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Chapter 21
Only then did Asil realize she had left out far too many explanations.
“I mean the Emperor’s birthday commemoration ball.”
Lianel also knew that her ex-husband’s birthday fell around this time of year.
However—
‘Why is there a ball for that bastard’s birthday?’
And—
‘Why would I go to it?’
“I appreciate the offer, but I intend not to attend the ball.”
“You must not have heard. Attendance is mandatory for civil servants.”
“No, that statute was abolished—”
Lianel stopped mid-sentence. She felt she already knew the answer without hearing it aloud.
Emperor Torbjorn was a man who took tremendous pride in being emperor.
He always wanted to be a good monarch, wanted to leave achievements worthy of history.
The problem was that he hated putting in the effort required for those achievements.
In any case, he loved flatterers, and loved ceremony even more. There was no way a man like that would pass up a chance to line up civil servants and receive their congratulatory bows.
Still—holding a state-funded ball just to celebrate his own birthday?
‘What an appalling waste of tax revenue.’
Lianel shivered, then refocused at Asil’s words.
“Then… will you now consider my proposal favorably?”
“Before I decide whether to accept, may I ask you one question?”
It was a question Lianel had long been curious about.
“I’ll hear it.”
“Why are you making this offer to me?”
If it were simply about needing a partner, there were countless people who would accept if Asil extended her hand.
More importantly—
“You clearly didn’t like me, did you not?”
The feeling of inner familiarity she had toward Asil was entirely Lianel’s personal problem.
Lianel vividly remembered how Asil had tested her, and how she had observed her with sharp, wary eyes.
Her student had never looked at someone she trusted with eyes like that.
“Oh dear.”
The mask of polite, socially acceptable smiling slipped.
Dry, somewhat tired, faintly indifferent—
A glimpse of her familiar student’s face flickered through and vanished.
“You caught me. Yes. I did regard you with suspicion and caution.”
“Why…?”
“Rumors. And the fragmented impressions I gathered from watching you from afar. I realize it was a rash and arrogant attitude. I apologize.”
This time, it was Lianel who was surprised.
She hadn’t expected Asil to admit her fault so quickly and so meekly.
“The reason I’m proposing we attend the ball in this form… is to apologize, and because I want to protect you. I imagine it will be uncomfortable for you to run into the Prime Minister and others from various departments.”
Asil added:
“Most of all, the Minister of Finance is said to be attending.”
“He received disciplinary action—can he attend a ball?”
“You must not have heard. The Minister of Finance’s punishment has been rescinded. Higher authorities intervened directly.”
Lianel could roughly guess what had happened.
‘Because it was the emperor who appointed Roihem as minister.’
The former empress had discovered an upright prime minister, but the emperor had discovered… a corruption-ridden Minister of Finance.
The emperor would have been wary of people comparing the two appointments behind his back.
But since he couldn’t drag down the Prime Minister—
His best option was to portray the minister he himself appointed as an innocent man.
‘The empire is running beautifully.’
“Will you accept my proposal?”
Asil asked for the third time.
With the eyes of the student Lianel remembered all too well.
“I will accept—as long as I will not be a burden to you.”
* * *
‘I barely survived.’
Even though Roihem had secured an audience with the emperor and managed to keep his position, he was sweating cold sweat.
He knew he had just used up one of the few miracles allotted to him in life.
Of course, he had paid a steep price for survival.
He agreed to repay the entire amount of unpaid taxes—including penalties—and even that wasn’t enough; he had to hand over one-third of his remaining assets to the emperor.
“This is nothing but the humble token of a loyal servant’s reverence for His Majesty. Who would dare call this a bribe?”
The emperor liked wealth, yes—but he cared about reputation even more.
He hated rumors saying he took kickbacks and covered up crimes. Thus, Roihem had converted the wealth he handed over into expensive art pieces.
There was no bribe easier to disguise as a symbolic tribute than artwork—something whose value was subjective and difficult to appraise.
‘I managed to survive somehow, but…’
He sighed.
He knew this was not the end.
‘Those below me will be muttering about betrayal, and my influence in the Finance Ministry will shrink…’
But there was no helping it.
To portray Roihem as innocent, someone else had to shoulder the blame—and no scapegoat was more convenient than subordinate staff.
‘Damn it… maybe I sold those properties too quickly.’
In the rush to raise money, he had sold prime real estate. It hurt.
And he still had many expenses ahead.
Even commissioning an outfit suitable for the imperial ball would require a significant sum.
Of course, he could rent something or alter an older outfit—
‘No. Absolutely not.’
If those tattered social-climbing vermin judged him by his clothes and assumed he had gone bankrupt, he’d be finished.
At the same time, Roihem wondered:
‘By the way… where did Vanessa go?’
He had intended to extort a hefty sum out of her in exchange for not revealing that she had stolen the Binsenheim ledgers.
“Tsk.”
A pity.
* * *
At that moment—
Vanessa was—
“Answer me.”
Enduring the duke’s furious shouts.
“Is it true you siphoned off the living allowance meant for Lianel?”
“F-father… that is…”
“Stop making excuses and answer!”
The duke, at the end of his patience, hurled a napkin.
It was light and thin—not enough to hurt—but Vanessa screamed anyway.
He hadn’t liked how Vanessa had used Lianel’s room for the past three years… but he had tolerated it since the room’s owner had given permission.
But stealing the living allowance intended for Lianel for three full years—there was no excuse for that.
“You siphoned it off every month, so it must have amounted to quite a sum. What did you do with that money?”
“….”
“You didn’t squander it all, did you?”
That was exactly what she had done.
The duke had entrusted her with some internal household matters, but she was not unpaid; he had given her an allowance more than sufficient for a life of luxury.
Yet she still coveted Lianel’s funds!
A headache pulsed in the duke’s forehead. He turned to Rupert.
His son stood behind Vanessa like a silent stone statue, saying nothing as always.
“Have you nothing to say today either?”
“….”
“You see this situation and still have nothing to say?!”
A vein bulged on the duke’s forehead. Sensing danger, Vanessa grabbed Rupert’s arm and opened her mouth—
“Leave.”
The duke’s thunderous voice struck first.
“Leave at once!”
Only then did Vanessa realize the rage was real. She collapsed, begging for mercy.
“I—I was wrong, Father. Mother said her living expenses were lacking, so I only meant to send her a little extra, and—”
The duke cut her excuses without hesitation. He neither wanted nor needed to hear whatever pitiful story she might concoct.
“Until you receive Lianel’s forgiveness, do not show your face before me. You too, Rupert!”
“—!”
Vanessa stopped begging and opened her eyes wide.
She was supposed to bow her head to that wretched girl and get her forgiveness?
‘Absolutely not.’
Setting aside her pride—Lianel would never forgive her.
And if Lianel used that as an excuse to humiliate her—
“That—that’s too—”
“Do not speak another word.”
The duke delivered the final blow.
“Consider yourself fortunate that I am not punishing you for leaking internal family information.”
“…!”
“Take them away.”
“Father. Father! Faaather! Nooo! Aaaagh!”
“….”
Dragged away by the knights, Vanessa and Rupert were thrown out of the estate.
She struggled at first, but her hope soon shattered, and her resistance turned into desperate screams.
The duke knew everything.
Before such truth, no trickery could prevail.
It was Vanessa’s defeat.
* * *
He had driven away two people, but the duke’s heart was far from light. Rather, a heavy discomfort sat in his chest as if something were stuck.
One of the people he exiled was his own son.
And in addition—
‘Can I really say I am not a sinner?’
The guilt creeping up his legs gnawed at him.
