“It’s a pity. Lord Nicholas was quite good at this sort of thing.”

“No, I’m already grateful enough that Lord Daniel is helping me. But… Lord Nicholas? Who is that?”

“Ah, yes. He was the former tax collector of Inkhart Castle. When I returned from inspecting the territory with Lord Darius, who was still the heir then, he was no longer at the castle.”

Daniel added.

“That was around the time Lady Egritte took over the castle’s internal affairs. According to Lady Egritte, he retired due to his age.”

Daniel said, as if belatedly regretting it.

“Now that I think about it, I suspect Nicholas, with his accounting knowledge, might have been driven out for opposing Lady Egritte.”

I dropped the quill pen I was holding, my mouth agape.

“Lady Anette?”

“Where is he? Where is he now?”

Eureka. There was someone who could work in my place!

* * *

Nicholas Graus was a gentleman with a neat mustache. Having served as a tax collector for a territory for 30 years, he was now enjoying a comfortable retirement that anyone would envy.

“Mr. Nicholas Graus?”

At least, that was the case until the Duchess of Inkhart Castle tracked him down.

“Wow, you look healthy.”

Why? Nicholas felt a chill run down his spine for the first time in a long while.

“Please become my Hwang Hee.”

I’ll work you as hard as King Sejong did.

Nicholas didn’t know exactly what that meant, but he instinctively felt that he shouldn’t accept this offer.

“Ho ho, this old man has been living a leisurely life in retirement for a long time now.”

Look at my house. I have a comfortable rocking chair and a hunting dog. I’ve achieved everything I wanted. Why would I go back to work? At this age?

“I saw the documents you processed when you were in office. They were all clear in their reasoning and transparent in their accounting.”

Anette had almost cried when she saw those documents. I’ve found it, my human calculator! My human Excel!

They were of a different quality compared to the haphazard accounting documents that Lady Egritte had cobbled together.

So she made up her mind. I must bring this person back. I will definitely bring him back. And then I’ll make him do all my work.

“Oh my, that was years ago. I’m embarrassed.”

“You left the castle after fighting with Lady Egritte back then, didn’t you? It wasn’t a voluntary retirement.”

Nicholas’s face, which had been pretending to be a nice person, hardened.

The previous Duke fell ill, and Darius went on a tour to calm the unstable territory.

Taking advantage of the Duke’s illness and the heir’s weak influence, Lady Egritte, who took charge of internal affairs, lined her own pockets.

‘……’

Nicholas, who had momentarily recalled the situation at that time, snapped out of his reminiscence and spoke calmly.

“In my decades as a tax collector, I’ve seen all sorts of methods people use to evade tax collection. At that time, Lady Egritte was using all of those methods I had seen.”

Nevertheless, Lady Egritte couldn’t escape Nicholas’s eyes. Nicholas was the most meticulous tax collector in the Inkhart territory.

“Only after Lady Egritte, who had been blinding everyone’s eyes, died did we realize what a talent the Duke’s family had lost.”

Anette consoled him.

“The situation wasn’t good. If the previous Duke had been healthy then, or if my husband had remained at Inkhart Castle, they wouldn’t have let a competent talent like you be driven out.”

Nicholas sighed with regret at the belated fair judgment. Live long enough, and eventually, it’s proven that I was right.

“I appreciate your words, but it’s too late now.”

He had served Inkhart for decades, but Inkhart had not recognized his loyalty.

No matter how unavoidable the circumstances were, what was hurtful was still hurtful.

“Mr. Nicholas.”

Anette seriously took Nicholas’s wrinkled hand, who could be her grandfather’s age.

“They say a subject dies for the one who recognizes them. Conversely, a lord who fails to recognize a capable subject has no right to complain when that subject leaves.”

Nicholas’s wrinkled eyes glistened slightly with moisture.

“But isn’t it a shame for your decades of effort to end in dishonor? I promise you. This time will be different. This time, I will be your backing. No age is too late to fulfill one’s aspirations.”

“I appreciate your words, but……”

If only I had met you a little earlier.

The youth that guaranteed everything was dazzling.

If it weren’t for these creaking arms and legs, if it weren’t for the lifespan that couldn’t guarantee even tomorrow morning, Nicholas might have reluctantly followed Anette back to the castle.

