TLDWAE 25

Chapter 25

He deliberately shook his head, pushing aside the vague emotions that threatened to rise. By then, the vassals had begun to arrive one by one and take their seats in the council chamber.

“Why is the Duchess here?”

“Your Grace, is there something special planned for today?”

“Hmph… what could the Grand Duke’s daughter possibly know about the affairs of House Pandeon to attend such an important meeting….”

“Well then, since everyone has exchanged greetings, let us begin. First, the issue of this year’s tax revenue.”

Rubidov forcibly began the meeting, ignoring the vassals’ discontent and questions. Naturally, he did not rebuke their rude remarks toward Karia either.

Though their expressions soured, none of them dared openly oppose their lord’s decision.

Regardless of who had come or not, the meeting was underway. At first, some kept glancing at the Duchess, but as the discussion picked up, they became absorbed in the issues themselves.

“Therefore, this year’s firewood support should come from the north! For the past two years, the southern forests have been cut so heavily they’ve nearly become flatlands!”

“Have you forgotten that the northern woods are teeming with bears and wolves? Logging is dangerous enough, but once the forests are gone, those beasts will descend on the villages. How could the common folk live in peace then?”

“The peasants can each gather their own firewood until midwinter. Firewood can wait! The pressing issue now is food! At this year’s harvest rate, everyone will starve before early winter is over!”

Most of the meeting’s agenda centered, as always, on the problem of surviving the winter. In Pandeon’s lands, winters were long; every year the people worried not about living better, but about how to simply stay alive.

But Karia looked at them quarreling heatedly and couldn’t hide her disdain. A single button from one of their fine coats could see an entire peasant family through the winter, yet instead of opening their own storehouses, all they thought of was snatching from others. How could any compromise ever be reached like that?

As she let out a deep sigh at such pathetic behavior, Viscount Delos, who had been watching her from afar, called out.

“The Duchess has attended the meeting yet has not spoken a word.”

At his words, every gaze in the chamber turned to Karia. Like hunters finding easy prey after exhausting themselves tearing at one another, they pounced.

“The Duchess, who spends her days eating and sleeping comfortably in her warm mansion, would care about the hardships of the fief’s winters?”

“Indeed. If the Duchess truly cared for the common folk, would she not have sought aid from the imperial family? She is, after all, the cherished youngest daughter of His Highness the Grand Duke.”

“Our vassals rejoiced at an alliance with the imperial house, but what has been accomplished in these six years?”

They openly mocked her, voicing their grievances as if daring her to listen. Had they truly considered her “the Grand Duke’s precious jewel,” they would never have spoken so recklessly.

But instead of wilting or fleeing in tears, the Duchess smiled lightly. Then, with utter composure, she replied.

“Well, I rather think His Imperial Majesty has already endured enough.”

From her lips came not gentle words, but ones honed like blades.

“The taxes Pandeon sends to the crown are almost entirely returned as relief goods each winter. From the empire’s perspective, it gains nothing at all. Yet you constantly whine and complain to the throne, demanding more. Exactly what else do you expect?”

Her tone was sharp, insulting everyone present. To disparage Pandeon was to insult herself as its Duchess, but Karia did not care.

After all, no one here truly treated her as their lady. So she spoke as they wished—as a member of the imperial family—and who could protest that?

Yet such seasoned old nobles would not retreat so easily.

“T-that’s only because of our circumstances! Pandeon is imperial territory too. Surely the wealthy imperial house can spare some support? All this stems from the Imperial Separation War in the first place!”

“Let’s be precise. True cooperation seeks mutual benefit. Pandeon is always impoverished—this is what one calls pouring water into a bottomless jar. And must we hear that tiresome war story again? Nearly a century has passed already!”

Those who had tried to press her further found their mouths stopped by her own words.

The vassals clenched their fists, trembling with fury, unable to refute her.

When resentful glares turned toward her, Viscount Delos seized the moment to press further.

“Then what does Your Grace propose we do to survive the harsh winter ahead? If you are only here to criticize the vassals, you must at least offer a solution!”

