The noble guests, drunk on alcohol and drugs, did not understand exactly what had happened. A strange man said the party was over.

Beatrice, honestly, also raised her hazy eyes and smiled first when the unfamiliar man from the guild appeared.

With her mind clouded, buried among the people, she thought. Ah, I should sleep with that man tonight. The desire to release her pent-up urges, suppressed to please the emperor, was overflowing towards that strangely attractive man.

“Ah.”

The mood was slightly dampened, but even the person who dampened it could be made to join the banquet. Grinning, she rose and took a step forward. Her mind was still clear. She had to hold onto her senses until the emperor arrived.

If the emperor saw Beatrice having a good time with a young man, he would feel an interesting emotion like slight jealousy or irritation.

Then he would at least try to make the boring night play more fun. Either way, it was good for Beatrice.

“Let’s have fun together.”

Muttering something like that, she approached the man. She knew best how alluring her slightly disheveled appearance would be.

But before her outstretched hand could reach the man, he abruptly held out a piece of paper to her. No, he just pressed it into her hand. Then he frowned at her.

“We’ll need to clean up first.”

Then when she came to her senses, she was outside. As if swept away by an invisible river, people in disarray streamed out through the wide-open doors, all the way to the outer gate.

Of course, the reporters waiting outside discovered them. As if being cleaned out, the food and gambling tables, tables strewn with alcohol and drugs, and even men and women collapsed on top of them all came tumbling out.

While the party Beatrice had hosted was fully exposed to the public outside, all the doors of Hill House slammed shut with a clang.

“Huh? What?”

While an invited guest still holding a wine glass looked bewildered, the reporters eagerly began to sketch this incredible scene. At that moment, inside a plain carriage climbing the hill towards this place from far below, the emperor asked.

“What is that?”

“I’ll go check briefly, sir.”

He who had expected to mingle incognito at the banquet Beatrice had prepared soon heard the report from the servant who returned.

“All the banquet attendees have suddenly come out. There are reporters in front.”

Being noticed would do no good. The emperor shook his head.

“Let’s go back.”

And so the fun party came to an end.

*

The next day, every newspaper had similar large headlines on the front page.

Lady Laval, Hill House Seized!

To be precise, it was seized because the Duke of Monde didn’t repay his debts, but the reporters didn’t hesitate to use the name of the party host. In any case, Beatrice’s wish had come true.

Everyone was talking about the party she had thrown. The identities of the invited guests whose ugly appearances were blatantly exposed were revealed one by one, and all sorts of commentators came forward to criticize the obscene level.

Displaying others’ misfortunes is enjoyable for everyone.

Beatrice, who had been revered as the flower and queen of high society, lost all face overnight. With the property seized, she now had to repay the debt immediately while also being sued for hosting a lewd party.

“Just pay off the lawsuit with some money and end it.”

Beatrice wasn’t shouting yet. More precisely, she wasn’t in a state of mind to shout.

She couldn’t understand how and why this had happened. To think that she, who had always been at the center of a group everyone wanted to get closer to, would experience such a thing!

“And quickly contact that Inseni-something or Draken.”

“I’ve already done so.”

The butler handed Beatrice the reply he had already opened, with a troubled expression. She quickly snatched the envelope and read it.

“…What is this? In short, it’s saying they don’t want to see my face until I repay the debt.”

Beatrice reflexively closed her eyes, thinking of her childhood when she had to tear apart Monde Castle to pay off debts. She absolutely, absolutely did not want to go through that again. Since then, how desperately she had struggled to hold on until now!

It seemed the guild had taken a hard-line approach because she didn’t marry when they told her to. But she couldn’t end this life with something like marriage.

Even if she somehow covered the debt with her husband’s money right after marriage, she would eventually have to sell off all her jewelry, art, real estate, and wineries. That’s how she would become an ordinary, old-fashioned noble.

“…What are they going to do with Hill House?”

“We don’t know yet about that.”

“Tell them to put it up for auction. Here’s money, add more to it and send it, and tell them to stop making a fuss.”

Beatrice pushed the box of money she had received from the emperor. She had no intention of reclaiming the property now tainted by scandal anyway. Let’s somehow raise money and put out the urgent fire first.

Who was the person holding the most money right now? Her mother, still drunk, was of no help. Beatrice, who had climbed up from the bottom step by step, would not yield to this much.

What happened today would all be forgotten when she reached the pinnacle of power. She clenched her trembling fists and thought over and over.

“Is there still nothing about that guild?”

Beatrice was using all her connections to find out about the guild that had taken over all the debt. But the butler didn’t bring any useful information, and neither did her friends.

“It’s a place we’ve never seen before.”

“Right. That’s what everyone is saying.”

Never seen before, no information, never heard of, don’t know such a man, et cetera. It was a suddenly appeared big hand, and while calling itself a guild, no one knew what it dealt in.

“Is there really no information?”

Beatrice finally asked irritably.

“There are some trivial things…”

“Then you should at least give me those!”

The butler, who had tried to gather more information fearing she would yell at him for bringing such trifles, had no choice but to open his mouth at the sudden shout.

“They were really trivial things, not worth reporting.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

“Well, first, the guild was established not long ago. The source of their funds is unclear. They mysteriously picked out just the creditors and took over all of our duke’s debts, but we don’t know where that money and information came from.”

Beatrice rubbed her forehead.

“Tell me what you don’t know, not what I already know.”

This was why he hadn’t reported it. The butler quickly brought up one more very trivial and minor fact.

“We don’t know what they sell either, so we tried to contact some of the former creditors, but some of them can’t be reached.”

