Eren quietly called to him.
“Hedmilton.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“You know House Gloria well.”
“Of course. I may not look it, but I handled most of the work on my own. I have even stamped documents with the Duke’s seal.”
“I will support you in reclaiming the Rovans estate. In return, sell me information on House Gloria.”
It was an order.
However, Hedmilton did not refuse. He placed a hand over his chest and bowed his head.
“I am now Her Highness’ aide. If you wish, please obtain permission from her.”
When all eyes suddenly turned to her, Liselotte blinked.
Not missing the moment, she smiled brightly.
“Then that means we are officially hiring Hedmilton, right?”
***
Carrying a large sum of money, Marsha went to the auction house and followed each procedure exactly as Liselotte had instructed.
The auction house staff were, for the most part, large, rough-looking men.
She had been thoroughly intimidated.
Unexpectedly, however, they handed over the documents in gentle tones.
“This is the certificate confirming that the auction has been suspended, and this is the confirmation that we have received the objection deposit.”
“Thank you. May I also receive documents related to the auction process?”
“One moment.”
A muscular man with a large scar across his face carefully went through a stack of papers, then handed her several thin sheets.
“Well, there is nothing particularly special here.”
“Oh, really? I heard it was pushed through suddenly without even the approval of the owner.”
At Marsha’s question, the staff member tilted his head.
Looking puzzled, he checked the documents he had handed over again, then pointed to a section on the front page and passed them back.
“I don’t think so. Look here. Someone agreed and confirmed the auction progress.”
“What…? That’s strange. I am sure they said it was not.”
“The name is… Hezela?”
She had no idea who that was, but Marsha neatly folded the documents as instructed and sent them off attached to the hawk.
***
After seeing off the departing High Priest, the priest who returned to the room introduced himself as Wat.
As if he had truly respected her for a long time, the way he checked her condition was careful and gentle.
Unlike when he had been making a fuss earlier, he was quite serious when it came to his work.
In any case, with Eren’s support, the process of reclaiming the Rovans estate was set in motion.
Clap. Liselotte lightly clapped her hands to refresh the atmosphere and asked brightly,
“All right, then let us talk about the important matter! You know the estate was put up for auction, right?”
The one who was taken aback by Liselotte’s blunt question was Wat.
Lifting his head sharply and staring at her as if his eyes might pop out, he quickly realized his lack of manners and bowed his head.
The person directly involved, Lady Rovans, remained calm.
“Yes, I know. I was told the auction was carried out while I was bedridden.”
Liselotte had worried that she might be too frail to handle the stress. But looking into her clear eyes, it seemed that concern was unnecessary.
Liselotte smiled brightly and stated firmly,
“From now on, I intend to take the estate back. To do that, I will need your help.”
“Has it not already been sold? While I was lying down, even if I did not know the details, I more or less understood the House’s situation.”
Lady Rovans blinked, as if she didn’t understand.
She was an upright person. If someone told her something was so, she accepted it at face value.
Because she had lived correctly herself, she believed others did the same.
Just then, a hawk flew over the Rovans estate garden with a sharp “piii-” cry.
Liselotte gave a look to Hedmilton, who had been waiting behind his grandmother.
Understanding the signal, he opened the window, but having never handled a hawk before, he fumbled awkwardly.
“All right, all right. When the hawk comes, whistle. Do you know how to whistle?”
“I will start practicing today. Give me just three days.”
“Come to the office every evening and take a test.”
“Uh, they say snakes come out if you whistle at night.”
“…Then come during the day.”
Ail, wearing his usual smile, instructed his junior, then whistled himself with a sharp “whee-“ to call the hawk.
Wrapped tightly around the hawk’s leg was a rolled bundle of documents.
It seemed Marsha had handled things properly and on time.
Liselotte silently read through the documents Ail handed her at speed and asked,
“Hezela…? Does anyone know who that is?”
Hedmilton shook his head with a completely blank expression.
Lady Rovans, on the other hand, tilted her head.
“I know Hezela. She was a gardener who worked for our family for about thirty years.”
“Until when was she here?”
“It has been well over two years since she left… She left before my eldest son’s business failed.”
“But here, Hezela signed the confirmation agreeing to the estate being transferred through auction.”
The auction house handled not only estates, but many kinds of items.
Because of the nature of auctions, there was always the risk of stolen goods or forcibly obtained items being mixed in.
For that reason, items eligible for auction had to be submitted clearly with the owner’s authorization.
That applied only to auctions officially sanctioned within the Empire.
Items difficult to display openly were usually sold discreetly through black markets by invitation.
However, according to the documents Marsha sent, the auction of the Rovans estate had been conducted through official procedures.
Wat, who had been checking the old Lady’s condition at her side, had eyes that wandered uneasily through the air.
Eren noticed first and lightly tapped the back of Liselotte’s hand resting on the armrest.
When she looked up, he gestured toward Wat with his eyes.
Clamping his mouth shut, Wat looked like he was doing everything he could to avoid lifting his head, to the point that it was almost pitiful.
Apparently finding it curious, Hedmilton even bent his neck forward to openly observe the middle-aged man.
As the weight of their gazes settled on him, Lady Rovans naturally turned her head to look at Wat as well.
“Do you know something?”
“G-Grandma, well…”
Hesitating, he scratched the back of his head roughly and spoke in a rambling, uncertain way.
“My mother once ran out of milk and went to borrow some from the neighboring shop. On her way back, she happened to notice that there was a light on in the gardener’s hut.”
It was an unusually detailed account.
At the mention of a hut, the shabby shed they had glimpsed in passing near the edge of the garden came to mind.
It looked as though no one had lived there for quite some time.
Usually, even if someone only maintained a place, there would still be a faint sense of human presence, but at least here, there had been no such sign at all.
Liselotte pulled over a chair, sat down, and asked again,
“Can you tell me more in detail?”
“I heard it had been quite a while since all the servants were let go, so when the light was on in the hut, she thought it was a thief.”
As if tracing his memory, he furrowed his brow.
His voice gradually grew more animated, as though he himself had been there.
“Since Grandma was already having a hard time, my mother said she could not let a rat run loose, so she grabbed a shovel, and opened the door…!”
After a brief pause, he calmly thumped his knee with his thick hand and continued.
“It was Mrs. Hezela inside!”
“Are you sure?”
“My mother has 2.0 vision in both eyes. She often comes by to greet Grandma, so she knows Mrs. Hezela well too.”
Wat’s eyes hardened with resolve.
“And would I lie after Your Highness came here for Grandma’s sake? I am not that gutsy a man.”
From his brief behavior alone, he did not seem to be lying.
“Has anyone else been coming and going at the Rovans estate? At that point, there should have been others who saw something.”
“I will look into it and report back!”
Seeing Hedmilton raise his hand eagerly, Liselotte nodded.
One should not suspect everyone, but there were points where the timing lined up too neatly to dismiss as mere coincidence.
