~Chapter 12~
“Did you not vow to remain quietly within your chambers? It did not sound like a lie at the time…”
“You did not actually believe that, my lord?!”
At the mention of Elysia, a lively debate broke out among the knights.
The silent, peaceful North had found itself shaken by a single unwelcome guest, who somehow managed to seize everyone’s attention.
“I heard she even helped when the mine collapsed.”
“Baseless rumors, surely. Have you ever heard a single accurate tale come out of the outer walls? Such talk is meant to be listened to for amusement, nothing more.”
“Well… that is true.”
The Lombard Duchy was vast enough to rival an entire kingdom.
And though all was Lombard territory, communication between the inner wall, the outer wall, and the remote mountain cities was practically nonexistent.
Their worlds were simply too far apart, and too few people traveled between them.
Edwin clicked his tongue quietly as he listened.
“Discipline has grown lax.”
“M–my lord!”
“However I may regard that troublesome woman, it is not something my subordinates should speak of so lightly.”
There was not a soul in the northern Lombard lands who did not know how deeply Edwin disliked Elysia.
Since childhood, she had spent her summers at the imperial villa in the North, only to conjure some petty pretext and divert her carriage to the Lombard stronghold instead.
Of course, the excuses were nothing but a veil; her purpose had always been clear.
Each time, Edwin’s temper had flared so violently that the knights scrubbed already spotless armor and swept a dustless parade ground anew, desperate to avoid their lord’s wrath.
Yet now, he warned them not to speak of her carelessly.
It was the sort of remark that, in the past, would have overturned the entire duchy.
“Do you object?”
“N–not at all, my lord!”
The knights snapped instantly to attention, eyes, nose, and mouth stretched wide with panic.
Confused as they were, no one dared admit dissatisfaction when their lord himself posed the question.
Edwin let out a faint sigh.
“Is the troublemaker still at the monastery?”
“I shall confirm at once.”
“No. There will be no need.”
“Pardon?”
His doubt did not last long. Urgent hoofbeats thundered toward them from afar.
A rider all but tumbled off his horse and bowed before the duke.
“Please aid us! My lady is causing havoc at the mine administrator’s office!”
“Oh dear.”
Someone gave a soft whistle.
Another murmured, She’s barely arrived as a bride, and she’s at it again.
“My lord, what are your orders?”
“We shall go.”
“P–pardon?!”
“She seems to require assistance, does she not?”
Had his view of the troublemaker softened, even slightly?
A dangerous thought — one that would earn a scolding if overheard — yet it flickered through their minds because Edwin, despite tutting under his breath, wore an expression that was… faintly intrigued.
It was a look wholly unlike the lord they thought they knew.
I stormed into the mine’s administrative office.
It was time to settle a matter that had nagged at me endlessly.
“This is divine punishment for an unvirtuous mistress!”
That was what people had declared back then, when the mine collapsed during my first winter in the duchy.
Behind those rumors had been the mine administrator, Patrick.
The whole inner wall buzzed with talk, but at the time I had not cared enough to look deeper.
The mines were not my jurisdiction, and I already had mountains of other work.
But now that I think back… something is decidedly strange.
Patrick fled the moment a proper investigation began.
But Lombard, being a haven for corruption, quickly buried the news of his escape.
If this makes me sound noble — do not be mistaken. I did not storm the office today to pursue some lofty notion of justice.
I simply refused to let foolish rumors resurface and inconvenience me again.
No whisper of divine punishment had reached my ears yet, but one could never be too careful.
“Advance!”
“Yes, my lady!!”
It was past working hours, so only a few frail, overworked clerks remained on duty.
Thomson subdued the entire place by himself without effort.
In truth, there was hardly resistance — they were too exhausted from overtime to lift a finger.
Ugh… why does that suddenly make me sad…
I fanned at my inexplicably warm eyes.
The clerks, their gazes dull with fatigue, readily disclosed Patrick’s location. Thomson dashed to the nearby dormitory and dragged him out.
The mine administrator, hauled out in his nightclothes, burst into tears upon seeing me.
“My lady, my lady! Please, spare me!”
“Spare you? We have not even begun.”
“I do not know what this is about, but I swear I have long suffered from wicked slander! Please, look beyond the lies and see the truth!”
“Silence. Gag him.”
“My lady!! Mmph—! Mmmph…!”
He tried forming circles with his thumb and index finger in a desperate little gesture, but I ignored him.
Seated at the head, I flicked my fingers.
“The documents?”
“Here they are, my lady.”
While Thomson restrained Patrick, the baron must have worked some strange magic; the clerks became syrupy polite and handed over the full operation logs.
