TMRM 9

Chapter: 9

At my words, the Fox Merchants’ Guild stirred uneasily.

To drive the wedge in deeper, I continued speaking.

“You all know what punishment fraud carries, don’t you? Naol! It seems these people don’t know, so explain it to them.”

“Yes, milady.”

Naol solemnly recited what she had memorized in advance.

“The punishment for fraud is for the perpetrator to pay compensation amounting to twice the sum they defrauded from the victim. If the compensation cannot be paid, the individual and their family must work as slaves until the amount is repaid. That is the Empire’s law.”

“So that’s how it is.”

I tilted my head arrogantly as I surveyed the Fox Merchants’ Guild.

Human psychology is funny like that.

Even honest citizens who’ve never committed a crime tend to flinch when they see the police.

And here, the gap was even greater—on one side stood a duke, a high-ranking noble, and on the other, at best, a few viscounts.

There was no way they wouldn’t feel pressured.

“You demanded one billion marks from the Valfruga family. Double that would be two billion marks. Do you all have the money to pay the compensation?”

Of course they didn’t.

After deciding on the bluff strategy, Naol and I gave up on scrutinizing the promissory note.

Instead, we investigated the Fox Merchants’ Guild itself.

It was a group made up of small-scale merchants operating near the territory.

Two of them held the title of viscount, but neither possessed any land.

They weren’t destitute, but they weren’t wealthy either. That was why they’d braved treacherous mountain paths in midwinter just to collect that money.

Even if they pooled all their assets together, they couldn’t pay two billion marks.

In other words, by my words, their families would all be enslaved as well.

Understanding the situation, the Fox Merchants’ Guild raised their voices, their faces pale.

“Th-this is absurd! When did we ever commit fraud?!”

“That’s right! Fraud?! No matter how powerful a ducal house may be, you can’t frame people like this!”

“If you don’t have the means to repay the money, just say so! Don’t threaten us like this!”

At Naol’s signal, the soldiers behind us slammed their spears against the floor.

Thud!

The disciplined motion sent fear flickering across the merchants’ eyes.

The three hours we spent yesterday practicing nothing but pounding the floor had been worth it.

“Where do you think you are, raising your voices like this?! The person standing before you is the Duchess!”

Naol projected her voice forcefully as well.

Already overwhelmed by the atmosphere, the merchants’ eyes darted back and forth.

Even without knowing exactly what they were thinking, it was obvious that their imaginations were running wild.

In a silence so deep one could hear a pin drop, I spoke as if offering a ruler’s final mercy.

“Of course, it would be proper to handle this according to imperial law, but since this is an old contract, it seems there may have been some misunderstanding on your part as well.”

The expressions of the ten merchants shifted from moment to moment.

“I’ll give you until tomorrow. Those who confess their crimes will be spared. But if you don’t—”

The soldiers’ spears were leveled toward the merchants.

The sharp spearheads gleamed blue under the torchlight.

This, too, was a move rehearsed yesterday.

“Then we will proceed according to imperial law.”

Amid the expressions of fear, confusion, doubt, and people desperately retracing their memories, one man stood out.

He was the man Naol and I had already found suspicious.

The man who had led the merchants’ guild from the start.

Ruwan.

He glared at me with an expression of fury, as if his plan had gone awry.

“What fraud did we ever commit against the ducal house?! This is unjust!”

Ruwan shouted passionately.

“Do I really need to explain that to you? Surely the one who committed the fraud knows better than I do.”

“But we didn’t commit fraud! What are you talking about?! Are you going to oppress us with your power? So this is the will of the Valfruga family!”

His voice carried conviction, making it seem as though we were crushing innocent people with our authority.

Considering that our family was practically ruined, it was laughable.

I let out a scoffing chuckle.

“And yet, you’re the ones who stepped into Valfruga Castle.”

I slowly shifted my gaze toward the spears.

“A blizzard will be coming soon. Did you know? In our territory, people go missing in blizzards all the time. Once they disappear, it’s very hard to find them.”

With a chilling smile, I looked back at the merchants, whose faces had gone deathly pale.

“So be careful not to lose your way if you head out for no reason.”

* * *

Before putting the bluff plan into action, I prepared many things.

I investigated the Fox Merchants’ Guild and trained the soldiers to create the right atmosphere.

And the final thing I prepared was this man.

“Woah… wow…”

Though the greatest ducal house on the continent had fallen into ruin, some things still remained.

People.

The core members of the ducal house had served it loyally for nearly a thousand years.

Of course, many betrayed us or left, but some capable individuals remained to the end.

And among those left in the castle, this man was the most skilled in tracking, assassination, and intimidation.

…At least, that’s how he’d been introduced.

I eyed the man in front of me suspiciously.

He wore a thick rubber-like apron, completely splattered with blood.

The way he gazed at me in rapture was honestly unsettling.

With light brown hair and the harmless looks of someone who could pass for a kindergarten teacher, he was a handsome young man—but combined with his blood-soaked attire, the effect was terrifying.

The man snapped out of his trance and greeted me cheerfully.

“Oh! I should introduce myself! Hello, milady! My name’s Butcher Crimson!”

Well, if he was part of a secret organization, he couldn’t exactly live a blood-free life.

I couldn’t let a little blood scare me.

