RBAR 36

Chapter 36

“…What?”

I couldn’t believe my ears.

Next to me, Daisy almost dropped the teapot she was holding. Quickly, she caught it and let out a sigh of relief.

“Thanks for the offer, but…”

When I tried to politely refuse, Daisy’s eyes suddenly widened.

Her dark brown eyes stared at me, as if saying:

“Sell it quickly!”

Probably something like that. But since she looks so gentle, her glare didn’t feel threatening at all.

“I’ll pass.”

So I lightly ignored Daisy’s pleading look. Killian’s gaze toward me grew darker.

“I want to hear why you took the farm from the Duke.”

Do you think I’d tell you that?

I smiled faintly and answered indirectly:

“I think it’s the same reason Your Highness wants to buy it for 100,000 gold.”

“…”

Killian seemed to understand my meaning and chuckled softly.

“Are you really that sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

Why does he have to say it so seriously?

“You’re an interesting person, Miss Edith.”

He changed how he called me. Did I get on the devil’s good side? I wasn’t sure I wanted that…

“You’re the first person to say that to me.”

“What kind of things do you usually hear then?”

I hesitated. Should I say it or not?

The truth was, the most common things I heard were rude insults.

Coming from the Duke’s castle, I finally felt peaceful.

“It might be hard for Your Highness to hear, but is that okay?”

Killian nodded; it was fine. Well, as a devil, maybe he could listen to insults without issue.

Feeling more relaxed, I spoke:

“Shameless bitch, parasite, bastard… what else was there…”

Ah, I almost forgot.

“Murderer.”

After that, there was an awkward silence.

Daisy, trying to lighten the mood, laughed and filled the teacup.

Feeling like I’d ruined the atmosphere, I spoke again.

“By the way, Your Highness, thank you for helping with the carriage incident.”

I meant it sincerely. Killian raised his eyebrow, surprised, then smiled.

“How about showing your gratitude at the Joanne farm?”

“That’s a bit…”

I awkwardly stopped. Killian, apparently not expecting much, stood up.

“Then, I’ll be going. The tea was good.”
“Glad you liked it. Take care on your way to the carriage.”
“No need. You probably couldn’t focus on work with my sudden visit, so get back to your unfinished tasks.”

His refusal was polite but very gentlemanly.

I closed my mouth and watched him leave.

Why did the devil suddenly visit? Was it really about business?

“Hey, Daisy, how does the Duke usually handle business rivals…?”

I heard if someone stole something the Duke wanted, or got in his way, they were removed in bad ways.

“Hmm, I don’t know.”

Even Daisy, a longtime fan of Killian, only knew from newspapers.

“Surely he wouldn’t kill them, haha.”

I quickly called Henry. His information skills were pretty good for this.

“What’s up?”
“I want to ask about Duke Orfeo.”

I nervously waited for Henry’s answer, hoping it would be different from what I guessed.

But Henry answered like it was obvious.

“They suddenly lost all their money gambling, got scammed, or ended up broke.”

Today was seriously the worst day ever.

Henry, seeing my face, looked pale.

“N-no way, that’s not you, right?”

I couldn’t deny it. I grabbed my forehead and muttered:

“Ugh, this is crazy…”

Late at night, the Owl cried from the tree. The Orfeo castle office was busy.

The issues to discuss tomorrow at the Imperial Palace meeting were more serious than usual.

Someone anonymously accused the Orfeo Duchy of tax evasion and asked for punishment.

Usually, the proposer stays anonymous, so no nobles knew who it was.

But…

“Interesting.”

Killian Orfeo, who knew every secret of the empire, surely knew who it was.

“Using the trial as revenge like this.”

He picked up a document about tax evasion.

Many businesses had raised complaints, so a lot of staff would be needed to solve this quickly.

The troublemaker behind this was Duke Adelheid.

Raising such an issue meant they didn’t care about hiding their identity at all.

“I didn’t want to come since there’s nothing fun, but this meeting won’t be boring.”

Killian said with no emotion.

Russ Marty sighed heavily, already feeling overwhelmed by the workload.

“I was a bit surprised.”
“About what?”
“About Miss Diehl…”

Russ said something by accident and quickly stopped, but Killian noticed and stared at him.

Russ had to continue.

“I remembered what was in the newspapers. She said she raised Miss Diehl like a real daughter, but then got betrayed and insulted her in interviews.”
“Shameless bitch, parasite, bastard, murderer.”

Killian had seen that interview, too.

“I raised her like a real daughter… but this hurt me so much.”

Duke Adelheid accepted the newspaper interview, probably as a PR move.

They wanted to cover the shame of ‘mistaking her as a daughter’ with sympathy.

It worked well. So public opinion on Edith was pretty bad.

“‘Raised like a real daughter,’ huh.”

It’s easy to see a greedy person’s true feelings.

Killian thought from the start that they never truly raised Edith like a daughter.

If they did, they wouldn’t use her for media manipulation.

Duke Adelheid’s mind was full of ways to protect his ambition.

“Of course, this happened after the real princess came back… but isn’t it a bit too much?”
“Sir Russ Marty.”

Killian cut off his aide’s sympathy.

“You seem to have gotten attached to Edith while working at the Evang estate.”
“She was very kind.”

Russ nodded calmly, thinking it was just a normal conversation.

Thinking about it, there were few workplaces so considerate.

The Duke’s castle was perfect, but had no set quitting time.

If you didn’t finish work, you had to stay late.

But Edith was strict about work hours and expected the same from others.

“It was impressive how diligent and organized someone who only lived at the Duke’s castle was. She had leadership and structure.”

Russ kept praising Edith.

Killian watched, intrigued, as his aide kept talking about her talent for business and finance.

Russ remembers that at first, he thought he’d handle all the work at the Evang estate.

But Edith was skilled and mature for her age.

“Ah.”

The room quieted. Russ sensed something was wrong and stopped.

Killian finally spoke:

“Sir Marty, weren’t you worried about the Duchy’s affairs while working at the Evang estate?”

Russ felt the Duke’s displeasure and snapped back to reality.

‘Did I say something wrong?’

He didn’t know why, but it was clear his words annoyed the Duke.

He quickly bowed.

“Sorry.”“I’m not asking for an apology.”

Killian waved a pen, signaling him to stand.

Russ hesitated but obeyed.

Killian smiled.

“You’ll be handling it from now on anyway.”

Russ felt a bad feeling, but didn’t understand.

Killian pointed at the huge pile of documents.

“Finish all this by the time I finish pruning the rose garden tomorrow.”

“W-what?”

Russ paled. The amount of work was huge.

He quickly calculated. The Duke pruned the garden early in the morning and finished by about 9 a.m., his usual start time.

Could Russ finish all this before then?

He silently prayed the garden bushes wouldn’t be thick, so the Duke wouldn’t finish pruning quickly.

But he knew…

No miracle would happen.