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Chapter 10
“Fraud?”
“Yes.”
As if he had just finished bathing.
Water dripped from the Grand Duke’s hair as he tightened his robe and frowned.
“You mean the accountant of House Leandro?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“No, Your Grace!”
Milton, whose collar I was still gripping, struggled pitifully once again.
“I-I haven’t done anything wrong. Ghk!”
Be quiet.
The moment I tightened my grip slightly, Milton shut his mouth.
This was surprisingly convenient.
Watching the scene, the Grand Duke ran a hand over his still-damp face.
He looked as though he had witnessed something unpleasant.
Was he looking at me… or at him?
“For now, please come inside.”
The Grand Duke stepped aside, and I walked into his room.
“Tell me.”
Sitting down on the sofa, he looked back and forth between me and Milton, who was still dangling from my hand by the collar.
“What exactly happened?”
“Yes.”
I nodded.
“I’ve seen this man before at Count Tekins’ estate.”
“At Count Tekins’ estate?”
“Yes. My older half-brother… no, the young Count Tekins once carried out a massive mining investment fraud.”
The Grand Duke’s gaze sharpened as he listened.
“If I remember correctly, my older half-brother… no—ugh. Let’s just call him trash. Anyway, that bastard once invited all of his accomplices to the Tekins estate.”
“You’re saying you saw him there?”
“Yes. That half-brother of mine… ugh. Fine, just ‘trash.’ Anyway, this man was one of the people who participated in his scam.”
I saw him with my own eyes!
“With absolute certainty!”
“But when I was punished, I never once saw this man’s face or heard his name.”
The moment the fraud was exposed, that worthless half-brother naturally dumped all the blame onto me.
Thanks to him, I was dragged away for questioning countless times and repeatedly thrown into prison before being released.
I never saw this guy back then.
Later, when I finally returned to the estate with my body ruined from imprisonment—
“There were quite a few slippery bastards who got away, you know? Amazing, really. Oh, you’re back? Prison must’ve suited you. Your face looks positively refreshed.”
I remembered hearing those words.
“If you wish, you can confirm it yourself.”
I held out Milton’s bag, which I had been carrying in my other hand. The Grand Duke accepted it and immediately opened it.
Inside were only a few sets of clothes, several books, and a small pouch containing a handful of coins.
“For someone who took part in a large-scale investment fraud, he has remarkably little money. It doesn’t seem like he has any savings hidden away either.”
After opening even the coin pouch to inspect it, the Grand Duke looked at me.
“Lady Tekins, do you happen to know where the money he embezzled is?”
His gaze rested squarely on me.
Apparently, this alone wasn’t enough evidence.
“It’ll become obvious once you see this.”
Sorry. I’d forgotten to put it back after looking through it earlier.
He kept trying to run away.
“Ghk!”
I tightened my grip again, and Milton let out another strangled sound.
Hey, stop exaggerating.
“……”
The Grand Duke accepted the small notebook and several documents from me and slowly began reading.
“Ha.”
His expressionless face didn’t last long.
With every line he read, a mocking smile gradually appeared.
“Milton Vergel.”
Thud.
The sound of the old notebook snapping shut echoed loudly through the room.
“You participated in a fraud while bearing the name of House Leandro.”
The Grand Duke rose from his seat.
One step.
Then another.
He slowly approached.
“And then you used that money to commit another fraud.”
Exactly.
A man who had taken part in a massive scam and escaped punishment wouldn’t possibly be this poor.
He simply failed after running another scam.
Perhaps the taste of fraud had been too sweet.
This time, Milton had started running scams himself.
And he failed.
How badly?
So badly that even after pouring every coin he’d earned from fraud into covering the losses…
It still wasn’t enough.
As a result, he borrowed money from banks and from every possible lender he could find.
“Naturally, you also tampered with the accounting books.”
He had even stolen from House Leandro itself to cover his mess.
The notebook currently in the Grand Duke’s hand was the hidden set of double accounting records.
“Y-Your Grace!”
Bang!
Milton, who had been struggling, immediately slammed his forehead against the floor.
“I-I didn’t do it on purpose! I just wanted to live a better life and made one small mistake. I’ll repay every coin I embezzled somehow!”
Whether he was even listening to Milton’s excuses was impossible to tell.
The Grand Duke simply walked toward the wall.
“Please, just this once! I’ll devote the rest of my life to serving you faithfully! Please, think of my wife and children—”
His words cut off abruptly.
Milton’s body collapsed limply to one side.
Huh?
Wait…
Surely he wasn’t…
Dead?
A scene I’d witnessed before suddenly overlapped with reality.
A collapsing man.
A massive sword stained with blood.
The Grand Duke standing before him.
That same indifferent expression.
At the same time, it felt as though someone were choking me.
My breathing grew shallow.
My vision spun.
Again…
The moment when the Grand Duke had killed someone—
“Lady Tekins.”
In an instant, my vision cleared.
