No matter how much she racked her memory, there was nothing Hedmilton had done that could be said to have damaged the honor of House Gloria.
If anything, it had been to their benefit.
Basically, for damage to a House’s honor to be established, publicity had to be established.
In other words, Hedmilton would have had to disgrace the Ducal House in front of many people.
The fact that he had openly bowed his head to Liselotte at the Imperial Palace banquet certainly had a considerable ripple effect, but it was hard to view that as an act intended to damage their honor.
‘Unless they can claim that House Gloria is essentially Hedmilton, that is.’
The problem was that there was no way the representative didn’t know this fact.
Liselotte quietly fixed her gaze on the name of the representative written on the notice.
“Isn’t that the guy who wrote the evidence in the Rovans trial?”
“Who?”
“Miro Elbark.”
It was clearly the exact same name as the man who had written the appraisal confirmation for the blueprint that the Gaol side had submitted as evidence.
Hedmilton rolled his eyes back and forth as he searched his memory belatedly.
“Ah, I think it was a similar name, but…”
He took out the small notebook he always carried in his inner pocket and flipped through it quickly. After checking the name, he let out a sigh.
“That’s right. Lawyer Miro Elbark! Wow, your memory is insanely good. How did you recognize it right away?”
“I was just curious how much he got paid for writing that confirmation.”
“Pardon?”
Seeing him lift his head with a blank expression, Liselotte broke into a bright smile.
“Nothing. Before you submit the report, what do you think was the incident that hurt you the most emotionally, Hedmilton?”
Liselotte asked lightly, planning to hear it in advance and look around the room while he wrote the report.
However, what came out of his mouth was rather shocking.
“He said that since I used my annual leave often because of my grandmother, if the old woman was going to die anyway, why didn’t she just go quickly instead of causing damage to his House.”
“Is he insane?”
‘Is that something a human being can say?’
Unlike Liselotte, who could only gape in disbelief at the beyond-imagination remark, words poured out of Hedmilton’s mouth as if a dam had burst.
“Another time, I collapsed with an upset stomach after eating spoiled bread, and he told me to buy and try a potion sold in the back alleys that supposedly makes you not feel hungry even if you don’t eat.”
“Isn’t that illegal?”
“That’s right.”
The back alleys were commonly known as a breeding ground for illegal activity.
Everything sold there was full of items whose origins were unknown, having come through unofficial routes, from who knew where and how.
Because they were unverified products, there were often cases where people died after consuming them.
And yet he had suggested buying and drinking a potion from a place like that.
Liselotte stared at Hedmilton’s calm face with slightly trembling eyes.
“Why on earth did you put up with that?”
“Lady Diana said that since I wasn’t an Academy graduate, I couldn’t even dream of receiving treatment at this level elsewhere, so I thought that was really how it was. I’ve only ever worked at House Gloria.”
“No, no…”
Liselotte ran a hand down her face, and her words caught in her throat at the sheer misery of it all.
Meanwhile, Hedmilton continued in an offhand voice, as if he had no idea what the problem was.
“And he also said that once I got kicked out of House Gloria, that would be the end. That no one would hire someone discarded as useless by the top family of the East…”
“I think even Boksun spoke better than Duke Gloria. At least if you listened closely, there was some logic in what she said.”
“Who’s Boksun?”
“A dog I knew.”
“A dog?”
Not understanding what she meant and only staring blankly, he received Liselotte’s bright, feigned-innocent smile.
“Then there’s nothing to worry about. We can go straight and file a complaint against House Gloria with the Employment Department.”
Among the central departments, there was an Employment Department.
In principle, anyone could file a complaint regardless of status, but in practice it mostly handled employment disputes between nobles.
In reality, it was largely toothless.
Hedmilton seemed to be aware of that as well.
“Someone from a merchant family like me would get branded in noble society forever if I did that, wouldn’t I?”
“But what if he ordered you to kill the Head of a household?”
Even for a merchant family, the Head was still the Head.
There were many nobles engaged in business, and even the Four Great Houses of the Perida Empire conducted commercial activities using the spoils of subjugation.
