Mikhail laughed meaningfully and changed the topic again.

“But shouldn’t we make him confess in front of everyone else? What if he changes his story later?”

Relieved at the change of subject, Karina spoke as if there was no problem.

“Once we obtain the evidence he mentioned, he won’t be able to easily change his story later. What I wanted from the beginning was solid evidence anyway.”

“Then that act earlier was to find out where the evidence is?”

“That’s right.”

Karina affirmed.

Besides the evidence, there was actually another purpose.

More important than the evidence was ‘making Genan think Caroline betrayed him’.

Genan would complain about being wronged to the people around him, and the noble ladies close to him would defend and protect him.

‘Even if we try to hush up what happened today, it will spread quickly through people’s mouths.’

That’s why she deliberately invited the daughter of Count Medius, who owned a major media company, to be there.

Once it was confirmed that such an unsavory incident occurred, it was only a matter of time before Caroline became the talk of the town.

No. Even at this moment, news of what happened in the study would be spreading among the people in the venue.

‘Just as I experienced in the past, Caroline must also go through the same experience of being criticized and condemned by everyone.’

Genan’s incident was enough to add strength to what Karina was about to do from now on.

This incident alone wasn’t enough firepower to deal a big blow to Caroline anyway.

‘What I want is for Caroline to fall so low that she can never rise again.’

Karina’s eyes sank deeply.

“Now that we know where the evidence is, it’s a race against time. We need to secure the evidence before today is over.”

Karina asked Mikhail with a serious face.

“Can you go to Lord Genan’s mansion and find the evidence? The sooner the better.”

“That’s a piece of cake for me. I’ll be back right away.”

Mikhail smiled, gently raising the corners of his mouth.

‘What on earth is going on!’

Caroline anxiously bit her lip.

‘When did that insolent thing gather people? The plan has gone all wrong!’

Caroline frowned, narrowing her eyes.

Even though Genan was known to be a frivolous playboy, he was still a member of a count’s family.

The situation was different from the merchant at the previous banquet.

It was difficult to threaten or kill Genan to silence him.

True to his reputation as a playboy, there were quite a few noble ladies in high society who liked and protected him, so it was difficult for her to handle the aftermath alone.

Caroline felt her insides burning up.

As soon as she left the study, she called for her maid.

‘You must deliver this quietly without anyone knowing. Do not let anyone find out! Understand?’

She handed over a hastily scribbled note and returned to the venue.

Then she began searching for Revals.

Originally, she had refrained from meeting him closely in public places, but now there was no time to worry about that.

But no matter how much she looked, Revals was nowhere to be seen.

‘Things have gotten so messed up, where on earth is Revals!’

Irritated, Caroline spotted the back of Revals’ younger sister, Lady Lambarda.

Caroline immediately walked over and grabbed her shoulder, turning her around.

“Ouch!”

Lady Lambarda groaned and staggered at the rough grip on her shoulder.

“Lady Caroline?”

Lady Lambarda looked at Caroline with surprised eyes at the sudden situation.

“Lady Lambarda. Where is Revals now?”

“What? My brother?”

Lady Lambarda couldn’t hide her bewilderment at Caroline’s abrupt question about her brother.

“My second brother said he wouldn’t be able to attend the event today because of mining business.”

“How can you say that now!”

“What? Oh, I’m… I’m sorry.”

Lady Lambarda apologized without knowing why, at Caroline’s irritated outburst.

“But Lady Caroline. Are you perhaps close with my brother Revals?”

“Why are you suddenly asking that?”

Caroline reacted sensitively.

“Just now, you called my brother… by his first name Revals.”

“…!”

Caroline’s eyes widened.

Only then did Caroline realize she had made a mistake.

In her excitement, she had unconsciously called him by his name as she usually did.

“I didn’t know you were close since I’ve never seen you meeting with my brother separately.”

“…”

Caroline, at a loss for words for a moment, only glanced around.

Those watching the situation from nearby were glancing at them with curious gazes.

Some were even leaning in, waiting to hear Caroline’s next words.

“…The mine.”

Caroline managed to blurt out an excuse that had just occurred to her.

“Yes. The mine!”

Caroline put on a formal smile.

“We met once to help with the mining business, remember? I called him by name then to avoid confusion with the eldest son of the Lambarda family, and I made a mistake just now without realizing it.”

“Ah… I see.”

But even after hearing Caroline’s words, Lady Lambarda couldn’t hide her dubious expression.

Because she knew that at the time Caroline met with her father, the head of the Lambarda earldom, and her brother Revals for the mining business,

Her eldest brother had been away from the north for quite a while on business in the capital.

She immediately realized Caroline’s words were a lie, but she wasn’t tactless enough to say it out loud.

“I’ll take my leave now as I have some matters to attend to.”

Caroline quickly left, as if in a hurry.

But as soon as she left, the whispering around grew louder.

“For the Grand Duchess to call the second son of the Lambarda family by name.”

“She said it was to avoid confusion with the eldest son of the Lambarda family.”

“Didn’t it feel too informal and friendly for that?”

“That’s right. She definitely just called him ‘Revals’ by name.”

The words people were throwing out one by one grew in volume.

