## Chapter 157: The Seven Ladies of Almack’s (4K4)
**Chapter 157: The Seven Ladies of Almack’s (4K4)**
London’s West End, Bayswater, 36 Lancaster Gate, across from Hyde Park.
Through the gaps in the maple leaves and the white sash windows, a man dressed in a brand-new tailcoat could be seen sitting at a desk on the second floor, reading the documents in his hand.
A gust of wind blew through, opening the half-closed window and sending a flurry of loose brown paper bags, stacks of documents, and old newspaper clippings flying across the desk.
Arthur didn’t even raise his head. He simply used two fingers to clamp down on the document bag that was about to fly out the window and pulled it back.
He stood up and closed the window, and the Red Devil, who had just returned from his stroll, finally saw the titles of the documents on the desk.
Amelia Stuart, Sarah Villiers, Emily Cowper, Maria Molyneux-Sefton, Clementina Drummond-Burrell, Theresa Esterhazy, Dorothea Lieven.
Perhaps this long and confusing list of names would leave people bewildered, but if you translate them into the common appellations of socialites, these seemingly ordinary names would instantly be imbued with rich and colorful meanings.
They were respectively the Viscountess Castle-Reagh, the Countess of Jersey, the Countess Cowper, the Countess of Sefton, the Countess of Drummond-Burrell, Princess Esterhazy, and Countess Lieven.
These were the identities and names of the seven main patrons of the “Almack’s Assembly Rooms,” a social club that held the key to entering London’s most exclusive social circles.
In the past, Arthur would only need less than half a page to fill in such personal information, but for these seven ladies, even a whole page might not be enough to write down their titles and social connections.
Take Viscountess Castle-Reagh, Amelia Stuart, for example. This lady was born into the Hobart family, a prominent English noble family.
Her father was John Hobart, the second Earl of Buckingham, while her brother, Robert Hobart, served successively as the Secretary of State for Ireland and the Governor-General of Delhi in British India. After returning to England in 1812, he was promoted to one of the three commissioners of the Board of Control for India in the Colonial Office.
Her husband, Robert Stuart, held the two noble titles of Marquess of Londonderry and Viscount Castle-Reagh.
Viscount Castle-Reagh, a politician who ranked among the most prominent in British history, had served successively as Chief Secretary for Ireland, Secretary of War and Colonies, and Foreign Secretary during his decades-long political career.
Domestically, Viscount Castle-Reagh played a role in pushing through the “Act of Union with Ireland,” officially incorporating Ireland into the territory of Great Britain.
Internationally, Viscount Castle-Reagh successfully forged a Quadruple Alliance between Great Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent victory at the Battle of Waterloo. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, he leveraged his influence to facilitate the signing of the Treaty of Paris and led the British delegation to dominate the proceedings of the Congress of Vienna, setting the framework for the European Concert of Powers for various European countries.
Unfortunately, perhaps due to the accumulation of too much pressure over the years,
or perhaps because he had supported the bloody repression policies of Lord Sidmouth, the then Home Secretary, during the Peterloo Massacre in 1819, leading to widespread attacks on him by public opinion and liberal writers like Shelley and Byron, Viscount Castle-Reagh soon developed a severe mental illness and ultimately committed suicide by slitting his throat with a letter opener.
Although her husband’s death significantly reduced Viscountess Castle-Reagh’s influence in social circles, her accumulated prestige over the years allowed her to maintain her seat on the Women’s Patronage Committee of Almack’s Club.
Among these seven hostesses, besides those like Viscountess Castle-Reagh who were native to England, there were also foreign members like Princess Esterhazy and Countess Lieven.
As her title suggests, Princess Esterhazy was born into a royal family, a member of the “Thurn und Taxis” princely family, a German state wealthy enough to rival kings, and her husband, Paul Anton Esterhazy, the Austrian Ambassador to Britain, was a prince of the Austrian Empire.
As for Countess Lieven, her background might not be as impressive as Princess Esterhazy’s, but she was still not to be underestimated.
Countess Lieven’s husband was Count Lieven, a member of the Russian Imperial family who served as the Russian Ambassador to Britain, while her father was even more heavyweight.
