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Chapter 10
“……”
At her words, Owen fell silent for a moment.
He could roughly imagine what had happened.
While he was busy with the overwhelming amount of work and the Emperor’s order to go to war, the butler must have insisted that, as a count, Owen needed to maintain the dignity of his position and improve the appearance of the castle.
The story about the blue roses probably came up around then as well.
This situation had not happened simply because the lord was careless.
Regardless of trends or aristocratic dignity, it was obvious that Owen knew very little about noble society.
It was unfortunate that the money he had carefully allocated had instead ended up lining the pockets of a dishonest man.
Before Owen’s expression could become any harder, Pesha held out the flower she had picked.
“This is the blue rose that was growing in the flower bed.”
The blue rose in Pesha’s hand was in full bloom, its pale-blue petals opening layer by layer.
“What I’m trying to say isn’t that you were mistaken about the trend.”
“……Then what is it?”
“How much did you pay for this rose?”
“How much?”
“I heard you paid a very high price for it.”
“I did allocate a budget, but managing the castle’s finances was the butler’s responsibility. I never thought about the price myself.”
“Then what would you do if this rose turned out to be fake?”
“Fake?”
Pesha suddenly tore off the head of the blue rose she had shown him and crushed it in her hand.
The blue petals scattered onto the floor.
Owen’s eyes widened slightly at her sudden action.
“Actually, blue roses don’t exist naturally. So why do you think the butler went as far as lying to buy fake flowers?”
“He could have been deceived himself.”
Pesha gave a small laugh as she looked at Owen, who seemed to already know the answer but still wanted to believe in his own man.
“That’s possible. But I think the butler deliberately bought fake roses and pocketed the budget. Isn’t that why he tried so hard to refuse to show me the financial records, even going so far as to point out my lack of knowledge?”
“……What did the butler point out about you?”
Owen’s expression, which had barely changed even after learning that the butler he had trusted for years had deceived him, suddenly turned cold.
Surprised, Pesha quickly opened her hand and showed him the petals she had been holding.
The original white color of the petals was visible in the places where her fingers had been gripping them.
Meanwhile, blue dye had stained Pesha’s palm, making it obvious that the flower had been dyed.
“This is a characteristic of plant-based dye. It doesn’t wash away easily with water or fade easily, but when it comes into contact with something at a high temperature, the color comes off quickly. That’s probably why he strictly prohibited the servants from approaching the flowers. Since you don’t seem interested in flowers, he probably thought he was safe.”
“……”
“And this isn’t even a rose. It’s just a wildflower that resembles a rose and is much cheaper than one.”
After finishing, Pesha asked,
“What are you going to do? Is a butler who dared to deceive his master with lies and even embezzle his money still one of your people?”
Owen’s cold eyes fixed on Pesha.
Without saying a word, he pulled the bell cord. Before long, a servant appeared.
“Yes, my lord. Did you call for me?”
“Bring the butler here. Right now.”
The servant was startled by Owen’s unusual demeanor and bowed his head.
While the servant went to fetch the butler, Owen looked down at the petals scattered across the floor.
“How did you know this, Madam?”
Pesha had expected him to ask more questions about the butler. She had not expected him to ask about her.
She casually shrugged and answered as if it were nothing important.
“I’ve been interested in plants and flowers since I was young.”
Her father had disliked the fact that Pesha studied herbal medicine, something that had nothing to do with the accomplishments expected of a noblewoman.
Studying abroad, which cost a great deal of money, had also been impossible without her father’s support.
That was all there was to it.
Pesha thought Owen would accept such a vague answer and let it go, but he asked another question.
“If you were interested in it, did you receive formal education? Perhaps you hired a specialist as a tutor……”
That was when the servant who had gone to fetch the butler returned.
“My lord, I have brought the butler.”
The butler, who had been summoned so suddenly, looked somewhat confused.
He placed a hand over his chest and greeted Owen nervously after noticing the unusual atmosphere.
“I heard you called for me, my lord.”
