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Chapter : 13
“L-Lady! Why are you suddenly demanding compensation from us?”
“Keria. You’ve worked at the estate for three years now, right? Mostly doing errands for the kitchen.”
“Uh, y-yes. But how do you know that…?”
Rachel smiled.
“Did you think I wouldn’t know? Though I suppose that’s exactly why you dared to do something like this.”
Looking down at Keria’s pale face, Rachel spoke indifferently.
“You wanted to become a meal assistant because the work was easier and paid better, but you made too many mistakes and never got the position. You needed money, so starting last year, you began stealing kitchen ingredients.”
“T-That’s absurd…! I never did such a thing!”
“Ah, in case you tried to deny it, I already gathered plenty of evidence, so let’s not waste our energy. You saw what happened to Marsha, didn’t you?”
“Ugh.”
Most of the servants working at the estate had committed some sort of wrongdoing. Theft, neglecting duties, slander, leaking secrets—the variety was endless.
The problem was that no one knew exactly who had done what, how much they had stolen, or how they had done it. There were simply too many servants and too many problems.
Rachel had been considering whether she should hire Sian, the guild informant, to investigate.
Then Marsha had come to her.
‘My lady. I will help you.’
‘And how exactly are you planning to help me?’
‘As you know, I used to run a comfort club. A sort of gathering where people shared worries, gossip, and complaints.’
‘So?’
‘Many of the estate servants were members. I know their secrets.’
That immediately caught Rachel’s interest.
‘Secrets? What kind of secrets?’
‘Most of the servants in this estate are criminals.’
‘I already know that.’
Marsha shook her head.
‘What I know is specifically who committed what kind of corruption. I know what evidence exists and where every record is hidden.’
‘Wow. That’s impressive.’
‘If you reduce my compensation fee, I’ll organize everything and hand it over to you. I swear I’ll tell you everything truthfully, without hiding a single thing.’
It wasn’t a bad offer.
No—it was an incredibly good offer.
Rachel accepted Marsha’s proposal. Every time Marsha submitted evidence on one servant, Rachel drastically reduced the amount of compensation Marsha owed.
In the end, the only compensation Marsha had to repay was the three gold Rachel had originally given Keria. Compared to the amount Rachel had first demanded, it was practically nothing.
“Ponya made street orphans do the garden maintenance she was supposed to handle herself.”
“Ugh… H-how do you know that…?”
“You broke a hole in the estate wall to secretly bring the children in. You gave them leftover bread after they cleaned the garden, then pretended you’d done the work yourself and collected the wages.”
“……”
“I won’t charge you for the bread since it went to hungry children. But you still have to pay for repairing the wall and repay the 125 gold you received without actually working.”
“M-My lady, I don’t have that kind of money!”
“125 gold is actually on the lower side for compensation.”
Rachel tilted her head and pointed to another maid standing nearby.
“Someone like Kanna is what I’d call expensive. Two thousand five hundred gold. You secretly sold the count family’s financial records and estate information to the guild, didn’t you? I heard you’ve earned over ten thousand gold from them so far.”
Rachel went on listing the maids’ crimes and compensation fees one after another.
At first, the maids were skeptical. They thought their foolish mistress had merely stumbled onto a few things by accident.
But as Rachel exposed every single crime one by one, they were eventually forced to accept that all their secrets had been uncovered.
The first to collapse to the floor was Keria.
“M-My lady! I’m truly sorry! Please forgive me just this once!”
“No.”
“N-no… Please, my lady, have mercy…”
“What do you mean, ‘no’? If you were willing to do bad things, you should’ve been prepared to be punished. Or at the very least, you should’ve behaved well enough that I’d be willing to overlook it. You committed crimes in secret, spread malicious gossip, and now you’re talking about forgiveness and mercy?”
“Aah…! I’m sorry, truly…! I’ll make sure this never happens again…”
“I already warned you when I fired Marsha. I’m really starting to get angry, so be quiet.”
Some stared blankly in despair, while others, like Marsha before them, threw themselves onto the floor and burst into tears.
“I’ll kindly organize exactly how much each of you owes into written documents, so don’t worry about forgetting the amount. And though it may not comfort you, I’ll fire all of you together so you can grieve together as well. During all this time…”
Rachel almost said, “You’ve worked hard.”
Then she snorted.
Worked hard? Hardly.
“You must’ve had plenty of fun stealing and scheming all this time. Now try suffering a little yourselves.”
The compensation she had demanded from the maids standing before her alone came close to five thousand gold. The Elosa family treasury would grow fatter, and the amount of alimony Rachel would receive would increase as well.
It felt refreshing and satisfying.
The entire estate was in uproar.
Rachel had fired most of the servants. The only ones remaining were three servants whose crimes had been minor because they hadn’t worked at the estate for very long. Feeling sorry that the three would now have to handle all the work themselves, she tripled their wages.
