The Viridescent Tiara

Chapter 3

The weeklong funeral came to an end. The day arrived for Eustaph to return to the academy in the capital.

Lan was well aware of the fact that she would be surveilled from every corner as soon as he left the manor. By Ross. Whenever she saw him talking to Eustaph in a serious manner, Lan sighed to herself.

Once Ross was not by Eustaph’s side, she would be able to approach Ross.

“Have a safe journey.”

“Take care of yourself, Sister.”

Lan glanced at the Azure Ring hanging from his neck, then looked up at Eustaph and beamed.

“Graduate top of your class.”

She had meant it as a joke, but he didn’t even twitch as he replied, “If that is what you wish.”

“Will it come true just because I wished for it?” Lan asked.

Eustaph scoffed and got inside the carriage.

Lan took a few steps back. A footman dutifully closed the carriage door. The coachman lifted his hat in farewell and whistled jauntily. As the horses began to gallop off, the carriage soon disappeared. Lan sighed once it was fully out of sight.

“Sir Ross.”

“Yes, my lady.”

He looked straight at Lan with his hazel eyes as if challenging her to say whatever was on her mind.

“I would like you to become my guard while Eustaph is gone.”

“Yes, my lady.”

This had already been discussed with Eustaph, so Ross bowed with little to say.

“Very good.” Lan sighed again. “Then let’s get to work.”

* * *

I’m going to die.

Lan had been fully ready to work, even up to the point when she’d asked the butler to bring all documents related to the financial accounts. But this is bad. The situation was much worse than she expected. The land was mortgaged out to a private moneylender?

The Latia Duchy was large, and there was plenty of useless land. But of course, none of the useless land was mortgaged out.

The sole grain belt has been mortgaged. We’ll starve without this. We’ll starve!

There was still half a year left to repay the debt, but the interest piled up by the month.

What was more, their accounts were in the negative.

Negative.

Negative meant there was currently no cash to finance anything, and even Lan knew as a layman that, to develop a mine, one needed some cash.

Should we sell a portion of the mining rights?

But the mines needed to be discovered first.

Baron Lindbergh was still at the manor, having not gone back to his own estate yet. He had tried to meet with Lan as soon as Eustaph left. I pushed it off, saying I had too much work to do.

Lan tapped her head with a quill.

The duke’s estate was large, and there were many workers.

Broadly speaking, there were four entities who oversaw the estate: the butler and head lady-in-waiting who oversaw all the affairs in the manor; the administrator who took care of the land affairs; the accountant who oversaw the finances; and the captain of the guards who led the soldiers and knights.

The accountant was scum. He’d embezzled the duke’s funds into his own pockets.

Why did I put scum into the accountant’s role? Ugh. It was the most important department.

Well, she admitted this had been a necessary measure for the duke’s house to crumble more easily. The good thing was that the rest possessed deep loyalty toward the duke’s estate. Especially the captain of the guards.

Lan looked at Ross. The captain was his older brother.

“Sir Ross.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Would you summon the administrator and the captain of the guards for me?”

At Lan’s orders, Ross instructed a servant to fetch the two of them.

“What are you planning to do, my lady?”

“The accounts are a mess.”

“The duchess was extravagant.”

“She was.”

Lan nodded easily at his words that were essentially saying, “It’s your mom’s fault.” It was true, after all.

“The problem is that even if we sell the jewels, it will be at a giveaway price. The high price—” Lan paused, then said, “How much do you know about the financial situation?”

“I know that it is tight.”

“This is not just tight.” Lan thumped the pile of papers. “The accountant clearly deceived His Grace the Duke. I suppose it isn’t surprising. He never did look at the account book.”

He’d probably considered it ignoble to do so. If the accountant said that funds could be borrowed or financed, the duke had probably thought it was true. He probably hadn’t even thought it was a big deal to use a private moneylender.

What a scary thing it is to have such little sense of danger.

Ross stiffened slightly. “Are you saying that a mere accountant dared to deceive His Grace, my lady?”

“Yes.”

She nodded and held back a bitter smile. You are thinking just like an uptight noble. She thought this but didn’t say it.

This was the north, and these people took honor seriously. Deceiving their superior because of the temptation of gold was incomprehensible to them. They were rare animals who would disappear without the shield of a captivating and respectable superior.

Lan smiled.

There was no better shield than Eustaph.

Ross narrowed his eyes, seeing her smile, but then there came a knock from the door.

“Come in,” Lan enunciated clearly as she pushed her chair back slightly.

The door opened. The head administrator, a woman in her mid-forties, entered. With her was the thirtyish-year-old captain of the guards, dressed in armor.

“Greetings, my lady.”

The administrator, Elizabeth, greeted her first, then the captain of the guards, Blaine, followed.

Lan was pleased because they seemed to be acceding to her wish to not greet her as a formal head of the house. She relaxed.

“Please sit, both of you.”

The administrator and the captain exchanged looks. Though they had met at the door, neither of them knew why Lan had summoned them.

Though I’m sure they have some guesses.

Elizabeth gazed at the young head of the house before her. She had been present when Lan put on the Azure Ring. She didn’t know how it had happened, but she had definitely seen the ring on her finger. And yet Lan was not engulfed in flames.

