Chapter 7
“Alright, Roos! One, two, three, four.”
As I swung my arms in wide circles, Roos copied me.
“Five, six, seven, eight.”
We moved our bodies in rhythm with my counting.
These days, Roos and I do calisthenics every morning.
It started as a way to build up Roos’s physical strength—since he had been neglected for so many years and was quite weak—and also to take care of my own health. But it turned out to be better than I expected.
Moving first thing in the morning made me feel oddly diligent and productive.
From far away, the maids watched us with pleased expressions.
Once they found out we were exercising in the training yard every morning, they started coming to watch one by one, and now there were quite a lot of them.
“The lady is truly a blessing.”
“Of course. She’s a blessing for our entire estate. Thanks to her, the duke’s health has improved a lot too.”
That title still made me a little embarrassed.
I kept a straight face and finished the exercises, then pointed toward the training ground.
“Alright, Roos. Go run a lap.”
Roos nodded with a bright “Okay!” and sprinted off.
Each time he ran, dust rose from the ground.
It was a scene you would never see in a noble household that was truly thriving.
Because wealthy nobles paved their training grounds with special magically treated stone instead of dirt.
Maintaining a training ground alone already required money. There were so many things that needed funds.
We need to find Roos a swordsmanship teacher soon.
Roos was a genius with the sword.
Well, a genius—but…
The problem was that there was no one in this estate qualified to teach him.
There were a few who were decent swordsmen, but correcting bad habits was far harder than teaching someone from scratch.
I wanted to find him the perfect master from the very beginning.
And I already have someone in mind.
Roos soon finished a lap and returned to me.
Seeing that he wasn’t even out of breath anymore, his stamina had clearly improved.
“Roos, you did really well.”
I hugged him and patted his head in praise, and Roos hugged me back.
“Now go run one more lap.”
“Okay, sis!”
Even though he answered properly, Roos didn’t seem to want to leave me. While running, he kept turning his head to glance back at me.
“Roos! Watch where you’re going! You’ll fall!”
“Okay!”
And then five seconds later, he turned his head again.
In the end, I couldn’t help but laugh.
Roos’s stamina was steadily improving.
* * *
After morning exercise, Roos went off to study reading and writing, and I headed to the office to handle estate work.
And I slightly regretted a past decision.
Just slightly. Not much.
No, actually—it was enough to regret.
Anyone would agree that after seeing the estate financial report in front of me, it was impressive I didn’t start swearing.
“…Why is the debt this much?”
There wasn’t just one or two debts either.
The imperial household, nobles, merchant guilds—
They had borrowed from everywhere possible.
“…There’s quite a lot of debt, yes…”
The man standing next to me glanced at my expression nervously.
His name was Naol.
He had handled the estate’s accounting before Prug arrived, and now he was also in charge of investigating Prug’s embezzlement.
After driving Prug out, I had ordered him to consolidate the estate’s debts and income so everything could be seen at once.
He looked pale enough to collapse at any moment, dark circles under his eyes, but his gaze toward me still sparkled.
He said desperately:
“Madam! Our blessed madam! If there’s even hidden assets somewhere again…!”
“No. I don’t think that would help.”
“Still…!”
It wasn’t something to be happy about just because we had cleaned up Prug’s embezzlement.
“What on earth did they do to accumulate so much debt? Even gambling this much debt would be impressive.”
“To maintain the household, there are many expenses. The castle upkeep costs money, taxes must be paid to the imperial court every year, monster subjugation missions cost money… and…”
Naol added cautiously,
“There was also… a time when the second son of the previous duke was extremely addicted to gambling…”
“Alright, stop.”
I looked over the report.
“Are there any debts that are due immediately?”
This was important.
If we failed to repay certain debts, the land or even the castle could be seized as collateral.
We might end up living on the streets.
“I don’t think anything is urgent.”
“Really?”
Naol avoided my gaze slightly.
“Fox Merchant Union has a loan of 50 million marks that’s due soon… but it shouldn’t be a big issue.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. It was borrowed 30 years ago and they never once came to collect it. Maybe they went bankrupt? If they’re bankrupt, we don’t even need to repay it.”
“That would be fortunate…”
But why did I feel uneasy?
As if to confirm my unease, Bella burst into the office in a panic.
“Madam, madam! It’s bad news!”
“What is it, Bella?”
“The—The creditors are here! They’re demanding repayment right now!”
“Are all our creditors here? Don’t tell me they all came at once?”
If that happened, we would have to flee immediately.
“No, no! It’s the Fox Merchant Union!”
I turned to Naol.
Naol turned to me.
Without even speaking, we both understood each other.
We’re doomed.
Speak of the devil.
That was the very group we had just been discussing.
“But you said they never came to collect…!”
