Purging Corruption (1)
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
3 a.m. In the Lord's Office, warmed by the princess's magic, the only sound echoing regularly was the quill scraping across rough parchment.
The north's finances are insane!
The empire's fourth princess, Eleanor von Waldemar, had rolled up her sleeves and dove into her work with fervor. She should have been exhausted from the endless overtime, her eyes glazing over, but every time evidence of the nobles' corruption caught her eye, sheer disbelief jolted her awake.
"Ha! Unbelievable!"
Flames ignited in Eleanor's eyes. As the top graduate of the imperial academy's administration department, her mind pierced through the web of corruption and embezzlement spanning every corner of the northern territory in an instant.
Manipulated here too. What? Attacked by monsters during transport!? Every two weeks like clockwork!? Corrupt nobles are monsters in their own right!
Eleanor slashed red marks across the ledgers without mercy.
Administration and finance—worlds she had only touched through theory in the library. No one had wanted a bastard princess meddling in the empire's affairs.
But the Northern Duke, practically a stranger, trusted her. Finance officer. A position no northern woman in history had ever held.
Eleanor lifted her head and gazed across at the opposite desk. Beyond the flickering candlelight, she saw Kailan Wintervalt wrestling with a mountain of documents awaiting his approval.
Ah...
A pang twisted in Eleanor's chest.
His Grace has been toiling alone to save this rotten territory. In this barren land cut off from imperial aid, working overtime every night just to feed the starving people...
Compared to him, her solitary struggles in the library seemed like the pampered life of a greenhouse flower.
Eleanor slapped her cheeks with both hands to steel herself.
I won't give in to fatigue. I'll squeeze every last drop of pus from this territory with my own hands, just as His Grace believed in me!
Bloodshot eyes burned in the academy valedictorian. Channeling her solar mana, she dismantled the ledgers at blinding speed.
The corridor outside the Lord's Office.
Eleanor's exclusive maid, Marie, and the duke's aide, Cedric, paced anxiously before the door. Even as dawn broke, no one emerged. This had gone on for days.
A bed was prepared in the office for rest, but Marie fretted whether Eleanor had truly slept.
"What do we do, what do we do! I can't hear a single breath... Our poor princess must not have passed out from the duke's brutality, right!?"
Marie stomped her feet, her face streaked with tears.
Cedric cleared his throat with a stern expression.
"Ahem! Listen here. His Grace may possess beastly stamina, but he would never strike a woman. Perhaps... ahem. The newlyweds engaged in... vigorous marital activities, exhausting themselves."
"Vigorous activities!? Our princess sways in a gentle breeze!"
At the peak of the hysteria, the heavy office door creaked open.
Marie and Cedric froze, staring at the doorway.
"Your Highness!"
Eleanor's appearance as she staggered out was pitiful. Dark circles hung like sacks under her eyes. Her gaze was unfocused. Her neatly pinned platinum blonde hair was a bird's nest, and her indoor dress clung sweat-soaked to her body.
"Gasp... Your Highness! What horrific ordeal did you endure all night!?"
Marie screamed and rushed forward. Eleanor collapsed into her arms, mumbling in a cracked voice.
"Finally... done... Embezzler list... fund recovery plan... burned the midnight oil..."
Eleanor muttered nonsense and fell asleep in Marie's embrace.
"Your Highneeeess!"
As Marie wailed, Cedric's eyes fixed only on his lord emerging from the office. Kailan looked hollow-eyed too, but a satisfied smile played on his lips.
Cedric swallowed hard.
"Cedric."
"Yes, my lord!"
Kailan approached with light steps, issuing orders to the servants.
"Escort Her Highness to her bedchamber and prepare the territory's finest medicinal herbs for nourishment. She is Wintervalt's most precious asset. Not a single hair out of place."
"Sniff...!"
Misinterpreting Kailan's words, Cedric wiped tears.
"Cedric. No time for tears—move. Convene an emergency meeting. Summon every elite knight without fail."
Cedric dabbed his eyes and asked.
"A military council?"
"An audit meeting. It'll be where we sever the heads of those who siphoned my territory's budget."
Kailan pulled a parchment from his bosom and handed it to Cedric. Reviewing the noble names, Cedric gulped.
They were the usual budget puppeteers who strutted arrogantly.
"But an audit for corruption—they'll make excuses to wriggle free."
Kailan smirked.
"Then we cut their heads off right there. I'll permit it."
"Understood!"
