Chapter 43

If I’d announced I was going to buy a frontier tract outright, Alnor would have been on guard.

They wouldn’t know my intentions, and even if their coffers were dry, they probably wouldn’t sell.

But now there was a plausible pretext, that it was ‘in lieu of compensation.’

I had to patch things up so this didn’t turn into a lawsuit, so buying a worthless border parcel for an outrageous sum suddenly looked believable.

“Um, when will the contract be signed then?”

“They say strike while the iron’s hot… haha. Why not do it right now while we’re at it?”

“Well. It might take a few days just to review the contract details.”

“Oh please. It’s a contract with the duchess of Lombard herself. How dare you speak of reviewing it. We’re not so distrustful. Look at the draft and sign it now.”

As expected, the Alnor party panicked at the thought I might change my mind and hurried the land transfer paperwork.

Their frantic faces were amusing enough that I almost teased them more, but the count looked like he might faint, so I told Ramon to prepare the contract draft.

“Madam, please review it.”

The competent administrator produced the draft at once.

I leisurely flipped through the pages, enjoying the weight of everyone’s attention on my fingertips.

“There’s one thing I’d like added.”

“Yes yes. Please say it.”

“After the contract, Alnor can never claim any rights to this land under any circumstances. Also they must no longer meddle in Viscount Clayton’s affairs. How about that?”

“Of course. We’ll do that gladly.”

Faced with money, Count Alnor signed the contract without hesitation.

He hugged the chest full of forty thousand gold coins and grinned until his mouth split.

‘Enjoy your laugh while you can.’

Once a minor frontier lord, he’d never again have a place in central politics.

Instead he’d watch huge rivers of gold pour from the land he sold cheap.

Would a greedy man forget the mine he carelessly gave up? Every lost opportunity would haunt him like a living death.

He’d burn with anger and regret and have nothing to do but gnaw himself into a hollow shell.

This was the punishment the sinner who helped cause the bridge collapse that killed so many Lombard citizens deserved.

* * *

Administrator Ramon couldn’t hide his unease as he followed the duchess.

Opinions among the officials about the deal were varied.

High-ranking bureaucrats were mostly furious, saying we’d missed our chance to unseat the duchess.

They’d long chafed under her rule, so that was expected.

Lower down, views split sharply.

Half were relieved we’d quietly ended the legal dispute, while the other half scoffed at the duchess’s foolishness and predicted she’d blow through that vast fortune before long.

Ramon, though, knew the duchess better than the gossipmongers.

She understood administration and politics.

She wasn’t the silly woman people whispered about, and that made his chest tighten.

“If I may ask, madam. Why buy that useless barren land for such a sum?”

“Maybe I’ll build a summer villa.”

“Excuse me?”

“After all, I’m not someone who can leave Lombard for good. If the duke persecutes me, I’ll run away from the castle and live comfortably at the villa.”

My answer sounded utterly casual.

Anyone overhearing might sneer that I still fancied myself a royal favorite.

But only Ramon and my maid Berry were nearby.

He visibly exhaled and went on.

“While overseeing work on the cathedral, I saw who you really are. You wouldn’t just throw away a fortune on a whim.”

“Do you realize how irreverent that comment is?”

I stopped in my tracks and glared at Ramon sharply.

In the past he’d probably cower, but now he just tilted his head as if asking what’s the problem.

That man had an uncanny talent for finding the perfect place to lie down.

I sighed inwardly.

‘I can’t say it’s because of the mine yet.’

A normal person predicting the future? Who would believe I’d be a demon.

With inquisitors closing in, I couldn’t risk that.

So I offered a plausible excuse.

“The land I bought has military value.”

“Now you say that?”

“It’s on high ground so it’s good for observation. If we dig a deep moat it can serve as a defensive stronghold. So I think forty thousand gold coins isn’t a waste.”

“Madam. Surely not for Lombard’s future?”

I was walking briskly, but I stopped again at the absurdity of that idea.

The foolish sacrifices I’d made for Lombard’s sake in the past already felt like a cringe worthy shame haunting me.

“Don’t be mistaken. If it pleases me to spite the duke, I can easily spend forty thousand gold.”

“But you just said it was a military stronghold.”

“Exactly. Imagine building a luxurious summer villa on a strategic hill. The duke and the knights would be so furious. I’ll kick everyone out except my people so no one else can set foot there. Just thinking about it is delightful.”

I laughed and Ramon recoiled as if looking at a stranger.

I went on because that was the real point.

“Anyway, I feel a heavy responsibility for this incident. Lombard nearly got dragged into a lawsuit over the northern disaster. That’s no small matter.”

“Madam, if the officials’ whispers worry you just—”

“So I’ll go into confinement for a while.”

“Confinement? Suddenly you’re going into confinement?”

Ramon, who’d looked at me with pity, froze.

He rolled his eyes for a moment then something dawned on him. He leapt up.

“Wait. You’re just using confinement as an excuse to rest, right? You’re planning to leave the work to me and Sir Berthold. You think I won’t notice?”

“You’re sharp, I’ll give you that.”

“What?!”

Even though I picked up my pace, Ramon doggedly followed and nagged me.

He listed how much work was piled up and lectured that abandoning it all to rest made no sense.

Not long ago they’d feared I meddled in domestic affairs, yet now I was the one shirking work. It was a reminder there’s no escaping overtime.

“Berry?”

“Yes madam!”

Berry, who’d been following a few paces behind, hurried up.

Even Ramon, who’d been so bold, flinched back under the huge shadow falling over his head.

It made the reason Baron Conte had been absent recently a little clearer.

“Ramon is tired. Escort him safely to his residence.”

“Leave it to me!”

“No no madam. That’s unfair to use physical force. Wait, wa—”

Berry lifted Ramon easily onto her shoulder.

The poor administrator protested that he hadn’t finished speaking, but Berry stayed perfectly steady and leapt down the corridor railing in one bound.

For the record, it was the third floor.

‘Well. It should be fine.’

Left alone, I smoothed my chin with satisfaction.

I’d resolved the arbitration issue neatly and gained control of a massive gold mine.

I was rich already, and now richer. The more money the better.

But the thing that made me happiest was something else.

“‘A sweet holiday’ … no, the confinement is almost here.”

If I could just survive until Count Alnor left in two days, I’d have freedom until the inquisitor arrived.

And by noble custom, the count would be hosted by a duke of the same rank.

They were probably sipping port and chatting in the drawing room by now.

“What should I wear to the evening banquet. I’m too lazy to change.”

Despite my trivial worry, Alnor and his party left early that afternoon without staying the planned two days.

I only learned of this when the duke and I sat alone at the table.