Chapter 46

Bayern manor, reception room—

A man in his early sixties.

Viscount Courtney wiped the cold sweat from his palms onto his knees as he looked at Duke Bayern elegantly sipping tea in front of him.

For several minutes now, the Duke had remained silent after exchanging greetings.

Despite the young Duke’s calm demeanor, Courtney felt an intense pressure because he had something to be guilty about.

‘Surely nothing has gone wrong… right?’

Several nobles contributed to the country’s major event held twice a year.

More than half of the donated goods came from the great nobles, while the rest came from minor nobles like himself. To make an impression on the imperial family, they had to donate as much as possible.

So, he had mixed old, hard-to-dispose-of grains with freshly milled ones and sent them off…

‘Surely not. There hasn’t been an issue for years, so it can’t be…’

If that were the case, there would be no reason for the Duke to summon him, nor for him to endure the indignity of waiting two hours in the reception room. He tried to calm his rising anxiety.

Unable to bear the suffocating silence any longer, he finally spoke up.

“Um, Your Grace, why have you called me here…?”

Clink.

Ash, who had been leisurely savoring the silence, put down his teacup and spoke.

“You should know why I summoned you.”

“I’m sorry, but I have no idea…”

Viscount Courtney awkwardly replied with a sycophantic smile, prompting a mocking glint in Ash’s grey eyes.

He had given the man a chance to confess voluntarily.

But the Viscount’s foolishness, in desperately trying to avoid the worst-case scenario, amused him.

“Aide.”

At Ash’s signal, Hozi, standing behind him, handed Viscount Courtney some documents.

“What, what is this…?”

Viscount Courtney’s strong hands began to tremble as he grasped the papers.

The documents proved the situation he had hoped wasn’t true.

The warehouse had been wrecked by the goods he had sent.

“Your Grace, this can’t be! This is a baseless accusation. I would never do such a thing…!”

Having never encountered a problem before, he had grown complacent.

How he now regretted not heeding his aide’s advice to focus on quality over quantity, even if it meant moving down the donor list a bit.

“Anticipating this reaction, we’ve prepared more.”

As Viscount Courtney denied the allegations, Hozi smiled and handed him more documents.

One, two, three…

The papers piled up like fallen leaves, and Courtney’s face grew increasingly pale.

“How, how did you…?”

The documents detailed the meticulously hidden corruption within the Courtney household.

If revealed, it would result in confiscation of assets and demotion to a barony or forced labor.

“Why would someone who isn’t insane do such a thing?”

The young Duke’s languid voice pierced his mind, which had turned as blank as a white sheet.

With such thorough preparation, there was no way out.

Viscount Courtney, in a state of despair, asked,

“Your Grace, what do you want from me…?”

“Proof and a written confession that, when your second son presided over my guardianship trial two years ago, it involved my wife’s grandfather.”

“That’s…!”

“Provide that, and I’ll overlook this incident and your family’s corruption.”

Suspicion flickered in the Viscount’s eyes.

‘Will he really overlook all this for just that?’

The future of his second son versus the safety of his family.

There was no need to weigh the two.

In a world where primogeniture was the rule, the sacrifice of a second son was too common.

For the family’s sake, it was only right to sacrifice the legal career of his grown, independent second son.

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