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Chapter 18
At Dullian’s loud outburst, Chiabil, who had been outside, signaled to the soldiers he had brought.
After letting the soldiers in first, Chiabil followed slowly behind—and heard another shout from Dullian.
“Why the hell is the vault empty?!”
“What?”
Chiabil shoved aside the soldiers and rushed into the vault.
Standing inside the large room, he couldn’t believe his eyes and looked around frantically.
The vault was truly, completely empty.
“What the hell….”
“Where the hell did all the gold go?! The silver?! The jewels?! No way… no way. It has to be hidden somewhere around here!”
Clang!
As Dullian stomped around, searching for a hidden compartment, he accidentally kicked a lone coin, which rolled across the floor with a bright, mocking ring.
As if the empty vault were laughing at him, the sight made Dullian explode with rage, and he raised his fist.
“Damn it! What are you all standing around for? Start checking the walls or something—ARGH!”
He punched the wall in frustration, only to clutch his reddened hand and bend over in pain.
Chiabil clicked his tongue and looked away, seeing his younger brother’s idiotic display.
“……”
He stared silently at the vault’s bare floor—something that had never been exposed before—with an expression full of bitter disbelief.
Slurp.
I sipped my perfectly brewed tea and hummed lightly.
“They must’ve found out by now.”
After living with my fake family for so long, I knew exactly how they thought.
They were obsessed with appearances. Before, they might have held off from touching the garden I had grown as a child because it looked bad to steal from a kid.
But now that my marriage to the Duke of Ivernum was pretty much certain—
No, even after it fell apart, they wouldn’t just sit quietly.
The royal connection they so desperately wanted was gone.
Since the tie they were counting on was now broken, they’d come after the assets I’d built instead.
So of course, I anticipated that my fake family would come to seize the merchant guild.
And I knew exactly what to do.
“As if I’d let you swallow it for free. What do you take me for?”
Before I left the family, I made sure everything at the guild was in order.
“What? This much in severance pay?”
“Boss, you already gave us glowing letters of recommendation and even helped us find new positions. We’re the ones who should be grateful—”
“No need for that. I’m the one who pushed you to leave, so it’s only fair you get this much.”
“Pushed us? Please! Once you were forced out unfairly, I would’ve been the first to walk away from that guild, even if someone begged me to stay!”
“Exactly! A guild without our boss has no meaning!”
“You guys…”
Seriously. They’re all so loyal. I told them not to get sentimental about business…
Even now, I had no regrets about giving them those generous severance packages.
Yes, my first move for the guild was the ultimate escape plan.
The Great Escape!
Haha! This world doesn’t have any non-compete clauses!
The true asset of the guild wasn’t in the vault—it was in the office.
All those valuable talents I had scouted one by one!
The golden goose guild you all were drooling over is now empty, and all my precious staff are off at rival firms, ready to crush what’s left!
You thought you could just loot the place because I left?
Ha! Not a chance.
I never dumped all our liquid assets into the vault anyway. And even what little we had—I drained it all this time.
If I want to bring my people back someday, I better make sure they don’t feel shortchanged.
Oh, and yes—I took my fair share too.
Compensation for honest work is only right.
That’s right.
I nodded as I took another peaceful sip of my warm tea.
Even if they ran to the guild building now, my fake family wouldn’t find any trace of the golden goose they’d hoped for.
“Well, if they want the empty shell, they can have it.”
I smirked as I recalled the looks on my staff’s faces when I explained the plan to clear out the vault.
“So… your noble family won’t know a thing and will just rush here?”
“Hehe, Boss, just wait! I’ll stay behind and report exactly how disappointed those earl’s people looked when they realized it was all gone!”
My fake family had caused enough scenes at the guild in the past, so my staff had plenty of pent-up resentment.
As I remembered their satisfaction, I could picture the chaos unfolding at the guild right now.
They probably charged in, thrilled to steal some money, only to end up looking like dogs chasing after chickens.
Ah, I wish I could see the looks on their faces.
I was so, so curious to see their expressions at this moment.
Chiabil’s face was covered in frustration like thick tar.
Huff, huff.
Flushed red like an enraged bull, he breathed heavily. His deeply furrowed brow creased even more.
Damn it.
Chiabil ground his teeth, his face twisted in anger.
“Arghhh! Does this make sense?! The largest guild in the capital has nothing in its vault?!”
“M-My lord…”
“Hey! What are you doing over there?! Tear up that floor too!”
