MBSGBC 09

Chapter 09

Pascal left, trembling all over with humiliation.

The lawyer who had accompanied him muttered something about magical threats being grounds for a lawsuit, then hurriedly followed Pascal.

The priest’s reaction was a bit different—he gave me a suspicious look, clicked his tongue, muttered “Blasphemy!” and turned his back. Well, that was pretty much the typical attitude clergymen had toward mages.

Either way, that was one matter settled!

It felt like a decade’s worth of indigestion had cleared up, leaving me refreshed.

Unlike my sparkling expression, my mother and Schule’s faces were utterly consumed with despair.

“Irene, how could you handle things so willfully!”

“Oh, the bond maturity date is coming up soon…! If we really lose the territory and title…!”

I asked the two of them.

“Do you even know exactly how much debt we’re carrying right now?”

At my words, it was my mother who came to her senses first.

“It’s all recorded in the ledgers, all of it. Rita, Rita! Where are you? Go to my room and bring the ledgers.”

At her shout, Rita hurried upstairs to Mother’s room and soon came back down with several ledgers. It was a tragedy unimaginable from the days when we had a proper financial manager, but this was the current reality of our household.

I opened the ledger.

“Do you even know how to read a ledger?”

As expected, a challenge came from the side, but I ignored it.

There was no point paying attention to someone who didn’t know that I had managed and supervised the ledgers of the Ochner family—one of the capital’s wealthiest merchant houses—for over a decade.

So, the score was…

“What a mess.”

The organization was a disaster, but at least most of the records were there, however clumsily—I supposed that was fortunate.

First, I mentally recalled the bonds I held and continued cross-referencing them with the debts recorded in the family ledger. Fortunately, all the recorded debts were ones I had purchased. What worried me were the unrecorded debts…

I glared at Schule.

“Any unrecorded debts? Anything else?”

“Uh, no…!”

Having been thoroughly frightened by my magic, Schule waved both hands frantically in a vehement reaction.

“Really? If you’re lying…”

“Really!”

When I raised my fist, he squeaked. Ah, I shouldn’t be feeling satisfaction from this sort of thing.

“No one’s been willing to lend me any more money lately, that’s why I told you I had zero capital!”

“Good thing. If you had borrowed more, you’d have just blown that too.”

Ignoring Schule, who was raging behind my back, I checked the ledger again.

Naturally, my brow furrowed.

Why on earth had someone lent our family this much money?

It was a staggering amount—enough to make you wonder how they’d managed to squander it all.

Either way, now was a time for action, not questions.

“You asked why I was going out every day? I’ve been negotiating with the creditors.”

I answered while stomping on the torn pieces of the marriage contract Pascal had left behind.

“I’ve bought us some time. The creditors have agreed not to touch the territory or the title, on the condition that they take this mansion. So the two of you should pack your things and head down to the territory immediately.”

“What? Then what about you?”

“Yeah. You’re not going down to the territory—you’re staying in the capital? How?”

I stared at my family with hollow eyes.

“I’m a mage, aren’t I? From now on, as a pledged debtor, I’ll manage this mansion and spend my life paying off the debt.”

I drove the final nail into their terrified hearts.

“The bailiffs will be here in a few days. If you don’t want to get caught in their sights and suffer the consequences, I suggest you disappear from this house tomorrow at the latest.”

Hearing my family scramble upstairs in a panic, I smiled.

The “bailiffs” weren’t sent by the creditors—they would be my own people!

The Otrena family packed up and left.

As they fled from the bailiffs, my mother left me nothing—not even as much concern as she would have shown her favorite old furniture—and Schule didn’t even look in my direction.

Fine by me!

After a perfunctory farewell to my family, who wouldn’t miss me anyway, I quickly went back inside the house.

“Miss, as you instructed, I’ll lock up the unused rooms. But, which room will you be using?”

Rita approached and asked, glancing at me nervously. Her round eyes openly revealed the fear: “I’m glad I wasn’t let go, but I have no idea how long this will last.”

Most of the estate’s servants, who had come from the territory, had been taken by Mother and Schule, but Rita had been hired from the capital and didn’t follow them. She was dexterous and clever, which was fortunate for me.

“I’ll keep using the room I originally used. Additionally, could you clear out the reception room, two guest rooms, and my brother’s old study?”

“You mean the master’s study?”

“Yes. I’ll be managing this mansion, so I need at least that much to maintain appearances.”

“I see…!”

“For now, just make a note of that—just manage my room and the study for the time being. I plan to hire a few more servants soon for the rest. We can’t do all the cleaning and housework ourselves, can we?”

“We’re hiring more people?”

“Yes. I’m planning to get recommendations from well-connected families, so could you clear out the study first? I’m thinking of writing some letters.”

“Yes, yes!”

Suddenly, Rita’s eyes sparkled with life.

“You’re the best, Miss!”

With that lively cry, Rita forgot her trained composure and ran a few steps cheerfully, then—as if catching herself—straightened her back, maintained an elegant gait, and disappeared up the staircase.

It was good that she hadn’t forgotten her training as a servant. She’d be directing the household staff for a while, after all.

I was now alone in the mansion’s hall. With much of the furniture gone and no human presence, the house felt like an abandoned ruin.

The main entrance hall, being the space that determined a house’s impression, had been filled with particularly valuable heirloom furniture.

Now stripped bare, the empty entrance felt like a reflection of my current situation.

Empty.

And ready to be filled with anything.

An inexplicable sense of fulfillment surged up from my toes and filled my chest.

Goodbye to that damned engagement, to that humiliating life—forever!

I noticed the “bailiffs” had arrived while I was in the middle of writing letters in the study. Through the window, I saw several black carriages bearing the Voltain family’s dragon crest stopped in front of the mansion’s gate.

I set aside the letter I was writing and checked my appearance. My dress was still plain-colored, but Rita’s meticulous hands had tidied my hair to a decent state. My light makeup had no obvious flaws either.

Good!

I clenched my fist once and headed downstairs.

Rita followed closely behind me with a tense expression, as if she were my personal bodyguard. Yes, that kind of resolve was necessary—anyone facing Lion Voltain needed to be mentally prepared.

Of course, things didn’t always go as planned…

“Mom!”

The “bailiff” who burst through the front gate with that single word left me utterly defenseless, struck down without recourse.