I shot a resentful look at Naol, and he looked like he might cry.
“N-no, really… they never did… honestly…”
* * *
Naol and I decided to meet them first.
We needed to understand what they were after.
As they looked confused at seeing me—a young girl—Naol introduced me.
“This is the duchess. Show proper respect.”
“Oh—yes!”
They quickly bowed, still startled.
I accepted their greeting and leaned back in my chair.
“So. What brings you here suddenly?”
“As we said, the repayment date is approaching. We’ve come to collect the money.”
A man with narrow eyes stepped forward.
“Your name?”
“Luan.”
Naol spoke up.
“But the repayment date is next week. There was no need to come this early.”
“We wanted to ensure we receive it this time.”
Neither side gave an inch.
Yes, it wasn’t a small amount to simply give up on.
Naol and I had already decided after hearing the Fox Merchant Union had come.
The debt was 50 million marks.
A large sum, but if we sold the jewels, it was manageable.
It was better to repay debts quickly if possible.
“Fine. We will repay it.”
“Thank you for your generous decision.”
Luan smiled and bowed.
“Naol.”
Naol brought out a small box.
“It’s a necklace decorated with blue diamonds and pearls. Depending on the market, it should easily fetch 50 million marks. What do you think?”
At his words, the merchant group began to murmur.
What’s with this atmosphere?
Luan spoke with a troubled expression.
“Duchess. The total amount the Balfruga household owes us is 1 billion marks.”
“What?! 1 billion marks?!”
“That’s impossible. We only borrowed 50 million…”
Naol was flustered, but Luan explained gently as if speaking to a child.
“You must not have read the contract properly. Yes, the principal is 50 million marks.”
“Then why…?”
“You must consider interest. Thirty years of accumulated interest and additional fees add up quite significantly. If you don’t believe me, you may examine the contract we brought.”
Naol snatched the contract from Luan’s hand.
After a long silence, Naol looked at me.
His despairing eyes confirmed Luan’s words.
The situation flipped instantly.
“…We will need to discuss this with my husband first.”
A tactical retreat.
* * *
“Wow! They waited 30 years just to come collect?! There’s no way we can dodge this!!”
“Yes. They look very serious about collecting it too. If we don’t pay, they look like they’ll tear down the castle brick by brick.”
“Those shameless people! So that’s why they didn’t come for 30 years!”
Naol and I rushed to the office and began digging through piles of documents.
Finally, we found the loan contract stuffed in a corner of a bookshelf.
“Is the previous duke insane? How could he borrow money under these conditions?”
Naol cursed the former duke without restraint, but I didn’t stop him.
If I opened my mouth, I felt like I’d start swearing too.
The Fox Merchant Union hadn’t lied.
We had indeed borrowed 50 million marks.
And it was also true that over 30 years of compound interest, it had grown into 1 billion marks.
This was loan sharking!
No— even loan sharks wouldn’t set conditions this cruel.
I held my forehead and asked Naol:
“What happens if we just don’t pay?”
If possible, abandoning the collateral might be better.
There was nothing in this estate worth more than 1 billion marks anyway.
“I’d like that too… but the collateral is quite significant, madam.”
“What is it?”
“This castle.”
“…What?! Did they seriously intend to destroy this family?!”
“Apparently so…”
Naol stared blankly at the contract, as if he had no energy left to even swear.
“If we sell the jewels and borrow elsewhere, we might be able to raise 100 million marks. It won’t be enough for 1 billion, but it would at least put out the immediate fire.”
He calculated while tapping his fingers.
“But if we pay everything now, we’ll be left eating grass to survive.”
Then there was no answer for how to save this family.
Maybe handing over the castle would be—
“But if we give up the castle, we’ll have nowhere to go. And we’ll become a laughingstock across the continent.”
Right. That would be a disgrace to the family.
“Why did the previous duke even borrow this money?”
I muttered it without expecting an answer, but one came back unexpectedly.
“Probably because he trusted them. The Fox Merchant Union used to belong to the Reholas Marquis family, which was the maternal family of the previous duchess.”
“Reholas Marquis?”
“Yes. That very wealthy Reholas Marquis. Honestly, the more I think about it, the more ridiculous it is.”
“Wait, so the Fox Merchant Union originally belonged to the Reholas Marquis family?”
Seeing my reaction, Naol replied confused.
“Pardon? Yes. It wasn’t originally a merchant union—it was a single merchant company owned by the Reholas Marquis. About 20 years ago, they suddenly sold off ownership shares due to financial issues. Once ownership changed, so did our creditor.”
In the original story, the Reholas Marquis was killed by Roos, the male lead.
Because his fraud against Roos was exposed.
He had used the merchant union to scam Roos and made enormous profits.
And if it’s fraud…
“Naol. We don’t have to pay this money!”
