SMR | Chapter 87

~Chapter 87~

‘So this is Harriet Listerwell…’

Howard Scott, president of the Aseti Bank branch in Perillas, felt the fog in his memory begin to clear the moment he saw her. Something about her—her calm gaze, the firm set of her lips—reminded him of a face he had encountered long ago.

He recalled Arthur Listerwell, Harriet’s late father. A man of quiet strength who had once shouldered the burden of another noble’s debt with dignity.

Back then, Arthur had spoken to him with steady eyes.

“Baron Velburn may have caused this mess, but I can’t ignore it. I’ll take responsibility. The land isn’t urgent right now, but I’d like to offer the bank a proposal…”

Looking at Harriet now, Howard could see the resemblance clearly. The same calm confidence, the same unwavering integrity. Father and daughter were truly alike.

“Please, have a seat,” Harriet said, gesturing politely. “I’m Harriet Listerwell. You must be the president of Aseti Bank in Perillas?”

Howard gave a short bow, settling into the seat across from her.

“Yes, it’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Howard Scott. I wonder… do you know why I’ve come?”

Even as he asked, he suspected what her answer would be.

“Um… Should I know?” She replied with a confused smile. “I’ve never even heard of Perillas or Aseti Bank until today.”

As expected.

Everything made sense now—John’s avoidant behavior, the endless delays, the vague excuses. It wasn’t that Harriet had been avoiding her responsibilities. She had been kept in the dark all along.

Howard opened his bag and pulled out a stack of neatly prepared documents. He passed them to Harriet and began the long story.

“About eleven years ago, your father—Arthur Listerwell, the former Baron—loaned a significant sum of money to Baron Thomas Velburn. In exchange, he held the title to the Velburn family’s land and mansion as a guarantee.”

Harriet nodded slowly, listening as Howard explained how Velburn and his family had fled in the night, leaving debts unpaid. Arthur had taken possession of the land, but rather than profit from it, he had used it to pay off the workers and merchants Baron Velburn had abandoned. And when that wasn’t enough, Arthur had borrowed more money, using the same land as a guarantee—this time with Aseti Bank.

Then Howard explained how, ten years later, Arthur had designated Harriet as the sole heir to those assets. The contract clearly stated that Harriet herself must appear in person to finalize the transfer.

What followed was the troubling part: John, her uncle, had tried to take possession of the property using a falsified power of attorney. He had ignored repeated requests for Harriet to appear and had claimed she was too busy to travel. Even today, he had attempted to mislead Howard at the Listerwell estate.

Howard felt uneasy, as if he were intruding on a private family scandal. Throughout it all, Harriet’s expression remained unreadable. Calm. Composed.

What is she thinking right now?

She looked so young, barely in her twenties by his prediction, yet she wasn’t reacting with outrage or tears. Her calm composure surprised him.

At last, she set the papers down and looked at him directly.

“How did you know I was here?”

“The Listerwell family’s coachman told me. He drove me here himself.”

Her brows rose slightly.

“You mean… Uncle Terry?”

“I don’t know his name. He was a slim man, gray hair, maybe in his early fifties?”

Harriet’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. Of all the things she had heard today, this was what shocked her most—that Terry, the old family coachman, had gone out of his way to bring the banker to her.

Did… did he do it to help me?

Terry had served the Listerwells for over thirty years. He had known her since she was a baby. He used to lift her into the carriage with strong, gentle arms and smile as if she were the light of the world.

But when John took over the household, many of the old servants, including Terry, had begun tiptoeing around him. Harriet had assumed they no longer cared about her—that they all had chosen her uncle over her.

Maybe… I was wrong.

That quiet realization gave Harriet unexpected strength. And a small pinch of regret.

If I had opened my heart sooner… If I had looked around me instead of giving up, maybe things wouldn’t have felt so lonely.

She glanced down at the documents in front of her. Her lips curved ever so slightly, but the expression couldn’t be called a smile. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“So… if I sign these papers, that land and estate will be mine?”

Howard nodded. “We’ll still need to complete a final identity verification process, but yes. The property is yours.”

“That’s it? Just like that?”

Howard paused, then responded with careful gravity.

