Ch#62
Spoils of War
Duchess
Written by Lemon Frog
Chapter 62
"Write an IOU. Including the embezzled amount plus compensation, a total of 400,000 ringtons. Set the payment deadline by the end of this year."
As if this were an incredibly lenient punishment, Laslo shrugged his shoulders.
But Marsha's frozen expression did not thaw.
"F-Four hundred thousand ringtons...?"
"You could easily raise 350,000 just by selling Baltchi's house."
"But that house has a 70,000 rington bank loan on it...!"
"That's none of my concern."
Honestly, 400,000 ringtons was pocket change to Laslo—money he wouldn't miss either way—but it was the perfect amount to utterly ruin Marsha.
According to his investigation, it was about the maximum she could scrape together by selling even her underwear.
Any more, and she might give up entirely; any less, and it wouldn't serve as proper punishment.
After paying it off, she would be penniless—no, she might even end up a jobless debtor owing money to loan sharks.
And Laslo had no intention of giving Marsha any leeway in her punishment.
"If you've all understood... men, drag this woman out."
At his command, the mercenaries who had been standing at attention moved swiftly to haul Marsha to her feet.
Marsha frantically looked around before bursting into wails and screams.
"Please spare me, Count! Mercy...!"
"Did I say I was going to kill you?"
A small dagger spun nimbly in Laslo's hand, as if he'd pulled it out of nowhere.
It seemed like a warning that he'd really kill her if she caused any more trouble, forcing Marsha to clamp her trembling lips shut.
And so, Marsha—the little tyrant of House Criserus—was cast out along with an IOU for an enormous sum.
.
With Marsha and the witnesses who had exposed her embezzlement gone, the lobby fell silent once more.
Laslo still stood there overlooking the servants, who waited in fearful anticipation of what would come from his mouth next.
"Now, there's one problem here."
Gulp.
The sound of dry swallows echoed from everyone's throats.
"With no steward, the head maid is gone too."
Now that they thought about it, it was true.
Even if Marsha had committed all sorts of misdeeds, there had been some order under her management.
But with her suddenly gone overnight, who would manage the servants and assign their tasks?
Massive chaos was surely incoming.
Yet Laslo showed no particular worry.
"He who started it must finish it—the one who uncovered Marsha's true nature will fill that role!"
As the servants tilted their heads in confusion, another word fell from Laslo's lips.
"Edel."
Silence descended upon the lobby once again.
But Laslo continued without a care.
"From now on, Edel will take over as head maid."
All eyes widened and turned toward Edel.
But Edel merely let out a small sigh, her face showing neither surprise nor joy.
Laslo scanned those whose eyes were bulging at the sudden turn—Marsha ousted, Edel promoted to head maid—and spoke.
"Anyone who disobeys Edel's orders or harbors complaints should quit now. I'll even write you a letter of recommendation."
A faint sense of refreshment gleamed even in his smiling face.
"Haa..."
Edel sighed deeply late into the night as she sorted documents.
"Why did I accept this?"
Until she had exposed Marsha's embezzlement and corruption, she had thought the worst that could happen was Laslo disliking her for it.
But Laslo trusted her far too much.
'Enough to suddenly hand me the head maid position.'
It might have been because she and Linia had transformed him.
It was true that Edel had gotten unexpectedly immersed in that task, yielding far better results than she'd anticipated.
Just look at the exponential increase in invitations flooding the estate since Laslo attended House Bliss's party.
'Still, how well does he even know me to make me head maid?'
As she thought that, Edel soon came to accept it. Given that her predecessor as head maid was Marsha, it seemed Laslo wasn't picky about whom he chose.
At first, she had planned to refuse the offer outright. But...
"Then we can't get rid of Marsha right away. With no steward, if the head maid vanishes too, how's the household supposed to run?"
She knew that better than anyone, having witnessed the precariously teetering daily operations of the estate time and again.
In the end, to swiftly remove the cancerous presence that was Marsha, someone familiar with the estate's affairs had to step in—and right now, Edel was the only one who could.
"Understood. Then please give me a little time."
"One week. Use that time to skim through these documents here, plan out the immediate priorities, and in a week, we'll drag Marsha out."
.
During that week, Edel slept less than four hours a day.
Linia, upon learning the situation, tried to let her rest during the day, but even that time couldn't be wasted.
'There's more than enough to fix.'
She was swamped just handing over head maid duties, couldn't slack on her role as Linia's personal maid, and had to keep the plan to oust Marsha secret from the others—it was exhausting.
But even now as head maid, things weren't any easier.
"It's even worse than I expected."
If Marsha had meticulously kept double books, Edel could have fixed the ledgers based on them, but Marsha had been obsessed only with stealing, not with record-keeping.
There were limits to piecing together the past from the merchants' double books.
In the end, House Criserus might as well start from scratch.
"My head hurts..."
Rebuilding from the ground up might actually be easier, but what troubled Edel was how far she could go. Normal head maids didn't manage the ledgers like this.
"I suppose I need to talk it over more with the Count of House Criserus."
Edel set down all the documents and wrapped a shawl around her shoulders.
She then headed straight to Laslo's study—now a familiar path—and knocked.
"It's Edel."
"Come in."
After the usual exchange, Edel opened the door.
Since she became head maid, Laslo had started organizing his study too, leaving him with no time to rest after returning from court.
Laslo, who had been sorting estate documents from mercenary guild papers, gestured toward the sofa with his chin and stood.
"It's quite late—what's the matter?"
"I have some questions about the duties you've assigned me."
"Questions? I told you to do whatever you think is best!"
"...That's the most troubling thing you could say, my lord."
Edel sighed deeply even in Laslo's presence. It was that daunting.
"As you know, the head maid manages inventories like foodstuffs and fabrics. Ledger-keeping is the steward's and the lord's duty."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. So it's hard for me to define my boundaries. The best solution would be appointing a steward as soon as possible, but..."
Laslo surely knew that.
"As you say, the steward has access to the household's most vital information. That's why I can't pick one lightly."
Hadn't he tried? Early in his tenure as count, he'd appointed stewards, of course.
'The problem was they were all spies for the opposition in a row.'
The Four Great Families had desperately tried infiltrating House Criserus with spies to gather intel on Laslo, who had suddenly appeared and become the Emperor's close aide. Especially for the steward position.
After beating and expelling the fifth one, Laslo had stopped appointing stewards altogether. He'd even weeded out any servants showing the slightest suspicious signs.
'That's why the ones left are those not even worth buying off from the Four Great Families.'
Cowardly types whose faces would give it away the moment such an offer came.
But having vowed to become the Emperor's sword and the pillar of the Emperor's faction, he couldn't leave the household in this state.
His serious, contemplative face suddenly lit up.
"Wait... there is one way."
"Pardon? What might that be?"
Laslo's gaze slowly shifted to Edel's face. The intensity made her want to turn away.
But Laslo leaned in closer, smirking slyly.
.
"Why didn't I think of this sooner?"
"Pardon...? So, what... method... do you mean?"
It felt like something she shouldn't ask, yet she couldn't help it. And bad premonitions always hit the mark.
"You should just become this house's steward. You're too capable to waste as head maid anyway."
"Pardon?"
Her voice cracked in shock as she repeated it.
But this was no time to feel embarrassed.
.
