Chapter 33

“I am being framed, Marquis! This is a trap!”

Bartolo, accused by me and Kiara, put on a flashy display of damage control as if he hadn’t been idle all this time.

“You can’t punish my lord’s aide on circumstantial evidence alone!”

“If you put it that way, that maid looks more suspicious!”

“Even if the person who tampered with the documents is Sir Bartolo, you can’t immediately call him a spy, can you?”

When it came to a crisis, it became clear who was on his side.

“The party was a success, so it’s best not to blow this up and let it pass.”

And they were trying to bury the matter. A true aide would have insisted on a clear, open investigation.

Kiara, unable to stand it, stepped forward.

“Father, this can’t just be swept under the rug! He tampered with documents I didn’t authorize, and the circumstances point strongly to him being a plant! On top of that, he even laid a hand on my aide!”

Her tone was far more agitated than the lady usually was.

“Th-that isn’t true! Look, does that woman—no, that child—have so much as a scratch on her face?”

Amid the raised voices, Marquis Aurelius frowned as if with a headache and kept tapping his desk with his index finger.

‘No matter how doting a father he is, it seems it’s not easy for him to discard a close aide. That’s a good quality as a superior, but he really has no eye for people.’

I had assumed that as a high noble he’d act decisively once convinced, but apparently not. I decided to end the Marquis’s dilemma quickly.

“I’ll find clear evidence.”

“What?”

That greasy bastard reacted fastest. The Marquis asked with a half-doubtful look.

“Can you do it?”

“Yes. But grant me investigative authority, and restrict aide Bartolo’s movements until the investigation concludes so he can’t act rashly.”

“Marquis, that’s absurd! To limit the movements of an innocent man?”

“You mustn’t be swayed by the words of a fresh, young aide yet!”

The greasy bastard brazenly protested Bartolo’s innocence. But I had a card left to play.

“In case you haven’t heard, on the night of the party His Grace, the Duke of Ariadne, stopped Bartolo from striking me. That’s why I have no injuries. I told him I would investigate and handle the matter properly at the Marquis’s residence, so it was quietly let go. If I hadn’t, there would certainly have been a blot on Lady Kiara’s party. If the Marquis handles this thoroughly, His Grace the Duke won’t make an issue of it.”

“….”

“….”

The study fell silent at the mention of the empire’s top elite.

“Is that true, Bartolo?”

“….”

At the Marquis’s confirmation, the greasy bastard’s face turned beet-red and he couldn’t utter a word.

“Regardless of the issue, your conduct has been disappointing.”

“M-Marquis!”

“I grant Aide Cornelia investigative authority for one week. If you fail to bring clear evidence within that time, you have sullied my aide’s honor and will be dismissed from Lady Kiara’s service.”

“Father!”

Kiara shrieked, and I accepted it calmly.

“Understood, Marquis.”

“Cornelia!”

When the Marquis, evidently tired of arguing, left the room, the others dispersed at once. Two knights of the Marquis’s household escorted the Gichu bastard out. He won’t act rashly anymore, I thought.

“Cornelia, what on earth are you going to do!”

Kiara grabbed my arm and shook me. Her eyes showed a mix of confusion, annoyance, and anger. I held her arm and reassured her.

“Don’t worry. I won’t be fired.”

“How can you be so sure?”

I gently took her hand and smiled.

“There’s no one in this world who does something just once.”

He did not disappoint, as expected.

Judging by how he handled things, he didn’t seem capable of being more than a low-level villain. That proved true the moment I ransacked his office.

“Good grief… he’s been ripping them off a lot, hasn’t he?”

These kinds of report documents are so obscure that even maids and servants barely understand them, so they were managed sloppily. The Marquis didn’t know, and considering how Bartolo had been brazenly harassing the Marquis’s servants, there was no reason they’d be on guard.

‘Still, I need evidence related to espionage…’

The documents I found showed evidence of embezzlement from the Marquis’s household budget, ledger falsification, and bribes from other merchant guilds. The sums individually weren’t staggering, but the long-running nature of the corruption added up. The Marquis may have tolerated some skimming, but this level would be hard to let pass.

