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Chapter 29
“…Pardon?”
“Embezzlement, double bookkeeping, false reports… Thanks to how thoroughly you left behind evidence, organizing everything was quite easy.”
Edith spoke with the same light smile she had started with.
“And just so you know, you’ll need to prepare your excuses very thoroughly. Everyone knows that the Chairman of the House of Nobles is my father.”
Edith gave a cold smile.
She intended to use every card at her disposal — even if it meant relying on the power of House Sertia.
At that very moment—
“This… This is tyranny by House Sertia! All the collateral branches have committed similar embezzlement to this extent!”
While others were still begging for Edith’s mercy, a man who had remained seated until now suddenly shot to his feet, shouting.
His cheeks trembling with fury, he was none other than the man involved with the mana stone mine.
As Gerald instinctively gripped the hilt of his sword in warning, the man ignored him and charged straight toward Edith, eyes bloodshot.
“And yet why is it you, the Grand Duchess, who interferes in matters the Grand Duke has condoned all this time?!”
He thrust out his hand as if to seize Edith by the throat.
Startled by the sudden movement, Edith instinctively froze.
The air grew razor-sharp with tension.
Just as Gerald debated how much force he could justifiably use to stop the man—
A heavy presence stirred beyond the door.
Footsteps echoed against the marble floor.
The door to the drawing room burst open with forceful strides.
Every noble turned to look—and froze.
An overwhelming pressure swept into the room like a choking wind.
Under that suffocating authority, someone barely managed to whisper with trembling lips.
“Y-Your Grace…”
Denok, dressed in a black formal suit, appeared before them with a hardened, icy expression.
“Say it again. That I condoned this?”
With each step he took, the air in the room grew tenser, deadlier.
The man, still held by Gerald, couldn’t even lower his outstretched arm as he froze in place.
Denok’s gaze slowly shifted—from the man’s extended hand to where it pointed: Edith.
A deep shadow fell over his face.
His brows furrowed slightly, and beneath his long lashes, his eyes gleamed with a cold, cutting light.
He said nothing, but the sharpened atmosphere in the room reflected his inner storm.
“Your Grace, it’s not what you think—”
The man, caught in Denok’s direct gaze, felt as though sharp thorns were piercing his throat.
He swallowed hard and tried to form an excuse.
But the closer Denok approached, the more his mind went blank.
A dark shadow loomed over him.
It was Denok.
“Condoned, you say… Is this how you repay the family’s trust, Viscount Rahim?”
Looking down at the now-pale man, Denok’s lips twisted bitterly.
“I entrusted you with the mine’s management, valuing your diligence. And this is what I get in return?”
Viscount Rahim had always been one of the weaker collateral branches.
Generally, important responsibilities like managing the mines were given to nobles of higher standing.
But Denok’s parents had specifically praised Rahim’s sincerity and granted him that authority.
And yet he repaid it with betrayal.
If anyone had made Denok feel this level of bitter disappointment, it was Rahim.
But more painful still was the fact that such unchecked corruption had grown under his own ignorance and neglect.
“While children were going hungry, you used the orphanage as a front to siphon off taxes for your own gain. While merchants struggled to earn even a single coin, you were selling off mana stones under the table.”
Denok slowly swept his gaze across the assembled nobles as he continued in a low tone.
“And now…”
“The amount embezzled will be fully accounted for. Even if it means sending your families to forced labor, you will repay it.”
“P-please! Please forgive me, just this once!”
Only when Denok mentioned their families did Rahim’s knees buckle.
The other nobles, too, turned pale.
But Denok did not spare them a single glance.
When it was all over, the nobles filed out of the estate with ashen faces.
Once comrades from the same collateral lines, once allies who shared in wealth and power—now, they looked at one another with barely restrained malice.
And the coldest glares of all were directed at one man.
“See? You had to open your big mouth and make things worse.”
“Boasting in front of the Grand Duchess… That pride of yours just signed your doom.”
Each noble, unable to hide their bitterness, muttered under their breath as they slowly backed away from Viscount Rahim.
A wave of criticism fell on his back as he hung his head even lower.
He felt like a man standing on the edge of a cliff.
I should’ve never gotten involved.
I should’ve pulled out while I still could.
The regret stabbed deep, but it changed nothing.
Now, he would stand trial—his name marked forever.
His family’s faces flashed through his mind.
His wife, his children, his elderly mother… They might now bear the burden of his disgrace.
The thought made his vision go dark.
Dragging his feet back toward the carriage, he buried his face in both hands and gave the coachman an order.
“Take me to the nearest tavern. The closest one.”
He couldn’t bear to face his family.
The coachman started the carriage.
Some time later, in a shadowy alley far from the estate—
Just as Rahim’s carriage rounded a corner, a second carriage quietly rolled out from the darkness.
It bore no crest, no banner.
Inside the humble vehicle, a woman sat silently, cloaked in a black robe.
It was Rachel.
She peered out the window.
Her crimson lips slowly curled into a smile.
“Are you all right?”
I looked up at the voice from across the room.
His tone was blunt, but Denok’s eyes were filled with concern.
I shook my head quickly.
“Oh, yes. It really wasn’t anything serious.”
He said nothing, simply looking at my face for a moment before turning his gaze away.
Now, we sat across from each other on the sofa in my bedroom.
Once the nobles had left and the tension had lifted, I had briefly swayed on my feet.
Seeing that, Denok had immediately brought me to my room.
I stared down at the tea meant to calm me, trying to hide my embarrassment.
He didn’t need to come help. I could’ve handled it.
I’d stepped forward, ready to end things on my own terms.
If he had caused a bigger commotion, I even planned to use it to our legal advantage.
And yet—
When he had stepped into that room, the relief that washed over me…
That moment when the tension drained from my shoulders—
I couldn’t deny how real it felt.
“You were trembling.”
He gently reached for my hand.
Ah.
When Viscount Rahim had lunged at me earlier, my whole body had tensed.
I hadn’t even realized my hand was still shaking—but he had noticed.
“…I’m okay. I was just startled. It’s already calming down.”
I slowly pulled my hand away as I answered.
“That didn’t look like you were just startled.”
“…What?”
When I looked up, Denok’s gaze was steady with certainty.
“You seemed… familiar with it. Being in that kind of fear. And calming yourself down.”
Then, in a careful voice, he asked:
“Were you… abused in the Duke’s household?”
