mega mega crush on you since even before I transmi- ah..." [Katiana]
Katiana waved a hand in front of her face as if trying to keep a fly away and frowned for a moment before her face returned her normal serene blank look.
Not only does she pull faces, double up on words, but I have noticed her stopping herself mid-sentence before carefully rewording what she was about to say.
And each time, whatever she started to say made little sense to me.
It was almost as if she was thinking in a different language - I will need to tease the reason for these self-corrections out of her, one day.
"Belay that... I mean - I've been fond of you for a long time." [Katiana]
"Why?"
She looked up at me, eyes searching my face.
"Huh-well... I always thought you got a raw deal - I mean, you deserve more." [Katiana]
"More? I am a Duke, I employ hundreds of people - several dozen just on this estate alone. I can eat and drink whatever whenever I want. I can marry... could have married anyone, even royalty. If I want something, I can get it. My vaults hold legendary treasures even the Emperor dreams of. What more do I need?"
Katiana stuck her face closer to mine, her eyes squinting, and she made a small mouth, as if suspicious of me.
Too close, again!
I felt my face warm up.
"Are... are you really really content, though?" [Katiana]
Without waiting for my answer she pulled away and returned to the second couch, on the other side of the coffee table.
"Anyways... we don't know much about the certificate right now, and are stuck with it until further notice, so unless you want to good cop bad cop interoga... ask me more questions, can we maybe look at my proposals?" [Katiana]
This time it was me that let out a small puff of air, and I felt my face cooling down to normal.
Fine... I have obviously lost the fight when it comes to not showing emotions around this woman.
I will just live with this handicap - hm, or... maybe some sort of full face mask...?
Katiana placed a map and a technical blueprint drawing in front of me.
"Look - this area has the highest number of sick people - all of it is digestion tract related, which indicates e-coli contamination of potable water... eh... I mean... the river has human and animal waste in the water. Which. Is. Bad. For. You." [Katiana]
The last 5 words she emphasized by tapping on the map.
I gazed at the blueprint.
"And this... apparatus or artifact on the drawing will solve that?"
"Correct - this is actually a pretty simple setup, but it will take care of the worst. It is called a multi-stage gravity fed sediment filter, but I've added a slime monster component at the first stage as a primary. Slimes in a controlled environment are harmless, and being acidic in nature, will digest any organic matter - with their waste product being 99.9% purified of virus and bacteria, similar to a UV lamp, just with zero energy costs - we could potentially even use some sub-species of slimes as a viable desalination applia... oh hell..." [Katiana]
The last two words were whispered as a big frown appeared on Katiana's face.
"Ah... I'm afraid I'm not an engineer or a monster tamer, so...?"
"Yes I'm sorry, I get carried away. To put it simply - with just a bit of work at a reasonable cost, we can clean the water, and keep it clean. Clean water means healthier citizens. Healthier citizens means better productivity - and thus higher income. Easy, yes?" [Katiana]
"Well, I just do not have the skills, intelligence, or knowledge to judge any of this. The steward was impressed, so I have to accept your ideas are impressive. Have the steward contact the relevant engineers, mages, tamers, and workers. And as long as the total budget does not exceed this..."
I wrote down a budgetary number and added a note for the steward to put this aside for Katiana's projects.
"... number, then go ahead and implement any of your projects."
Katiana picked up the slip - her eyebrows bent downwards as her mouth alternated from pouting to various stages of frown and grin.
"Ahhhhh... so many zeros! This is in silver pieces, yes?" [Katiana]
"No... gold. Why would I bother with silver?"
Katiana jumped up and did a little series of straight legged hops around to my side of the table where she waved the note nervously into my face.
"Eeek! {hop hop hoppity hop} How many years can a normal family live on this? No forget that - how about a whole town???" [Katiana]
"That is just from my personal account. In case your projects fai... do not work out as well as they could, I do not want to affect the dukedom or this estate."
Katiana dropped onto the couch next to me with a wooooof.
"Seriously - how can anyone be that rich? Well.... whatever, I promise to make good use of this and make sure to pass everything by Stephanus - he seems to understand a lot about what could improve the dukedom!" [Katiana]
"Yes, he is a very handy fellow to have around... that said - how do you come up with these ideas - and the solutions?"
"I've read a ton, and I used to be a civil eng... ah, yeah... I have read hundreds of books on all subjects, and my brain is like a sponge." [Katiana]
She tapped her head.
She was going to say something strange again, wasn't she?
Well, I suppose having been badly treated and made to work as a maid in her own estate gave her a need for some sort of escape from reality - reading in this case.
"Ah yes, I heard your estate has an extensive library that some of your ancestors had collected."
"Um... yes... sure, let's go with that." [Katiana]
Again, the last part whispered - which of course my sensitive ears picked up as clear as normal speech.
I wonder if I should point that out to her - but then, she might stop with this curiously unexpected behavior, so it would be my loss.
"We still have some time before lunch - can I show you the other ideas?" [Katiana]
"Yes, why not..."
"Thank you dear - I will try to leave out the technical mumbo-jumbo... but as the Duke, you need to at least have a general idea of what I am up to!" [Katiana]
"That would be ... appreciated."
"I mean, I don't want to disparage your work - you have been doing a great and very very fair job managing the dukedom - it is not an easy task. You are doing a way better job than my so-called father did. Well, he essentially just wasted money as a sleaze and raised taxes, so you can't call that managing..." [Katiana]
"Thank you... I like to think that my steward and I try our best for the people - at least no-one has been going hungry or has to sleep outside."
She waved the budgetary note in front of her face.
"Right, that's good, right? But we can do better! And with this little gold mine in my paws, I want to call you my big handsome hunky CEO sugar-daddy-oh. Hold me tight and pamper me till the cows go home... eh, sorry... carried away again..." [Katiana]
My face decided to do something again without permission.
Although I did not fully grasp what she said, I caught the gist of it, and...
I smiled.
Before lunch we pleasantly wiled the time away pouring over some of her proposed projects.
A hospital and medical system.
A newly designed crop-rotation system to reduce land-fatigue - crop rotation had been going on for several centuries now, but this new idea improved on the system.
A production and marketing method to mass produce and sell natural fertilizer, again using a species of slimes as help - who knew one could make money with night-soil?
And most curious of all, a device that could keep produce fresher during the long travel from farm to table.
