~CHAPTER 74~
Harbirich opened the door of the archive connected to the office for Lincia.
Inside the archive, the bookshelves were lined with volumes densely packed with records.
“The ones on the left are the most recent records.”
Harbirich then taught Lincia how to verify the authenticity of the documents.
No matter how many Northern Castle spies were caught, they multiplied like rats, and the archive contained both genuine and forged records.
“If there is a green seal on the edge of the paper, it means the document is forged.”
“Am I allowed to know this?”
Lincia felt uneasy seeing the man act as if he might even hand her the key to the safe.
He probably wouldn’t, but what if he got carried away with love and did something he shouldn’t?
Harbirich nodded.
“Mrs. Cassius, isn’t it?”
“……”
“What your husband possesses should all be in the palm of your hand.”
Hearing him speak as if he were revealing everything to the very depths of her heart made Lincia increasingly anxious.
She bit her lip.
“Still, I worry that you might… because of me…”
“Do not.”
His fingers lightly tapped Lincia’s chin, and she unconsciously released the lip she had been biting.
“Aren’t you busy today? You said you need to guard the office at this time.”
Harbirich glanced toward the office beyond the threshold of the archive.
“Since it’s connected to the office, it’s as if you’re in the office anyway.”
No matter how I think about it, that sounds like an excuse… Lincia thought.
Unaware of the turmoil in her heart, Harbirich held Lincia’s hand and walked slowly between the bookshelves.
“You may take out anything you want to see from here.”
There was a faint pride in his voice as he gave her permission.
I don’t know. If he’s this happy, it must be okay, right? Lincia stopped worrying and examined the spines of the books carefully.
Soon, her gaze fell upon a volume containing records from a specific period.
Lincia had handled work before her pregnancy, and she found a ledger likely written around the time she had just stopped working.
It should be okay to look at the work I did myself, unlike other people’s work that might cause problems.
She took out the ledger and opened it.
“……This isn’t a document I wrote.”
Meanwhile, Harbirich, who had been sifting through records to figure out what to show Lincia to make work less tiresome, froze at her voice.
A chill of foreboding ran down his spine.
“Strange. I distinctly remember preparing the ledger in the same format that day.”
Lincia closed the ledger and took out another one from the shelf.
“Ah, this is the one I wrote.”
Her voice sounded light, but it didn’t bode well.
Harbirich stiffened and stepped toward her.
Then he remembered…
“So this is the seal used to distinguish forged documents?”
“……Lincia.”
So he basically gave Lincia a manipulated document.
Harbirich covered the ledger that contained records of his own disgrace with his hands.
He spoke almost pleadingly.
“Do not look.”
“Why?”
Lincia lifted her gaze while looking down at the ledger.
“I’m just curious.”
In a swift motion, Lincia took the ledger from under his hand and began skimming the text.
Harbirich couldn’t stop her and remained standing.
I want to throw this into the fireplace immediately, but I can’t take it from her.
“Wow, that must have been really troublesome. You had to fabricate not just the amounts, but the items and even the number of people.”
“To deceive a single person, you really have to put in this much effort……”
“I’m sorry.”
Harbirich lowered his head.
Only then did Lincia close the ledger and look back at him.
“Why did you do this?”
She was asking why he went to the trouble of creating a false document to deceive her.
In the past, Harbirich had his own excuses to rationalize himself.
“Absolutely, I could never let Durand know how the funds of the castle are being managed.”
At that time, he wasn’t in a position to completely suppress the voices of the retainers.
When he first entrusted Lincia with the ledger, the retainers had strongly opposed it.
Harbirich did not have the strength to physically restrain the retainers even if he wanted to.
And he couldn’t tell the woman who had come so far and married here the truth, as it would be like admitting that this castle did not welcome her.
But to Lincia, that was merely an excuse.
Harbirich bowed his head again.
“I have no excuse.”
Lincia looked at him without expecting any excuse and spoke.
“You would have just said you can’t trust me to handle anything, right?”
“……”
“But I would have understood anyway.”
Though it felt like a sharp stab to her heart, she would have accepted it in the end.
Yes, he is Cassius and I am Durand. That’s how it is.
For Lincia, this was familiar.
As someone named Durand on Cassius’ land, being excluded from matters wasn’t unusual enough to require explanation.
In fact, being fooled by such a carefully prepared lie felt stranger than anything else.
“I did not want to do it.”
“Why?”
She asked out of genuine curiosity, and Harbirich’s expression stiffened as if he were suffering.
But Lincia wasn’t going to give him an inch and waited quietly for his answer.
“Because then you would get hurt.”
He spoke after a long hesitation.
Lincia held back a bitter laugh and asked.
“So you deceived me?”
“……”
“Then you shouldn’t have even opened this door today. Being caught like this is embarrassing for you and ridiculous for me.”
“You are not ridiculous.”
At moments like this, his immediate defense left her unsure how to react.
Lincia sneered unconsciously.
“Making me look ridiculous with your own hands?”
She didn’t blame him for not trusting her with the real ledger.
But Harbirich had not only excluded her from the work, he had gone so far as to deceive her.
All for that one reason.
Suddenly, Lincia recalled one incident.
“……So that’s why you didn’t come when I found a problem with the documents.”
“Lincia.”
“It was fake anyway.”
In the past, Lincia had found an error while writing the ledger and reported it immediately to Harbirich, but he had shown no reaction.
She realized now that his indifference had this hidden reason.
Understanding, Lincia closed the fake ledger she had painstakingly prepared over time.
She handed it to Harbirich.
“Close this door again.”
“……”
“As you said, it’s better to resume work only after the child is born.”
Her voice trembled involuntarily as she spoke, and she hurriedly turned her body.
It was then that Harbirich took her wrist.
“Do not cry.”
