Chapter 26
The first place she headed, carrying all the count family’s keys and accompanied by the butler, was the late count’s office.
Standing before the office door, Wesley was overcome with emotion.
“The late count always worked here. I served him diligently as well. In summer he’d complain it was too hot to work, in winter too cold—how much ice I carried and how carefully I managed the fires for him…”
Ignoring Wesley’s reminiscing, Helena inserted the key into the lock.
With a click, the door that had remained shut for five years swung open.
At the sight inside the office, Wesley let out an exclamation, while Helena sighed in relief.
“Ohhh!”
“Phew…”
A thick layer of dust covered the office, but otherwise it did not appear badly damaged.
“The ledgers, the ledgers!”
She rummaged through shelves packed with bundled documents and drawers full of loose papers.
At that moment, Wesley called out to her.
“My lady.”
He walked toward a large luxurious desk at the far end of the office, presumably where the late count had sat.
Then, from among the many paintings hanging on the wall, he removed one plain landscape painting.
“Ohoho!”
Hidden behind it was a compartment containing documents that clearly looked important.
While Helena pulled them out, Wesley swiftly dusted off the desk and chair with the cloth in his hand.
Thanks to him, Helena was able to spread the documents out on the freshly cleaned desk.
“Wow, it was all here. Bank account contracts, deposit ledgers, business records, business contracts…!”
Helena’s green eyes sparkled brightly.
“As expected, only five years have passed. There’s no way everything could’ve completely collapsed. Quite a lot was left behind.”
Quickly scanning the ledgers, she looked at Wesley.
“I suppose there’s a reason the butler stayed in Goha.”
At her words, Wesley let out a heavy sigh.
“I couldn’t abandon Goha. The Ishpern County still holds considerable shares in several businesses there. I know it was presumptuous of me, but all this time I have been managing those businesses on the count’s behalf.”
“I see.”
Usually nobles appointed agents when they involved themselves in business. Some participated directly, but unless it was a particularly large enterprise, that was rare.
Even if it succeeded, there was little glory in it; if it failed, it stained the family’s honor—that was the common perception.
The Ishpern family must also have had countless such agents.
But then the entire count family collapsed.
In that situation, how many people would honestly approach the new count—who knew nothing—and confess, “I handled such-and-such business on behalf of the late count and delivered this amount of money each year, so I shall continue to do so”?
Most would simply pocket everything and wipe their mouths clean.
‘Honestly, I’d probably have done the same.’
But if she possessed these ledgers and contracts and could track down those agents, the story changed entirely.
Helena smiled proudly as she brushed her fingers across the documents before her.
“With these, I can crush those annoying opportunists.”
Her confident declaration moved Wesley deeply.
Inside, he thought:
‘It seems the fate of the count family truly rests in the hands of the new mistress.’
Wesley had not simply wasted away in Goha all these years. In his own way, he had kept track of Benjamin’s activities.
And from what he had observed, Benjamin seemed to have no intention of leading the family.
Benjamin showed no interest in managing assets, businesses, or even basic estate administration. There was only one thing he focused on:
Expanding the frontier lands.
To Wesley, it was incomprehensible.
Burwood was already an enormous territory. True, more than half of it had been overrun by monsters, but even excluding unusable land, there was no shortage of farmland.
In other words, the frontier development project was neither urgent nor profitable. No one would invest in it.
Yet whenever tax revenue came in, Benjamin poured every last coin into the frontier project.
As a result, every major and minor matter within the territory that actually required funding had come to a halt.
After witnessing all of this, it was only natural for Wesley to conclude:
At this rate, the Ishpern family was doomed, and Burwood would fall alongside it.
Then Helena had descended from the heavens.
As Helena rapidly flipped through the ledgers, she chattered in her pretty voice almost like singing.
“So this is the latest ledger. Let’s ignore the trivial things for now…”
Truthfully, she didn’t particularly enjoy managing money. Her clever half-sister Eliza was far better at that sort of thing.
