Chapter 7
What on earth was happening?
Rachel tilted her head slightly.
“Sir Rupert. I haven’t chosen a new tax collector yet, have I?”
“……Yes. That is what I know as well.”
“Then what exactly is that situation over there?”
A group of large men were dragging away a woman as thin as a flower stem, and they were doing it cruelly in front of her young younger sibling.
Her voice came out calmly, but her mind had become as cold as if she had washed herself with ice water.
Rachel walked toward the place where everyone’s attention was gathered.
“Stop.”
At the sudden voice, the men dragging the woman turned around.
“What is this?”
“Hey, young lady. You look like you’re from a rich family, but if you interfere with official business, you might get hurt. Okay?”
So this was what they meant when they said the security was unstable……
She had been too focused on money and had failed to think about security, something directly connected to the lives of the territory’s people.
This was her mistake.
“M-Miss. It’s dangerous. Please don’t interfere……!”
Even in this situation, she was worried about Rachel.
She was kind.
“Please run away! I can’t let someone else get hurt because of me! Nicky, you should leave too!”
The woman desperately grabbed onto the man’s arm.
“You damn woman!”
The man shook his arm away as if she was annoying him, causing the woman to fall onto the ground.
“Kyaa!”
“S-Sister!”
Rachel, who had been silently watching, opened her mouth.
“Sir Rupert. Handle it.”
“Yes.”
At her quiet command, Rupert stepped forward with sharp eyes.
“Ha, this is ridiculous. Miss, you really don’t know how scary the world is.”
The way he casually cracked his neck made them look like street thugs from some back alley.
The men fearlessly pulled out their swords and pointed them at Rupert.
When he saw the shining blades, Rupert’s eyes became cold.
Rachel spoke.
“Don’t kill them.”
There were many things she wanted to ask.
The ones pretending to be tax collectors were probably not only these people.
“I shall obey your command.”
A back alley thug fighting against Rupert, the captain of the Agnes family’s knights, was impossible.
“Ugh! Aaaagh!”
Rupert easily beat down the two men who rushed at him with sloppy stances.
“T-The Duke won’t forgive you! How dare you lay hands on a tax collector!”
“The Duke’s family will never let you go! If you kneel and apologize right now……”
As the men shouted, the people watching with satisfied expressions began to look worried.
Rachel quietly looked down at them and slowly removed her veil hat.
Silver hair flowed down with a soft shine.
And clear eyes that sparkled brightly.
Her cold gaze turned toward them.
“The Duke’s family won’t leave me alone? That’s quite a funny thing to say.”
“Your Grace. What should we do with them?”
At Rupert’s words, the men’s faces turned pale.
“H-Hiiik!”
Rachel Agnes.
The owner of this enormous territory.
“Sir Rupert. Someone unrelated to me has been using my name. How are people like this punished?”
“Immediate execution.”
Rachel raised the corners of her lips while looking at the trembling men.
“That’s what he says. What do you think?”
“P-Please spare us!”
“Please forgive us!”
The men knelt down and begged desperately.
There was no time to worry about pride when their lives were at stake.
Rachel turned her gaze away from the men crying and begging, then looked around at the quiet crowd.
“The taxes for this quarter are canceled. I clearly issued an official notice. So if people like this appear again, report them to the Duke’s estate without hesitation.”
Because the security forces probably weren’t clean either.
‘I’ll need to inspect the security department as well.’
After coming out for an inspection, she was seeing many things that could not be seen through documents.
The complaints of the territory’s people toward her.
The lives of the people that had not improved because of corruption.
At her words, the people knelt down and lowered their heads.
There was no one here who could dare raise their head in front of the owner of this territory.
“You. What is your name?”
Rachel spoke to the woman who had been lying flat on the ground, trembling since learning Rachel’s identity.
“M-Me?”
“Yes.”
“B-Bella.”
“Alright. Bella.”
Rachel liked her.
“You. Will you come with me?”
At her words, Bella’s eyes trembled like ripples on water.
“M-Me……?”
A bright smile appeared on Rachel’s lips.
Because she had already decided.
You are my favorite character’s personal maid.
After returning to the Duke’s residence, Rachel worked without any time to rest.
There were new problems that had appeared, and she was busy solving them.
This was not something that could be solved simply by posting notices and spreading rumors.
Dealing with the street thugs roaming around everywhere was also a priority.
She locked herself inside her office for two full days.
“Your Grace. Please rest a little.”