“Breathe.”
Only then did I realize I’d stopped breathing altogether.
“Haa…”
“Slowly.”
Rather pathetically, I ended up clinging to the Grand Duke as I struggled to catch my breath.
He waited patiently until I was steady enough to stand again.
“He merely fainted.”
Only then did I get a proper look at Milton.
Foam bubbled from his mouth, and his eyes were rolling wildly.
“He isn’t dead.”
“Ah…”
I staggered to my feet and quickly fixed my disheveled hair.
“Y-You startled me. I thought he’d died.”
“I do know there’s a time and place.”
The Grand Duke released my hand, flexed his fingers once, then rang the bell sitting on the table.
“Or…”
Setting the bell back down, he looked directly at me.
“In your mind, Lady Tekins, am I someone who draws his sword and kills people whenever he pleases?”
Even though I’d said I didn’t believe the rumors…
His eyes seemed to ask whether I still saw him as nothing more than a murderer.
“Either way, it makes no difference.”
His tone suggested he truly didn’t care how I viewed him.
Still, I opened my mouth.
“Ah.”
No.
It’s not like that.
It’s just…
I keep remembering what I saw before.
I almost said it.
But I stopped.
He wouldn’t believe me anyway.
“I was just a little startled.”
“I thought you’d drawn your sword.”
What the Grand Duke had used to strike Milton wasn’t a sword.
It had been the scabbard resting on the weapon rack by the wall.
“I apologize for startling you.”
Placing the scabbard back, Leandro gave a brief apology.
“If I’d struck him with my bare hand instead… I thought I might actually kill him. This was the safest option.”
“…?”
What was that supposed to mean?
Was he saying his bare hands were more dangerous than a sword scabbard?
And somehow… it feels like he’d already suspected the accountant to some extent.
Otherwise, why would he side with an outsider like me instead of his own accountant?
Especially when the person standing before me was the Grand Duke Leandro.
The Grand Duke Leandro.
I looked at him suspiciously.
He remained completely calm.
“Your hand is red.”
“What happened?”
His expression hardened in an instant as he gently took my hand.
“You’ve burned yourself.”
“Huh? Me?”
“Yes.”
“You, Lady Tekins.”
Only after hearing that did I finally look properly at my fingers.
Milky white blisters had formed across my fingertips.
It seemed I’d burned myself more seriously than I’d realized when I’d tested the bathwater earlier.
“Oh, right! Veloa got hurt!”
But that wasn’t what mattered most right now.
“A maid brought boiling hot water, and Veloa badly burned her hand. I took her to Lady Anette after asking the Duchess.”
“If she went to Anette, she’ll be fine.”
“She is exceptionally skilled.”
Releasing my hand, the Grand Duke continued.
“Rather than worrying about that, shouldn’t you concern yourself with your own fingers? They’ll scar.”
“They’re only fingertips.”
Even if they scarred…
They were just fingertips.
Neither I nor anyone else would notice much.
“More importantly, Your Grace.”
I grabbed the Grand Duke’s hand tightly.
“What are you planning to do with him?”
If Veloa was safe, then my attention naturally shifted to Milton, who was still lying on the floor with foam bubbling from his mouth.
“For now, we’ll determine the full circumstances.”
“Then he’ll be dealt with according to the law.”
“No, no.”
I shook my head.
“You don’t seriously believe he tampered with House Leandro’s finances all by himself, do you?”
I tightened my grip on his hand.
“He definitely has someone backing him.”
“You’ve already guessed as much, haven’t you?”
“……”
The Grand Duke frowned in obvious displeasure before letting out a sigh.
“We’re investigating.”
See?
He’d already figured it out and had begun investigating behind the scenes.
“I think I know who it is.”
Smiling, I raised one corner of my lips.
Actually, it wasn’t just a guess.
I knew exactly who it was.
I’d already realized how this incident developed in the original story.
“Come to think of it, you are a former swindler.”
“You also committed embezzlement.”
“You’d certainly know better than most, so I’ll keep your advice in mind.”
Was he mocking me?
I glared at him.
The Grand Duke’s face remained shamelessly composed.
“Who do you believe it is, Lady Tekins?”
“Well…”
Pretending to think, I answered.
“In cases like this, it’s usually a relative.”
“Or someone who was close to the late Grand Duke.”
“Perhaps the very person who recommended this man for the position of accountant.”
Hmm…
Resting a finger against my chin as though deep in thought, I finally met the Grand Duke’s eyes.
“And above all, the most suspicious person would be whoever suddenly became much wealthier after the fraud.”
I smiled brightly at him.
“Is there, perhaps, someone who fits every one of those descriptions?”
“……”
The Grand Duke narrowed his eyes.
His expression suggested he wasn’t ignorant of the answer.
He simply disliked being led to it by my reasoning.
His resistance didn’t last long.
At last, he spoke.
“Uncle Preston.”
Bingo.
