My Villain Husband

Chapter 87 – The Sweetest Reward (I)

Tiana felt relaxed, leaning on Lucius’s shoulder as he gently ran his fingers through her hair.

“I’m completely in favor of doing welfare work, but there’s a small problem.” He broke the comfortable silence.

“What is it?” She sat up straight in alarm over his words, but he held onto her hand, not willing to let go of her completely.

“When you start a business, you have to think about your location and the relationships around you,” he said.

While she was thankful that he wasn’t the one who had a problem with it, she didn’t understand what he meant.

“My location and the relationships around me?”

When she looked at him strangely, he slowly explained.

“If we were to expand the business later on, we would start off by delivering relief supplies and funds to orphans and commoners of unknown origins. But when considering your location, it will be a bit dangerous to cater only to them.”

“Dangerous?” she asked.

“There are many people in the world who are jealous for all sorts of reasons. Especially those who identify as high-class. Now that you have become a grand duchess, not just a duchess, there will be pressures and threats from lots of people, depending on what you do in this position,” explained Lucius.

“Even in the social welfare business?”

“Especially in the social welfare business,” he nodded.

“Well, after some time we’ll expand to generate interest rates and try to mark the same profit, but for a while, the amount will be large in the name of the investors. The welfare business will target orphans and commoners…” Tiana spoke.

“It will be more of a problem because they are the targets.”

“Why?”

How could that be a problem? Tiana did not understand the unexpected problem. Lucius, who looked at Tiana’s wrinkled forehead, chuckled at her innocence and softly touched her face.

“Aristocrats only like to use their money to show off their power or strength. But when they spend their property, they do it where it’s more useful than it is with them. So to most of them, it’s pointless to use their private property for the ‘social welfare’ of orphans and commoners.”

“Oh.”

Lucius continued, “Of course, not all aristocrats are the same. Some regularly support such children, though such aristocrats are a minority. They keep close to the saying ‘noblesse oblige’, personally supporting unfortunate ones, but they rarely ever develop a business out of it. No, they never do.”

“I see,” Tiana nodded, finally understanding all the aspects.

“That is why ‘welfare’ wouldn’t normally be appreciated by those people. Orphans and commoners are almost seen as aliens by aristocrats, and they will think of ‘welfare’ as a waste of money.”

“Wow, so instead of ‘wasting’ that money, they’d spend it where they think it is useful and to show off their wealth.”

“Right,” smiled Lucius.

“Then to aristocrats, my business would be an eyesore,” said Tiana.

For ordinary aristocrats, it was common to spend large amounts of money on their own luxury, but the money spent on the welfare of the lower class, such as orphans and commoners, would literally be a waste of money because the lower-class citizens were considered good-for-nothing by them. If so, Tiana’s future business would definitely be seen as a futile venture to spend their money on. Furthermore, she had married Lucius and was now the grand duchess, not just a wife. With no current empress, she was the second-highest in status after the empress dowager. Starting a business in her position would draw attention, but many people were already paying attention to the grand duchy because of the incident from a few days ago.

There must be a lot of people talking about the grand duchy spending a fortune in strange places, thought Tiana. But it wasn’t their wealth, and she’d gotten permission from Lucius, so she could spend the money how she pleased. I have to use what I have to get what I want.

Once again, Tiana noticed that Lucius was well aware of the public’s inner workings. Well, he was a prince. He must have seen and experienced a lot since he was born with nobles around him. Perhaps, because Tiana had modern memories, she didn’t think she could adapt well to her thoughts or the information as a ‘noblewoman’ instilled in this body yet. She was glad that Lucius had pointed out the problem before it happened, but the future worried her a little. From this point on, she would watch and learn from him.

Lucius patted her slightly on the back as she sighed at her weakly pulsating headache. “Don’t worry. It’s not like we don’t have a way to resolve it.”

“What kind of way?” she asked.

“If we start the business as it is, complaints will arise from the aristocrats and we’ll be bashed a lot. So, all we need to do is make the business worth something for them,” replied Lucius.

“How would we do that? Social welfare is pointless to them, you said so yourself. And to persuade them that it is worth something, we would have to change the direction of the aristocratic investment business. But if we do that, our target won’t be commoners. And that isn’t my intent.”

Lucius gave her a look full of admiration before he answered. “No, it’s not. Which is why we’ll expand our range to form two separate welfare systems for both aristocrats and commoners. If we divide it into two branches, there is a good chance for it to be more profitable. It would be a ‘cross-class selective welfare program’.”