If not, he felt like he’d start screaming like his brother, who was running around like a headless chicken.
“…So you’re saying the vault really matches the numbers in the ledger?”
His head throbbed.
Chiabil pressed his temple as he glanced down at the ledger one of the guild’s lower members had fetched on his order.
“The guild’s principle is trust. According to the boss’s rules, there’s never been any trickery in the books.”
Grabbing his throbbing head, Chiabil peered into the records but didn’t notice the slightly mocking tone of the guild member’s voice.
After flipping through the ledger for a while, he let out a sharp breath.
“Ha! Look at this!”
“What? Did you find something, big bro?”
“Our cunning little sister was scheming from the start.”
Chiabil smirked and pointed to a section in the ledger.
“Look at how much was withdrawn every month under her name.”
“This goes way back! Geez, that pudding-faced brat was sneakier than I thought… She really bled the place dry.”
Hearing them loudly slander Evely, the guild member’s brow twitched.
“That entry was officially approved. The boss has never misappropriated funds.”
“What?”
The staff member’s attempt to protect his boss’s honor had the opposite effect.
“So you’re saying she collected a wage like a servant? A noble acting like a commoner?!”
Nobles don’t work.
Chiabil’s face twisted in disbelief—but then froze.
“No. It’s a consulting fee.”
“What?”
Nobles earning money through labor was considered disgraceful.
So she came up with a workaround.
“She handled every form of finance, yet somehow pursuing money itself isn’t ‘noble’? What a joke.”
“The noble way sure is complicated.”
“Complicated? It’s just nonsense.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah! Well, if you’re going to pretend, I guess I’ll play along.”
Mitchell, the staff member, smiled faintly as he remembered his boss muttering those very words while working nonstop.
He recited her made-up “justification” word-for-word:
“How could we not repay the boss after all the priceless advice she gave us? We’re merchants, not scammers.”
They had voluntarily offered her the money out of gratitude. It wasn’t a wage. Therefore, she didn’t earn money.
Learning about Evely’s workaround left Chiabil and Dullian stunned.
“She didn’t earn it—she received it… so… huh…?”
Dullian trailed off, unable to process the unfamiliar concept.
Chiabil, trying to stay alert, dove back into the ledger.
“What’s this? Severance pay? Ha! Who do you think you’re fooling?”
Could severance really account for such a huge withdrawal?
It had to be a cover for embezzlement.
“That, too, is recorded with full accuracy.”
“What? No way. They probably used fake names to cover it up…”
But as Chiabil flipped through the ledger, his eyes went blank again.
“As you can see—Mitchell, myself, accountant Hans, Averick, Milan. All real guild staff with real roles.”
Each name was familiar thanks to how much his sister talked about them. Chiabil began to sweat.
Mitchell recited the full list of names and then looked at the clock on the wall.
“It’s right on the hour.”
Deliberately making a show of it, he tapped the clock and placed his guild badge on the desk.
“As you can tell from the names recorded, today is my final day.”
At that moment, the nearby guild staff poured into the office.
“…!”
“What the hell?!”
Startled, Chiabil waved frantically at his guards, and Dullian shoved a soldier forward and ducked under the desk.
But instead of violence…
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
One by one, the staff removed their guild badges and dropped them onto the desk.
A pile of badges quickly grew.
Watching this, Chiabil and Dullian felt only shame and humiliation.
“Well then, goodbye.”
“No reason to stay at a guild without the boss.”
“Yeah. It’s not the guild that’s amazing—it’s our boss.”
Mitchell gave a curt nod to the stunned nobles and turned on his heel.
The other staff followed, loudly chatting as they exited.
“They… left?”
Dullian crawled out from under the desk, trying to sound bold to cover his embarrassment.
“Those damned commoners! Swarming in like ants! I thought they were going to bite me!”
Bang!
The desk slammed, making Dullian yelp.
“W-What the hell, bro?! You scared the—oh…”
He fell silent when he saw Chiabil’s terrifying face.
Grinding his teeth, Chiabil crushed the paper under his hand.
Vermin…
Being paralyzed by commoners’ presence hurt his pride—but more than that, the failure of this whole plan was a disaster.
Father will assume I retrieved the money without issue.
Everything had gone wrong.
He hadn’t expected his sister to sabotage the plan to this extent.
“Damn it.”
His guts twisted in rage.
Grabbing his aching chest, Chiabil collapsed over the desk, defeated.