“Yes, that’s what I’m talking about. That’s what I wanted. Why are you being so frustrating when you’re so capable? Why can’t they be contacted?”

The butler cleared his throat and answered.

“The reasons are too unclear to report yet. Some are on long-term trips, and some can’t be contacted at all. We’re investigating. And the city where the guild is registered is Avenlo.”

“Avenlo? Where is that? Ah, there? There’s not much to see there.”

It was a small resort town that took a while to recall. It was too far from Klein, close to the northwest, with hot springs. The only reason Beatrice recalled it after so long was because she knew someone there.

“The Alemici viscounts have a villa there, don’t they?”

More precisely, it was where the current empress stayed for a long time before getting married. It was something she vaguely remembered from hearing the emperor talk about the empress so much that she was sick of it.

“It’s strange.”

Selling hot spring water to buy up all of the Monde duke’s 83 million liquet debt?

“Well done. Look into it more. I’ll look into it too. From now on, bring me everything you find out as soon as you do.”

“Yes, I understand.”

No, she had to move right away too. Beatrice stood up abruptly.

*

While people were all busy either burying their noses in newspapers or chatting about the articles’ contents, Kaella was continuing her usual calm and ordinary life. Her daily routine was similar to that of a noble lady, yet slightly different.

First of all, it was different in that she woke up in her husband’s arms tightly embracing her, then had breakfast with him. After eating, Kaella was reading the newspaper when she suddenly looked up.

“Did you go out last night?”

Peon, who had been expecting her to speak informally today, made a disappointed expression.

“Yeah. Did I wake you?”

It seemed like she almost woke up but fell back asleep, so he thought it was fortunate.

“No. I just felt like you might have.”

Then Kaella went back to reading the newspaper. There was no change in her expression as she read the article reporting how Beatrice’s party had fallen apart.

“…Aren’t you angry?”

“Pardon?”

Kaella looked at Peon again. He was still waiting for her answer.

“Why would I be angry?”

“Well…, no, never mind.”

No matter how hard he tried to explain, he’d only end up hurting himself. A wife who doesn’t question her husband at all for going out for a bit at night looked at him with eyes that seemed to say ‘why is he acting like this?’ before turning away.

She wouldn’t ask more since he said never mind. She probably wouldn’t be curious either. Even if he met another woman outside, Kaella wouldn’t be curious at all.

She would quietly fulfill her duties and not pay attention to her husband’s private life, displaying the virtue of a noblewoman, and if the opportunity to die came, she would immediately throw herself at it.

Damn death, damn rival in love.

“I went to that party.”

“Ah.”

Kaella looked at him, made an expression of realization with an “ah,” and then nodded a little later.

“I see.”

Then she turned her head again.

“…Is that all?”

Kaella turned to look at him again, as if she didn’t understand.

“The contents of that party are all written there. I said I went there.”

Even after saying that much, she just looked at him with clear eyes.

“Don’t you have anything to say?”

A person could become this miserable in the face of such intense indifference.

Then, how many times must Kaella have been this miserable in the past 4 years? Thinking about that too made Peon even more distressed. At that time, Kaella probably didn’t love him. Because he wasn’t someone who could be loved.

Then, is the pain he’s feeling now greater? He hoped so. Because it’s an emotion too difficult for that frail and small woman to bear.

Kaella just stared at him blankly.

“You don’t even despise me?”

After saying that much, she thought for a moment and asked. No, she deigned to ask.

“Was the party enjoyable?”

It was a very formal, courteous question to ask someone who said they attended a party. Peon covered his eyes with his large hand.

“No, I’m sorry. I was wrong.”

How presumptuous to do the begging that even Kaella didn’t dare to do. He didn’t even have the right to feel miserable that she didn’t care at all.

“I’m sorry.”

Kaella stared at him for a while, then lowered her gaze.

“…I went to stop that party.”

The couple continued their conversation without facing each other. Peon rubbed his face several times.

“I thought so.”

Kaella murmured, looking down at the newspaper. No matter how much she searched the newspaper, Peon’s name didn’t appear.

But the article’s description of all the invited guests, along with waiters and security, pouring out as if riding a rapid current was clearly a strange power.

It was Peon’s power that only Kaella would notice. That’s why it was bothersome, but also why she hadn’t asked where he had been all night.

“Really? Ah, I see…”

So she already knew and that’s why she didn’t ask, Peon felt a little relieved. Kaella is smart, so she must have noticed as soon as she read the article. He ignored the feeling of being more miserable because of the relief.

“I didn’t do anything, just stopped it and came back. I seized that property.”

Finally, a question appeared on her face. That makes him feel more relieved. Ah. He had caught her attention again in this moment. He succeeded in not boring her. If he slipped even a little, she would find him bothersome again.

So he had to voluntarily spill out everything she had sensed but ignored, like paying taxes in advance. He had to make her know everything, even if she didn’t want to know. That was the only way he could live.

“It says here some guild seized it…”

“That guild is mine. Under a different name.”

Guild? Kaella’s eyes grew rounder as she finally looked at him directly.

Peon thought this much was needed for her to at least look at him for a moment. While she doesn’t even fear death and looks at it, he has to perform all sorts of antics and change the world to barely get her to glance at him.

“I named it ‘Insenidraken’. The Monde ducal family owes the guild 83 million liquets. So I seized it yesterday.”

Peon savored the moment Kaella looked at him sufficiently.

“You should know. My wife should know about my financial situation.”

“…The unpaid money is 83 million liquets?”

“Ah.”

His purple eyes suddenly flashed.

“Are you going to scold me?”

The husband who should be watching her reaction was smiling.