“Albert.”
Hearing Owen call his name in such a serious tone, the butler nervously shifted his eyes.
“Yes, yes, my lord…….”
“The reason the Battle of Toriya Plains ended successfully several years ago was largely because of your help. Even though you were a civilian who should have been protected, you overcame your fear and came to tell us where the enemy forces were hiding in ambush.”
“Th-that’s right. Whenever I think about it, my knees still go weak……”
Why was he suddenly bringing that up?
Cold sweat began to form on the butler’s forehead.
Even though Owen knew the butler was nervously watching his every move, his voice remained calm.
“Because of you, we avoided having a large number of soldiers killed or wounded. As the man leading those soldiers, I thought I should properly repay you. The reason I hired you at the castle instead of simply giving you money once was because I believed you were someone I could trust.”
“……My lord, I……”
“But now that I think about it, perhaps I made that decision impulsively because I was overwhelmed with joy after winning the battle.”
The butler squeezed his eyes shut, apparently about to make an excuse or confess something, but Owen did not give him time.
“I don’t have time to waste listening to pointless excuses, so answer me simply. How much did you embezzle through the blue roses?”
“Th-that, that is……”
The butler’s hands began to tremble violently.
“Answer.”
He seemed desperate to somehow get himself out of the situation, but there was no way he could withstand Owen’s piercing gaze.
“About…… 1,500 gold coins…….”
Pesha’s eyes widened when she heard the amount.
With that much money, we could buy a huge amount of fresh food for the castle, completely fill the wine cellar, and still have enough left to hire two gardeners!
Having confessed the amount himself, the frightened butler hurriedly began spouting nonsense.
“B-but the flowers really are a rare variety! I only did it to preserve your reputation, my lord……!”
Pesha looked at him with contempt and spoke.
“Stop saying ridiculous things. There’s no way you didn’t know that these were fake roses dyed blue, or that there was no such trend for blue roses in the capital, or that you were pocketing the money. So where do you get off lying now?”
“How could Madam know that? No, could it be……”
The moment the butler’s eyes met Pesha’s, his face turned bright red with anger.
“It’s a lie!”
“What?”
Pesha could only stare in disbelief as he pointed at her and shouted.
“These flowers really are blue roses! Please believe me, my lord!”
Pesha looked at the butler, who was now lying face-down on the floor and begging Owen, and muttered incredulously,
“What does he take me for……?”
“I know you’re doing this because you hold a grudge against me for refusing to hand over the financial records!”
“This is ridiculous. Who wouldn’t know that you deliberately avoided hiring a gardener so you could hide those fake blue roses?”
Pesha was beginning to lose her patience and fired back.
The butler, having completely lost his reason, glared at her with a red face.
“What would a sheltered young lady like you know? You’re accusing me based on some half-baked knowledge you picked up somewhere!”
“What?”
“My lord! I’ll bring in a new expert. We can ask that person and determine who is telling the truth!”
His performance of looking wronged was truly impressive.
Pesha wanted to agree immediately, but if they brought in someone new, there was no telling what tricks the butler might pull.
Who knew whether he would bribe the person and have them turn the accusation back on her?
She was just about to insist that they absolutely could not do that when—
A low voice echoed through the study.
“No.”
It was Owen.
Pesha and the butler, who had been arguing, both turned toward him.
Owen’s expression was cold as he stood up and slowly walked toward the butler.
Then, without mercy, he stepped on the back of the butler’s hand, which was pressed against the floor as he knelt.
“Aaaagh!”
“We’ll find out which one of you is telling the truth once we conduct a thorough investigation. But……”
He pressed down on the man’s hand repeatedly and without mercy, making Pesha grimace as though her own hand hurt just watching.
“Regardless of whether you are innocent of that accusation, I cannot understand why you would dare talk back to the lady of the house, whom you should be loyal to, and ignore her orders.”
“M-my lord, please, just a moment……!”
“If it turns out that what you said is a lie, you will also be held responsible for the way you spoke to my wife today.”
