Chapter 64
Chapter 64
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: Lubon's Dark Underbelly
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The stammering baron spoke up with an indignant look on his face.
“Duchess? These lowly things dared to be rude to you…”
“I said I’m fine.”
As I ground out the words with my molars clenched, the baron flinched and shut his mouth.
The “rudeness” he was talking about was the situation ten minutes ago, when the little girl who had prostrated herself at my feet to bow had touched the gem dangling from the hem of my dress.
It was nothing. A clueless child had simply reached out because the shiny thing looked pretty.
Of course, I hadn’t minded at all. In fact, I’d even thought her pale, chubby cheeks were so cute that I wanted to pinch them.
If only this scum of a baron hadn’t exploded in rage!
“Are you okay?”
I approached the boy who had taken a blow to the head and asked. He looked about my age but was on the scrawny side.
“…”
His expression was unmistakably furious as he gritted his teeth and lifted his head without answering.
And who could blame him? He’d been grabbed by the scruff of the neck and thrown over some trivial matter, called a lowly thing and worse, and then had his own head smacked.
“You crazy bastard, the Duchess is speaking to you…!”
“Grmph.”
“Eep.”
Greg, who had been about to raise his hand to the children again, clamped his mouth shut at my menacing tone.
“Don’t cry, sweetie. You’re okay.”
As I soothed the girl while checking her over, I suddenly froze.
For some reason, both siblings’ faces were covered in small scratches. Some looked fresh, others were healing scars…
“But why do your faces look like this?”
When I asked while eyeing the boy’s split lip, the trembling girl’s gaze drifted upward.
To Greg, standing beside me.
[Oh no…]
Wishit let out a sigh, sensing the impending disaster.
“Haah.”
Straightening up from my crouch with a blank expression, I watched as Greg licked his parched lips and offered an excuse.
“Um… these kids are the workshop master’s brats.”
“Oh.”
“They act all high and mighty every time the baron inspects the workshop, so I told them off.”
“Tell me exactly how they acted ‘high and mighty’ enough for you to resort to violence. Of course, no excuse from that thick skull of yours will make me overlook you hitting children.”
“Eep.”
Greg shrank back like a turtle pulling in its head, then shot an SOS glance at the baron behind me.
The flustered baron jumped in.
“It’s not worth the Duchess’s attention. These wretches can barely make ends meet thanks to the Diorus family’s grace, yet the workshop folk keep forgetting their place and…”
“Our wages are already three months overdue! I told you we need this month’s pay at least because Mom’s medicine is urgent!”
“Y-You little…?”
The baron’s face paled visibly at the boy’s interruption. As I studied the baron’s expression, I mind-spoke with Wishit.
[So right after arriving in exile, I’ve witnessed child abuse, followed by illegal child labor exploitation and wage theft in real time?]
[Yep.]
[And it’s happening in our own territory…]
[Exactly. No wonder that kid’s glaring at you like that.]
[I get it. If I were a bottom-rung employee with three months’ pay withheld, I’d barge in and yank out every hair on the boss’s head, rank be damned.]
I flashed a smile. The baron, having prepared his excuse, quickly spoke up.
“D-Duchess. You might not know Lubon’s situation well, but the workshop’s revenues aren’t good, so the wages…”
“Wow.”
My neck prickled with annoyance. I clutched it lightly and ground my teeth.
“Treating me like some clueless kid?”
“P-Pardon?”
“Everyone from crawling infants in the capital knows how famous Lubon clocks are. And you’re claiming the workshop’s revenues are bad?”
I closed the distance to the baron with a fierce glare.
“What do you take me for, spouting such an obvious lie?”
“Ah, th-that…”
“Your deceit pierces the heavens.”
Turning my eyes away from the ashen-faced baron, I swallowed a deep sigh to calm my anger.
“I appreciate the welcome. And guiding me personally through the territory. Even if it’s been less than thirty minutes.”
“Du-Duchess.”
“My secretary and I will tour the rest. Return to your manor and await further instructions, Baron.”
“A-await?”
“I’m not in a good mood, so I’d appreciate it if you vanished from my sight within ten seconds.”
“Duchess! Just hear me out…”
“10.”
“…”
“9.”
The baron and his squire Greg exchanged helpless glances, frozen in place.
“3.”
“Eek?”
“Uh, um…”
“2.”
In a flash, they scurried off in five seconds flat, my expression growing even more terrifying. They left behind a ridiculous sight in their haste.
“Whew…”
I turned back to the remaining siblings.
The girl was smiling shyly, her slapped cheek still pink, but the boy’s wary eyes hadn’t softened.
The Diorus territories numbered over a dozen off the top of my head. It was only natural that Viego couldn’t manage them all personally.
That’s why vassals were planted in each to handle proxy management—and this situation was probably an inevitable byproduct of that system.
‘Of course, you get these scumbags skimming profits in the middle.’
It wasn’t my fault, but I could fully empathize with a low-wage worker’s rage toward the boss’s daughter.