“My lady, I am old and tired. I am merely glad that you have told me I am useful in the last moments of my life.”

Nicholas slowly tried to pull his hand away from Anette’s. Or rather, he tried to.

“My lady…?”

“Is it really not possible? I thought you wouldn’t be easily persuaded. Well, the workload of a tax collector should be somewhat murderous.”

Anette clung on like a leech, not letting go of his hand.

“I should leave the future to the young people and wrap up my life now.”

“Mmm, no, no. Life begins at 100. You’re still young, Mr. Nicholas. This is the prime age to be paying into retirement funds.”

“Wha-what are you saying……”

Nicholas was already receiving retirement funds and even had grandchildren. It was the age to sit grandchildren on his knee and watch them play.

So please, let go of my hand.

“No matter how emotionally I try to persuade you, you won’t withdraw your retirement decision, will you?”

Anette sighed.

“Mr. Nicholas Graus, I understand. This expensive house with cultured neighbors. You’ve chosen a house in a good location. It’s close to a doctor and there’s a park nearby. The location is perfect.”

‘If you understand, let me go. Don’t interfere with my comfortable retirement.’

“But how did you make money after retirement?”

“Ugh.”

“You seem to be richer now that you’ve retired than when you were working.”

“That’s… because I studied more than others… and invested a bit… everything I touched turned out well… that sort of…”

“Wow, you have the Midas touch. Have you thought about using that talent to further develop our territory?”

“I have not! That measly public servant salary!”

“I admit it’s measly, but still, investing with the development information you learned while working as a public servant is quite something.”

Nicholas Graus, who had been forced to retire by Lady Egritte, was no longer a public servant, so he bought land and made money without hesitation using the development information he knew.

“It-it might be a bit problematic ethically, but it’s not illegal! I bought everything after I retired anyway!”

I did profit a bit from speculation, but this house is my primary residence and I didn’t make that much…

Yes. In fact, Nicholas had been thinking that a day like this might come someday.

From the moment he confronted Lady Egritte, he had prepared himself for the possibility that she might not be satisfied with just driving him out, but might come to completely crush him.

That’s why his preparations were thorough.

“Legally, there’s no problem with my actions!”

“Oh, that’s right. There’s no problem now.”

Anette raised her index finger to point at herself.

“But who am I?”

“You’re the Duchess.”

“Can I make a law that says retired public servants can’t buy land using information they learned while in office, or can’t I?”

“Even if that law is made, I bought the land a long time ago!”

“Can I make an absurd law that applies current laws to past events in an absurd way, or can’t I?”

“What is that!”

“It’s called power. Come on, you know this.”

The power I wield is supreme. It’s thrilling, I love it. If someone else treated me like this, I’d sue them with a law book in hand, but now I’m the lord’s wife, so what can you do?

“I’ll sue.”

“In a world where even banks can’t collect royal debts? If His Majesty the King decides to throw a debt party, even banks have to wash their hands of it.”

In comparison, isn’t she recognizing his career and offering to pay him a salary? She’s more merciful than the king.

“After Lady Egritte died, she left behind a pile of documents full of holes. There’s no one in the Duke’s household who can solve this. You say you’re old, but in my opinion, you’re the only one who can solve this, Mr. Nicholas.”

“The current tax collectors at the castle are all people I trained…”

“Those young tax collectors all say that Nicholas Graus is the best when it comes to accounting.”

“Even if you say it like that, I won’t fall for it!”

“Then shall we adjust the salary?”

“What?”

“Three times your original wage. But since it’s still a measly public servant salary even if I say this, I’ll add a condition. Improve the tax revenue situation that Lady Egritte messed up, and take a percentage as a bonus based on your performance.”

“You can’t buy me with mere money…!”

“I won’t say anything even if you take more than twenty times your original salary. If you have the ability to improve that much.”

Twenty times?

“You… you.”

It was too large an amount to say that mere money couldn’t sway me.

Even twenty mouse tails can become a tiger’s tail when gathered.

“Then, until when is my retirement age?”

“Retirement age, let’s discuss that as we go along.”

Huh? Since when does retirement age need discussion? Nicholas Graus, blinded by money, missed an important fact.

Thanks to someone’s wrong choice driven by greed, the Inkhart territory became a slightly better place to live today. Anette felt satisfied.