Perfect Kindling
Aileen raised her voice in front of the firmly shut door. It was the room she had always used whenever she visited Grace Castle.
The space had been fitted with furniture and bedding arranged entirely to her tastes. In a place she already despised, this room was the one tolerable thing about it—and now they were telling her she couldn’t use it?
“Why on earth? You know perfectly well this is the room I always stay in!”
Aileen spoke as though her demand were the most natural thing in the world, her tone breezy and entitled.
“I’m terribly sorry. That room is currently under repair and cannot be used. We have prepared a different room for you on the third floor instead.”
The young servant, who had a rather clumsy look about him, answered politely while stealing nervous glances at Aileen’s expression.
“Under repair? Why?”
For a fleeting second she wondered whether Chloe had redecorated the room for her.
“Her ladyship said the room will be used for another purpose.”
“Another purpose? Who said that—Chloe?”
“Yes. It is by the lord’s direct order.”
The servant shrank his shoulders and bowed deeply at Aileen’s sharpened tone.
Aileen rattled the door once more—the door that was not only closed but apparently locked—but it refused to budge.
Her mood had been foul from the moment she arrived. And now it had come to this.
Aileen wanted nothing more than to leave this pathetic dump at once, but her father’s expectations weighed too heavily on her.
Because she, too, was determined to live up to those expectations, she clenched her jaw and forced down the rage threatening to explode.
“Lady Aileen, if you would please follow me.”
When Aileen spotted the woman who had appeared behind her and spoken, her face twisted into an even uglier scowl. It was that insolent maid who always stood beside the idiotic Chloe and looked at her with open disapproval.
“Where is Father?”
“He is currently speaking with the lord.”
“Then take me there as well. The study, I assume?”
Ever since he had stolen the desk handed down through the Grace marquis family, her father made a point of visiting the study whenever he came here. It was a kind of ritual, a way to savor his victory.
Aileen strode ahead without waiting for Delma’s reply. But the elderly maid did not follow.
When she realized there were no footsteps behind her, Aileen spun around irritably.
“What are you doing? Why aren’t you coming?”
“The lord said she had private matters to discuss with the viscount.”
“Chloe did?”
Aileen looked utterly baffled. The Chloe she knew had never possessed the courage to speak with her father alone.
After all, Chloe both adored and feared her father, Viscount Patrasche.
She decided the foolish girl must have misunderstood when her father suggested they talk.
“Yes. That is exactly what the lord said.”
“Fine, then. Chloe will probably be happier if I’m there too.”
“But—”
Delma tried to object, but Aileen was already marching toward the study without listening.
Every time Viscount Patrasche saw the bare study with its missing desk, he felt a surge of satisfaction, like a conqueror surveying his spoils.
“That spot is still empty, I see.”
Chloe had no idea how to respond, so she simply offered a faint smile and took a sip of tea.
“Are you still holding a grudge against me?”
What was he talking about now? There were far more than one or two things to resent—why bring it up so suddenly?
Chloe set her teacup down with a calm expression and studied him, trying to read his intentions.
Patrasche was slightly startled. The niece who used to burst into tears at the slightest provocation now gazed at him with steady, composed eyes.
Had her attitude changed along with her wardrobe?
“What could I possibly have to hold against you, Uncle? I’m only grateful for all the care you’ve shown me.”
Chloe smiled sweetly, swallowing the torrent of curses she wanted to unleash. Pretending to be a good girl was well within her abilities.
“Grateful? We’re not strangers—we’re family bound by blood. Looking after you is only natural.”
Patrasche smiled leisurely as he watched his meekly behaving niece.
“It must be very difficult managing the estate all by yourself.”
“Thanks to your generous help, Uncle, I’m getting by.”
“I heard you distributed grain to the people.”
“The drought has gone on far too long.”
“And how much interest did you charge?”
“I didn’t charge any. It wasn’t a loan.”
He had asked half in disbelief, but Chloe’s childlike answer carved deep wrinkles into his brow.
No one understood the Grace family’s financial situation better than he did. The castle’s grain stores had to be nearly empty—yet she had given it all away? Without any compensation whatsoever?
After staring at her with open displeasure for a moment, a slow smile crept back across Patrasche’s face.
There was no need to interfere. The girl was marching straight down the road to her own ruin.