Therefore, the position of a merchant family Head meant that they could become a target of some noble family at any time.
“Doesn’t Lady Rovans have a pretty good reputation?”
Liselotte’s water-colored eyes flashed.
“He gave continuous instructions urging you to let the Head of the household die… That should be enough to put it in, right?”
Without blinking, Hedmilton nodded his head in small, rapid motions.
“Yes, understood! Please make sure to win!”
As if he had been waiting for this day alone, he answered with rare enthusiasm, even without bread.
***
After returning to his own office, Hedmilton tied letters to a hawk to be sent to Jar and Taebon, then sat down in front of his desk with a solemn expression.
“Yes. I have lived for this day.”
Rolling up his sleeves and taking up his pen, Hedmilton began writing without blinking.
If he were to list everything Duke Gloria and Diana had said so far, even a hundred pages wouldn’t be enough, but for readability, he forcibly compressed it into a summary.
By the time he had lost track of time while writing the report,
tap tap. A small sound of knocking came from the window.
It wasn’t the hawk he had sent, but a white pigeon commonly used as a carrier pigeon.
A name tag indicating that it belonged to Jar was dangling from a string tied to its ankle.
“Oh, looks like the letters crossed.”
Opening the window and taking the letter, he neatly gathered the documents together with the report.
Coming out into the corridor to deliver them to Liselotte just like this, Hedmilton happened to meet eyes with Eren, who was walking toward him from the opposite end of the hallway.
“Ah, Your Highness. Please go ahead first.”
Hedmilton bowed politely and stepped aside to let him pass.
Having received a greeting with a slight nod of the head, Eren showed no sign of moving on for some reason.
Lifting the head he had slightly lowered, Hedmilton cautiously asked,
“Is there something you need me to do?”
“Are those documents going to the Grand Duchess?”
Eren’s golden eyes rested steadily on the documents tucked under Hedmilton’s arm.
Hedmilton answered in a light tone, without giving it much thought.
“Yes. It’s the report Her Highness asked to have delivered as quickly as possible. Since it’s related to the Magic Tower, I was planning to inform Your Highness as well.”
“If it’s the Magic Tower, it could have been passed on to Ail.”
“Well, the Tower Master sent a letter directly to Her Highness. He said he wanted to meet her in person.”
Eren’s eyelids creased shallowly.
“Why would the Tower Master?”
“That, I don’t really know? He said he wanted to meet briefly over a contract issue with House Gloria.”
“Just the two of them?”
“He doesn’t like crowded places, so maybe that’s why?”
Eren’s grim expression grew even more menacing.
Not knowing the reason, Hedmilton could only blink and wait for his reply.
Instead of answering, Eren reached out and slid a hand toward the documents held against Hedmilton’s chest.
With a blank expression, Hedmilton tightened his grip on the arm holding the papers.
He trembled, but couldn’t hold out for even a few seconds and ended up handing the documents over to Eren.
Looking down at Hedmilton impassively, Eren gave an order.
“I will ask my wife about it directly. I can hear it while delivering these.”
“I… I mean, I’m an aide? Reporting documents is one of the reasons I get paid.”
“Then you can take your salary for free.”
Eren deliberately gathered the documents he had taken and moved on without engaging further.
“I’ll deliver these. You may return.”
“Uh, is that really okay…?”
Staring at Eren’s back as it retreated awkwardly into the distance, Hedmilton blinked several times on the spot.
After a long moment, as if a realization had finally dawned on him, he nodded his head vigorously.
“I’m grateful if you lighten my workload. Unlike House Gloria, there are plenty of people in House Keilos who are willing to work together, which is nice.”
Humming to himself with light steps, he returned to his office.
At that moment, Eren carefully knocked on the door to Liselotte’s room, documents in hand.
“Come in!”
As the door opened with her brisk permission, Liselotte, who had been drinking bitter tea, widened her eyes and rose awkwardly from her seat.
“Oh, Your Highness?”
Eren replied indifferently, lifting the documents slightly.
“I ran into Hedmilton and received the report.”
