FERH 36

Chapter 36

Vanessa finally fell asleep in the late hours of the night.
She was completely drained from crying so much during the interrogation.
“Let’s just sleep for now.”
Most of the world’s problems somehow resolve themselves after a night’s rest.

She had ignored the incident where Royhem collapsed at the interrogation hall and her cousin Evan persistently asking what had happened, and at last, she managed to close her eyes.

“…!”

She woke up to a commotion.
“What do you think you’re doing?!”

Vanessa’s eyes went wide when she saw a maid opening her jewelry box and dumping the “Arsajou Collection” into her apron.

Even I had handled those items carefully after washing my hands—how dare she shove them recklessly into that filthy apron!

Though caught in the act, the maid casually muttered, “You’re awake?” before tossing a pair of earrings into the apron.

“How dare you steal right in front of me?” Vanessa raised her hand in frustration, but the maid dodged the strike with a slight twist of her body.

“Steal? I’m only following what the master said: that any unpaid wages should be compensated with items from the mansion.”

“Huh? How could someone in prison give such an order?”

“Didn’t you know? The master came by early this morning.”

“What?”

The maid adjusted her apron and continued. Royhem had visited at dawn, taken a few clothes and some hidden emergency money, and only woke his son to take him along.

“He also said that any unpaid wages could be settled with valuable items from the mansion or that you, Miss, could be asked to handle it.”

Normally, Royhem would have been trapped by the staff over back pay the moment he entered the mansion, but wisely, he pacified them and successfully left.
He chose the path of self-preservation, leaving the mansion’s furnishings and Vanessa behind, which she found shocking.

“What? Why would you pay their wages? It’s Uncle who hired you, not me!”

“But Miss, you slept in the rooms we cleaned and ate the meals we prepared, didn’t you?”

“Wha—what?”

“You enjoyed the results of our labor, so isn’t it only fair to pay us for it?”

The blankets you slept under last night were washed by me.

Vanessa, at a loss for words, paused for a few seconds before shouting as if in despair:
“Even so, does that justify stealing my belongings? At the very least, you should have consulted me!”

Only then did the maid stop rifling through the jewelry box.

“Then… will you give it in cash?”

“Huh?”

“That’s easier for me, too. I don’t have to haggle with jewelers.”

The maid held out her palm. Vanessa felt her anger rising again but forced herself to remain calm.
No maid’s salary could possibly compare to a single necklace of hers. It was better to give something and get her own belongings back.

“Fine. Tell me, how much do you want?”

Vanessa asked nonchalantly but recoiled at the figure.

“1,200 gold? Why so much?”

“That’s for four months of back pay.”

“You worked until it accumulated that much, you fool! Why should I pay for your stupidity?”

There’s a limit to how much one can treat me as a pushover. This was extreme.

“Then you won’t get these items.”

“What? Hey, don’t—”

As Vanessa reached to grab the maid’s arm, the door burst open, and other staff pushed in.
They filled the empty spaces in the room, and Vanessa instinctively stepped back, only to find her escape blocked.

“Are you all insane? Why are you doing this all of a sudden?”

“Please, give us our wages, Miss.”
“I’m owed six months.”
“I’m owed three.”
“If I don’t pay my daughter’s tuition this month, she’ll be expelled. It’s hard enough to get into that academy…”
“I don’t even have enough to buy bread, so I feed my children only one meal a day.”

Their desperate, trembling voices were nothing but unpleasant, irritating noise to Vanessa.

She twisted her body to get out of the crowd, shouting:
“Why are you telling me this? Go to your master!”

“But Miss, you are a relative of the master.”
“And besides, you are rich enough to wear different jewels every day.”
“That’s right, if you don’t have money, give us jewelry.”

Royhem had said that staff could take anything valuable from the mansion, but it was a pleasant lie and a shallow trick. There was nothing of real value left in the mansion.
All the art on the walls was fake, and anything resembling gold had been taken by Royhem. Vanessa was their only hope.

“The buttons on my sleeve are jewel-studded. Could you give me those?”
“I’ll take rings. Even a plain gold ring without gems is fine.”

