Chapter 4
Rachel slowly looked around Abigail’s office.
An expensive painting hung on the wall.
Delicate, handcrafted furniture.
Luxury decorations that would be difficult to find even in an ordinary noble household.
Rachel casually opened the gorgeous jewelry box sitting on the desk.
“Oh?”
It was filled with precious jewelry that could never be bought with a head maid’s salary.
Lifting a shining pearl necklace, she said,
“Being the head maid must be quite a profitable position.”
At the sarcastic remark, Abigail’s eyes trembled.
“T-Those are only the tribute gifts that were selected to be presented to the Duke. They couldn’t possibly belong to me.”
“Really? Then all of this was mine?”
“O-Of course. Everything here belongs to Your Grace. But…”
Abigail glanced anxiously at Rupert, who was standing behind Rachel.
“What brings you here? If you needed anything, you could have simply summoned me.”
Hmm. She really is pretty.
Rachel examined the pearl necklace from every angle as she answered casually,
“Why do you think?”
“W-Well… I’m not sure…”
People with guilty consciences were always the most flustered by questions like that.
Rachel quietly watched Abigail, who had suddenly become as silent as a mute.
The wrinkles around her eyes, carved deep by greed, twitched faintly.
Just how much had she stolen while keeping “Rachel” in the palm of her hand?
But that would end today.
Rachel lightly brushed the dust from Abigail’s shoulder.
“You’ve worked hard all this time, Abigail.”
“…Pardon?”
“It’s time for you to return to where you truly belong.”
She turned toward Rupert, who was waiting with sharp eyes as if he only needed her command.
“W-What do you mean…? Y-Your Grace! What are you doing?”
As Rupert approached with a stern expression, Abigail retreated with a pale face.
“What do you mean, ‘what am I doing?’ You’ve committed so many crimes that you’ve forgotten why?”
“I don’t deserve this treatment! I’ve served Your Grace with complete loyalty all this time, yet you’re treating me like a criminal! There must be some misunderstanding!”
Pfft.
Complete loyalty?
Had she gone deaf?
Rachel seemed to be hearing complete nonsense.
“We’ll find out after the investigation.”
At Rachel’s signal, Rupert grabbed Abigail with his powerful hands and dragged her outside.
“Y-Your Grace! Please listen to me! There has to be some misunderstanding! Aaah…!”
Ignoring the fading screams, Rachel looked at Anne, who was standing nearby, watching nervously.
This girl…
Unlike the neatly dressed maid Rachel had seen that morning, this woman wore an old maid’s uniform.
She wasn’t one of Abigail’s people.
“You there.”
“Y-Yes!”
“You’ll be helping me for the time being.”
New wine belonged in a new wineskin.
Rachel smiled gently at Anne, whose eyes trembled in disbelief.
After locking Abigail in prison,
the first thing Rachel did was summon everyone who had been demoted.
The first two she called back were the butler and the senior maid.
She immediately promoted the senior maid to head maid and put her back to work.
Managing the servants.
Repairing the mansion.
Checking food supplies and daily necessities.
Everything related to running the estate was handed over to those two before Rachel shut herself inside the office.
“…This is driving me insane.”
As she read Marcus’s report, curses escaped her lips one after another.
Taxes had doubled over the past six months.
Prices had skyrocketed.
Many merchant companies had withdrawn from the duchy because of the crushing taxes.
The streets were overflowing with unemployed people and homeless citizens, and crime had become worse than ever.
The situation was so terrible that a riot could break out at any moment.
“Marcus needs to come back soon…”
She had to understand the finances.
Pay all the overdue wages.
Investigate the condition of the territory.
Drive away the countless members of Count Waiver’s family who kept coming to reclaim their family head.
Handling everything alone without an aide made it feel as though even ten bodies wouldn’t be enough.
She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes for a moment, exhausted.
Then—
“Your Grace! The Knight Commander has returned!”
Anne announced Rupert’s return after he had gone to recover the money embezzled by the head maid.
Hearing that carts were continuously arriving at the ducal mansion, Rachel went outside.
“Wow… Just how much is all this?”
Her mouth fell open at the sight before her.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
A long line of wagons stood before the mansion, loaded with expensive items no ordinary servant could ever afford.
Everything had been stolen by the head maid over the past six months.
“Incredible. She managed to steal this much in only half a year.”
Rupert answered in a heavy voice.
“Your Grace, this is only a portion of it.”
“Only a portion?”
“We only brought back what was immediately visible.”
“I suppose it would be stranger if she didn’t have hidden assets. Once we thoroughly strip Count Waiver’s family as well, it should help secure our finances.”
“Yes.”
The Waiver estate and lands could only be seized after a trial and a guilty verdict.
It wasn’t time yet.
“Hmm… Has the head maid still not spoken?”
“No. We’re questioning her intensely, but she’s incredibly stubborn.”
“She’s risking her life to keep silent. The moment she talks, her entire family will be executed.”
“Embezzlement alone is a grave crime, but daring to tamper with Your Grace’s food… That can never be forgiven.”
Anger flickered in Rupert’s blue eyes.
“So this is everything you brought today?”
“Of course not. We also found this deed.”
Rachel accepted the document Rupert handed over.
