Chapter 25

In my dream, I was buried under a mountain of top-grade Winter Sapphires, laughing happily.

How much is all this worth! My retirement fund is sorted, thanks to this mine~!

No sooner had I thought this than someone beside me spoke up.

“You like work that much?”

“What? What do you mean, work, all of a sudden?”

“You’re hugging a whole pile of documents.”

The voice was low and pleasant, but what it said made no sense. I was lying here hugging gemstones — what was this about work and documents?

I gave a scoff and hugged my precious gems close again.

Rustle—

Huh? Rustle?

Gems didn’t make that sound. Only then did I look down at the white things in my arms.

“Wh-what is this? Where did all my gems go?!”

What had been gems a moment ago had turned into sheets covered in black text on white paper.

A Petition to Revise Northern Labor Law, A Matter of Adjusting Tax Rates by Territory, A Matter of Reassigning Central Personnel…….

Reports, each bearing its own title, fluttered about.

“There’s no mine for you anymore, my lady.”

“No……!”

“All that’s left is work, work, work.”

“Stop……!”

I covered my ears, writhing against the curse the unknown figure kept whispering beside me.

“Wake up now. Otherwise you really will be buried alive under work.”

“No…… ugh…… the worst……”

“We have to catch the one who attempted to destroy your property.”

Flash.

My eyes flew open.

Someone murmured near my pillow, “Wow, that’s amazing…… so the Grand Duke really was right,” but I didn’t hear it. The nightmare had been that awful.

“That was such a terrible dream…… piles and piles of documents……”

“There’s some right here too. Documents.”

“Aaaagh! You scared me!”

I screamed at the white paper and black text abruptly shoved in front of my face. Wh-what, it wasn’t a dream?

I pushed the paper aside, and Edrian’s face appeared.

“You wouldn’t wake up no matter what, so I came to get you up. Who sleeps a whole day and a half? This is the site report. The Grand Duke left it for you.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“Don’t worry. He only stopped by for a moment.”

“I mean I skipped a meal.”

“Oh, that’s what you meant.”

Edrian let out a dumbfounded laugh.

No matter how exhausted I was, I always made sure to eat properly — so how worn out must I have been to skip a meal and just sleep? The shock of losing the mine must have hit me harder than I’d realized.

“Oh, right, the mine!”

“You’ve been slow on the uptake for a while now. The doctor said you were fine, but did you hit your head?”

“What did you say the Grand Duke left?”

“The site report. I’ll have a light meal brought up — eat first, then look at it.”

So the thing he’d shoved in front of my face earlier must have been the report the Grand Duke left.

When had he found the time to investigate and put together a report while I was sleeping like a log? He’s a frightening man.

Edrian grabbed my head and turned it this way and that to examine it before letting go. Right on cue, a servant set down a sandwich and a warm milk tea before leaving.

I picked up the sandwich and asked.

“Is that all the Grand Duke left?”

“Yeah.”

“He didn’t look hurt anywhere?”

“Not at all.”

“That’s a relief.”

I should have asked him myself and thanked him properly, but I’d been asleep and missed the chance entirely.

Since he’d come in person, it didn’t seem like he’d be sending Pongpong separately today either, which left me wondering how I should get my thanks to him.

Maybe I should go visit him with a gift in hand.

As I filled my hungry stomach with the sandwich, Edrian sat down across from me and spoke.

“You’ve eaten a bit now, so I’ll tell you.”

“Tell me what?”

“There’s bad news and worse news. Which do you want to hear first?”

I was about to shove in the last bite when his words made my eyes go wide, and I shook my head.

“I don’t want to hear either.”

“They’re both about the mine. They say it’s completely collapsed — there’s nothing left to salvage.”

“No. I said I don’t want to hear it.”

“And the worse news is, that damage compensation insurance you took out won’t be valid either. Since it was used in a crime against the state, it’s being seized as imperial property.”

“What did you say.”

Plop. The last bite of sandwich dropped onto the plate.

“So I get no compensation at all……”

“Yep. You’re broke.”

Edrian smirked, the corner of his mouth tugging up in an annoying way, as he jeered.

“That’s ridiculous. No, I’m the victim here, why? I even had insurance!”

“Pretty unfortunate, isn’t it.”

“I even have documents proving I wasn’t involved in the crime!”

I huffed with indignation.

And with good reason. On one shelf of my bookcase sat a folder labeled “Aislin Mine Development Records,” along with the mining plan, production performance reports, and even the mining rights registration. Every single one was a notarized document.

I’d prepared meticulously, covering every conceivable contingency. To have lost the mine overnight despite going to such lengths felt unbearably unjust and infuriating.

I immediately thrust the notarized documents at Edrian and said,

“Look at this! Touch the paper! Can you feel the signature? Mine notarization documents get signed with special ink mixed with lime powder. You knew that, right?”

“Didn’t know that.”

“This isn’t a forgery, it’s a real notarized document! Guaranteed by the Empire!”

“Before imperial law, there are no nobles.”

Edrian kept teasing me, singing “Our youngest’s gone broke~ what’ll we do~” until I gave his shin a good kick with my uninjured foot.

Of course, I knew I could live comfortably off the family’s money for the rest of my life without ever working. But no matter how noble one’s birth, getting caught up the wrong way in a major incident could bring ruin in an instant.

Troubled, I dropped my head and glared at the carpet on the floor. After everything I’d done this lifetime to build myself a secure, happy future.

When I stayed silent for a long while, Edrian, sensing something was off, drew closer.

“Eirin, are you crying? Hey, come on, over something like this…… the family still has money, you’re not really going to end up broke. I’ll give you some pocket money, at least……”

“You’re all dead.”

“Ugh!”

Having finished my thought, I snapped my head up. Edrian, caught under the chin by the top of my head, slumped to the floor groaning, but I paid him no attention.

“I can’t just sit still.”

“Ow, ow…… Please, just sit still.”

I’d had insurance, and as the victim I’d figured I’d eventually get compensated, so I’d planned to stay quiet and wait. But I’d changed my mind.

“I’m going to catch them. Whoever blew up my mine.”

“That’s a job for the search party and us.”

“Right. Us.”

“That ‘us’ doesn’t include you.”

I wasn’t a knight, and I wasn’t part of the search party, but still!

Living in this world, I’d found that how things got handled here was slow to the point of infuriating. This case probably wouldn’t be any different.

It might take years for the case to be resolved. No — however long it took, it would be a relief if it were ever solved at all.

If the search party fell apart partway through, everything would come to nothing.

If you want something done, do it yourself.

I steeled my resolve, determined to shake off the vague, gloomy feeling.

In my past life, I’d been caught up in all sorts of incidents — rental deposit fraud, job scams, phone scams, and so on……

Every single time, I hadn’t had the money to hire a lawyer or an attorney, so I’d run around everywhere on my own and somehow solved it by myself.

“I can’t just sit around like this. Right now— huh, Ed, your nose is bleeding.”

“That’s because of you……”

“It must be really dry out. Take better care of yourself. You’ll need to work hard and earn money to support your poor broke little sister, after all.”

I patted Edrian, gathered up the documents, and shooed him out of the room.

No one can stop me now.