Cedric saluted and hurried down the corridor. His Grace, who cared only for the people's lives and safety, had uncovered corruption. The knights needed to ready their blades.
The conference room in the Wintervalt Grand Duchy Castle held the key vassals comprising the northern territory. Some were corrupt nobles who had long devoured the budget, evading central oversight under excuses of the harsh north.
Normally, they'd bicker and form factions in the empty head seat, but today's air was icy as a frozen lake. Their appearances were wretched.
"What insolence is this!? Knights kicking in my manor door!"
"Lower your voice, Count. His Grace decreed death for non-attendance as treason. Something's amiss."
Finance officer Benjamin Baron whispered, pale as a ghost. Supply officer Luminas Count, dragged from bed at swordpoint, looked ghastly too.
The summoned nobles exchanged uneasy glances like pigs to slaughter, clueless why.
"Heard the rumor?"
"Rumor?"
"The princess fainted in the office at dawn, carried out."
"Gasp...! Has His Grace lost his mind?"
"That madness may turn on us now."
Terror-stricken, they gulped and eyed the door.
Creak—the door opened, bone-chilling cold flooding in. Swordmaster Kailan's aura.
Silence blanketed the room like poured ice water.
Kailan strode in, Eleanor von Waldemar—the rumor mill's star—following. His chill parted around her.
Kailan sat at the head, slamming a stack of parchments onto the round table's center.
"Everyone, thanks for coming early."
His icy voice left them breathless.
Benjamin Baron stammered courageously.
"Y-Your Grace... Why this show of force against your vassals...?"
"Force?"
Kailan scoffed.
"Benjamin Baron."
"Y-Yes, Your Grace!"
"The relief grain imported from the empire—why is the unit price 20% higher than the capital's finest white rice?"
"...Pardon?"
Cold sweat beaded on Benjamin's forehead at the sudden query.
"Th-That... Due to the north's harsh conditions, transport losses were unavoidable..."
Thud!
Kailan tossed a dusty leather pouch onto the table. It spilled low-grade barley and sand.
"This prime white rice? I inspected the territory warehouses myself these past three months."
"Gasp...! Y-Your Grace! The merchants must have tampered en route! I'll replace the inferior grain at personal expense!"
"Why your pocket? Summon the merchants here."
"I can't waste Your Grace's time on trifles! The merchants, I'll handle—"
Kailan hurled documents at Benjamin, who packaged corruption as sacrifice.
"Sunflower Merchant Group's signatory. Your wife's brother's script, Thomas. Used a ghost firm without approval to supply rotten grain at premium, pocketing the difference. Bought a 3,000-gold southern villa in your concubine's name recently."
"Y-Your Grace! Concubine...? A ridiculous misunderstanding!"
Benjamin blanched paper-white.
Kailan pressed Luminas Count.
"Luminas Count. Wall repair stone payment. Imports down 30% from last year, yet billed 20% higher. Monster raids on wagons?"
"Yes! Dire Wolf packs..."
"Her Highness and I cross-checked every mercenary guild subjugation log. Took half a day. Anything more to say?"
The hall erupted in chaos. Kailan dissected their double- and triple-hidden graft.
"Imperial Tax Code, Chapter 4, Article 12."
Eleanor's cold voice rang out.
"Property of traitors deceiving their lord and looting the treasury reverts to the lord. Execution permitted if insufficient."
Nobles' jaws dropped. They'd cough up graft and mother's milk.
Eleanor advised Kailan firmly.
"Your Grace. Their crimes equal treason. Execute immediately, seize assets legally—swiftest path to fix northern finances."
"M-Mercy! Your Grace! Your Highness!"
Corrupt nobles prostrated, foreheads to floor.
"If finances lack, we'll fill the gap somehow!"
"M-Mercy! Spare our lives...!"
"Just give us time—we'll make it right!"
Kailan drew his sword, deeming their pleas worthless. One noble bolted on shaking legs—Cedric's blade took his head.
As some soiled themselves, Eleanor impassively stated.
"Fines per Imperial Tax Code, five years' embezzlement, compound interest: 300,000 gold minimum."
Kailan grinned brightly at the sum—what was so funny?
"Shortfall? Pay with labor. Wall repairs need hands anyway. Cedric! Round up all able-bodied from Benjamin Baron and Luminas Count houses to the wall."
Realizing lies wouldn't save them, nobles clamored to pay voluntarily. Grown men mobbed scarce communication orbs—a spectacle.
"Darling! That diamond ring—hand it over now!"
"Pawn the manor, whatever—to the imperial bank for coin!"