“Miss!”
“Miss, please!”

Dozens of hands reached for her. Hands that once brushed her hair and served her tea now seemed intent on tearing her apart. The fact that they were so ordinary made it even more terrifying.

“Step back! All of you, move!”

Vanessa pushed the approaching maid away and reached toward the door.

“Rupert!”

Her last hope, her absolute ally.

“Come quickly! Come—”

Save me. I am your lover. You love me. You were made to do this. So get me out of here.

“….”

But Rupert, arriving at a distance, only watched Vanessa without moving a step. He had not received proper orders, after all.

“Miss!”
“Have mercy…!”

“…!”

Meanwhile, other staff squeezed past and emptied her wardrobe, even tearing off ornaments attached to the dresses.

“What are you doing! Hurry… aah!”

Vanessa’s screams grew shorter and sharper before being swallowed by the air.

“….”

Among the ruins, Rupert stood silently.

Torvan always arrived at work at the last possible moment.
He had been late a few times, but it didn’t matter.
After all, subordinates handled the actual work, and nobody reprimanded him for being late.

“….”

But today, he had something to do.
In the early dawn, before darkness had fully lifted, he entered the office alone.
The mix of stale air and the morning breeze created a cool yet strange atmosphere.

“Hm…”

Trying to erase his awkwardness, he straightened his back and sat, memories of passing the civil service exam resurfacing.

[Hello! From today, I will be working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I am Torvan Jansen. Please take care of me!]

“That was already eleven years ago.”

A faint smile curved his lips.
‘My public service career has been long indeed.’

He sighed heavily and began tidying his desk, dusting off old files, taking out worn-out furniture, and separating useless documents for disposal.

While methodically organizing the years piled up before him, a shadow fell behind him.

“What brings you here at this hour, Director?”

“I thought someone might be here at this hour. But…”

Asil, holding his work bag, gestured to the empty seat next to Torvan.

“May I sit here?”

“You may. It’s not my seat anyway.”

So Asil sat in Til’s chair. The unfamiliar seat held an odd chill and unease.

Breaking the long silence, Asil suddenly said,
“Don’t you regret it?”

It was a somewhat disjointed question, but Torvan immediately understood.
‘He means, do I regret refusing Royhem’s offer?’

“Of course I do. I feel sick to my stomach.”

Enough to have been unable to sleep after the interrogation.
He wondered if he had walked away from a rare stroke of great luck.

“But I felt that being a vice minister was far too much for someone like me.”

The same applied to being a team leader.
‘I could only hold that position because this was the Special Tax Bureau.’

“You know this too, Director.”

Torvan was the epitome of an incompetent, lazy administrator.
Still, one thing he could boast over others: besides Asil, he had been in the Special Tax Bureau the longest and remembered every detail of its brief history.

He remembered exactly how Asil had cleaned the bureau and admitted new members.
‘Selfish opportunists were eliminated first.’
Instead, those with ability but lacking confidence, or those diligent but without ambition, filled the bureau.
The people currently in the Special Tax Bureau could be said to be Asil’s collection.

“That’s right.”

Asil did not deny it.
“All the members of the Special Tax Bureau are here because I approved and accepted them.”

He then shifted his gaze to Torvan.

“And you as well.”

“…!”

“You were the team leader I selected.”

Many are incompetent, but few can truly acknowledge their own incompetence.
Torvan could objectively evaluate himself.

“This is quite touching. Should I shed tears?”

“Then you should only feel touched. What are those hands busily moving on the desk?”

“Ah.”

Torvan felt embarrassed.

“Are you going to leave?”

Asil was not a fool. He knew why Torvan had come early to tidy his desk and gather items from the drawers.

“Emotions and resolve are separate matters.”

And…
“I cannot be sure I would endure a second time.”

In public service, there will inevitably be another person like Royhem.
They will offer sweet proposals and try to seduce him again.

‘Will I be able to resist then?’

Could he refuse a second or third offer and still follow his conscience? Torvan was unsure.
‘I am an utterly powerless and weak individual.’

“I intend to leave here.”

Even at the end, one must remain human.