Because Countess Lieven’s father was: Alexander I, the Tsar of Russia’s best buddy, a German-born Russian military hero in the War against France, a feudalistic iron fist who suppressed the Decembrist uprising, a gendarmerie commander who could only deploy Cossack cavalry in the absence of tanks, the nominal third department head of the Imperial Russian Cabinet, a clever fellow who secretly assisted the Tsar in implementing police and secret police rule, a guiding light for Scotland Yard, a French military and police force that shouted “invincible,” the predecessor of Chun Doo-hwan, a leader for Pinochet, who always believed that monitoring thoughts was troublesome, so it’s better to directly eliminate the body, the Russian Imperial Cavalry General, Alexander Khristoforovich Benckendorff, Count.
As the saying goes, “A hero’s son is a good man, a beauty’s daughter is beautiful.”
Countess Lieven not only fully inherited her mother’s excellent genes, resulting in a charmingly beautiful face, but she also surpassed her father in inheriting his expertise in intelligence work.
As a well-known socialite in London’s upper class, Countess Lieven fully utilized her advantages in appearance and status. She not only successfully became the first foreign patron of Almack’s Club since its founding in 1765, but as a German-born Russian, she also, with a sense of loyalty to her roots, introduced the German waltz into the ballroom repertoire of Almack’s Club.
When her husband was in London, Countess Lieven could flawlessly fulfill her responsibilities as a good wife and mother, but when Count Lieven was away, she would occasionally provide some extra spice to her monotonous life with Austrian Chancellor Metternich and Viscount Palmerston, who were on business trips to London.
She also leveraged the close relationships she maintained with these most important European politicians to obtain a lot of “unexpected intelligence” for Russia. In the Russian court, she was considered to be at least as important politically as her ambassador husband, and even more important in some situations.
Even the current Tsar, Nicholas I, frequently corresponded with her and sought her advice on certain matters, and the Tsar’s emphasis further highlighted her influence in the diplomatic world.
Arthur flipped through the personal information of the seven ladies and the gossip and past experiences about them clipped from various old newspapers, one by one. After looking for a while, he couldn’t help but marvel.
“If Eld hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have known that so many formidable women were lurking in little London. Especially this Countess Lieven, she’s full of mysterious vibes. It seems like those street tabloids Eld reads aren’t entirely useless. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have been able to determine how many politicians were maintaining close relationships with Countess Lieven that went beyond normal social distance.”
The Red Devil, hearing this, had malice in the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. He smiled and asked, “Arthur, are you sure? This woman is far more complicated than you see in the newspapers. I advise you to stay away from her, otherwise, you’ll end up being eaten alive by her and still be clueless about what happened.
I admit, you’re one of the more capable human males, but Countess Lieven’s methods are far tougher than you think. Finally, I’ll give you a truth as a bonus: capable women are always good at finding the weaknesses of capable men.
Especially when it comes to intrigue, men and women have completely different levels of thought about this matter. When it comes to intrigue, women are unknown to be several times more dangerous than men.”
Arthur, hearing this, leaned back in his chair with his head tilted back. “What you said, how come it sounds familiar to me? Like I’ve seen it somewhere…”
He pondered for a while, then snapped his fingers and turned back to stare at the Red Devil, saying, “Agareus, how can you plagiarize sentences from Alexander’s book? Isn’t this something he specifically recorded in his notebook as inspiration for elevating the style of “The Count of Monte Cristo”?”
The Red Devil, hearing this, shook his finger in disapproval. “Arthur, you have to first understand where Alexander’s inspiration comes from. Providing inspiration for writers is also one of my abilities as a devil.”
Arthur, hearing this, couldn’t help but let out a puff of air from his nose. “Oh, really? I think you’re trying to make your mark in history, aren’t you? You should be able to see that the fatso’s soul has something extraordinary about it, so you can’t help but stuff some of your own things into his writing? Agareus, I really didn’t know that devils have this kind of vanity.”
But the Red Devil didn’t mind Arthur’s ridicule at all. Instead, he treated it as a compliment.
Agareus pushed up his glasses proudly. “Arthur, don’t forget, devils are the embodiment of desire. So, do you want to find an opportunity to go to Almack’s Club? Frankly, the ladies of the Blue Stocking Society have a different kind of charm in an academic sense, but if you want to get ahead, you still need to find an opportunity to squeeze into Almack’s Club.”
Arthur, hearing this, glanced at him and said, “Agareus, as soon as you get carried away, you’ll leak all your dirty little secrets. Didn’t you just advise me to stay away from Countess Lieven? Now you’re starting to egg me on to go to Almack’s Club?”
