abcnovels
Chapter 26
Chapter 26
“Oh, the locked room is an unused room, so it’s better if you don’t try to force it to open. Even if you managed to open it, you will only be welcomed by the layers and layers of dust.”
Why would they lock it? It was rare to lock the room, no matter how large the mansion was. The Countess always kept the rooms clean.
He couldn’t just say he was a Duke. Was there any other reason?
Molitia’s curiosity with the room did not last long. She looked around the mansion to some extent. Now there was something else she needed to find out.
“Who is in charge of organizing the finances for this mansion?”
The butler’s feet halted at Molitia’s words.
“The Duchess of the mansion should be the one handling the finances, but as you know, the position has been vacant for so long, so they left me in charge of it. I mainly give a brief report of the monthly finance report to the Duke.”
“…may I look at the finance report then?”
In her childhood memories, she was still able to faintly recall the image of her mother constantly reviewing the finance documents.
Her mother started staying by her side when her illness started to worsen.
Since she was bored from being bedridden, she had once glanced at the papers her mother was going through. The large numbers and hard-to-recognize letters strained her eyes.
But if she pretended to know, her mother praised her. However, the memories of her mother faded with time.
“Of course, I’ve already prepared it.”
The butler led Molitia into the study.
“Madam, these are the materials I prepared.”
Looking at the neatly organized documents, Molitia sat down.
The contents of the document were written in detail, starting with recent events to past events. After a rough look, she realized that the documents were more organized than she thought.
“Thank you for organizing it so neatly.”
“No, its nothing”
The butler’s eyes widened in shock at Molitia’s sudden but sincere praise. His master had never thanked him or praised him before. His eyes glowed with pride.
The butler took up his seat next to her as she started going through the documents. He would swiftly and carefully hand her the next piece of the document so she could read them easier.
Every time her slender finger flipped over a page, the butler’s gloved hand would briskly hand her the next piece of document.
“Hmm?”
The butler’s head turned when he heard a voice apparently expressing doubt.
“What’s wrong with the number of servants?”
Her fingers were pointing to the part of the papers indicating the servants’ hourly wages. The number was ridiculously small compared to the large mansion.
“That’s…”
The butler hesitated before he finally explained everything.
“To tell you the truth, there are many people who would often run away because they are afraid of their master. As a result, I would have to constantly hire new servants. Even so, the new servants never stayed long. I even tried increasing the hourly wage, but it didn’t work.”
“What did the Duke do to his servants?”
“He did nothing.”
She couldn’t believe they’re scared when he didn’t do anything. That was an overstatement.
“Then?”
“He’s just there. He often brings in a bunch of sweaty knights from the training center.”
“Then, have you ever asked the servants who ran away why they ran away?”
The butler fell silent again. Gilbert hesitated to talk after meeting his mistress’s gaze.
“It’s okay. You can tell me anything. It will help me understand what I should do as the new mistress of the house.”
“Sometimes, the knights that the master brought into the mansion would still be carrying their sword after training. Some of the servants found it to be quite scary.”
“Is there anything else?”
“…some of the servants told me that the master’s gaze was scary.”
“…”
Molitia fell silent at the butler’s explanation. She had stared into the Duke’s pitch-black eyes before. Every time she did, it seemed as if her soul was about to be sucked into the endless abyss of his eyes. His eyes seemed to be made of two black pearls as his gaze never betrayed his true thoughts or emotions.