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Chapter 9: “What Do You Mean My Ex-Boyfriend Had My Child?”
Pascal left while his whole body trembled with humiliation.
The lawyer who had come with him mumbled something about magical threats being grounds for a lawsuit, then hurried after Pascal.
The priest reacted a little differently.
He looked at me suspiciously, clicked his tongue, muttered, “Blasphemy,” and turned away.
I suppose that was a pretty normal reaction from a priest toward a mage.
Anyway, I had taken care of one problem!
I felt incredibly refreshed, as if ten years of frustration had finally disappeared.
Unlike my bright expression, Mother and Schle looked completely devastated.
“Irina, how could you handle something like this without consulting us?”
“The debt payments are due soon…! What if we really lose our territory and title…!”
I asked them,
“Do you even know exactly how much debt we currently have?”
Mother was the first to recover.
“The records. It’s all written in the ledgers. Rita! Rita! Where are you? Go to my room and bring me the ledgers.”
Rita hurried upstairs after hearing her call.
Soon, she came back carrying several thick ledgers.
It was something that would have been unimaginable when we had a proper financial manager.
But this was the current state of our household.
I opened the ledgers.
“You know how to read those?”
As expected, someone immediately tried to pick a fight with me.
I ignored him.
There was no reason to listen to someone who didn’t know that I had spent more than ten years managing and supervising the accounts of the Oker family, one of the richest merchant families in the capital.
So, my verdict was…
“It’s a mess.”
The records were terribly organized.
Still, most of the debts had at least been written down, so I supposed I should be grateful for that.
I recalled the debt claims I now owned and began comparing them with the debts listed in the family’s ledgers.
Thankfully, every debt recorded in the books was one I had already purchased.
The thing I was worried about was the possibility of debts that hadn’t been recorded.
I looked at Schle.
“Are there any other debts that aren’t written in these ledgers?”
“N-No!”
Perhaps my magic had frightened him enough.
Schle waved both hands wildly.
“Really? Because if you’re lying…”
“I swear it’s true!”
I raised my fist, and he immediately shouted.
Ah.
I shouldn’t enjoy threatening my own brother this much.
“Recently, nobody would lend me any more money! That’s why I told you I didn’t have even a single coin left to invest!”
“That’s good. If someone had lent you more money, you probably would have wasted that too.”
I ignored Schle shouting angrily behind me and checked the ledgers again.
Naturally, I frowned.
Why did anyone lend our family this much money in the first place?
The amount was so huge that it was amazing Schle had managed to waste all of it.
Still, this wasn’t the time to wonder about it.
I needed to act.
“You asked why I kept going out every day, right?”
I stepped on the torn pieces of the marriage proposal that Pascal had left behind.
“I was negotiating with the creditors.”
I continued,
“I managed to buy us some time. The creditors agreed not to touch our territory or title if they received this mansion instead.”
“So both of you should pack your things and go back to the territory immediately.”
“What? Then what about you?”
“You’re not going back to the territory? You’re staying in the capital? How?”
I stared at my family with empty eyes.
“I’m a mage, remember? From now on, I’ll manage this mansion while using my own life as collateral and spend the rest of my life paying off the debt.”
Then I delivered the final blow.
“The enforcement officers will arrive within a few days. If you don’t want to attract their attention and get into trouble, you’d better disappear from this house tomorrow.”
I smiled as I heard my family frantically running upstairs to pack.
The “enforcement officers” aren’t actually coming from the creditors.
They’re my people.
The Otreha family left the mansion.
While trying to avoid the supposed enforcement officers, Mother didn’t leave me so much as a thought of concern.
She cared more about the old furniture in the house.
Schle didn’t even look at me.
Fine.
I casually saw off the family members who wouldn’t miss me anyway, then quickly returned inside.
“Miss, I’ll lock the rooms you told me not to use. But which rooms will you be using?”
Rita came closer and carefully looked at me.
Her round eyes openly showed her worry.
She looked relieved that she hadn’t been fired, but also afraid that she didn’t know how long her job would last.
Most of the servants originally from our territory had gone with Mother and Schle.
But Rita had been hired in the capital, so she stayed behind.
She was clever and good at many practical things, so I was actually glad she remained.
“I’ll keep using my old bedroom. Also, please prepare the drawing room, two guest rooms, and my brother’s office.”
“You mean the head of the family’s office?”
“Yes. I’m going to manage this mansion, so I need at least that much space. Otherwise, how am I supposed to maintain my dignity?”
“I see…!”
“For now, just record those rooms. You only need to take care of my bedroom and the office. I’ll hire several more servants soon to handle everything else. We can’t do all the cleaning and housework ourselves, can we?”
“You’re going to hire more people?”
“Yes. I’m going to ask some families with good connections to recommend suitable servants. So could you start by preparing the office? I want to write some letters.”
“Yes, yes!”
Rita’s eyes suddenly became bright.
“You’re the best, Miss!”
She shouted happily and ran several steps without remembering the proper manners she had been taught.
Then she suddenly realized what she was doing.
“Oh!”
She straightened her back, returned to her elegant walking style, and disappeared up the stairs.
It was a good sign.
It meant she hadn’t forgotten what she had learned as a servant.
She would have to manage the household staff for a while.
I was now standing alone in the mansion hall.
Most of the furniture had been taken away, and there wasn’t a single sign of anyone else living there.
The mansion looked like an abandoned ruin.
The entrance hall had always contained some of the finest furniture because it was the first thing visitors saw.
Now, all the family heirlooms were gone.
The empty entrance seemed to reflect my current situation.
Empty.
But ready to be filled again.
A strange feeling of satisfaction slowly spread from my toes and filled my chest.
I was finally free.
Goodbye forever to that horrible engagement and that humiliating life!
I realized that the “enforcement officers” had arrived while I was busy writing letters in the office.
Several black carriages had stopped in front of the mansion.
Each carriage had the dragon emblem of the Voltane family.
I put my letter aside and checked my appearance first.
I was still wearing a simple-colored dress.
But Rita had carefully fixed my hair, so it looked neat enough.
My light makeup also looked fine.
Good!
I clenched my fist once and headed downstairs.
Rita followed closely behind me with a tense expression, almost as if she were my personal bodyguard.
Yes.
I needed to prepare myself.
Anyone would need some mental preparation before meeting Leon Voltane.
Of course, the world doesn’t always go according to plan…
The front door opened.
One of the supposed enforcement officers rushed inside.
And the first thing he shouted was—
“Mom!”
I was completely helpless against the attack.