The Red Devil chuckled, rubbing his hands together. “Oh! My dear Arthur, you don’t understand. Whether I advise you to go or not to go, I’m doing it for your own good. Advising you not to go is because I’m worried you’ll fall into the clutches of those mature ladies in their colorful skirts and ruin yourself, even jeopardizing your hard-earned, legitimate life.
But advising you to go is because I think that everyone has a bit of curiosity. While the ladies are scary, if they happen to take a liking to you, not to mention you’ll be walking on air in your future career path, even if you just don’t want to put in the effort, those ladies, seeing your handsome face and sturdy figure, wouldn’t it be possible for them to agree to you?!”
Arthur, hearing this, couldn’t help but sneer. “Agareus.”
The Red Devil smiled. “What?”
“It’s a good thing I signed a contract with you. If Eld heard those words, he’d be tricked out of his pants by you sooner or later.”
Unexpectedly, Agareus, hearing this, felt embarrassed rather than honored. He frowned and sarcastically shook his finger. “Arthur, you can question my motives, but you can’t question my ability to choose partners and my capabilities. Frankly, in the seventy-two pillars of devils, the only one who could pee in the same pot as Eld is probably Asmodeus, the embodiment of lust.
I want the soul of my contractor, that’s true, but if it were Eld who signed a contract with me, I’m afraid his soul would ultimately end up in Countess Lieven’s hands. I have no interest in helping my contractors find women to redeem their mortgaged souls.”
Arthur stroked the hair hanging over his forehead, tucking it behind his head, revealing his hairline, which was lower than the average British standard.
“Now I know that your standards are even higher than the University of London’s Classics Department. It’s truly a miracle that Eld received an education in his lifetime.”
Agareus continued, “So, Arthur, are you interested in Almack’s Club at all?”
Arthur let out a sigh, staring at the Red Devil’s sparkling red eyes. “It seems like there are indeed some good things in there that you’re interested in! This is the first time I’ve seen you so enthusiastic.”
The Red Devil chuckled. “Oh! My dear Arthur, are you not interested?”
Arthur nodded. “Of course I’m interested. It’s just that this high-class club located on King Street is not for everyone. According to the information I’ve gathered, although they hold very unique balls every Wednesday night, Almack’s Club has always been a very private organization since its founding in 1765.
Only those who have been approved by the seven-woman patronage committee and pay an annual fee of 10 guineas are eligible to step inside. Besides that, I have to learn the strange rules of the place.
So, right now, even though I can barely afford to squeeze in financially, getting the approval of the Women’s Patronage Committee, that’s not something that can be solved by just taking a few cases.”
The Red Devil, hearing this, instantly showed a smug expression of triumph, filled with joy.
“Oh! My dear Arthur, have you forgotten who you are? You are Agareus’ most prized rogue apprentice. If you want something, I can conditionally fulfill it.”
Arthur, hearing this, couldn’t help but frown. “Agareus, conditional fulfillment isn’t fulfillment, it’s a normal transaction. So, being the apprentice of the most learned professor in hell, you still don’t get any benefits in the end.
Hmm… now I understand why you were easily kicked out of hell by Baal. Perhaps it’s because you’re too stingy, so when Baal kicked you out, no other devils were willing to help you.”
Agareus, hearing this, pushed up his glasses. “Arthur, you have to understand that even Britain’s “Act on Moral and Educational Practices for Apprentices” only guarantees apprentices two hours of education per day. The remaining ten hours, they still have to work honestly and diligently. Compared to your act, I am willing to trade with you on an equal footing, which is already quite commendable.”
Unexpectedly, Arthur, hearing this, stood up and stared at the Red Devil without saying a word. He just sighed.
The Red Devil was taken aback, asking, “What are you sighing for?”
Arthur looked at him with a complex expression and said, “Agareus.”
The Red Devil frowned and asked, “What?”
Arthur patted his shadow and sighed at the ceiling, “Capitalism has ruined you!”
With that, he locked all the documents on the desk in a drawer and strode out of the room.
Agareus was stunned for a while before he realized what had happened. He roared angrily at Arthur’s back, “Arthur! The souls that exist here, you want me to calculate the interest for you, I want to talk to you about a deal, you’re not even willing to pay a shilling. I signed an equal soul exchange contract with you, not a damn Russian serf indenture!”
There should be another chapter later tonight.
(End of Chapter)