Anne placed fragrant tea on the desk and spoke worriedly.
Rachel replied with a tired voice.
“……Thank you for worrying about me. But there are things I absolutely have to do.”
“Your Grace, work is important, but the most important thing is your health. You haven’t even slept properly for two days……”
Anne spoke with concern, and a faint smile appeared on Rachel’s lips.
She had only taken one or two hours of sleep on the sofa in her office, so she had not even entered her bedroom.
Anne’s concern was natural.
“Your Grace. It’s Marcus.”
“Come in.”
Rachel looked at Marcus, who entered the office with a heavy expression.
“The official notices were not being delivered properly.”
The notices placed on the village bulletin boards had been damaged.
It was the work of the thugs.
She had ordered Sir Rupert to investigate thoroughly and capture them, so that matter would soon be solved.
But.
“The outside world is this dangerous, and you still plan to not tell me where my younger sibling is?”
“……”
Marcus fell into thought for a moment.
He had promised.
He would tell her after finishing the overall management of the territory.
But with security this unstable, was it right to leave the Duke’s blood relative outside?
While he was hesitating, Rachel handed him a bundle of documents.
“This is……”
After returning to the mansion.
These were the documents she had finished in only two days.
“You should keep your promise, right?”
Marcus looked through the documents with trembling eyes.
He had thought it would take at least a month to handle all of this……!
There was no other word to describe this speed except madness.
And she had not approved anything carelessly.
The Duke had finished a month’s worth of work in only two days.
‘Ah! This is the person I was meant to serve!’
To care for the people even while staying awake all night.
Marcus was deeply moved by her incredible ability and opened his trembling lips.
“Your Grace’s younger sibling is……”
But he would never know.
That the reason behind her incredible ability was her fan-like determination to bring her favorite character to the safe Duke’s residence.
A carriage bearing the emblem of the Agnes family was running down the main road.
Inside the carriage were Rachel, Anne, and Marcus.
Around them, the Agnes family knights surrounded the carriage and guarded it tightly.
“……Hoo. Finally!”
Rachel suppressed her trembling heart.
She still could not get used to the shaking carriage, but she had no time to feel the pain traveling all the way to her tailbone.
Today was finally the day she would meet her favorite character.
The day she would see with her own eyes the person she had only imagined in her heart.
Liz Agnes, the fascinating villainess.
How cute and lovable would she be when she was young?
Anne watched Rachel take deep breaths and calm herself with a smile before asking.
“You seem very nervous, Your Grace.”
Even the Duke, who was always confident and fearless, had something that made her nervous.
A half-sibling.
In other words, an illegitimate child of a noble family.
Even for commoners, the existence of a half-family member was not something pleasant.
For nobles who valued honor and bloodline even more, how much worse would it be?
But seeing her look forward to meeting her new family with such nervousness made Anne feel a sense of human closeness toward her.
“……Because I’m getting a family.”
“Ah……”
Anne trailed off.
Half a year ago.
She remembered that after her parents passed away, the Duke had always been alone.
Your Grace, you must have been very lonely.
Thinking that, a trace of pity passed through Anne’s eyes.
“Marcus. When will we arrive?”
“We will be there soon.”
Hearing the same question every five minutes, Marcus sighed with a tired expression.
How much time passed like that?
The carriage stopped in front of a red two-story mansion.
The door opened, and Rachel stepped out.
It was their first meeting.
So she had to appear beautiful and impressive.
Everyone understood the feeling of a fan wanting to make a good impression on their favorite character, right?
She checked her appearance with a hand mirror, then walked toward the door.
“Ahem.”
But what should she say?
Hello? I’m your fan.
No, no. That won’t work……
Nice to meet you. I’m your older sister!
“Haah, that doesn’t seem right either.”
How should she start the conversation?
“Should I go in instead?”
Unlike her earlier statement that she would immediately bring the child back once she met her, Rachel had been hesitating for a long time, causing Marcus to approach the door.
“No. I’ll do it.”
Somehow, it’ll work out.
Just as she reached out toward the doorbell—
Bang!
“You get out! I don’t need a useless parasite like you!”
The door suddenly opened violently, and a small figure was thrown outside.
‘This child……’
Rachel instinctively caught the child in her arms.
“U-Ung……”
The child trembled inside her arms.
Covered in dust, the child’s appearance was difficult to see clearly.
But Rachel knew it instinctively.
This child was the one she had been waiting so desperately to meet.