“Lady Lambarda. Do you perhaps know anything?”

One young lady, covering her mouth with a fan, tried to probe Lady Lambarda.

“Well, I’m not sure either.”

Since she really didn’t know anything, Lady Lambarda could only answer that way.

Karina returned to the event hall.

‘Where is Caroline?’

As Karina looked around, she spotted Caroline in the distance talking with some businessmen.

She scanned the faces of those conversing with Caroline.

‘They’re all people from the report Selena gave me.’

The investigation of those people had already been entrusted to the ‘Flower Shop’ and the overall assessment was complete.

After reviewing the contents of the report, it was clear that Caroline was looking after her own interests not just in orphanages, but in various other places as well.

She was receiving kickbacks in exchange for selecting businesses to receive investment funds from the North, or designating companies to receive poverty relief funds and then taking a cut of those funds.

There were also substantial assets and bribes received in lieu of money, such as land or mansion ownership documents, or high-value items like jewels, fragrances, and expensive silks.

Honestly, when first investigating the orphanage incident, she didn’t expect it to be this extensive.

‘It’s actually fortunate that she has her hands in so many places. We can deal with her definitively this way.’

Karina smiled inwardly.

Once Mikhail found the evidence Genan mentioned, she planned to use that as a starting point to put pressure on Caroline in earnest.

‘I wonder if he’s arrived at Count Genan’s house by now?’

Karina estimated the time since Mikhail’s departure and thought.

At that moment.

“Grand Duchess. I’ve returned.”

It was Mikhail’s voice.

Karina turned to him with a startled expression.

He was standing there, smiling brightly.

“You’re back already?”

Mikhail winked at the surprised Karina and smiled.

“You didn’t forget that I’m a magician, did you?”

“Ah…”

She had forgotten.

“I’m more capable than you might think. So please use me more, Grand Duchess.”

Mikhail said playfully, meeting Karina’s eyes.

Karina chuckled.

Mikhail showed Karina the evidence he had found.

The evidence was quite useful.

It was a promissory note for a large sum of money and a deed of transfer for a mansion that Genan was supposed to receive from Caroline after this incident was resolved.

The transfer deed contained details about handing over a 5-story antique mansion in the Rengton area to him, along with Caroline’s signature.

The Rengton area was not far from the center where noble families gathered, but due to inconvenient transportation and its remote surroundings, there was surprisingly little traffic of people.

Recalling, she had heard that Genan frequently used that mansion as a place to secretly meet with and seduce noble ladies.

Karina sneered.

In the past and even now.

The reason she remembered this mansion so clearly, despite never having visited it, was simple.

The Grand Duchess built the mansion to seduce Genan, other women are taking turns using that mansion, she stupidly did something that only benefited others, and so on.

It was because people who loved gossip used this mansion as a means to disparage Karina and make her a laughingstock.

‘Back then, I didn’t understand why they were making up stories and felt bitter. So Caroline was the one who gave this?’

Realizing that this fact had been distorted and spread, she couldn’t help but laugh bitterly.

‘It was even more rotten than I thought. Thanks to that, this is really perfect.’

With evidence like this, she thought there was no need to wait for Jeremiah to separately interrogate and investigate Lord Genan.

Karina immediately approached Caroline.

“…?”

Caroline faced Karina, not hiding her unpleasant demeanor.

“Grand Duchess. I thought you had returned to your room, are you still here?”

Caroline’s tone as she said this was extremely prickly.

“Yes, I still have some things to take care of.”

Karina replied with a smile.

“The Grand Duchess seems to know so many businesspeople? How interesting.”

“What’s so interesting about it? I’ve been helping here and there, so people come looking for me first. I can’t coldly reject those seeking help.”

Caroline spoke smugly, gesturing to the gathered businessmen.

“My, you even helped businesspeople who would hardly have any connection with the Grand Duchess?”

Karina pretended to be surprised as she carefully examined each of their faces one by one.

Some of the businessmen who met Karina’s gaze directly cleared their throats and lowered their heads or avoided eye contact.

And the remaining few, perhaps thinking it was an opportunity to make an impression on the Grand Duchess, bowed to her with gleaming eyes.

Turning her gaze back to Caroline, Karina continued speaking.

“It’s amazing, considering you must be incredibly busy just managing internal affairs of the Grand Duchy.”

“It’s nothing really.”

At that moment, Karina spoke with an indifferent expression.

“Come to think of it, Lord Lambarda didn’t come today. I wonder if something happened? Of course, I’m referring to Revals, the second son of the Lambarda earldom.”

Caroline’s shoulders flinched when Revals’ name was mentioned.

Seeing this, Karina snickered and tried to probe Caroline.

“What a shame there’s no one to help you at a time like this?”

Caroline frowned deeply at Karina’s attitude of feigned sympathy and demanded:

“What do you mean? I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

Caroline glared at Karina and turned her head away with a huff.

Judging by her reaction, it seemed that this Revals was quite deeply involved.

Just then, Jeremiah entered the event hall.

Spotting him, Caroline quickly approached Jeremiah.

“Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you for a while.”

“Why were you looking for me, sister?”

As Jeremiah spoke, an icy cold aura emanated from him.