Several times, Lan had insisted that she was the temporary head of the house, but what if she was bending low before she brought out her claws?

As soon as she’d ascended to the head’s position, she was examining the account books and was summoning the administrator and the captain of the guards.

That is not the behavior of an ordinary nineteen-year-old, Elizabeth thought.

Lan met her eye, and she cast her eyes down.

“I’m sure you are wondering why I have suddenly summoned you both. I will be direct.” Lan tapped the pile of papers with a finger. “The duke is in terrible debt.”

“How terrible?” Elizabeth asked.

Lan smiled sadly.

“Would you understand if I said it would require selling all the land and the peerage?” Lan replied.

The three others in the room stopped breathing.

Elizabeth protested, “But that is impossible. I have seen the financial paperwork. Things may be tight, but the profits we are—”

“It was window dressing accounting.”

“Window dressing accounting?” Blaine asked. He had never heard of this phrase before.

Lan put the tips of her fingers together like a tower.

“Put simply, it is fraud. For example…” Lan thought for a moment, then came up with a simple example. “It’s like when one did not purchase an item, yet records the purchase.”

Lan spread out a document and pushed it toward Blaine.

“It says that 3,000 berats were paid out for the knights’ equipment last year.”

Blaine hurried to pull the paper toward him. It really said that 3,000 berats had been paid.

Without thinking, he protested. “That is ridiculous!”

He had never seen a fraction of the amount. In fact, he had submitted multiple requests to replace their tattered equipment, but the money never came.

“I didn’t think so. What’s more, when you look here, it says a great amount of money was spent buying horses, but we don’t have that many horses, do we?”

Elizabeth paled. “There would have been similarities on the administrative side.”

“I know. I saw that you have been recording requests for funds separately, Elizabeth. It made it easier to cross-check the purchases. But...”

Lan smiled coolly.

“Window dressing accounting always comes with embezzlement, malfeasance, and fraud.”

There was no stock, yet the records said the purchases had been made.

The accounts of deposits and withdrawals were a mess.

In that case…

“No one will tell, even if I mess with it.” Such a thought would naturally follow.

“But my lady, how are we supposed to believe this?” Elizabeth said.

Lan pointed at her eyes.

“My eyes have not been useless while I’ve been here.”

Elizabeth fell silent. Lan was saying she had come to this decision based on her own observations. To suspect her belief would be doubting the head of the house’s judgment.

Moreover, she didn’t dislike the feeling that Lan trusted her.

“So, I am going to get rid of the accountant.”

She drew a line lithely across her throat.

“However, that alone will not make the debt disappear. The fortunate thing is there are six months to repay it. And it has not been determined whether it needs to be repaid in parts or full.”

Blaine squinted. “What are you planning to do then, my lady?” he asked.

Lan tilted her head. “For now, I will fire the accountant, conduct an investigation, and seize their possessions. However, there is something you must do for me first.”

“Please state your command.”

“I would like to probe the northern mountains.”

“The Ice Wall?”

“In this situation?” their faces said.

But Lan smiled and replied, “Yes. So...”

Lan tried to remember the location of the mines. The female lead had found them after wandering through the mountains, so they had to be close to the Door.

“I want you to focus the investigation in the caves around the Door.”

“Around the Door?” Blaine’s face stiffened.

“Yes. It would have been better if I could join the expedition, but alas...” Lan said and shrugged.

The Door.

It was the start of this story, as well as the start of House Latia.

There were three things the great sage Ivrea created as she sealed away the darkness. The mountains called the Ice Wall. The “Door” that was the center of the mountains. And the manor built for House Latia, the guardians of the Door.

In the north, the Door represented fear and respect.

Even though the Latias’ Knights of the Blue Flame were located close to the Door, they couldn’t have been fond of the idea of approaching it.

But!

“Please investigate them thoroughly. The caves hold our last hope that will save House Latia.”

“Is that so?” Blaine nodded without further ado. “Very well, my lady. I will establish a team to the best of my abilities.”

“I leave it to you then. Make sure they are trustworthy individuals who can be kept silent no matter what is found in the caves,” Lan said.

Blaine scrutinized her, then bowed his head. “I will keep that in mind, my lady.”

“Good.”

Lan waved for Blaine to leave then. He got up, bowed courteously, and left the study.

Lan looked at Elizabeth.

“The truth is, we do not need to collect more evidence. Even at a passing glance, the accounts are full of holes. He has probably been doing this for years without a problem. I’m sure he has gotten sloppier about it recently.”

“But Your Ladyship wants it documented anyway,” Elizabeth replied.

Lan nodded.

Elizabeth took a look at the documents on the desk, then said firmly, “Please send all of them to my room.”

“I will entrust it to you then,” Lan said. Then she told Elizabeth she may leave.

After calling a servant and having them move the documents to Elizabeth’s room, Lan relaxed.

I’m tired.

She glanced at Ross. He looked unwilling to move even a finger for her.

“A cup of tea.”

Lan raised a finger. Ross summoned a lady-in-waiting.

Lan pressed her forehead with both her hands as she waited for her tea. I’m tired, she thought once more. She went through the numbers in her head.

A lady-in-waiting quietly poured her tea.

As soon as she’d left, Ross asked, “Did you send him on purpose, my lady?”