45. The Viscount’s Specialty Is Financial Treatment
“Are you absolutely sure the matter with Lady Petunia has been resolved without any problems?”
Anne asked anxiously after making sure no one was around.
“Of course,” I said.
The brooch theft incident.
As soon as that happened, I went straight to the Underworld and entrusted my brooch to the safest place in the empire.
The stolen brooch was intended to be used as evidence, linked with the invitation to the Eve Party, to get rid of Aunt Petunia.
Before the Eve Party, I learned all about Aunt Petunia’s schemes through William, the steward.
I uncovered the fact that Aunt Petunia had involved the head maid Sarah to steal my brooch, and that she had dragged Uncle Milo into her plan to ruin the Eve Party.
William, being more loyal to Eckart than to Aunt Petunia, revealed everything he had heard and seen.
Having uncovered all her wicked plots, I immediately summoned Anne.
“Here’s your first mission.”
“Get me the letter Aunt Petunia plans to send to Baron Milo. Think you can do that?”
Since Anne had intercepted many of my letters while working under Aunt Petunia, I trusted she could manage this.
If she had failed, I planned to recruit someone from the mail servants, but Anne did not disappoint.
After obtaining the letter, I went back to the Underworld.
“Make a slight alteration to this letter. I’ll pay you well; I want this handled properly.”
I commissioned the Underworld to forge the letter.
Aunt Petunia had tried to impersonate me to send an invitation to Baron Milo, but I changed the sender to Aunt Petunia and enclosed the stolen brooch inside.
“After that, everything fell into place smoothly.”
At the Eve Party, all circumstantial evidence pointed to Aunt Petunia as the culprit.
After the search of Baron Milo’s residence, the brooch would naturally be found, and Aunt Petunia would pay for her crimes.
“You saw it yourself, so you know. No need to worry.”
I calmly explained everything to Anne, but she still looked worried.
“But head maid Sarah was fired, too. If I get involved in this, I might just disappear without a trace…”
“Sarah was fired because she sided with Aunt Petunia. But you swore loyalty to me, so you won’t be abandoned.”
I spoke firmly.
Head maid Sarah had held a grudge against me and even participated in tearing my birthday banquet dress.
Originally, she was only given a reprimand, but after Eckart learned of Aunt Petunia’s plot, he immediately dismissed her.
Fortunately, since Sarah admitted her wrongdoing and denounced Aunt Petunia, the punishment was lenient. Had she denied it till the end, dismissal would not have been the end of it.
Anne, who had been looking down, mumbled hesitantly.
“But I’m scared. They say the lives of servants are worth less than flies, and I’m worried my already fragile life might just flutter away like one.”
“…Are you declaring betrayal right in front of me now?”
I waved the binding loyalty contract in front of her.
“N-No! Of course not! I can handle errands within the household, but the Underworld—there’s no way…”
Anne trailed off.
Ah.
‘Seems meeting the Underworld was quite a shock to her.’
That I could understand.
Recently, when I went to meet the Underworld to prepare for the Eve Party, I took Anne as my attendant.
“P-Please don’t go ahead of me, Miss.”
Anne trembled as we passed through the grim secret passage.
When we met the Underworld, it was almost as if she was giving the Lord of the Dead a high-five.
“Eek, g-ghost! Ack!”
Anne screamed and fainted.
‘How can someone call a person a ghost?’
If the Underworld, despite his frightening appearance, hadn’t kindly laughed it off, it would have been a huge embarrassment.
I had to help Anne recover, and that’s how I ended up becoming her attendant.
‘I had no idea she was such a scaredy-cat.’
Anne was originally one of Aunt Petunia’s servants leading her evil deeds.
The guts she had to torment her mistress so cruelly as a mere maid, and then her shamelessness to betray Aunt Petunia and come to me once the situation changed…
I thought she was bold, but she was just a sly coward.
“Alright, I get it. So you’re fine with errands except accompanying me to the Underworld?”
“Yes, yes.”
“Good. That’s settled then. You may leave.”
After sending Anne off, I fixed my gaze back on the documents.
On the notebook where I was organizing personnel changes, I wrote ‘Errand Runner.’
There were exactly three things I wanted to obtain from this servant reorganization:
A personal maid to assist with my daily life, a competent bodyguard, and a trustworthy errand runner.
Since I found the kind maid, all that was left were the bodyguard and errand runner.
‘Finding a good bodyguard is surprisingly difficult.’
