I Need to Raise My Younger Sister Right

Chapter 4

Rachel slowly looked around Abigail’s office.

An expensive painting hung on the wall. There was delicately and intricately crafted handmade furniture and expensive decorations that were rarely seen in a regular noble’s household.

Rachel quietly opened the fancy jewelry box on the table.

“Aha…”

It was full of precious jewelry that a head lady-in-waiting wouldn’t have been able to afford with her salary.

Rachel held up a beautiful pearl necklace and said, “It seems the position of head lady-in-waiting is quite a lucrative one.”

Abigail’s eyes twitched after hearing the hint of sarcasm in Rachel’s voice.

“I-I’ve only selected the finest pieces to present to you. Those couldn’t possibly be mine, right?”

“Is that so? So these are all for me?”

“Of course. These all belong to you. But...” Abigail anxiously glanced over at Rupert, who stood behind Rachel. “What brings you here? If you needed something, you could have summoned me.”

Hmm. The jewels were indeed pretty.

Rachel carefully examined the pearls as she casually said, “Why do you think I’m here?”

“W-well, I’m not too sure...”

Usually, the more guilty someone was, the more they appeared to be flustered by such a question. Rachel quietly looked at Abigail, who was at a loss for words.

Her eyes, which were as wrinkled as she was greedy, began to twitch slightly. How much had she taken advantage of Rachel while keeping her in the palm of her hand?

But that was something she could no longer do.

Rachel patted Abigail’s shoulders and said, “Thanks for all your hard work up until now, Abigail.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s time for you to go find your rightful place now.”

Rachel turned around to look at Rupert, who stood with gleaming eyes, waiting for her command. As he approached her with a stern expression, Abigail took a step back, her face as pale as a ghost.

“Whatever do you mea—? Y-Your Grace! Why are you doing this?”

“Why else would I be doing this? Have you committed so many sins that you don’t know which I’m referring to?”

“There is no reason for me to be treated in this manner. All this time, I’ve served you with loyalty, yet you treat me as if I’m a criminal. Something definitely isn’t right here!”

Pfft. Served me with loyalty? Has my hearing gone bad? Am I starting to hear things?

“I guess we’ll find out after a thorough investigation.”

At her gesture, Rupert grabbed Abigail roughly and dragged her outside.

“Y-Your Grace! Please listen to me. There must be a misunderstanding! Aah!”

Rachel ignored the screams as they grew more and more distant, then turned to face Ann, who glanced around in nervous confusion.

This girl is…

Unlike the other ladies-in-waiting from this morning, who were clean and tidy, the girl before her was dressed in an old uniform.

She wasn’t one of Abigail’s people.

“You there.”

“Y-yes!”

“I’ll require your help for the time being.”

New wine would have to be put into new bottles.

She smiled brightly at Ann, who looked at her with a wavering expression of disbelief.

***

After locking Abigail in prison, the first course of action that Rachel took was to bring back the people who had been demoted.

Amongst them, the butler and senior lady-in-waiting were the first people she brought back. She promoted the senior lady-in-waiting to head lady-in-waiting and immediately put her to work.

After delegating the household work of employee management, mansion repairs, checking inventory of food items and supplies, and the like to those two, she locked herself inside her office.

“This is driving me crazy.”

Swearing was the only thing she could do as she read Marcus’ report.

The tax rate had doubled within the span of six months.

Prices soared, and many merchants were left to withdraw their businesses from the duchy in fear of the high taxes.

The unemployed and homeless filled the streets, and crime rates were higher than before.

The situation was so bad that a riot could happen at any moment.

“I need Marcus to return soon...”

Figuring out the financial situation, paying overdue wages, investigating the current situation of the territory, expelling the people of House Weiber who were relentlessly knocking on the doors to reclaim the head of their household…

Figuring out all these things on her own without the help of an aide was nearly impossible.

As Rachel closed her eyes and leaned against her chair to find relief from a sudden wave of fatigue, Ann arrived with news. “Your Grace. Sir Rupert has returned!”

He had retrieved the money Abigail had embezzled.

After being informed that carts were being wheeled out one after another, Rachel went out to the front of the mansion.

“Wow, how many carts is that?” Seeing them all lined up outside, her mouth dropped open.

One, two, three, four, five, six…

The carts were full of expensive items that no regular employee could afford. It was everything that Abigail had embezzled up until now.

“Unbelievable. She really stole this much over the course of a half year.”

Rupert responded in a low voice, “Your Grace. This is merely a portion.”

“Only a portion?

“We only collected the items that were visible.”

“Indeed. It would’ve been much stranger if she didn’t have a hidden stash. Once we do a sweep of House Weiber as well, I suppose that will help us secure enough finances.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

They could only touch House Weiber’s mansion and lands after the Weibers were tried and found guilty, and right now wasn’t the right time.

“Hmm, is Abigail still keeping quiet?”

“Yes, Your Grace. Though we’re interrogating her in a harsh manner, she doesn’t even bat an eye.”

“I’m sure she’s hanging on for dear life. If she opens her mouth, her entire family will be executed.”

“The act of embezzling alone is a serious problem, yet she went so far as to tamper with your food. She cannot be forgiven.” Rupert’s blue eyes blazed with fury.

“Then is this everything you’ve managed to bring for today?”

“Of course not. We’ve brought a property deed as well.”

She held up the paper Rupert had given her.

“My goodness. They’ve purchased a villa in the capital? Who does it belong to?”

