Chapter 65
After a long journey, we finally arrived at Coral Manor, and it was beautiful.
Yellow exterior walls, pale mint-colored roofs, and a large garden stretching all the way to the sea.
I could now understand why Lucas had described Coral Manor as such a wonderful place.
As I stepped down from the carriage, marveling at the manor, all the staff, including the butler, came out and bowed their heads to me.
“Welcome to Coral Manor, young mistress. I am your butler, Dane Peligno. Please, call me Dane.”
Peligno was from one of the long-serving vassal families of the Ashinov Duke House, which had effectively managed the Devon territory for generations.
The Dane who introduced himself as the butler was a man in his fifties, with a stubborn yet seasoned demeanor.
“Nice to meet you, Dane. But please call me ‘Lord’ rather than ‘mistress.’”
Baratheon, standing behind me, whistled as if amused at my correction.
“Very well, my lord,” Dane said politely, bowing his head and naturally correcting the address.
“We have prepared a dinner for those who traveled such a long way. Please, rest and have your meal first.”
That was welcome news.
Although we had eaten on the way, meals during travel were inevitably meager.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one pleased by the word “dinner,” as the party’s eyes brightened at the mention.
“Let’s do that, then.”
“Then I will show you to your rooms.”
At Dane’s gesture, the servants busied themselves, guiding each member of our party to their assigned rooms.
My room was a large one in the center of the manor, overlooking the sea.
“This room is for you, my lord. To the right is the office, to the left is the reception room, and further in, you have the bathroom and dressing room.”
As I had sensed from the exterior, Coral Manor had a quaint, delicate atmosphere—quite different from the grandiose feel of a winter manor.
“And these will be the maids serving you, my lord.”
As I looked around curiously, Dane introduced me to two maids.
“Jenny and Betty.”
When Dane said their names, the maids each bowed to me.
Jenny had dull blonde hair, and Betty had dark brown hair.
“Nice to meet you. You will follow the instructions of my lady-in-waiting, Marina,” I said.
I would rarely deal directly with the maids anyway. It was the lady-in-waiting’s job to serve the lord personally, while the maids carried out miscellaneous duties under her supervision.
When I introduced Marina, the two maids exchanged glances and then bowed to her as well.
“Please take care of us, Lady Marina.”
“Yes. I don’t know much about the manor, so please tell me everything I need to know.”
Speaking of the manor, something came to mind.
“Dane.”
“Yes, my lord?”
“I would like to meet the vassals in charge of Devon’s finance, military, and administration.”
Finance, military, administration—these three were the core of managing a territory.
I needed to understand who they were to plan my next moves.
The direction was simple. Loyal and hardworking vassals would be dismissed, lazy leeching ones would stay.
‘Since my goal is to ruin this territory, I don’t need diligent subordinates.’
“I anticipated that and have already summoned them.”
“Already?”
“Yes. All three are currently staying in the manor, so you can see them anytime you wish.”
A butler who anticipated my needs before I even asked.
‘This one’s a little too eager, isn’t he?’
I added his name to my preliminary list of “loyalists to cut” while asking:
“Where are the three staying now?”
“As usual, in the Garnet Room.”
Dane’s expression betrayed some displeasure as he spoke.
“The Garnet Room?”
“Coral Manor has twelve guest rooms, each named after a birthstone. Room 1 is called the Garnet Room.”
“Then Room 2 must be Amethyst, and Room 3 Aquamarine?”
Dane laughed and nodded at my words.
“Yes, that’s how it is. Room 1, the Garnet Room, is the finest, while Room 12, the Turquoise Room, is the most modest.”
‘Ah, so that’s their system.’
And to think he said all three were in the Garnet Room as usual—so they must often come to the manor even without summons.
Their diligence made it slightly more likely that they were loyalists.
‘Looks like I’ll be swinging the purge sword from the start.’
But right now, there was a more pressing matter.
‘I’m hungry!’
After all, it was a matter of survival.
“Let’s have the prepared dinner first, and then meet them.”
“Yes, my lord.”
The dinner was excellent.
Perhaps because the sea was right in front, seafood dishes dominated, with a flavor different from what I had at the winter manor.
‘Even if I cut everyone else, the head chef is off-limits.’
With that in mind, I summoned the three vassals responsible for Devon’s main sectors to the office.
“Dalton, in charge of finance, greets my lord.”
“Gonail, in charge of administration, greets my lord.”
“Nadin, in charge of military affairs, greets my lord.”
All three spoke in unison.
‘I don’t need to remember the names of people I might cut.’
The three made up the “Dalgo-na trio.” I entered their names roughly in my mind and smiled.
“Nice to meet you. I believe you understand why I called you here.”
“Yes. To manage the territory, you need to know about these three areas,” Dalton replied briskly, placing a stack of prepared documents on the desk.
“I’ve organized the main materials from the past ten years. If you understand these, managing the territory shouldn’t be a problem.”
Following him, Gonail and Nadin also placed thick bundles of documents on the desk.
‘Diligent, very diligent.’
Indeed, the Dalgo-na trio appeared to be loyalists.
The sheer volume meant it would take quite some time just to read and understand them.
Looking at the towering piles with a weary expression, Gonail spoke:
“Given the amount of documents, it will take about two weeks to understand the contents fully.”
I thought the same. Two weeks might even be tight if the material was complex.
But I had Lucas, a prodigious genius. With him, the time could be halved.
‘All I need to do is read Lucas’s summary.’
This was the luxury of having a capable subordinate.
“One week is enough,” I said, proudly invoking Lucas’s genius.
“What? One week?”
The Dalgo-na trio’s expressions twisted at my statement. They probably thought this young lord, suddenly dropped from the sky, was all bluff.
‘Doesn’t matter to me.’
I didn’t care whether they liked me or not. My goal wasn’t to be a good lord.
“I’ll call you again after reviewing the documents. We’ll discuss details then.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“And you’re staying in the Garnet Room now?”
“Yes.”
“I never gave permission.”
“Pardon?”
“Originally, it’s the lord who decides where guests stay, right?”
“Yes, but when you arrived, my lord wasn’t here, so the butler decided on your behalf…”
“Enough.”
I raised my hand to cut them off.
‘There will be no good rooms for loyalists yet.’
“Until I finish reviewing the documents, the three of you will stay in the Turquoise Room.”
At the mention of the Turquoise Room, their faces stiffened.
“The… but that room is…”
It was Room 12, the farthest and humblest of the guest rooms.
“I don’t consider you my people yet. Depending on the document review, I might even cut you. Why give you the luxury of the Garnet Room?”
“What? Cut us?”
The Dalgo-na trio’s eyes widened in shock, clearly unable to imagine such a thing.
“We are vassals loyal to the Ashinov family for generations. How could you—”
“Loyalty over generations doesn’t guarantee competence or integrity. I’ll be the judge of that.”
Faced with this sound reasoning, the three kept their mouths shut.
‘But from their perspective as loyal vassals, this must feel like an insult.’
Seeing their faces flush and change colors, I swallowed a laugh.
‘Yes, I am truly a wicked lord. If you can’t stand it, resign immediately, loyalists!’