I flipped through mining totals, shipment records, work logs, and maintenance files — then halted.
A stiffness crept up my neck.
“I suffer a peculiar condition wherein trashy paperwork sends my blood pressure soaring.”
“P–pardon? What suddenly—”
“Do not play dumb. The totals for mining and shipment do not match! And this—what on earth is this?!”
The mineral prices, which should fluctuate with the market, repeated in suspiciously regular cycles.
Could that possibly be coincidence?
I traced the numbers silently.
It would have been easier to jot them down, but then people might discover I was not completely incompetent with arithmetic, so I opted for mental calculation instead.
“Mmmph! Mmmph!”
Patrick writhed violently, sensing danger as I glared holes through the documents.
I finished the calculations swiftly.
Just as expected — the numbers had been tampered with.
But embezzlement was common enough; what truly startled me lay elsewhere.
“What… is this?”
The maintenance logs were wrong.
Every year, large sums were supposedly spent on safety equipment — yet no equipment had been purchased at all.
Not once, from the year Patrick became administrator until this very year.
I knew something was off. Why the collapse happened fifteen days earlier this time than in the past…
Now I understood.
The mine had already reached its limit long ago.
Previously, Elysia had halted mining for fifteen days for the winter hunt, giving the tunnels time to rest. This year, she did no such thing, and so the weakened structure collapsed at once.
It was not divine punishment for an unvirtuous mistress.
It was a man-made disaster, born of the administrator’s greed.
“Why, you miserable—!”
Enraged, I hurled the paperwork at Patrick.
Even with everyone watching, I could not contain my irritation.
“You have not a shred of conscience! A collapse caused by your own doing — and you dare feel wronged?! This is a crime not repaid even if your entire lineage were wiped out!”
And I could very well wipe out his lineage.
High birth and a rotten temper — I had all the qualifications.
Knowing this, Patrick summoned inhuman strength, tore free from Thomson, and clung to my skirts.
“It is all a misunderstanding! I—I can explain everything! I was deceived by merchants! The guild introduced by the previous administrator seemed trustworthy, and they forged the contracts!”
“How dare you touch me?!”
I kicked him away.
Yet he crawled back on all fours, groveling.
“By the time I realized something was wrong, it was far too late. I tried to salvage the damage alone, but it was impossible!”
“So you altered the records?”
“I was terrified! Had I been alone, I would have accepted any punishment! But I could not—could not think of my ailing mother who waits only for me!”
He pressed his forehead to the floor and sobbed.
Moved by his tears, people began murmuring — Who was the previous administrator? Had he conspired with the merchants from the start?
Even Thomson hesitated, unsure whether to restrain him.
Admitting the lesser wrong while shifting the greater blame elsewhere… Do they attend some academy for this?
Unimpressed, I propped my chin in my hand.
Whispers of heartless woman floated around me, but I ignored them.
The truly pitiful creature here was not Patrick — it was my eyesight, which had been assaulted by vile documents.
Sensing an opening, Patrick pleaded on.
“I shall accept any punishment! But the truth must come to light! If you grant me time, I will expose the collusion between the former administrator and the merchant guild!”
“Truly?”
“Absolutely!!”
He leapt up, shouting.
His ugly face suddenly far too close, my mood soured further. I decided to end the pointless farce.
“And how do you plan to apprehend a merchant guild that doesn’t even exist?”
“…What?”
“It is obviously a fake front. The real ledgers must be elsewhere. Did you think I would not notice? Did I appear so easily fooled?”
Years in bureaucratic work had shown me all manner of hole-riddled paperwork.
But in the past, superiors bribed with warm loaves of bread would glare daggers at anyone who raised questions, so I had merely endured in silence.
“If you were human, you would leave the retired former administrator out of this. Ah — had anyone else interrogated you, would you have blamed the collapse on ‘divine punishment for the unvirtuous mistress’?”
“N–no! Why would I ever say such a thing?!”
The clerks flinched.
So it was the truth.
“You dared deceive me? Thomson, bind him! And every fool here who hesitated!”
“Er… forgive me, my lady, but even I nearly believed him…”
“You wretched—!”
Honesty was a virtue, yes — but honesty without sense deserved retribution.
I kicked the desk in frustration — though due to my lack of strength, it was I who slid backward rather than the desk — and flicked my hand.
The baron hastened forward and bowed.
“You know what to do, I trust?”
“But of course! I shall report this to our lord at once, at the speed of light!”
“And the name of the informant?”
“But of course, it shall be you, our omnipotent lady—”
“No. It shall be you.”
“…Pardon?”
