Chapter 17
Jo was not a child whose words ran ahead of his actions.
The very next morning, Jo arrived at Count Ishpern’s castle with a group of workers.
Speaking politely, Jo said,
“Most of them are temporary laborers. They may not entirely satisfy milady’s standards, but the count’s household is currently rather short-handed. Given some time, I’ll observe them carefully and officially hire those with particularly capable hands.”
Helena replied calmly,
“Leave it to the head steward.”
Benjamin never saw any of this.
The previous night, as if staging some sort of protest, he had dragged over a chest of drawers and set it beside the bed before leaving the bedroom without another word. He never returned, and before sunrise he had already departed from the castle.
Apparently, the incident in the bathhouse the night before had angered him quite a bit.
‘It’s so much more peaceful when he’s gone.’
Helena cursed Benjamin inwardly.
‘May you fall forward and break your nose, and fall backward and crack the back of your head too.’
Without Benjamin, Ishpern Castle was Helena’s world.
Standing before the workers, she swept a hand toward the entire castle and said,
“Well then, I don’t need to explain what has to be done, right?”
The workers looked at the castle, which was little better than a ruin, and their fighting spirit ignited.
“Yes, ma’am!”
Jo led the workers up to the very top floor of the castle. Helena followed behind them as well, partly to inspect the place herself.
While she caught her breath from climbing the stairs, Jo divided the areas and assigned the workers.
“We’ll clean one floor at a time from top to bottom. We’ll divide the sections, and as for hauling water upstairs, we’ll take turns doing it.”
Not only the workers, but especially Jo himself, burned with such enthusiasm that it was visible to the naked eye.
Holding a blackened silver candlestick shaped like a juniper branch, rusted beyond recognition, he addressed the workers.
“As everyone knows, this castle is the residence of His Excellency Count Ishpern, lord of Burwood. Though it is now buried beneath dust, this beauty, this history, this tradition…! Please work hard so that they may shine brilliantly once more!”
Jo Wilton.
An orphan by birth, his intelligence had been recognized from childhood, and he had been adopted by Kurt Wilton, the former head steward of the Ishpern household. He resembled Kurt so much in personality that one would hardly believe they were not truly father and son.
Jo loved old things and beautiful things.
And his hobby was cleaning.
“Let’s make this into a beautiful castle worthy of our beautiful lady and the count!”
Leaving Jo to excitedly polish the rusted silver candlestick, Helena wandered alone through the dust-covered corridors.
Then she discovered a staircase connected to a watchtower and climbed it.
After passing through the dizzyingly steep stairs and reaching the towering watchtower, the wide-open landscape of Burwood spread before her eyes.
“Wow…”
Though breathing heavily, Helena smiled with satisfaction.
“This climb was worth it.”
Beneath the clear morning sky, Burwood’s vast territory stretched endlessly into the distance.
The hill upon which the count’s castle stood was covered in silver grass, and sunlight poured down upon it, making it shimmer with an indescribably radiant golden glow.
Helena gasped in admiration.
Before her eyes, golden waves rippled across the sea of silver grass.
It was the wind.
‘So wind is something you can actually see.’
At that very moment, the beautiful song of a bird drifted through the air.
Without understanding why, she felt overwhelmed with emotion as she gazed across the entire distant horizon.
Blue sky and green earth.
Two worlds that could never truly touch overlapped into a single line at the farthest reaches of sight.
Before such immensity, Helena felt the turmoil in her heart quiet down, replaced naturally by awe.
Most of Burwood’s land stretched beneath the infinite sky in broad plains and gentle hills.
The forests and greenery were still lush, while the farmlands had turned yellowish with the coming harvest season.
The farmland was divided into neat sections, and the clusters of homes looked almost like patches of mushrooms.
Though there were no great cities in sight, the small villages scattered evenly throughout the land gave it a quaint charm.
And how beautiful it was to see the shadows of clouds drifting over that picture-like landscape.
‘It’s a good territory.’
Leaning against one of the watchtower’s pillars with a pleased smile, Helena suddenly lost all traces of amusement from her face.
‘…The count is the problem.’
Turning her gaze, she surveyed the entire castle.
Ishpern Castle, situated atop the hill overlooking the territory, was divided into two main areas: the main castle and a detached annex.
The largest structure was the main castle where she currently stood, surrounded by towers that served both as defenses and as lodgings for the servants.
