Chapter 31
While she slept, while she walked in the garden, and even when she met with the Viscount’s servants.
‘Um… my lady. As this is a matter of the Viscount’s household, would it not be possible to dismiss the Grand Duke’s knights for a moment?’
‘No.’
Before Evina could even part her lips, the knight commander cut the butler off with a single word.
So it was likely the butler never even had an easy chance to threaten a mere young girl and get what he wanted.
And Evina, who had checked the safe and accounts the moment she received the Viscount’s death notice, bestowed one last mercy upon the dejected butler.
‘I know there is an account the Viscount allowed you to use to facilitate your work.’
‘…Yes, that’s correct.’
‘Empty that account and leave with it.’
‘…!’
‘It’s likely far more than what you’ve earned your entire life. Consider it a token of gratitude for having stayed by the Viscount’s side far longer than I have. Accept it comfortably.’
‘My lady…’
‘Surely you don’t think it’s not enough? With the Viscount dead and only a young girl left, were you perhaps thinking of forcing me into marriage?’
‘…’
The butler’s eyes wavered.
‘Go.’
She gestured with her eyes toward the open door.
‘That’s the way for you to survive. And don’t breathe a word of this matter anywhere. It likely won’t end well for you.’
The butler’s eyes drifted toward the Grand Duke’s knights standing behind Evina.
The Grand Duke’s household, no less.
Knights of the Grand Duke’s Esper Order, led by Xenobius himself, the strongest Esper in history, each one of them capable of handling at least an entire squad on their own.
They were overwhelming opponents for a mere scholar who had only ever managed the household affairs of a small viscounty.
After bowing to Evina, the butler left the estate that very day.
Even as he rode through the early dawn, he was likely in a cold sweat, terrified that the Grand Duke’s knights might come chasing after him to silence him.
And so, with everything settled, Evina checked the ledgers and finally understood how the Viscount had suddenly gotten his hands on such a massive fortune.
The Viscount was a marriage broker in name only.
Human trafficking was his real trade.
Disgraces to the Guide families, like Evina. Trash that couldn’t awaken no matter what was done to them. He collected the ones who could still be put to use and sold them off to wealthy men without Esper abilities. Men curious about Guides.
To keep it legal, he always set the condition that the woman had to be taken as a proper wife, or at least a concubine. That way, everything stayed neatly inside Imperial law, which banned human trafficking outright.
He had sold countless women like Evina across the country. The fortune he piled up was obscene. A direct descendant with deep golden hair and golden eyes, like her, could be traded for the price of a whole modest estate.
And thirty percent of every sale went right back to the three great Guide families. A management fee, they called it.
Evina ground her teeth.
Siollier. Ethenon. Konatan.
Between them, the three families pulled in close to four million eron a year, just by selling off their own discarded blood.
The next day, an accountant from the Grand Duke’s household arrived. He spent days and nights sorting through the messy, careless ledgers the Viscount and butler had kept. Soon, checks started arriving from all over. Some for tens of thousands of eron. Some for hundreds of thousands. He untangled everything, collected the debts still owed, and split the money into neat accounts for Evina.
It had all been so easy.
She sat there holding the ledgers and account papers in her hands. A hollow, helpless feeling sank into her.
To her, the world had always been too huge and too cruel to ever escape. But to Xenobius, it was something light enough to pick up and swing around as he liked.
Somehow, that left her feeling empty.
The viscounty, thrown into turmoil by the Viscount’s death, could no longer even be called a viscounty. But Evina had always been Evina Siollier, and soon, the commotion quieted down.
And so, time passed.
* * *
About four months had passed since the Viscount died.
The dry season, cold enough to make her hunch her shoulders just sitting still, was over. The rainy season had come before she even noticed.
During the rains, everything turned green and the air grew warm and easy. It would be at least half a year before the cold returned. She wouldn’t have to suffer it for a while.
“My lady! M-My lady!”
Therese came rushing in, out of breath.
She stood before Evina with her hands clasped, her manner a little more careful than before. Evina had never asked for it, but all the servants now treated her with more courtesy. More caution.
Maybe it was because of the Grand Duke’s knights, who still hadn’t left.
She saw no reason to send them away when they weren’t leaving on their own. Noble lords of high standing, at her service without spending a single coin.
In a way, it was almost funny.
Men who had become knights of the Grand Duke’s household were nobles of at least viscount rank or higher. And here they were, bowing their heads to a widow with no title at all.
“Um…”
“What is it?”
The moment she no longer felt the need to put on a fake face for the servants, Evina let her smile fade.
This was who Evina Siollier really was. She had simply returned to her true self.
Therese held out a box stamped prominently with the Grand Duke’s crest.
Evina shot up from her seat.
“His Grace sent it.”
At last, the moment Xenobius made his move.
Xenobius had sent a black dress.
Nothing suited a poor widow who had lost her husband on the battlefield better than black mourning clothes. But the moment she unfolded the dress, she realized immediately that his intentions were anything but pure.
The dress was lavishly covered in ornate, expensive lace, as if celebrating her husband’s death.
She picked up the note resting on top of the dress.
In stark contrast to the man’s rough and wild appearance, the handwriting was elegant and refined.
[Promise first. I trust the outcome was satisfactory. I will collect my payment soon.]
She set the brief note down on the table.
Xenobius had kept his promise.
So now it was her turn to pay the price.
Discussion
0 CommentsNo comments yet.