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Chapter: 10
At Ruwan’s question, the other man replied with a grim expression.
“…It’s not good. The moment their lives were mentioned, everyone fell into confusion.”
“What happens if those idiots all give up together?”
“Then… with only our two shares, we can demand no more than two hundred million marks. Asking for the castle would be impossible. Two hundred million is an amount they could probably pay.”
“Try harder to persuade them! It’s one hundred million marks each! Do you really think those worthless bastards will ever touch a hundred million marks in their entire lives? Even if we give up our shares, tempt them more! We’ve dragged this thing out this far—we can’t just give up now! Where the hell did this go wrong?! This plan was perfect!”
“I’m wondering the same thing. I heard Valfruga’s intelligence network was dismantled long ago… No— even if they still had one, how did they figure out this method?”
“That’s what I don’t understand! Do you know how much trouble the young lady went through secretly slipping in a promissory note for money that was never even borrowed?! They didn’t notice for thirty years… so how—how the hell—!”
This is it! The information my lady wanted!
Butcher was thrilled.
Now that he had obtained the information his lady desired, all that remained was to return and receive praise.
When Naol and I heard the information Butcher brought back, we were stunned.
“They never borrowed the money at all? Is that even possible?!”
“I’ve never heard of such a method in my life either. How could something like this be done…? Why do we have a promissory note for money we never borrowed?”
“That’s exactly what they said, my lady. To be precise: ‘Do you know how much trouble the young lady went through secretly slipping in a promissory note for money that was never even borrowed?! They didn’t notice for thirty years… so how—!’”
Butcher spoke while imitating Ruwan.
“Wait—hold on. Young lady? Who is that supposed to be? Does the Fox Merchants’ Union know some noble young lady?”
“…The Marquis of Reholas’s daughter.”
I groaned as I spoke.
“Our great-great-grandfather married the Marquis of Reholas’s daughter. And the Fox Merchants’ Union originally belonged to the Reholas family.”
“…!”
“…!”
A duchess stealing her own family’s seal and participating in fraud.
So that’s why seal management is so important.
Unlike Butcher, who quickly calmed down and lowered his gaze obediently, Naol remained in shock for quite some time.
“W-wait! Then are you saying that the one who forged and inserted the promissory note from the very beginning was the former duchess?!”
“Even if it wasn’t entirely her doing, she must have been involved.”
“This is… impossible! How could she—! No matter what, it was the family she married into… Why…?”
“Wouldn’t her rising birth family, the Reholas house, have seemed better than the Valfruga family, which continued to decline even after she married in?”
“Come to think of it, I heard that as soon as the duke passed away, the former duchess returned to the Marquis of Reholas’s estate.”
At Butcher’s words, Naol staggered as if struck.
Even as the Valfruga family declined and he was pushed aside and mistreated in the castle by Prug, he never left Valfruga.
He was that loyal—so accepting that the duchess had betrayed the family must have been unbearable.
Naol buried his face in his hands for a long time before letting out a deep sigh.
“I… I understand. Fine. I’ll have to deal with that betrayal on my own. For now, we need to resolve this matter first.”
Fortunately, Naol was a man who knew exactly what he needed to do.
He had already looked tired and pale, but in just ten minutes, he seemed to have aged ten years.
“The former duchess—no, I don’t even want to call her that anymore. If the Reholas young lady was involved, then the trick behind this fraud was incredibly simple.”
Naol continued heavily.
“The former duke would never have needed to see this document in the first place. Valfruga was in chaos at the time, and fifty million marks isn’t a large sum. It wasn’t a huge amount, and the repayment date was thirty years later—so it would’ve been hard to notice right away. And he never would have imagined that the wife he trusted would steal the seal and create a fake promissory note.”
“I think so too.”
A plan spanning several decades.
Just how obsessively had the Reholas family prepared to bring down Valfruga?
Now that I thought about it, they were truly persistent, despicable bastards.
I should crush them before Luc grows up.
Of course, a grown Luc would destroy them anyway—but still, I should lay nothing but a flower-covered road ahead of my child.
“This really is… something we could never have discovered if not for your method, my lady. At most, we thought the amount had been altered…”
Naol looked at me with eyes full of admiration.
“As expected, you truly are the guardian of our house… I already trusted you, my lady, but from today onward, I will be even more loyal!”
“I-I’ll be loyal too!”
Butcher bowed his head beside Naol.
Thank goodness for the original story.
If not for that, I might have fallen for the Marquis of Reholas’s scheme as well.
“Anyway, now that we know it’s fraud, we should move quickly. If we check the ducal ledgers, it’ll be clear that we never received fifty million marks from the Reholas family. Once we secure the evidence, we’ll contact them immediately.”
“Then…”
“Fraud carries double compensation, doesn’t it?”
Naol’s face brightened.
“My lady! I’m so glad that you are our lady! Truly!”
Then, with a solemn expression, he bowed deeply.
“Thank you for coming to our ducal house.”
Seeing his sincerity made me feel oddly embarrassed.
I scratched my neck and said casually,
“Ah, well. Whatever. I’m hungry. I’ll go eat. You should rest a bit, then get to work. And Butcher—lock up the merchants’ union in the prison. We’ll have one last talk tomorrow… Hmm. Though.”