“Signing may be simple, but the events that brought us here… they were anything but.”

“…”

“Do you think it was easy for your father to assign this property to you, insisting that only you in person could claim it?”

Finally, Harriet smiled, though there was sadness in it.

“I remember the date on this contract. It was signed just three days before my parents died. That’s probably why John didn’t know about it. Father must not have had time to record it in the family ledger.”

If he had, John would’ve destroyed it. Back then, she was too young to oppose him.

So it’s because Father died so suddenly that this contract survived… Harriet thought. What a cruel irony.

“Should I prove now that I’m Harriet Listerwell?”

“It’s not that I doubt you,” Howard said gently. “But we must follow protocol. Please begin by signing this document.”

He placed a sheet of paper in front of her, then laid another beside it—an older document bearing a signature from Harriet’s childhood.

Howard had worked in banking for decades. He could recognize even the subtlest changes in handwriting.

As Harriet signed her name, he carefully compared it to the one from long ago.

“The handwriting hasn’t changed much,” he remarked. “Excellent. Now for the second verification.”

He handed her another page. “Please fill in the missing words here.”

Harriet tilted her head curiously and looked at the page.

Then her eyes widened.

Her hand flew to her mouth, and her breath caught in her throat.

「Our sweet little Harriet. Playing with Mommy and then falling asleep in dreamland. With ____ and ____, she happily flies to ____ in the sky.」

Tears welled in her eyes as her mother’s voice came rushing back to her—soft and soothing, like the warmth of sunlight through the window.

This was her lullaby.

Her mother, Lillian, had sung it to her every night. It had been so long—more than ten years—but the words came back as if no time had passed.

[After playing with Mommy… she goes ko-ko to dreamland… with butterflies… and larks…]

She whispered the melody like a prayer, her voice trembling.

Howard sat quietly, watching her.

When she reached the final line—“flies off happily to dreamland”—he handed her a handkerchief.

“I’m sorry about your parents,” he said gently.

The room fell silent, save for the sound of Harriet’s quiet sobbing.

She allowed herself a moment—just one—to mourn. Then she clenched her jaw and sat up straighter.

“I… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall apart like that.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” Howard replied kindly. “I understand.”

Harriet inhaled deeply and looked down at the final page—the confirmation of property return.

She picked up the pen again.

And this time, her signature flowed with strength.

Howard reviewed it, then slid over a new set of documents.

The official deed to the Velburn estate.

It included 165 hectares of fertile land, a grand mansion with twelve bedrooms, four bathrooms, a garden, a horse stable, and a separate servants’ quarter.

“Currently, all of the farmland is rented. Until now, we’ve been collecting the rental income and depositing it into your account,” he explained.

He handed her a passbook.

Harriet opened it slowly.

Inside, the balance read 213,000 dirhams.

Her eyes widened.

“We’ve never touched the money. But if you manage it wisely, this can grow even further. And if you choose to continue banking with us, we’d be happy to share investment insights.”

“I will,” Harriet said quietly. “Just the fact that you didn’t hand all this over to my uncle proves your bank’s integrity.”

She extended her hand across the table.

Howard shook it with a proud smile.

For once, he felt that his strict principles—often criticized as outdated—had finally found a worthy cause.

***

After Howard left, Harriet waited for Trisha to wake from her nap.

When she did, Harriet sat at her bedside with Roxana and told them everything.

But Trisha didn’t respond with joy.

She responded with fury.

“What did that bastard John do?” she shouted, slamming her frail hand down on the blanket.

Roxana rushed to offer her a glass of water.

“Please, calm down. It’s not good for your health. Harriet got the land back. That’s what matters.”

“You expect me to calm down after this?” Trisha snapped. “He bad-mouthed her, kicked her out with nothing, and now he tried to steal her inheritance too?”

She trembled with rage as Harriet reached out to gently take her hand.

“I’m okay now,” Harriet said softly. “And thanks to you… I have something to call my own again.”

Trisha gritted her teeth, eyes burning with both pride and disgust.

“You’ve been through enough. But I promise you, that man will answer for what he’s done.”

And this time, Harriet didn’t feel afraid.

This time, she knew she wasn’t alone.