As I calmed my racing heart, he looked at me with sparkling eyes.

“Milady… I’ve really, really wanted to meet you… May I shake your hand just once?”

When I extended my hand, Butcher clasped it tightly with both of his, his face full of emotion.

He looked like a fan meeting their idol.

“…You’re really trustworthy, right?”

When I looked at Bella and asked, she answered confidently.

“Of course! Tracking, assassination, intimidation—Mr. Butcher is an expert!”

I looked at the man gazing reverently at our joined hands.

“…Really?”

“Well… he is a bit dangerous, but his skills are reliable. He used to be the leader of a secret organization handling dangerous tasks in the castle.”

“And now?”

“Animal slaughter.”

“….”

“There was no money left to run the organization, and he still needed to make a living. But he really was a once-in-a-generation genius! Back when the duke’s grandfather was alive—”

“Got it.”

I cut Bella off and looked at Butcher.

“Butcher.”

At my call, he looked at me like a puppy hearing its name.

“Yes, milady!”

“Butcher. I have a task for you.”

“What is it?”

“Follow someone and listen to everything they say.”

Lightning flashed in Butcher’s eyes.

If he’d been in sleep mode before, it was like his power had just been switched on.

“Really? Are you serious? Am I hunting again after all this time?”

The dullness from before vanished as he grew visibly excited, like a dog spotting its leash.

“Who? Who? Who do I spy on? Wow, milady, I really love you! To think I get to carry out a mission you gave me… I’m so happy!”

It seemed the secret organization work had truly suited him.

I hadn’t expected him to be this delighted.

“Hide behind me. The one I look at last—follow him. Find out everything he says and does, then report back.”

“Understood!”

Just as Butcher was about to dash off, he turned back and asked,

“Milady, milady. If I do a good job, can I serve you for just one day?”

He puckered his lips.

“Bella always gets to serve you… I want to serve our cute milady too… I’m tired of slaughtering animals…”

“Hey! Serving milady is my job! You ungrateful jerk! I went out of my way to let you meet her—!”

Before I could say anything, Bella snapped.

“You don’t get to hog cute milady all to yourself! I want to serve her too! That’s not fair!”

Suddenly, the two of them started fighting over who would serve me.

One claimed they could tie my hair better, the other insisted they were neater and better at cleaning my room.

Listening to them made my head hurt.

“Enough!”

At my command, they froze mid-argument and looked at me.

“Fine. If you handle this well, I’ll switch you for one day.”

“Wow!”

“Milady…!”

Butcher cheered while Bella fell into despair.

“But only if you do the job properly. Understood?”

“Yes, yes, yes! Don’t worry!”

* * *

I have to do well.

Butcher clenched his fists.

It was a mission given by his master after so long.

When he first heard there would be a new mistress, he hadn’t expected much.

She’d probably be just like the previous one.

The former mistress grew tired of the castle every day and looked at Butcher and the other castle children with open disgust.

She was hysterical, indifferent even to the child she bore.

She even carried on affairs with other men and accepted jewels from them.

If she hadn’t died, we might’ve killed her ourselves.

But this mistress was different.

Her appearance alone made people smile, yet the spirit within her rivaled that of a lion.

And she’d even given him such an interesting mission.

After the secret organization was disbanded due to lack of funds, how long had it been since he last received a task?

Hiding in the ceiling, Butcher watched the mistress leave and the merchants descend into chaos.

“You did what you said—what are we supposed to do now?!”

“Fraud?! We never heard anything about that! I thought the terms were suspiciously generous…!”

“We can’t die like this! If we just confess this was all Ruwan’s scheme—!”

“Enough!”

Ruwan slammed his hand on the desk.

“That’s a lie. Fraud? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“But—”

“My life is on the line too! If you die, I die as well! This is all a lie—they’re saying it because they don’t want to pay us! They can’t even explain what the fraud supposedly is. You believe that?”

Though Ruwan replied calmly, the merchants were already drowning in fear.

“But they’re a ducal house. If they really kill us and dump us in the snowfield… I… I don’t know what to do.”

“Did you really think you could obtain such a huge sum of money so easily?”

Ruwan’s eyes gleamed ominously.

He couldn’t let the plan fail now.

“You think they’ll spare you if you confess? We’re all in the same boat already. Remember that!”

He snapped coldly and left the room.

Butcher followed Ruwan, hiding in the shadows.

Back in his room, Ruwan shed his calm demeanor and violently kicked a chair.

“Damn it!”

He paced the room anxiously.

“No. There’s no way they figured out the scheme. Impossible. I spent too long preparing this.”

There was no way it could fail.

How many decades had his master spent planning this?

This plan had been in motion for decades to swallow Valfruga Castle whole.

There was no way a ruined Valfruga, reduced to nothing but its name, could have one billion marks.

All they had to do was surrender the castle and step aside.

Even if they had prepared the money, it didn’t matter.

It would mean the ducal house had drained all remaining funds—one small push would be enough to take the castle.

The arrogant duchess’s threats didn’t scare him.

Either way, failure meant death.

At that moment, someone knocked on Ruwan’s door.

It was one of the merchants—someone placed within the Fox Merchants’ Guild specifically to help Ruwan carry out the plan.

“So,” the man asked, “how are things?”