Chapter 90
Clap—!
Arwyn’s and Miel’s palms collided in midair.
“Lady Arwyn, I thought this before too, but your acting is really amazing!”
“Oh, no. You’re much better than I am, sis.”
Watching the two of them—who had grown noticeably closer over the past few days—I smiled with satisfaction.
In front of us, Bermard was kneeling on the ground, bound tightly, his face full of disbelief.
“L‑Li… Win… el! Y‑you—what on earth did you do?!”
But before he could finish speaking, the tent door flew open.
Soon, several other corrupt mid-level managers were dragged in by the guards.
All of them had their wrists firmly tied.
“Jacks!”
“Bermard! W‑what is going on here?!”
Every one of them looked utterly confused.
I stepped forward and spoke loudly to the murmuring crowd.
“Alright, alright! Everyone—shhh!”
They immediately shut their mouths.
I hesitated for a moment, then my face fell into a sulk.
“…Lia has completely lost her love for humanity today.”
Miel hurried over and exclaimed dramatically, “Oh no, our poor little baby!”
With a dejected expression, I looked over the managers one by one.
“You were all sick people. I let you live in Abner Territory and gave you medicine, so I thought you’d be loyal to us.”
They exchanged glances, clearly flustered.
When I nodded toward Logrio, he immediately walked over to Bermard and thoroughly searched his inner pockets.
A pile of unopened Rubarina bottles spilled out.
“…I was too kind and too naive.”
As soon as I said that, the other managers’ pockets were searched one by one.
Every single one of them had stolen at least ten bottles of Rubarina.
One man’s pockets were completely empty, which seemed strange—until a guard returned from the tent carrying a large bundle of treatment medicine he had found.
In the end, there were no exceptions.
Just as I was frowning in troubled thought—
“D‑Duchess!”
A desperate voice rang out.
It was Bermard.
“I—I did it because I needed money! I have a sick old mother living alone back home—!”
“Where’s your hometown? Is it below Longton Territory?”
“H‑Huh?”
Caught off guard, Bermard stiffened, then hurriedly answered.
“Y‑Yes! Much lower! It’s a small marquisate—Valdmore!”
“Miel. Connect the communication stone to Teacher Anne.”
Miel immediately replied, “Yes!” and brought the stone over.
Bermard’s eyes widened.
I smiled at him.
“I’m going to ask if you’re telling the truth!”
“W‑What? Who would you even ask—?”
“Who else? The Marquis of Valdmore!”
The color slowly drained from Bermard’s face.
“Bermard Paki, age thirty-three. There should be records of you leaving your territory recently, so we can ask as much as we want. My grandma is close friends with that marquis!”
“…What?”
A few months ago,
the orphanage kids who had been staying at Abner Castle had all found adoptive families with my grandmother’s help.
What was special was that those families were spread all across the Empire.
‘The Valdmore Marquisate… Tom was adopted there, I think?’
The man who became Tom’s father had long served the Marquis of Valdmore as a close retainer.
When the marquis noticed that the man was lonely because he had no children, he personally introduced him to my grandmother—and that was how the adoption happened.
“If your sick mother really exists, I’ll think about being lenient. I’m very smart, but I’m also kind.”
Bermard’s pupils began to shake like branches in the wind.
Obviously. The ‘sick old mother’ story has to be a lie.
I lightly swung the communication stone in my hand and looked at the other managers.
“Is there anyone else with a sad story like Bermard?”
No one spoke up.
“As long as you’re not from across the sea, we can check everything, so feel free to talk! I mean it!”
Silence fell over the tent.
Only Bermard fidgeted, clenching and unclenching his bound fists.
Having orphanage kids spread all over the Empire is really convenient for things like this.
My bond with them was as strong as blood ties.
So if I asked for information, an answer would come immediately.
We grew up together—it was only natural.
And Grandma really did pick amazing adoptive families.
Teacher Anne said all the kids were happy with their new families.
Naturally, they were all very friendly toward Abner.
After all, we were the benefactors who had found them families and taken care of them.
I let out a long sigh.
Then I looked up at the managers who had stolen Rubarina.
“You’re all getting prison sentences.”
“What?!”
Bermard cried out in shock.
The others stared at me, some indignant, some furious.
But I didn’t even blink.
“If you’d stolen medicine that was rightfully yours, I would’ve just kicked you out of the territory. But that’s not what happened, is it?”
As if on cue, a guard behind us made a quick report.
“In each tent they managed, there was at least one patient in critical condition.”
I looked back at the managers.
“This is evil.”
They had stolen medicine that belonged to others—medicine meant to save lives—and planned to sell it.
“Greed is human. But you can’t let others die because of it.”
Bermard’s lips trembled.
Logrio then gave an order to the knights.
“Transfer them to the castle and lock them up.”
“This is unfair!”
Bermard suddenly screamed and looked toward Arwyn and Miel.
“A‑Aren’t those two people you planted, Duchess?! This was all a trap from the start!”
I stared at him expressionlessly.
“They’re buying Rubarina on the black market for two million Terra! Of course anyone would want to steal it! That’s completely normal—!”
“There are sixty-two tents installed. And sixty-two managers.”
Bermard fell silent.
“All sixty-two of them knew Rubarina sells for two million Terra on the black market. Even non-managers knew roughly that it sells for a high price.”
Everyone here had failed to obtain the medicine elsewhere before coming—there was no way they wouldn’t know.
“But out of all of them, only five people actually did something evil.”
I continued, looking at the stunned managers.
“Even before Arwyn and Miel came here, the inventory numbers didn’t match. Someone kept messing with the warehouse.”
“……”
“I needed to know who it was. That’s why I sent those two here.”
I had wanted to recruit greenhouse workers from among the migrants.
Honestly, it was because I was simple-minded and naive.
I thought that since the Abner Ducal House gave them a place to live and medicine, they would naturally be loyal.
‘Well… Lia, you’re too kind and soft to know this, but there are more vicious people in the world than you think.’
If not for what Tian said when he came for sword training, I might have never noticed any of this.
“Soya. Gather the remaining managers—except these people—in one place.”
They were the ones who knew Rubarina sold for a fortune and still didn’t steal it.
In other words, people whose integrity had been proven.
An unexpected result after weeks of effort.
“Choose the main greenhouse staff mostly from them. And include people like Jen from earlier on the list too.”
“Yes, my lady!”
While I was talking with Soya, Bermard and the other four were dragged out of the tent.
“This is unfair! Y‑You can’t do this!”
I shook my head as I watched them go—then suddenly felt uneasy.
“…He won’t keep acting like that when he gets to the ducal castle, right?”
Logrio narrowed his eyes and answered seriously.
“In my opinion, there’s a very high chance he will.”
“Oh no…”
I looked at Bermard’s retreating back with pity.
“If he acts like that at the ducal castle, he’ll die…”
After all, the grandmother waiting there was far scarier than kind, naive me.