Some protested. Others despaired. But after seeing the evidence, the compensation statements, and the letters from the guild debt collectors, they all quieted down.
The Guild Debt Collection Committee.
It sounded impressive, but they were really just people who collected unpaid money. Rumor had it they would do absolutely anything to get debts paid.
Among everyone staying at the estate, the only people smiling were Rachel and Graham, who sat together chatting happily while eating snacks.
“Mom. Does this mean we get to play together every day now?”
“Mm-hm. But things might be inconvenient for a while. We’ll have to fetch our own wash water and clean our own rooms.”
“That’s fine! Hehe, this is exciting. I hope things stay like this forever.”
Rachel stroked Graham’s hair.
She was relieved that Graham didn’t dislike the change, but she still worried about the fact that she was the child’s only playmate.
Children of noble families usually grew up surrounded by nannies, siblings, and many other people.
“Graham. Do you maybe want a friend?”
“I don’t need one.”
The answer came without hesitation, but Graham soon looked sad.
“Mom… do you want me to have friends?”
“Well… yes, I suppose so. It’s nice to have children your age to play with. There’s hardly anyone left at the estate now, and I thought you might get lonely.”
“I’m okay with being lonely. As long as I have you, Mom.”
What a sweet child.
Though once he met Dolorosa, he’d probably fall in love right away, wouldn’t he? When that time came, Rachel thought she might feel a little sad.
Rachel silently patted his head, and Graham fell into thought.
“……”
“What is it, Graham? Did it upset you that Mom told you to play with friends?”
“Mom, do you dislike me?”
“What? Of course not! Absolutely not. You have no idea how much I love you. I was only worried you’d feel lonely. I would never do anything that makes you sad or unhappy. I promise.”
Rachel expected him to immediately thank her, but unexpectedly, Graham fell silent again.
Only after some time passed did the child finally look up at her.
“…No, Mom. You don’t have to worry.”
“Hm?”
“I like you, Mom, so I’m going to protect you. And to do that, I have to do things I don’t like sometimes. In storybooks, princes go face scary monsters to save princesses. Playing with friends is something I can handle.”
Oh my goodness…! How can he be this adorable…!
Rachel pulled Graham tightly into her arms.
“Graham is the best! Mom is so happy because of you that I feel like I could fly away!”
Startled, Graham quickly wrapped his arms tightly around Rachel’s waist.
“N-no, Mom! Don’t fly away! I don’t know how to fly!”
“Hahaha, okay. I won’t fly away.”
The two of them hugged each other and rubbed cheeks together for quite a while.
The estate gradually adjusted to the newfound quiet.
Even though the servants had been lazy and careless, there had still been many of them, so their absence was noticeable.
Meals became much simpler. Fortunately, one chef remained, so Rachel didn’t have to cook herself.
Weeds grew wildly in the garden.
Dust bunnies rolled around the corners of the estate, which had already been untidy to begin with.
About a week later, Karl returned to the estate. He seemed extremely shocked by how much the place had changed.
After asking Graham to play alone in his room for a while, Rachel headed to the drawing room with Karl.
The moment Rachel sat down, Karl spoke as though he had been waiting.
“My lady. What in the world happened here? I heard rumors, but to think you dismissed so many servants at once…”
“You disappeared from the estate without permission, and the first thing you do when you return is nag me?”
“……Without permission—”
“Not without permission? Because you were with Theodore, the master of the estate? Is that what you were about to say?”
Karl closed his mouth. He had sensed something dangerous in Rachel’s sharp tone.
And understandably so. Rachel no longer bothered pretending to be the obedient Rachel of the past. They would soon divorce anyway, and there was no reason to keep acting meek.
Rachel tapped the armrest of her chair lightly with her fingertips.
“Why aren’t you answering? Ah, perhaps you weren’t with Theodore after all? Then where were you? Did you ask Theodore for leave and visit the house where your daughter lives?”
Only then did Karl’s face turn pale. His face, already lined with wrinkles from years of hard work, suddenly looked corpse-like.
“So I was right. Well, your daughter was publicly humiliated so badly—someone had to comfort her. Theodore was busy being tied to Berengella, so naturally her only family had to stay with her.”
“…How does my lady know that…?”
“I’m not an idiot. Of course I knew. I simply pretended not to.”
“……”
“So. Was it entertaining? How did it feel watching me beg Theodore for love while helping your daughter carry on her affair?”
Karl lowered his head, and Rachel’s eyes gleamed coldly.
Theodore, who cheated on his wife, was terrible.
And Jane, his mistress, was terrible too.
But the one Rachel despised most was Karl—Jane’s father—who had known everything, remained silent, and had even helped the affair continue.
It was time for the first punishment.