I smiled strangely.
“I hope the merchants cooperate nicely when I speak to them. You know what I mean, right?”
Butcher hesitated for a moment, then his face lit up in understanding.
“Yes! Don’t worry!”
Naol felt his heart burn.
That person is truly our duchess.
When she first uncovered Prug’s embezzlement, he had thought she was merely a lucky young girl.
As someone devoted to the Valfruga family, he thought it only natural to be loyal to the lady as well…
But not anymore.
A blank-shot operation.
It was a term he had never heard before, yet she had commanded the operation flawlessly.
Of course, it was a dangerous method.
If the other side had thought calmly, it might not have worked.
That was why she trained the ragtag soldiers of the ducal castle to create an atmosphere of fear.
The sight of the merchants’ union—who had dismissed her as a mere child—falling into utter panic…
Even now, it made him laugh.
How dignified she looked, sitting in the chair and boldly rebuking the merchants!
She was more than capable of ruling a noble house.
Despite her lovely appearance, she possessed the spirit of a true ruler.
And to think she’s only fifteen…
Once time passed and she reached adulthood, just how great would she become?
Though he had devoted himself to Valfruga, he never once imagined the family would reclaim its former glory.
He thought it would be enough to survive modestly, without starving.
But for the first time, he felt ambition.
With his lady, Valfruga might reclaim its past glory—no, something even greater.
For the first time, Naol saw hope within this ducal castle.
Searching the ledgers, evidence that no money had ever been borrowed surfaced quickly.
The next day, I headed to the prison with Butcher.
“Ugh.”
The moment I stepped inside, I gagged.
The stench felt like it pierced straight into my brain rather than my nose.
“What is this smell? Why is it so bad?”
“We haven’t been able to manage the prison properly for some time…”
Butcher said, frowning.
Right.
The family had no money—of course they couldn’t maintain the prison.
Besides, prison is where bad people go anyway; no one would spend precious funds on it.
The Fox Merchants’ Union members were imprisoned separately.
Judging by their faces, it looked like they’d spent a month in a haunted house overnight.
“P-please spare us! Madam! We really didn’t know anything!”
“H-he did it all! We’ll do anything—just please spare our lives!”
“My lady! I was blinded by greed! I was wrong!”
They stretched their hands toward me through the bars, begging.
Hearing people plead with me never felt good.
But I steeled my heart.
I couldn’t let them off.
Even if they were driven by greed, they had attacked my family.
If I hadn’t stopped them, it would be me, Luc, and our family locked up here.
I looked past the men begging me to the two men glaring at me instead.
Especially Ruwan—if looks could kill, he would’ve torn me into eight pieces already.
“There’s no need to beg me. I’ll handle this according to the law of the realm.”
At my words, their cries grew louder.
“My lady! We can’t repay that money!”
“Please spare us! Please!”
With no way to repay two billion marks, my words must have sounded like a death sentence.
I smiled calmly.
“Why should you repay it? Isn’t your master the Marquis of Reholas?”
Confusion crossed the merchants’ faces.
Ruwan, on the other hand, looked horrified.
He lunged toward me.
“Y-you—!”
When he reached through the bars as if to attack me, Butcher grabbed his arm and twisted it back.
“Aaaargh!”
As he screamed, I continued,
“Since your master is the Marquis of Reholas, it’s only right to demand compensation from him. Don’t you agree?”
Seeing Felia smiling in front of the prison, the merchants’ minds raced.
The Marquis of Reholas—out of nowhere?
They didn’t understand what was happening.
But either way, they were headed for a life of slavery if this continued.
The Reholas family was wealthy; paying two billion marks would be easy.
They didn’t know how things had turned out this way, but the ducal house wouldn’t mention the marquis without reason.
If they testified that the Marquis of Reholas was behind everything, they wouldn’t need to die at Valfruga’s hands—or pay compensation themselves.
Of course, the marquis might kill them—but they doubted this small girl could extract anything from him anyway.
More than anything, surviving the immediate danger came first.
The young man smiling beside their “master” looked gentle, but to them he seemed like a demon.
Having finished their calculations, the merchants shouted in unison.
“Yes—yes! It was the Marquis of Reholas who sent us!”
“The Marquis of Reholas ordered us!”
“Shut up! What nonsense are you spouting?!”
Ruwan screamed at them.
“What do you mean nonsense?! It’s true! The Marquis of Reholas planned all of this!”
“Come to think of it, you were suspicious too! Right—you were the marquis’s lackey from the start! That’s why you dragged us all the way here!”
It was mostly a wild guess.
But it happened to be true.
“My lady! I’ll tell you everything! I’ll say anything—just please spare us!”
The Fox Merchants’ Union clung desperately to their only path to survival.
Ruwan and his companion tried to quiet them and shut their mouths, but they couldn’t stop men whose lives—and families—were at stake.
The tide had already turned.
With the merchants’ testimony and the evidence found in Ruwan’s quarters, there was nowhere left to run.
All that remained—
Was the Marquis of Reholas.