Especially when she showed up in a lavish dress dripping with gems from the hem, just to spectate their labor.
“Sorry.”
I murmured softly, then knelt and gripped the palm-sized sapphire at my dress hem, trying to pry it off.
“Ugh, why is this…”
No way would a tightly sewn gem come loose with a few tugs. As I struggled, a blade suddenly glinted before me.
“Whoa!”
Looking up, the boy was holding out a familiar folding knife, extended confidently. I took it and pried off the gem as I asked,
“Thanks. What’s your name?”
“Jeremy.”
His curt reply matched his sullen expression.
“Oppa! It’s the Duchess!”
The girl pouted and scolded Jeremy right away. He averted his eyes from mine and added,
“…ma’am.”
“Phew.”
Having removed the gem, I placed it in the girl’s hand and said,
“If you’re pissed, you can drop the honorifics. I wouldn’t be polite either in your shoes.”
“…”
Jeremy hesitated, then met my eyes with his blue ones. His anger seemed to have eased just a fraction.
“D-Duchess? Why are you giving us this?”
“Yeah. Didn’t you want it?”
“Wowww…”
“Luna, hand that over. We need it to buy medicine for Mom.”
“Okay!”
Jeremy snatched the sapphire, but Luna just beamed and nodded as if it were the most natural thing.
I suddenly felt a lump in my throat and yanked the sapphire from Jeremy’s hand, placing it back in Luna’s.
“Your name’s Luna? This is yours. It’s not meant as a substitute for your mom’s medicine.”
“Huh?”
“And the back pay and medicine costs… Whew, sorry. Don’t worry—just wait.”
I swallowed a sigh and turned to leave.
“I’ll be right back.”
* * *
As I scribbled furiously with my pen, my secretary Siena hesitantly spoke up beside me, gauging my mood.
“I should have accompanied you. I’m sorry, miss.”
“No, no. It’s not your fault, Siena.”
My capable secretary Siena had toured the area ahead of time to brief me on Lubon territory, where I’d be staying for a year.
“Rebecca.”
“Yes, miss!”
To Rebecca, who had been eyeing my furious glare, I handed a letter sealed tightly with red wax.
“Deliver this to Viego oppa immediately. And take the letters I wrote for Becky and Sera while you’re at it.”
“Yes. Should I have Sir Paul inspect it first before sending?”
The quick-witted Rebecca asked.
It was protocol for letters from me in isolation to be inspected by investigators. However…
“If you don’t want inspections or need discreet contact, find the investigator named Paul. I’ve arranged it—he’ll help the Duchess.”
Thanks to the special privilege granted by Crown Prince Lark, I faced no such restrictions.
I smiled brightly and nodded at Rebecca.
“Yes, exactly.”
“Got it! I’ll be right back!”
As Rebecca dashed out of the room, I prepared to head out again and asked Siena,
“What’s Lubon like?”
“It’s a territory granted to the 4th Duke Diorus by the Imperial Family. Management has been entrusted to the Lubon barons since then.”
“That’s a while back.”
“Yes. But Lubon gained prominence fifty years ago when the workshop business boomed here.”
“Right. The clocks are famous. But what I’m curious about is…”
“Territorial revenues are strictly managed via annually renewed contracts. Thirty percent goes to House Diorus, and Vice Duke Viego pays the proxy baron of Lubon an annual salary.”
“Oh!”
So he pocketed a salary for proxy management on top of siphoning territory revenues?
“With all that workshop revenue left over, why doesn’t Baron Lubon pay his workers?”
“…?”
Siena tilted her head at my question, then flipped through her document binder.
“According to the workshop business contract copy Vice Duke Viego gave me…”
“…”
“All authority over workshop revenues belongs to workshop master Charlie Works.”
“What?”
“Charlie Works pays the workshop laborers. Not Baron Lubon.”
*Ding.*
I staggered as I headed for the door. Siena startled.
“Duchess?”
“S-So the workshop revenues all belong to the workshop?”
“Yes. The Works family founded it fifty years ago, and their clocks put Lubon on the map. Even as the business grew and profits soared, House Diorus respected the workers’ expertise and contributions by granting them autonomy over revenues.”
In other words, our family had let the workshop laborers manage their massive revenues outright.
Which meant workshop master Charlie Works should be filthy rich by now, and those siblings I met were his kids.
“Then what’s this about three months’ back pay? And Mom’s medicine?”
[What else? That sleazy mustached baron’s been skimming it bit by bit.]
Wishit clicked his tongue.
[Bit by bit? More like gobbling it whole.]
[…Right, my mistake. ‘Embezzled it all’ fits better. He pockets everything and tosses table scraps as wages.]
[And even those are three months late?]
The more I mind-spoke with Wishit, the dizzier I got. I swayed, and Siena steadied me in alarm.
“Miss, are you all right? Is something wrong?”
Rubbing my throbbing temple, I flashed Siena a bright smile.
“There are too many problems—that’s the problem. We need to head to the workshop right now. Come with me.”