What Helena enjoyed was throwing her weight around, and what she excelled at was pressuring people.
As long as these ledgers were in her hands, she was the absolute authority, the hunter tracking her prey.
How could it not excite her to hunt down the family’s agents who had stolen money and run off?
“First I’ll recover everything they embezzled, then add penalties for their audacity—and interest too. I’ll make them pay dearly.”
As she spoke, a rosy flush bloomed across her creamy white cheeks, and her glossy lips curved into an irresistibly lovely smile.
Watching her, Wesley felt strangely dizzy.
‘Come to think of it, I once dreamed of serving a beautiful mistress.’
Of course, that dream had been thoroughly crushed by the former mistress, who had been domineering and ill-tempered.
Amid that strange flutter in his chest, Wesley made a silent vow.
‘My lady, though I may be lacking, I shall follow you.’
For the next several days, Helena became so busy she nearly lost her mind.
After rumors spread throughout Burwood that the count family was hiring workers, countless people flocked to the castle, turning it into utter chaos.
Thanks to the increased manpower, the interior of the castle was becoming cleaner by the day.
Helena gathered the territory’s carpenters and stonemasons and commissioned repairs for the castle as well.
There were far too many places in need of fixing. Old castles were money-devouring monsters to begin with, and this one had been neglected for years. Major renovations were unavoidable.
She instructed the carpenters and masons:
“For now, let’s focus on finishing the essential repairs before winter fully arrives. At the very least, we need the castle fit to survive this winter.”
She also met the new gardener.
In truth, finding a skilled gardener in an unfamiliar region was nearly impossible, but with the help of Mr. Kurt, the former head servant, she managed to meet a young gardener who had recently become independent and was searching for new work.
The gardener whistled upon seeing the garden, now more jungle than garden.
“This’ll be satisfying work.”
Helena could only sigh in distress. Just imagining the effort required to restore the overgrown grounds made her head throb.
“At this point, I almost wish the fire had broken out in the garden instead of inside the castle.”
“Haha. At least by next spring, I’ll have it looking somewhat presentable.”
Next came the merchants.
New curtains, wallpaper, carpets… Each room required different furnishings, and every single item tested the lady of the house’s taste, so none of the decisions could be made carelessly.
And if those were the large matters, the small ones were endless.
Jo wandered among the workers, making lists of needed supplies and bringing them to Helena every evening.
Whenever she unrolled one of the scroll-like lists, it was so absurdly long that Helena felt she could use it as a whip to strike Benjamin from across the room.
“What is that?”
Benjamin looked utterly baffled after witnessing Helena endlessly swinging the long order sheet around.
Without changing expression, Helena cracked the rolled-up paper sharply and replied,
“I want to hit you with this.”
Benjamin stared at her with deep displeasure as she practiced whipping motions with the order list.
‘What exactly is this woman?’
Telling someone to their face that you wanted to hit them was obviously provocative, yet Helena somehow had a way of speaking that made it impossible for the listener to get angry.
Ignoring her, Benjamin passed by and sank into an armchair before examining the letters that had arrived.
As he idly flipped through the envelopes, something caught his attention.
Almost casually, he remarked,
“The castle is quite chaotic right now. What do you think would happen if guests arrived?”
Helena answered immediately.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Picking a fight?”
She wasn’t joking.
The Ishpern family was in no condition to receive guests. Anyone with enough manners to be called a guest would wait until the castle had been restored and an invitation had been sent before visiting.
Helena waved her hand dismissively.
“Ah, let them come. Go ahead and let them in. I’ve never once suffered a loss from someone trying to pick a fight with me—!”
Her words abruptly cut off because the order sheet she had been enthusiastically swinging suddenly tore apart with a loud rip.
“Why is this thing tearing now?!”
Helena had no choice but to scramble after the pieces of paper that had flown away.
So she failed to notice Benjamin grinning to himself.