“It belongs to Tayle Weiber.”

“I suppose that means I’ll need to take a look at his wage statements.”

As if he were waiting for her to say those words, Rupert handed her the wage statements.

Hold up, Sir Rupert. Aren’t you supposed to be an indomitable knight who’s as steadfast and reticent as a bear?

“It seems that you’ve harbored many grievances towards the former knight commander.”

“A-ahem.”

Rachel smirked as she looked at Rupert, who avoided her eyes, his cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

“It’s been hard because of me, hasn’t it?” Rachel asked.

“N-not at all. Hard? Not one bit.”

“No. I’m sure you’ve faced many difficulties.”

Not only him, but everyone within the territory. How harshly must they have suffered due to a duchess who avoided her responsibilities while being played by the hands of a treacherous subject? What they had experienced couldn’t be put into words.

As if to attest to that, Rupert lowered his head with a sunken expression and fell silent.

“At the very least, things will be different in the future, won’t they?” he asked.

“Of course they will.”

She was ready to sacrifice her life if it meant that she could fangirl and provide happiness for her favorite character.

Anyway, I wonder when Marcus will be back.

Ten days had already passed since he left.

She wanted to learn the identity of the drug that was occasionally fed to this body, and she also wanted to bring stability to this household so that she could bring her favorite character home.

I need Marcus’ help in order to get things done quickly…

She sighed to herself at the thought of all the backlogged work. Just then, Marcus, whom she had been earnestly waiting for, finally appeared, though in a much more haggard and frail state that he’d been in ten days ago.

“There you are, Your Grace!”

“You took longer than expected, Marcus.”

“I apologize, Your Grace. There was someone I wanted to bring with me, so it took a while.”

“Hmm?”

Marcus wasn’t alone.

He stepped over to the side to reveal an old gray-haired man who’d been standing behind him.

“You’re…”

The former doctor of House Agnus, Luman Tudors, said in a serious voice, “Your Grace, you must be examined immediately.”

***

The man’s eyes were sharp and black. His black hair fluttered with a strong gust of violent wind. When it had passed, he pulled his gaze away from the charred corpses.

This was Grand Duke Theo Von Lexerville.

He said indifferently, “That should be enough to wrap things up here.”

Theo’s aide, Dante, a man with blue hair and blue eyes, nodded as he used his fingertips to adjust his glasses on his nose.

“Yes, I believe we can leave the rest to the margrave and head back.”

Among the barbarians occupying the borderlands, an adept chief who couldn’t even be handled by the margrave had appeared.

His name was Texa.

Despite having a tribe of less than 2,000 people, Texa led his people in a fight against the tyranny of the empire.

Though he was surprisingly tenacious, he was no match for Grand Duke Lexerville. In the span of a single week, the grand duke had taken care of an enemy that the margrave had been struggling with for an entire year.

As long as Theo Lexerville was there to protect it, nothing could invade the Castor Empire.

Though it was ridiculous for him to join hands with such an emperor due to the sins of his predecessor, he was unable to hold back his desire to see blood.

It was a relationship of mutual gain. The emperor used his curse to expand his territory, and Theo gained the right to wage a war under the imperial order.

“Right, we’ve received new information regarding House Agnus,” said Dante.

“Has something happened?”

“The duke and duchess of House Agnus passed away in an accident half a year ago.”

“Ah.”

Dante continued to speak with a duplicitous smile on his face. “Yes. Well, at least it was said to be an accident. Anyway, do you remember how they’ve been experiencing problems ever since?”

Theo nodded as he recalled the current duchess. “You had said the head of the household had stopped involving herself in external affairs and instead wasted herself on alcohol every day.”

“Yes, that’s right. However...”

“You mentioned there were a few wolves eyeing House Agnus. Have they already gotten ahold of it?”

“Not exactly. Rather, it seems an unexpected change has occurred.”

“An unexpected change?” asked Theo.

“It seems the duchess may have finally come to her senses. She’s ordered internal and external restructuring. I thought it would be good if you knew,” Dante said.

“That woman has come to her senses?”

Rachel Agnus… She was always busy hiding behind her parents whenever he was in her presence.

Although he was aware of the ruthless rumors that followed him around, how could someone as feeble-minded as her possibly run a duke’s household?

“Either way, their fortune has already run out,” Theo said.

With a person like her as the head of the household, they were nothing more than a sinking ship. Such obvious outcomes didn’t interest him.

He took his mind off House Agnus and returned to the castle after rallying his men.

Upon hearing news of the victory, Margrave Eovita approached with exaggerated laughter.

“Ahaha! Your Highness! Congratulations on your victory! How will you celebrate? Shall I lead you straight to the banquet hall?”

Instead of responding, Theo glanced at Dante. He didn’t want to be bothered answering the margrave, so he was telling Dante to take care of it.

“His Highness appreciates your congratulations. Though it’s quite disappointing, His Highness will have to leave for the capital immediately in order to attend a victory party.”

“Well, I suppose there’s nothing I can do about it then! Hahaha!” Contrary to his indication of regret, there was a prevalent smile on the margrave’s face.

That was how others viewed Grand Duke Lexerville’s presence. Although he was a problem solver who would help take care of any troubles, there was something disturbing and uncomfortable about his presence.

Nevertheless, Theo was unbothered.

The gaze of trifling prey was of no importance to him as long as he was able to gain what he wanted.

A disparaging smile briefly fluttered over his lips.