DSMBL CH 27

Chapter 27

When we returned to the castle, Cassius was waiting for us. He couldn’t help but chuckle when he saw Theo, who was wrapped in a towel like a drenched rat.
“Brother!”
Theo ran excitedly with his arms wide open, and Cassius lifted him up.

“You said you were going for fishing, but it looks like you’ve become the fish.”
Theo burst into laughter.
“I caught a fish this big!”
“You did?”

“You did?”
“Yup!”
Theo tightly hugged Cassius, and in the process, the basket he had been holding like a jar of honey fell to the floor. The black lizard inside the basket rolled out.
“Eek!”
The lizard, which I thought had been sleeping, quickly ran away. Theo shouted as he saw it disappear into the garden.
“Ah! Brother! Kiki ran away!”

Cassius put Theo down, but by then, the lizard had already vanished.
“…You seem happy, Duchess.”
I flinched without realizing it.
Luna was watching me with a strange expression.
I quickly corrected my face.

“If you find Kiki, let me know. Go upstairs and take a bath before you catch a cold, Theo.”
“Ugh,” Theo pouted, but when he saw Cassius’s serious face, he couldn’t argue. He sulked as he headed upstairs.
Cassius turned his gaze toward me.

“…You’ve had a hard day.”
I shrugged.
“Well, I was the one who suggested it.”
“Did Theo cause any trouble?”
“Not really, except when he wanted to keep the lizard.”
That moment had really sent chills down my spine. Cassius’s gaze softened. It seemed like he had also grown kinder as Theo recovered and began to lead a normal life.

The person who had once seemed as cold as ice had started to smile and show a more human side. Cassius spoke to me.
“I need to talk to you before dinner.”
What could it be?
I followed Cassius to the sunroom. The maids had already prepared tea as if they knew what was coming.
It was my first time drinking tea alone with him, and it felt awkward.
I nervously sipped my tea when Cassius finally spoke.
“…The nanny came today.”
“Ah.”

I knew it was about that.
“I told her to take care of the household affairs for the Duke’s family. Did you hear?”
“The nanny was talking excitedly about it.”
Cassius sighed and shared what had happened. He frowned as he spoke.
As I had suspected, Cassius wasn’t the kind of person to overlook such matters. Most men from the North serve in the knights.
Rules were important for the knight in order to operate smoothly. They acted within the boundaries of these rules, with clear hierarchies.
Cassius was one of them, so it was no surprise that he disapproved of the nanny’s actions.

“I’ve been curious about something. Why did you assign such an important role to the nanny?”
“…Did you not like it?”
“No.”
I meant it sincerely.
“I know why you don’t trust me.”
Cassius sighed lightly.
“I didn’t entrust the household to the nanny because I don’t trust you. The nanny has been embezzling money from Istheria.”
“What?”
I blinked, stunned.

“I had suspected the nanny’s actions and started to follow her. And I found many suspicious things. Not only had she been embezzling the budget allocated for Theo, but she also seemed to be meeting someone regularly from the capital.”
Cassius told me everything he had learned so far. He spoke of the nanny often leaving Theo’s side and how he had followed her. He hadn’t yet uncovered who the man she was meeting was or how the money was flowing, though.

In the original story, the nanny was Lorencia’s loyal servant. She always thought of Lorencia first and did anything for her.
What had changed?
I swallowed nervously.
“The nanny is a very vain person. When someone like her gains more power, they’re bound to make mistakes.”

“That means…”

“She’s bound to make a mistake soon. And it’s easy to track large sums of money.”
Cassius smiled coldly.
The nanny had believed Cassius trusted her enough to assign her the household’s duties. But underneath that, Cassius had made this calculation.

“And to recover the money we’ve lost, we need to dig deep and find everything.”
I shuddered. This wasn’t just any typical male protagonist. It seemed that the ability to think ahead was part of the male lead’s qualities.
I had only planned to get rid of the nanny, but I hadn’t thought of using her like this.
“So don’t be too upset.”
“I really wasn’t upset.”

Cassius tilted his head.
“I know why you have not given me that responsibility, given what I’ve done in the past. But I honestly believe you think like this.”
At my words, he raised an eyebrow. What was bothering him?

“…Charlotte. You seem to be misunderstanding something.”
“Huh?”
“You’re the Duchess. You’re the mistress of Istheria. Whether you ruin the household’s budget or lose everything, it doesn’t matter.”
I blinked in surprise.

“That’s your rightful claim.”

“B-but, what if I ruin Istheria? The entire family could collapse!”

I still remember how shocked I was when I first saw Charlotte’s dressing room. The dresses packed inside were so expensive, and the money Chouette brought back amounted to nearly 10 million gold. Even though some were sold at a higher price, it was hard to believe all that money was spent in just six months.

How could someone with such a poor sense of finance be okay? Would the family have to go bankrupt for her to finally understand?

Cassius seemed amused by my worries.
“You’re worrying about the strangest things.”

“Cassius, I’m serious…”

“The North isn’t that poor, Charlotte. In fact, it’s more prosperous than most cities.”

I know that… but the reason the North has so few people were because of the snow beasts. People fled in fear, not knowing when those creatures might come down and attack. Yet, the North was naturally rich, with vast plains for farming and plenty of mines.

“With such a wealthy territory, how could the lord possibly be poor?”

“But wealth disappears if you keep spending it, Cassius. You didn’t see my dressing room—”

“I heard Chouette returned 10 million gold this time.”

“Which means I spent that much in six months!”

I thought he was quick with numbers. My voice sped up as I got more flustered. Cassius pressed his palm to his forehead and chuckled softly.

“Are you seriously worried about Istheria’s finances?”

“Of course I am!”

I needed to get my settlement money, and since I planned to settle down in the North, Istheria’s stability mattered.

Cassius found my concern genuinely amusing.
“You really have no idea.”

He held out his hand to me.
“It’s faster if I show you.”

I stared at his hand in a daze until he spoke again.

“Take my hand.”

After some hesitation, I placed my hand in his. His large hand was rough, and calloused from years of wielding a sword. A warrior’s hand.

Cassius led me to a door that opened to the basement. The staff glanced our way as we descended.

Why the basement…?

He went down the stairs and opened the first door.

“Gasp!”

My eyes widened.

Inside, the room was filled with gold bars—not coins, but bars of pure gold.

Cassius glanced at me, then opened the second door in the basement.

“Ah!”

I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them again. Another room filled to the brim with gold bars greeted me.

“There are ten rooms like this, filled with gold bars.”

“W-what?”

Before I could process what he said, Cassius pulled me further into the basement. He opened a door encrusted with emeralds.

This room was packed with jewels and ornaments of every kind.

“There are five rooms like this, full of jewels.”

Cassius positioned me in front of them.

“And our wealth keeps growing. Aside from the monsters and snow beasts, the North is a beautiful land. There’s a reason it was once called the ‘Blessing of the Gods.’”

I stared blankly at the rooms.

I swallowed hard.

So…

Does this mean I can ask for a bigger settlement? I’d been thinking of a small house, but maybe I could get a bigger one?

No, wait. I need a small house and a restaurant to start my business…

Wow. If you’re going to get divorced, marrying someone wealthy first is clearly the way to go. What an oddly enlightening realization.