I neatly gathered up the documents for now.

“Aide Cornelia. Do you need anything else?”

“Aide, shall I leave this here?”

The servants asked solicitously. Meloni said she wasn’t the only one pleased at the Gichu bastard’s plight.

“Father… why did he keep a bastard like that as an aide?”

Kiara, who had interrogated the servants at my request, couldn’t hide her look of disgust. The servants didn’t lie in front of her unusual charisma. Especially important was their assurance that she would ensure the greasy bastard couldn’t harm them.

“I’ll show you how important it is to have someone outstanding not just in skill but in character.”

Working overtime voluntarily, I sorted the evidence by the destructive impact it would have on him and replied.

“If Father still won’t throw him out after this, I’ll resort to extreme measures myself.”

A moment of unease hit me.

“…What are you planning to do?”

Kiara lifted her chin as if it were obvious.

“I’ll disguise myself as a maid and make Father witness that bastard harassing me.”

“What?!”

I had for a moment forgotten how extraordinary our lady was. I hastily tried to calm her.

“…The effect would be perfect, but you don’t need to subject yourself to such a disgusting act voluntarily.”

“I’m only saying if—if it comes to that. I really don’t want to go that far either.”

Before my high-noble boss went through with a plan to be voluntarily sexually harassed, I desperately searched for proof he was a spy. There were a few circumstantial clues, but none led to clear evidence. Frustrated, I went out to the garden for some air.

“This is my chance to take him out in one blow…”

“Aide Cornelia.”

A strange voice called me then. When I turned, it was a servant from the Marquis’s residence.

“Hello. What can I do for you?”

“Meloni said the aide was here.”

He took something from his pocket and handed it over. It looked like a letter, with burn marks as if someone had tried to burn it.

“I found it when cleaning aide Bartolo’s office. I don’t know why someone tried to burn it, but I thought it should be kept, so I’ve held onto it. I think you’ll find it more useful than I would, Aide Cornelia.”

Though singed, the letter was clearly in Bartolo’s handwriting. It contained details about the dress Kiara had worn to the party before I arrived to work for her, and additional information about the Marquis household’s affairs.

I clicked my tongue in disbelief.

‘The ringleader who humiliated the lady was someone from the Marquis’s own residence.’

“I’m sorry I couldn’t deliver this until now.”

“It’s alright.”

I denied their apology firmly. The fault lay not with him but with the greasy bastard. He’d probably been afraid of the repercussions of delivering it rashly. Whistleblowing is never easy.

“Thank you for your courage.”

The next day, the Marquis’s residence was thrown into turmoil once more.

The Marquis and his loyal retainers trembled with betrayal, while the Marquis’s wife and Kiara were furious at his disgusting behavior. The shock even laid the Marquis low for several days.

“Marquis, it’s a frame, I am being framed!”

“Can you still sit there in silence after seeing such clear evidence!”

The greasy bastard sweated profusely and prostrated himself in apology.

“I was short-sighted! If you forgive me this once, I swear I’ll never do it again…!”

It was clearly not a one-off mistake. It was long-planned corruption and betrayal. No one, not even his people, could defend him to this point. The Marquis, with an unusually sharp gaze, ordered:

“Whatever else, we cannot let a spy slip away from my house. Torture him, expose everyone involved, and deal with each and every one—leave none alive.”

“Yes!”

“M-Marquis, please spare me! Please spare me!”

The Marquis’s knights arrested the greasy bastard and all the retainers linked to the evidence. Strangely, the names in the documents matched perfectly with those who had fervently defended his crimes.

“Aide Cornelia.”

Suddenly the Marquis called me.

“Yes, Marquis.”

“The household will be in upheaval for a while. Until things are settled and a new aide is appointed, take over that position temporarily.”

“Wh-what?”

“…?”

“Y-yes….”

That greasy bastard was useless to the end.

My side job also faced an unexpected situation. I felt a cold sweat trickle down inside the Quokka (mask) and shouted at the lamb sitting across from me.