“First of all, if the Viscount replaced the gold buttons hanging from his coat with copper, that alone would pay for the peasants’ firewood.”

At her cold retort, Delos’s face flushed red, and somewhere in the chamber a laugh escaped.

The viscount’s eyes blazed as he sought the culprit, but Count Hesis Ribne feigned innocence, maintaining a serious demeanor.

Karia’s voice then continued unhurriedly.

“And second—we must catch the rats.”

“Rats? Rats! Ha! After all that pondering, you speak of rats? What could such tiny creatures possibly consume to matter?”

“Pandeon’s storehouses are venerable, it seems. The rats inside have grown quite large with age.”

With a mocking snort at the one-dimensional Viscount Delos, she handed the document envelope she had brought to Count Ribne beside her. Not out of trust, but merely because he sat closest, and she expected him to pass it along.

It would have been amusing to prepare enough copies for everyone, or even to scatter them from the mansion rooftop, but Karia didn’t want to miss this perfect opportunity to deliver the fresh news herself.

As she hoped, Ribne’s face drained of color as he read the papers, as though he had seen a ghost.

“Duchess… what is this?”

“Ah, well. I heard a rat had gorged itself on gold and gone out pretending to be a person. So I investigated. Bought itself a title, even—quite convincingly. Isn’t that right, Baron Devon?”

Karia spoke into the air, calling a name belonging to someone not present. At that, the Dowager Lady’s and Viscount Delos’s faces cracked.

“H-how do you know that?!”

For decades, the Dowager Lady had pretended to manage the ducal household while secretly siphoning funds to purchase the barony of Devon—a remote family so obscure that barely anyone in the empire knew the name.

Using that false identity, she manipulated the ducal accounts. When selling local specialties cheaply produced in the fief, she falsified records to make it seem they had been bought at high prices from Baron Devon’s lands, thereby underreporting profits and evading taxes.

The vassals snatched the documents from Ribne’s hands and read through them. The more people who saw, the more confusion spread through the chamber.

“What… what is this?”

“Are you saying the Dowager Lady has been embezzling the ducal family’s funds all this time?”

“I’ve never even heard of this supposed House of Baron Devon!”

“To take the largest share of winter relief while shamelessly evading taxes! Viscount Delos’s domain, Count Kaufman’s, Baron Candis’s—all managed by the Dowager Lady’s relatives!”

As voices rose in betrayal and angry eyes turned toward her, the Dowager Lady realized something had gone terribly wrong and snatched the bundle of papers.

Impossible. She had chosen an unrelated house precisely to avoid suspicion, handled everything flawlessly. How could it have been exposed?

Yet the documents listed every act she had committed, down to the exact amounts. Her face went pale, and she stammered.

“I-I know nothing of this name! Rubidov, it’s slander! That wretched wench forged these lies to destroy me! You must believe me!”

“My, my, Dowager Lady, you seem terribly shaken. Cold sweat already… Well, I did move swiftly in my investigation, so perhaps you hadn’t noticed. I ought to have given you some warning—my apologies.”

Karia’s voice was gentle, but devoid of any sincerity, as she mocked her. The Dowager Lady shrieked, eyes blazing, pointing a trembling finger at her.

“You bastard-born wretch! How dare you wag your tongue! You mean to ruin me! Yes—it was her! She schemed to frame me! Malicious thing! I opposed this marriage from the start!”

“You should have opposed it a little harder then. Such a pity.”

Karia idly imagined how wonderful it would have been if someone had indeed blocked the marriage so fiercely that it never happened.

But had the Dowager Lady truly opposed? More likely, she had rejoiced at the enormous dowry Karia had brought, glad to have the ducal coffers overflowing so she could pilfer them at will.

The vassals pressed the Dowager Lady from all sides, while she clutched her neck, claiming her blood pressure was spiking. The chamber was pure chaos.

Then, the Duke of Pandeon, who had been silently listening, clenched his fist and slammed it against the table with a resounding crack.

“Silence, all of you!”

The deafening sound rang through the hall, and at once everyone fell silent. The Duke forced a composed tone, though the trembling edge of his voice betrayed his own dismay.