After the meeting, Pascal Starkey hastily returned to his mansion, scrambling to get back to his territory. Seeing how on edge their master was, the servants were nervous, yet still set about to prepare the carriage and luggage for him. Later, they saw Pascal off.

It would take Pascal about three days to reach his territory by horse-drawn carriage. He was restless the entire time, chewing on his thumb nail while cursing under his breath.

“Curse, curse it all…!”

Three days later, the carriage arrived at his residence, and without waiting for the coachman, Pascal bolted out.

“My husband, welcome home—”

“—Move aside!”

“Kyaa—!”

His wife, who had been informed of his speedy return, tried to welcome him only to be mercilessly shoved aside. Even though his wife had fallen over, Pascal paid her no heed and stormed into the mansion.

His destination was the office on the second floor. From the entrance hall, he sprinted up the stairs leading to the East side of the mansion and entered the room closest to the stairs.

Then, he proceeded to remove the painting hanging on the wall of his office, revealing a built-in safe. After turning the dial according to the password, there was a click as the safe was unlocked.

Secret ledgers and records recording the dealing of special drugs, which mustn’t fall into the hands of outsiders, were stashed away in the safe.

He saw no indication of anyone having touched it.

God was on his side.

He had won.

“I only have to get rid of this somehow…!”

“—Oh, we can’t have that.”

Amidst his excitement, he suddenly heard a voice and turned towards the door.

“—Y, Your Royal Highness!?”

There stood someone he least expected.

◇◇◇

Charlotte, accompanied by Quentin and a knight, spoke to Pascal who was reeling from shock.

“It’s been a while.”

“We-weren’t you supposed to depart from the royal capital today?”

“The investigation team? Sure. But Quentin and I set out for this territory precisely 30 minutes after you frantically left the royal capital.”

“What!?”

“The reason I told you the departure date of the investigation team wasn’t to prepare the lords for cooperation, but to gauge your reactions. Seeing you panic, I was convinced that the evidence is still in your hands. All that remained was to catch you as you tried to dispose of it. Sure enough, that’s exactly what you did.”

Charlotte smiled.

“I’m grateful for how simple and predictable you are. That made it easier to keep you under my thumb. Actually, never mind that. I have nothing to be thankful for because you’re useless.”

Pascal’s pale face was tinged with fear as he trembled all over. Quentin confiscated the pieces of evidence in his hand. Pascal no longer had the will to resist; he collapsed on the spot like a puppet with its strings cut.

“How is it?”

“These are indeed off-the-books ledgers that recorded the purchases of large quantities of chemicals that inhibit the growth of crops. Also recorded are which fields were sprayed with what amount, and where the remaining chemicals are stored.”

“I didn’t expect such a level of meticulousness. I wish that skill would’ve been applied elsewhere.”

After all, excessive use of the chemical would only alert others to the unnatural growth, hence the need to be precise.

The poor harvest in the eastern part of the country was caused by a lack of rainfall as well as use of chemicals. Due to chemicals, the crops didn’t grow as expected and withered, resulting in crop failure.

The amount of chemicals used in Pascal’s territory was small, and in reality, the damage wasn’t as great as claimed. However, it appeared that even agricultural products that met shipping standards were falsely treated as being subject to disposal, stowed away, and sold at high prices through back channels.

The goal was to fraudulently receive profit and subsidy for them.

—And that’s how we obtained the evidence.

Ironically, Pascal himself guided them to it.

Now, there was no escape.

“By the way, Count. You won’t be charged solely for this crime. The crimes you committed during the reign of the previous king will also be added to the list.”

At her words, Pascal’s shoulders jumped.

He was one of those who retained their titles even after the rebellion. In other words, an authority figure who wasn’t punished despite the successful rebellion that was led by Frederick.

Pascal had been committing fraud since well long ago. However, after the rebellion, his crimes weren’t made public, nor was he punished for them.

“In the past, tyrants and authority figures who had been misusing their power were subjected to execution and other severe punishment. However, that didn’t happen to you, so you thought that nobody had found out. With more than two decades having passed, you lowered your guard.”

“Ah…”

“In truth, His Majesty overlooked some of the people subject to the purge at that time because there were simply too many of them. If everyone was wiped out, it would be a hindrance to national politics. The sentencing for those who were excellent and didn’t dare to defy His Majesty was temporarily postponed for the time being.”

At that time, there were too many people involved in atrocities, including politicians and large merchant families which controlled most of the country’s logistic. After all, it was an era where everyone got off scot-free for their misconduct. Due to said circumstances, a complete purge was deemed impossible.

Pascal was classified as an ‘accessory.’ In fact, terrified of Frederick, after the rebellion, Pascal quietly fulfilled his role as a lord, albeit not fully.

“Twenty years have passed since the tyrant was executed and His Majesty ascended the throne. Available human resources are growing, so the purge gradually resumed several years ago. To avoid stirring up dissatisfaction among the people, we decided not to make the pre-rebellion crimes public and secretly proceeded with the purge. You didn’t even notice a thing, did you?”

---

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***T/N: I love this side of Charlotte…

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