I had originally thought of recruiting from outside Serteia, looking for mercenaries or martial artists not affiliated with the knight order.
But finding someone as talented as Serteia’s elite knights was like trying to catch a star.
Moreover, those skilled knights likely belonged to the royal knight order or other influential families, so they had no reason to seek a new position.
‘What am I supposed to do?’
To ease my headache, Eckart introduced me to skilled knights within Serteia.
Given his discernment, I trusted his recommendations.
I appointed them as my bodyguards, but the problem came when going on undercover missions.
‘The moment I take a bodyguard, Eckart will be informed of my whereabouts.’
No matter how much he trusts me, he wouldn’t allow me to visit the Underworld.
I needed someone who wasn’t Eckart’s loyalist—someone truly mine.
‘Then there’s only one way left.’
Flipping through my schedule, I starred the ‘Hunting Festival.’
About a month and a half from now, the Hunting Festival would see many skilled martial artists from the outskirts participating, though not affiliated with anyone.
I planned to recruit a skilled martial artist from the festival as my bodyguard.
‘I’ll take care of that then.’
The only thing left was a trustworthy errand runner.
I’d be diving into dangerous situations often, and with Anne so scared, I couldn’t bring her along.
‘There’s really only one person…’
“Miss,”
Anne spoke to me.
“You’re still here?”
Damn, you startled me.
I thought she would have left once her business was done, but she stayed the whole time.
Relieved, I exhaled as Anne slid a letter toward me.
“There’s a letter from the Underworld. You should check it right away.”
“From the Underworld?”
The black envelope was suspiciously neat. The letter had no seal or sender’s mark.
It was ominously suspicious, but—
‘Ah, perfect timing.’
I had a strong feeling this would work out well.
At that moment, in Eckart’s office.
Philip grumbled as he sorted through Eckart’s mail.
“Since the birthday banquet, the number of marriage proposals has increased. What do you do at social events that just showing up causes such a flood of love letters?”
Though Eckart himself was the reason for the overwhelming letters, he just shrugged.
“Well, I don’t really do much. If you’re curious, come to the next social event yourself.”
“Absolutely not! You already have so much work, and now you want to add attendance duties?”
Philip groaned.
“Even today, a huge pile of proposals arrived addressed to the Viscount. Since he’s ignoring them all, these desperate letters keep piling up.”
Philip sorted through the stack and picked some out.
“The Viscount’s avoidance of women is admirable among young nobles, but eventually, he can’t neglect his love life forever.”
“Get rid of them.”
Before Philip could even hand over the letters, Eckart rejected them outright.
“Viscount.”
Philip stomped his foot.
“Please consider my position having to handle even the private letters of your superiors.”
“Just handle it as you see fit.”
“Noble suitors are relentless. They won’t back off until they get a definite answer from the Viscount.”
Because Philip had taken on managing the proposal letters, his complaints never stopped.
Young ladies sending secret love letters to Eckart, nobles wanting the best match for their daughters—letters filled with greed and hope arrived one after another.
But Eckart ignored them all.
Letters rejected by their recipient became expensive scraps of paper, and all resentment was directed at Philip.
Being scolded for no reason by his cold superior, Philip was so frustrated he almost cried.
“You really will be damned. Please, give the job to someone else.”
“You’re perfect for it.”
Eckart replied without looking away from his documents. Philip burst out.
“I handle secretarial work, scheduling, research assistance, business plans, finances, office management, even Miss Roselia’s attendant duties—you’ve dumped it all on me!”
“Good job saying that. I was going to assign you as Roselia’s guard and put ledger management in your hands. Consider it done.”
“Ahhhh!”
Philip vented his frustration.
Something was seriously wrong.
People said Eckart spoiled Philip too much, but this wasn’t spoiling at all.
“If my only friend dies from overwork, how do you expect me to deal with the guilt?”
“I’ll make sure you get a generous condolence gift.”
“Just reduce my workload!”
Philip huffed.
He was already working four hours a night, and since taking on Roselia’s care, his work doubled.
Clutching his resignation letter, he said solemnly:
“Viscount, I’m serious. If you don’t reduce my work this time, my only option is to quit—”
“From this month, your base salary doubles, overtime pay quadruples, and you get two weeks’ paid leave once you return to the academy.”
“…I’ll work like a dog.”
Philip wiped away tears after his financial treatment.
“But Viscount, there’s an important letter you must check.”
Regaining his usual competence along with his financial treatment, Philip said.
“What is it?”