“…Good heavens. She even bought a villa in the capital? Which bastard bought this?”
“Tail Waiver.”
“I should probably look at his salary records.”
As though he had been waiting for those exact words, Rupert immediately handed over the payroll ledger.
Rustle.
“…”
Sir Rupert.
Weren’t you supposed to be the silent, dependable knight who was as steadfast as a bear?
“…It seems you’ve built up quite a bit of resentment toward the former Knight Commander.”
“Ahem… Ahem.”
Rachel chuckled as she watched Rupert avert his eyes, his cheeks turning slightly red with embarrassment.
“You’ve suffered a lot because of me, haven’t you?”
“N-Not at all. Suffered? That’s absolutely not true.”
“No… You must have.”
Not just Rupert.
Everyone in this territory had.
How much had they suffered because their lord ignored everything while corrupt officials manipulated the duchy?
It couldn’t be put into words.
As if proving it, Rupert lowered his head silently, unable to say anything.
“…But things will be different from now on.”
“Of course.”
For the sake of her favorite character’s happiness—and her own joyful fangirling—
she was prepared to devote herself completely.
Still… when is Marcus coming back?
It had already been ten days since he left.
She wanted to learn the truth about the medicine this body’s previous owner had been taking.
She also wanted to stabilize the duchy as soon as possible and bring her favorite character home.
Nothing’s going to move quickly until Marcus returns…
Just as she sighed inwardly over the mountain of unfinished work—
“Your Grace! Here you are!”
The Marcus she had been waiting for finally appeared.
He looked far more exhausted and haggard than he had ten days ago.
“You’re later than expected, Marcus.”
“My apologies. It took time because there was someone I needed to bring with me.”
“Hm?”
Marcus wasn’t alone.
As he stepped aside, an elderly man with white hair appeared.
“You are…”
The former Agnes family physician, Luman Tudors, spoke with a grave expression.
“Your Grace. You must undergo an examination immediately.”
*
Black hair fluttered violently in the wind.
After a brief gust passed,
a man with sharp black eyes turned away from the rows of charred corpses.
Theo von Lexerville, the Grand Duke.
He spoke indifferently.
“It looks like everything’s more or less finished.”
A man with blue hair and blue eyes—
Theo’s aide, Dante—
adjusted his glasses and nodded.
“Yes. We can leave the rest to the Margrave and return.”
Among the barbarian tribes living along the border,
a warrior had emerged whom even the Margrave could not handle.
The chieftain’s name was Texa.
With fewer than two thousand tribesmen, Texa had declared he would resist the Empire’s oppression.
He had been surprisingly persistent,
but before the Grand Duke of Lexerville,
he was nothing more than a moth flying into a flame.
The Margrave had struggled against him for an entire year.
The Grand Duke wiped him out in only one week.
As long as Lexerville stood guard,
nothing could invade the Castor Empire.
“…”
The fact that he had joined hands with that Emperor was absurd,
but because of the sins left behind by his ancestors,
he possessed a body that could not endure without bloodshed.
It was a mutually beneficial relationship.
The Emperor used Theo’s curse to expand the Empire.
Theo, in return, gained the Emperor’s orders as justification for war.
“Oh, right. We received new information regarding House Agnes.”
“…Did something happen?”
“You remember the Duke and Duchess died in an accident six months ago, don’t you?”
“Ah.”
Dante smiled mysteriously.
“Officially, it was an accident, at least. Anyway, after that incident, House Agnes fell into chaos. You remember that, don’t you?”
Theo nodded as he recalled the current Duchess.
“Wasn’t the family head said to have shut herself away, spending every day drunk?”
“She did… but…”
“There were plenty of wolves eyeing House Agnes. Has it already fallen?”
“No. Not that. Apparently, something unexpected has happened.”
“Unexpected?”
“It seems the Duchess has finally come to her senses and is cleaning up both the household and the territory. I thought you should know.”
“That woman came to her senses?”
Rachel Agnes.
The woman who always hid behind her parents and trembled whenever she saw him.
He knew the rumors surrounding him were frightening,
but someone that timid could never properly lead a ducal house.
“Even so, it’s a family whose fate is already sealed.”
When someone like that became the head of a noble house,
the ship was bound to sink.
Things that were obvious held no interest for him.
He dismissed the matter of House Agnes, reorganized his troops, and returned to the fortress.
Hearing the news of victory,
Margrave Eobita approached with an exaggerated grin.
“Ohhh! Your Highness! Congratulations on your great victory! What shall we do now? Shall I escort you straight to the banquet hall?”
Theo did not answer.
Instead, he glanced sideways at Dante.
It meant,
Handle it yourself.
“His Highness gratefully accepts your kindness. Unfortunately, he must return directly to the capital for the victory celebration.”
“Then it can’t be helped! Hahaha!”
Despite his words of disappointment, the Margrave’s face was full of smiles.
That was what the Grand Duke of Lexerville had always been.
A problem solver who dealt with impossible enemies—
yet also someone who made everyone around him uncomfortable and uneasy.
Theo didn’t care.
The opinions of insignificant prey meant nothing to him.
As long as he obtained what he came for,
that was enough.
A faint, cold smile appeared briefly on his lips.
