FERH 44

Chapter 44

“I don’t understand the purpose of what you’re saying.”

“Isn’t it true that you took the princess as your pupil?”

“My knowledge isn’t that deep.”

Lianel was uneducated. Like most noble young ladies, she had only received lessons in manners and general culture from a tutor.

“So that means I’m the only pupil?”

“I’m certainly not qualified to teach the director.”

Achille showed obvious disappointment.

“You were so kind to the princess, though.”

“Children need to be protected.”

He was already grown, and yet… disgusting.

Achille looked her over and clicked his tongue.

“Well, I suppose I am older than my teacher now.”

To be precise, Lianel was four years younger than Achille.

“Do elders get no privileges?”

“I will show you respect.”

“Oh, please don’t do that.”

Achille grimaced.

Even if their bodies had switched, being shown respect by his pupil was unbearable. All the logic he knew seemed turned upside down.

Suppressing a sigh, Lianel asked,

“Why are you acting this way?”

“You were shaken.”

You were tempted by a young princess holding onto you.

“You’ve always been weak when it comes to affection.”

For a moment, Lianel almost forgot herself and marveled.

Truly, time is frightening. The person who had watched her up close knew her far too well.

Lianel stayed silent. Achille then let out a subtle smile and lowered himself.

“If I had known you’d stay, I should have knelt back then.”

By “back then,” Achille referred to when Lianel had accepted the emperor’s proposal.

“If I had, you would have stayed.”

“Disgusting.”

“That’s cruel.”

Lianel was growing weary of denying her true identity. No matter what she said, her pupil would interpret it as he pleased.

“….”

Achille took Lianel’s hand and pressed his face to it.

“You still won’t leave.”

Despite grimacing in disgust, you are here by my side.

He lifted his head and looked out the window.

“It’s snowing.”

Beyond the window of the Special Tax Bureau, white snow was quietly settling on the garden.

“It snowed the day my teacher passed away too.”

The one who loved plants so dearly… you left in a season when the trees were bare and the world asleep, as if you too were falling into slumber.

Achille looked at Lianel again.

“You’re alive.”

He felt warmth at the tips of her fingers.

It seemed like a desperate attempt to confirm something, or perhaps a child seeking a parent’s affection.

“You’re alive, and by my side.”

Today, the snow falls just like that day.

And you are here.

“Of course I’m alive.”

“That’s a relief…”

Achille’s hand moved slowly. From the back of her hand, across her arm, fingers grazing past the elbow, until it reached her cheek.

With his fingertips, he traced the contours of her face, as a craftsman remembers the shape of an old sculpture.

At that moment…

“Ah, I really am an idiot.”

Footsteps sounded outside, and the bureau’s door flung open.

It was Wilbrin.

She had returned to the empty bureau to retrieve her bag.

“….”

“…Ah.”

Instead of looking for her bag, her eyes were drawn to something else, darting in rapid motion.

After a long silence, she finally said,

“I didn’t see anything!”

Bang!

The door slammed shut.

“Come back.”

The princess returned to the Special Tax Bureau four days later.

“Yesterday, everything was ready, so I went straight to the bank.”

“Isn’t this story moving a bit too fast?”

Mel asked in disbelief. This could earn them complaints of rushed storytelling.

“The faster it goes, the better. Who knows how long it’ll take until the assets are seized?”

“That’s true, but…”

Even if information only circulated within the Special Tax Bureau, words are difficult to fully control. It was better to start quickly before someone else snatched the business idea.

Seizing the embezzler’s assets wasn’t simple. Most of the stolen wealth had been converted into real estate, requiring auction and currency exchange procedures.

Moreover, Minister Roiham was still on the run. To find his hidden assets, one had to examine the networks of those around him.

Difficulties were expected on every front.

“So, what about the loan?”

“It was rejected…”

The princess pouted.

“That’s understandable. Loan approvals aren’t easily granted. Lending someone a huge sum requires courage and determination.”

Mel comforted the princess and asked,

“So, which bank did you go to?”

“Arman Bank.”

“You still went to one of the empire’s top three banks.”

“They said the interest is lowest there, and the loan review process is simple.”

Mel was shocked.

“…Where did you get that information?”

Even Mel only learned to compare bank conditions as an adult.

“In prison.”

“Did I hear that wrong?”

After asking twice more, Mel finally understood.

“Ah, from the head maid.”

An excellent source of information. The head maid had laundered the princess’s budget through multiple channels to buy real estate. She was someone who would have access to much of that kind of information. And being in prison, there was no risk of leaks.

“Did you trade information for a reduced sentence?”

“I don’t make deals with criminals. We just talked.”

“Oh…”

Mel felt compassion for the head maid, who must have desperately shared information to cling to a faint lifeline while withering in a sunless cell. Though she was imprisoned to pay for her crimes, one couldn’t help but pity her effort.

“Hm… impressive skills.”

A torturer of hope, indeed.

Lianel examined the documents the princess had submitted for the loan review. Business plan, collateral papers, seal registration, all of it was complete.

Since she had helped the princess prepare them, she already knew the content, but she reviewed them again just in case.

At least the documents are fine.

Having reviewed them together, there was nothing to criticize.

If the loan is rejected, she can go to another bank.

Being rejected by one of the top three banks still left two options.

“Did you say the loan review process is simple?”

This was slightly suspicious. Norman Rikel, head of Arman Bank, was someone Lianel trusted.

He was meticulous about documents, a principle-driven man who ensured procedures were followed to the letter. Though slow, his work was accurate and thorough. He had rescued Arman Bank from near bankruptcy and built it into one of the empire’s top three banks in just a few years.

And now there were rumors that loans were “easy” there?

“Oh, that’s because…”

The princess explained.

“The former president retired, and most matters are now handled by the vice president.”

She added that internal procedures had been simplified, among other changes.

“Come to think of it, I heard the former president was the first director of the Special Tax Bureau?”

Mel acted as if he knew.

“Yes. He was appointed by the former empress for his financial acumen.”

But her voice fell bitterly.

Retired…

Norman was indeed old enough to retire, but he was not the type to relinquish his domain easily. He had even repeatedly refused government positions for bureaucratic reasons.

She understood why he stepped down immediately after her death; he had attachment to the bank he had nurtured.

But leaving the bank to the vice president and doing nothing? That seemed odd.

“Maybe the head maid doesn’t know something?”

“Desperation makes people truthful. I judge it credible.”

How much of it was true was uncertain.

This worries me.

It was Norman, no less. He had helped establish the Special Tax Bureau and discussed the empire’s future. He was once someone who shared trivial jokes and meaningless comfort to pass the time.

Now he was withering alone in a mansion.

“I need to find out.”

Lianel found herself agreeing with something Achille once said:

You’ve always been weak when it comes to affection.

Indeed, she was.

“One of the empire’s top three banks. There’s no harm in checking its financial status.”

The investigation concluded in a single line:

It’s a mess.

Arman Bank was on the brink of bankruptcy