At that moment, Duke Andres’ residence.

As Duke Andres was throwing received letters into the fireplace, his aide came to see him. Despite the late hour, the aide entered without delay and bowed deeply before Duke Andres.

“Your Grace, it has been confirmed that Josephine is dead.”

Duke Andres opened his eyes with interest. This was timely good news. Josephine was Leira’s maid who had been giving Duke Andres a headache lately. Both mistress and maid were alike in their insolence. Moreover, as soon as Theodore was sent to the northern mines, she came and caused a disturbance, which the head butler had to drive away several times.

“That maid is dead?”

“Yes, Your Grace. There was a big fire at 391 Lorraine Street recently, and a charred body was found there. It seems to be Josephine.”

391 Lorraine Street is an area lined with empty mansions. It’s no different from ruins, so she hid there. As a fugitive, it was a reasonable choice.

Who would set foot in a place rumored to be haunted? That’s why they couldn’t find her until now and had been coming up empty-handed.

“Josephine’s usual luggage and belongings were found.”

Duke Andres threw the remaining letters into the fireplace and straightened his back. A smooth smile was on his face. It was a satisfied expression.

“That’s good. It seems even the heavens are on our side.”

With this, everyone who knew Mabel’s secret was dead. Theodore would surely be killed by the cruelty of the northern mines.

No one can topple the stronghold of Mabel and Andres. Duke Andres poured wine into a glass. On a day like this, a toast was in order.

“You may withdraw now.”

“Yes, Your Grace!”

Duke Andres sank into the sofa. The wine tasted sweet.

He was already in a foul mood from the pressure the imperial people and the temple were putting on the House of Andres, talking about the northern cold and whatnot.

If they can’t survive on their own, they’re better off dead. Duke Andres had no intention of helping them at all. The uncivilized ones only know how to parasitize, not how to be self-sufficient. Duke Andres twisted the corner of his mouth.

He heard that the House of Vincent, being wealthy, was releasing grain at regular intervals. So the residents living in the northwest had also left for the northeast. 391 Lorraine Street was empty for that reason as well.

‘Arrogant bastard.’

Thinking of Duke Vincent, his mood soured again. He recalled the day when that young punk looked at Duke Andres with eyes that seemed to despise him, staring brazenly.

They had met at the temple when he visited, unable to resist the temple’s urging. Since the new empress came to power, the Vincent family and the Andres family had maintained a perfectly parallel relationship.

Vincent supports the crown prince, and Andres supports the empress.

Since the empress also has a grown son, there was no chance of the two families’ relationship narrowing.

The deceased empress was a noble from the northeast, and the current empress is a noble from the northwest. The latter is from a more prominent family and from the northwest. It was natural for Duke Andres to side with the empress and the prince.

‘Be wary of Duke Vincent. That is what Duke Andres must do in the north. Disrupt Vincent’s surroundings so that he cannot lend strength to the crown prince.’

Duke Andres swirled his wine glass. The strong liquor in the glass rippled with a reddish-yellow hue. Duke Andres licked his lips.

To distract Duke Vincent’s attention, he needed to stir up his surroundings.

“What would be good……”

At the same time, it would be better if it could also upset Duke Vincent.

The House of Vincent was a family that held the purse strings. The business that the previous duke had dipped his toes into had grown significantly, and now there was no field they hadn’t extended into, including banking, mining, transportation, and construction.

He coveted all of it.

If Duke Vincent were to vacate his position, he could devour it all. Since he wasn’t even married and had no heir yet, it would only take killing one duke.

If not that, then…….

“They said they were bringing in monster fur this time, didn’t they?”

He heard that the central temple had given permission. How much money must they have fed the temple for them to endorse such a dirty business?

‘If something were to happen to those who bought that fur……’

That would be a direct hit to the House of Vincent. Duke Andres let out a sinister laugh.

‘I wonder how that arrogant face will contort.’

*

Esme sighed. After sending Jayden to the academy, she returned to the Wessley viscounty house with heavy steps. The mansion, damaged by fire throughout the night, smelled acrid. Esme furrowed her brow.

She didn’t know where to start or end with repairs. Entering the mansion, she found that the basement area had been completely burned, while the second floor and above were relatively intact. It must have been because of all the things piled up in the basement.

Her late husband was a man who couldn’t easily throw things away. As a result, the basement was overflowing with odds and ends. Among them were useless by-products of monsters. The severity of the fire was probably due to those things.

‘Even in death, you hinder my work.’

Esme rubbed her forehead. She couldn’t help but sigh.

“Really, what is all this?”

Esme stomped her feet. As if she didn’t have enough to worry about with the merchant group, now the mansion was causing trouble too. They say misfortunes never come singly, and this was exactly that. How much help it would have been if only Thomas were alright at a time like this.

She was at the point of missing even the hands of her foolish blood relative.

At that moment, someone came looking for her.

“People from the police station have arrived.”

Esme whipped her head around. Police officers in uniform were pouring in. Her eyes met with those of an officer just as she was on the second floor.

“Are you Lady Wessley?”

Esme let out a soft sigh.

“What’s the matter?”

“We came because there was a report of a fire.”

“It’s nothing. The fire was put out quickly. It seems to have spread from a lamp or something like that……”

“Even if you don’t want an investigation, you’ll need to come to the police station to file a report, my lady.”

Esme frowned.

“Can’t you just process it roughly?”

“The law doesn’t allow that. We can’t arbitrarily handle matters that might cause problems later. Are you able to accompany us?”

Aaargh.

Esme let out a silent scream inside. Her head felt like it was about to burst. She had been living in luxury, enjoying rights without any obligations, but now everything was in shambles. Esme bit her lip hard.

“Fine, I’ll go.”

Esme muttered in a dejected voice. The thought that she should hurry Adeline’s marriage struck her strongly.

*

Huhuhu.

I couldn’t help but laugh as I confirmed the goods safely delivered to the shop. Setting the fire was really a good choice.

Seeing Esme bustling about busily since morning, I thought so. Whatever I do in the shop, Esme won’t have time to pay attention.

From the merchant group to the mansion.

When people are busy, they don’t care about others’ business, right?

“How is it, Josephine? This should be good enough to sell right away, right?”

“Indeed. Even though these are old furs, they’re in really good condition. Thick and warm, but light. What is this exactly?”

Josephine spoke as if mesmerized. That was precisely the advantage of monster fur. The only drawback? That it’s monster fur. It never rots due to its high durability. You could wear it for a lifetime once you buy it.

Fortunately, monster fur never produces the same pattern twice. Since every fur has a different texture, color, and pattern, wealthy people will likely buy several pieces, so we should keep that in mind for marketing.

Anyway, the important thing is that it’s a competitive material.

My lips curled up involuntarily. I need to push the work forward quickly while Esme is out of her mind. By the time Esme takes an interest in my shop, it should be too late for her to do anything.

“The temple will widely report on the purification ritual tomorrow or the day after.”

“Then we just need to find people to make the clothes.”

“That’s right.”

“How about looking for the servants who were kicked out onto the streets this time?”

“You mean use the people from the Wessley mansion?”

“Yes, my lord. They’re still people belonging to the Wessley viscounty, aren’t they?”

“That’s true, but……”

Is that better than finding workers separately?

They may have been Esme’s people before, but now there must be quite a few who have changed their minds. After all, Esme ruthlessly abandoned her responsibility for them yesterday.

“……It might be good to meet with the head maid.”

“I’ll try to arrange a meeting, my lord.”

“Good.”