~Chapter 29~
Except for the small incident on the stage, the ceremony finished successfully.
After the evening banquet, I stayed overnight in the VIP room prepared by the archbishop himself.
It was not as nice as my room at Lombard Castle, but compared to the small, old house I once lived in, it was like heaven.
They said it was the best guest room in the main church of the Lombard diocese.
Still, Mrs. Olden complained and asked if there were any better rooms, making things awkward for everyone.
“Madam, may I have a moment of your time?”
As I was getting ready for bed with my maid’s help, I heard a gentle voice from outside.
When I said yes, Sister Godellina came in.
“The archbishop wanted to thank you in person, but it’s late, so he sent me instead.”
“Isn’t this greeting a bit late?”
Mrs. Olden stopped arranging my dress and jewelry and smiled elegantly.
She wasn’t wrong.
For such a big donation, someone as important as the archbishop should come personally to say thank you.
But maybe because of Mrs. Olden’s hidden arrogance, Sister Godellina looked troubled. So I opened my mouth, wanting to get Mrs. Olden to leave.
“Sister Godellina, can you hear my confession?”
“Of course, madam. Please say anything. God is always ready to listen.”
“You all can leave for a moment.”
“Of course.”
Even Mrs. Olden couldn’t argue with the excuse of confession.
When the maids left and we were alone, Sister Godellina’s face grew serious. It looked like she wanted to talk about something difficult.
I made tea myself while she gathered her thoughts.
“Ah, thank you.”
“I hope you like it.”
“How could I not, when you made it yourself?”
Even as the steam from the cup faded, Godellina still didn’t speak, lost in thought.
But she seemed even more nervous than I expected, so in the end, I spoke first.
“You know confession is just an excuse. The archbishop wouldn’t send someone to me at this hour for nothing. Why did you really come tonight?”
“First, please know I did not come here to harm you, madam.”
“I know.”
“You showed your faith by making your first official job in Lombard to check the churches. Everyone here knows the rumors about you aren’t true.”
Godellina softened me up with praise and reassured me, before finally getting to the point.
“Don’t trust Mrs. Olden too much.”
“…What do you mean?”
Instead of answering, Godellina carefully took out an envelope from her robe and handed it to me.
“Before I say more, you should see this yourself.”
It was the same envelope used for the donation today.
The wax seal was already broken, so I pulled out the check and read it.
Just as I thought.
“The amount is different.”
The amount I wrote was five hundred gold coins.
That was a huge amount, enough to buy a small estate or a castle.
But on this check, the amount was fifty gold coins.
Fifty was still a lot, but not nearly enough for a noble’s donation—especially on such a public day.
If word got out, there would be gossip and trouble.
Godellina pointed this out.
“Do you remember the small accident you had on the stage today?”
“The fringe of the stage cloth got caught on my dress.”
“I’m also the protocol priest in charge of events. After the ceremony, when I went to change the stage cloth, I noticed marks from a pen tip on the podium.”
Godellina realized the donation amount because of those marks.
She explained that the podium is always covered, so the marks had to be from today.
“At first, I thought about ignoring it. But I was afraid people would misunderstand your intention, not the donation amount itself.”
“Is that so…”
I mumbled as if I didn’t know.
But actually, this was exactly what I expected.
I had a lot of experience with accounting, so I already knew the numbers on paper and the real spending didn’t match.
Only I or Mrs. Olden had the authority to do this.
So, she was stealing my precious gold coins.
‘If Mrs. Olden had just stolen anything except my lovely gold, I might have let it go… The poison was a bit much, though.’
From the way the duke acted, it didn’t seem like I’d be having children anyway. We hadn’t even shared a bed yet.
Maybe, like before, he had his own reasons.
‘Ahem…’
Embarrassed, I focused back on the problem.
Mrs. Olden’s method was very simple: just adding or subtracting numbers from regular expenses.
So this time, I expected she’d try the same, and I wrote my amount very hard with a sharp pen tip, after dropping the cloth on purpose. That way, it would be obvious if someone changed the numbers.
Still, I didn’t expect her to just erase a zero from my donation.
“Thank you. If you hadn’t checked, I would have been laughed at by everyone.”
Only after I said this did Godellina finally look relieved.
Even though I acted kind during the whole event, old rumors about me were still strong.
Godellina muttered that I was very different from what she’d heard, then asked:
“Madam, what do you want to do about this?”
“Mrs. Olden stole from the church, so she should be judged by the law.”
“The archbishop said he will respect your wishes.”
“I appreciate that, but my answer won’t change.”
“Are you really okay with this?”
I pretended it was hard to answer and turned my head.
Godellina offered me her handkerchief.
“You probably heard that Mrs. Olden is like a foster mother to me. After I lost my parents, she raised me.”
“Yes, I heard.”
“I was so blinded by old feelings, I didn’t even know she would harm me. I had no idea.”
I shook my hand like I was barely holding back tears.
I had to keep living in Lombard. If Mrs. Olden was punished, I’d have a bad reputation too—but I decided it was better to clearly cut ties with her now.
I wiped my dry eyes carefully with the handkerchief.
“Maybe this is also God’s plan—to make you stronger,” Godellina said, standing up and holding both my hands to comfort me.
I avoided her eyes and nodded.
If she saw my dry eyes, she might realize I wasn’t really crying.
But maybe Godellina thought I was really sad, because she patted my hands even more and went on:
“Let me ask one last time. Tomorrow, the diocesan audit will officially start an investigation. There is enough evidence that Mrs. Olden’s embezzlement will be exposed very soon. Are you truly sure about this?”
“…”
After a moment of silence, I called for someone with a firm voice.
The people with Sister Godellina bowed their heads.
“Call the guards. Lock Mrs. Olden in her room.”
“What?! Why would you do that to her?!”
One of the maids from the capital, who had heard my order, shouted in surprise.
I stopped her argument quickly.
“You’ll know the reason soon enough, so don’t fight me.”
“But madam!!”
I coldly turned my head, and Godellina and the others left to arrest Mrs. Olden.
But when the guards got there, Mrs. Olden had already escaped.
From the beginning, it was as if she had never existed—she left without a single trace.