To the right of the main castle stood a building meant for the count family’s knights and soldiers, but it too had been neglected and looked bleak.
Behind the knights’ quarters rose ancient trees so tall they rivaled the buildings themselves. Beyond them, barely visible through the branches, she could make out the edge of a roof that likely belonged to the annex.
As Helena counted the buildings with her eyes, she muttered to herself,
“Even just cleaning this place would take at least a month.”
After roughly memorizing the castle’s layout, she descended from the watchtower.
The main castle had four more pointed towers like the one she had climbed, and excluding the towers themselves, the building had five floors.
The fifth and fourth floors contained guest rooms with excellent views and a banquet hall that appeared long unused. Fortunately, each piece of furniture there had been covered with cloth and the doors kept tightly shut, so they remained relatively clean.
While the workers cleaned the watchtower and fifth floor, Helena toured the rest of the castle with Jo.
The third floor contained more luxurious guest rooms, reception rooms, exhibition halls, and a small banquet hall. Unfortunately, from the third floor downward, the aftermath of the fire became apparent.
The walls and windows were stained with soot, and white dust had settled over everything, leaving the corridors pale and ghostly.
Looking at the damaged paintings hanging in the open exhibition halls and corridors, Jo sighed sorrowfully.
“What a waste. The paintings in the exhibition hall look like valuable works…”
“If you’re already upset over this, what are you going to do about the first and second floors? We’ll probably have to throw almost everything away.”
Helena intended to open every room and inspect the interiors. But several doors were locked.
“There are locked rooms.”
After looking around the third floor, she realized that every room that appeared even remotely important had been secured with keys.
At first she was puzzled, but then she thought perhaps it was fortunate. If they were locked, they were probably less damaged.
“We’ll have to find the keys.”
“If I discover them, I’ll bring them to you immediately, milady.”
Now they descended to the true zone of despair: the second floor.
This was the floor where Helena herself was staying, yet the only room that had received even minimal cleaning was Benjamin’s bedroom, which Helena currently used.
It seemed the servants originally employed there had cleaned only the areas Benjamin used.
Everything else was in horrific condition.
“We should remove all the carpets and throw them away first. The curtains too.”
“I’ll see to it.”
Helena wandered through the gloomy rooms that looked as though ghosts might be living in them, throwing every door wide open as she went.
Jo followed behind her, inspecting the condition of the large furniture and valuables.
The second floor appeared to have once been used by members of the Ishpern family.
There were four large and luxurious rooms complete with reception areas and baths, and at the center was a library.
After examining them, Helena gave a brief assessment.
“As expected, it’s a complete mess.”
The furniture had absorbed moisture and warped or cracked, while mold spread across the silk wallpaper.
Not only the walls, but also the curtains, fabrics, and leather had all succumbed to decay. Metal ornaments and handles had rusted or tarnished so badly it was difficult to tell what they originally looked like.
Covering her nose and mouth with a handkerchief as she inspected the second floor, Helena noticed that the largest room was locked.
Judging from the armor decorations by the entrance and the ornate embossed doors, it looked like the former count’s chamber.
Though they could not inspect the locked rooms, everything else was utterly ruined.
The library, especially, was in catastrophic condition.
At the sight of the books overtaken by multicolored mold, Jo looked as though the heavens themselves had collapsed.
“My goodness, these precious books in such a state…! Ah, this is The Chronicles of the Cardia Empire! A-and this? Michel’s Book of Prophecies! There are only a handful of copies in the entire empire…!”
But to Helena, who had no interest in books, they were nothing more than horrifying clumps of mold.
She said indifferently,
“Ugh, mold everywhere… Jo, burn all of these.”
“Milady!”
Jo hurriedly shook his head.
“I don’t think these books should simply be burned. I’ll look for a restoration specialist. And the books deeper inside the shelves seem to be in relatively good condition.”
“Really? Then leave that to the head steward as well.”
Staring thoughtfully at the bookshelves for a moment, Helena finally spoke.
“Books aren’t what matter right now. We need the ledgers.”
“The ledgers…? You mean the count family’s account books?”
“That’s right. And every other record related to income and expenditures as well. Benjamin doesn’t seem like the type to manage such things properly. At minimum, we’ll need to review all records going back ten years.”
“I’ll search for them.”
After leaving the library, Helena stared silently at the locked room that had once belonged to the former count.
‘Every place worth searching is locked. I need the keys. But who locked them all up?’