“The people must have been delighted.”
“Yes. They were overjoyed.”
Chloe tried her best to answer with bright innocence.
Patrasche nodded slowly, then placed a prepared document on the table.
“What is this, Uncle?”
“The sales contract for the Morta region.”
“Pardon?”
Chloe had never agreed to sell Morta Village, so her voice rose before she could stop it.
Patrasche mistook her reaction for delight and continued with a satisfied smile.
“Because it borders the Black Forest, I couldn’t offer quite as much as I did for the Opaque lands. Most of it is useless territory anyway, but I’ll be generous for your sake.
We are family, after all.”
Patrasche smiled warmly, deliberately invoking the word “family” that he knew Chloe loved.
Chloe stared silently at the contract he had pushed toward her.
“Use that money to put out the most urgent fires first. Buy whatever you need. You’ll have to marry soon, won’t you? It was Ray, wasn’t it? The young man you’re engaged to?”
Patrasche kept pouring out words like a flood, but none of them reached Chloe’s ears.
One, ten, hundred, thousand… 3,000 gold?
He was trying to buy Morta Village for a mere 3,000 gold?
Even at a rough estimate, that was around three billion won. Once that sum would have made her hands shake, but not anymore.
Besides, Morta Village was hardly worthless enough to be sold for 3,000 gold.
The undeveloped lands surrounding the village were vast, and the untapped resources of the Black Forest were worth far more than that pitiful amount.
Seeing his niece’s wide-eyed stare, Patrasche nodded with satisfaction.
“You seem surprised that I’m willing to pay such a high price for worthless land. But what can you do? I am your uncle. It’s only right that I help you in your time of need.”
Chloe was so stunned she could barely speak.
His sheer audacity told her that all the land he had gradually swindled from her in the past must have been taken at even more insulting prices.
What a despicable, multi-colored bastard.
“Oh, Father! You’ve already drawn up the contract? Without even calling for me? Chloe finds these things so difficult. I should be helping her!”
At that moment Aileen burst into the study with exaggerated concern and plopped down beside Chloe.
Chloe’s head was already pounding with rage; hearing that fox-like voice pushed her irritation to the breaking point.
“Chloe, you just sign right here. You’ve done it before, so you know how. And Father, only 3,000 gold? Please add another 500. Our Chloe needs to buy plenty of new dresses.”
After whining to Viscount Patrasche, Aileen gave Chloe a quick wink as if to say, Did I do well?
Chloe simply stared at the father-daughter con artists, wondering how much further they would go. Aileen, who had been smiling brightly at her, suddenly changed expression as though she had just remembered something.
“Oh, that’s right, Chloe. Why are you suddenly repairing my room? I was perfectly happy with it the way it was. All the furniture and bedding were things you bought for me, weren’t they?”
Ah. So even those luxurious new furnishings had been provided by the pushover Chloe.
“I have to sleep there tonight, so tell them to restore it right away. You know I can’t sleep in any other room.”
Aileen rattled off whatever she wanted without listening to a single word Chloe said.
“What are you waiting for? Sign it already.”
Aileen pushed the contract in front of her impatiently.
Knock, knock, knock!
An urgent rapping sounded at the door.
“Come in.”
At Chloe’s voice, Scrooge burst into the study, his face flushed crimson.
“What is it?”
The voice dripping with irritation belonged to Aileen.
Scrooge was still breathing hard from running. His eyes widened the moment he spotted the contract on the table.
“M-My lord!”
Even though he told himself the lord would never sell the territory to Viscount Patrasche again, Scrooge couldn’t hide his anxiety.
“Come here, Treasurer.”
Chloe deliberately addressed him by his official title rather than his name.
“Pfft! She called him Treasurer.”
Aileen’s mocking laugh rang out, but Chloe ignored it. Scrooge approached with an even redder face than before.
“Take this.”
Chloe handed him the contract she had received from Patrasche.
Scrooge accepted it reflexively, read the amount written on it, and unconsciously screwed up his face.
“Why are you giving this to me, my lord?”
Both Patrasche and Aileen looked equally puzzled by the strange behavior.
“Take it to Anna.”
“To Anna? But why…?”
“It’s well-oiled paper. It should make perfect kindling.”
Chloe smiled sweetly.