You are digging your own grave with your own hands.
This was something Erne would sometimes say to those who would nag at him. But they never dug their own graves with their own hands. They had been beaten by Erne before and were unable to even lift a shovel.
“Hey, Sir.”
They say karma comes back. Erne, who was digging his own grave with his own hands, threw down the shovel nervously.
“Why did you bury it so deep?”
Erne Rhineland is digging. This is something he has never done even when he was a servant. Henry shook his head as he watched Erne getting angry after digging everything up.
“Let’s open the coffin quickly.”
Henry roughly swept away the remaining dirt on top of the coffin with his hands and then pushed the tip of the shovel into the gap in the coffin lid.
Kikkikk-
As the coffin lid opened with the sound of wooden nails splitting, Erne grabbed it with his hand and began to tear it open.
“As expected, there isn’t any.”
The coffin was empty. It was obvious since Erne was alive and well here, but it needed to be confirmed.
“It looks like they buried the coffin without a body in the first place.”
Was the funeral a show of force, the purpose of which was to steal the body?
Erne frowned as he closed the coffin lid again. He would have to dig again to restore the tomb, but it seemed unlikely that he would get a clue after digging.
“It feels strangely like digging.”
“That’s because you’re digging right now.”
Is that what you mean? Don't you know the metaphor?
Erne glared at Henry with annoyance, but he continued to cover the coffin with dirt regardless.
“So what are we going to do now?”
“First, I have to search everything, everything I can remember.”
“Thank you, Ma’am, I really appreciate it.”
Meanwhile, I, holding a luxurious bottle of wine in my arms, kept bending down.
“I think it’s too much of a greeting to give up your drink, Miss Harrington.”
The Marchioness of Ferny motioned for me to leave. I bowed again and hurried out of the drawing room.
“Miss Harrington, just a moment.”
As I was about to leave the mansion, the Marchioness's maid stopped me. She took me to the kitchen and gave me some potatoes, a loaf of white bread, and pork wrapped in paper.
“The lady was worried about whether Miss Harrington was eating well.”
“Oh my, the Marchioness is truly a kind soul.”
I was truly moved. As they say, human nature comes from the granary. The Marchioness was one of the biggest customers of my candles.
Not only did they give me a large order, they always gave me a bonus. On top of that, today they readily gave me their leftover alcohol and shared some food with me.
'She is a really nice person.'
If it weren't for the Marchioness, I would have bought alcohol with my own money. This morning, Erne dared to ask me for pocket money.
He said he was going to buy clothes, so of course he had to buy clothes. It was a shame, but not so much that I couldn't give them away.
However.
“I searched the kitchen, but there wasn’t a single bottle of alcohol. Go buy some.”
“Yes? Alcohol? Me?”
“Yes, Miss Judith Harrington, you. Or what, divorce? Shall we divorce?”
Isn't this the kind of thing you threaten?
I'm sick of it. My husband is threatening me to buy him alcohol. That's the worst.
I had no intention of getting married, but if I were to get married, I wanted to do so with a salaryman who would pay me a regular salary.
But then, all of a sudden, I found myself in a situation where I had to take care of a jobless, drunken husband. I had nowhere to complain, and I just felt frustrated.
“You don’t drink a bottle of alcohol a day, do you?”
It was ominous. Judith was heading home, her shoulders shaking as if trying to shake off the ominous feeling when a familiar voice called me.
“Miss Harrington, no, Countess.”
“Mr. Cliff?”
“How have you been?”
Attorney Cliff dismounted from his horse and waved at me.
As expected of a man with a long bag, he did not come empty-handed.
Cliff offered me a box of spices as a gift, including salt, pepper, and ground herbs, which I gladly accepted.
“Thank you so much, Mr. Cliff. The emergency fund you gave me last time was put to good use.”
“It’s something I should naturally take care of.”
As I had felt before, Cliff's speech and actions were very kind. If the situation when we first met had been normal, I might have mistakenly thought Cliff liked me.
“I heard that a loan shark was visiting.”
Cliff, who had been asking after my well-being out of courtesy, began to hesitate as we approached the mansion.
The excuse continued to be that he had not known about the contract between Smith and the Count of Rhineland because it was missing and that he had recently discovered the document.
“I didn’t know that the Count had reached out to a moneylender. How surprised you must have been. I was so sorry to hear the news.”
I was subtly annoyed by Cliff's attitude. It seemed as if he was taking a step back from all of this.
From the day of my wedding until today, Cliff has always maintained the attitude that 'everything is the work of the collateral families, and I am merely their agent in handling it.'
If Cliff is an outside lawyer, his current attitude is not strange.
But Erne's explanation was different.
“Cliff blames the collateral families for this? You’re spitting in your own face. The Ackermann family is the closest collateral family to the Rhineland family.”
Then isn't Cliff also involved in my marriage?
“It’s a little late, but I would like to provide some small help to you, Madam.”
“Help?”
“Yes, I think I can lend you about 3,000 gold. If you pay them back 3,000 gold first, wouldn’t you be able to postpone the payment date a bit?”
But why would the family lawyer lend it to me?
“I’ll lend you money interest-free.”
Even interest-free?
“Yes, I should have informed you of the debt in advance. Didn’t I make a mistake?”
Yes, it was his mistake as a lawyer. But he's only going to give away 3,000 gold for one mistake.
It was very suspicious that he had been taking a step back until now and then suddenly said he would take moral responsibility.
“Why do you trust me and lend me so much money?”
I could have run away with the three thousand gold. Even if I paid off the debt and postponed the due date, Cliff would not benefit in any way.
I did not believe this favor.
“Madam is very knowledgeable.”
Cliff spoke as if he felt sorry.
“Actually, I need some suitable collateral. You don’t have to worry about it. It just has to look good on paper.”
Then that's right. My eyes grew dim. As it happened, I had some plausible collateral.
“How about the Rhineland Mansion?”
If Cliff's offer was purely a favor, he would take the mansion as collateral. It's not a mansion that can be sold, but it's perfect as nominal collateral.
“Isn’t the mansion more like actual collateral than nominal collateral, haha? I don’t need a mansion since I’m not lending money to Madam.”
Oh, you don't like mansions.
I hid my sharp eyes behind my troubled expression. Cliff held out his hand in a show of goodwill, wondering what he wanted to take.
“Don’t you have any title?”
“Isn’t that illegal?”
“So it’s collateral on paper. In reality, even if Madam can’t pay back the debt, I have no way of taking it.”
No. He must have some way. Some way to take away the title and give me 3,000 gold. He's a lawyer, so he'll know a way to avoid the law.
'It seems like Mr. Cliff wants to use me to become a Count.'
Does Mr. Cliff think I'm a fool? I pretended to be troubled and watched him closely.
“Don’t worry about it, Ma’am.”
He made a suspicious proposal that could have been easily detected with just a little thought, but he seemed to have no expectation that it would be rejected.
Well, considering she was the old Judith, it would be expected. She was naive and weak-willed.
How weak-hearted must she have been to see Erne die and be so shocked that she followed him to the other world?
'That Judith' might have been trembling at the usurer's urging, but she might have readily accepted the offer that Cliff made with a kind face.
But not now. The Judith of today is just a shell, inside she is a completely different person.
“Thank you for your kind words, Mr. Cliff. But no matter how I think about it, I feel like I’m causing too much trouble.”
I refused earnestly, waving my hands on purpose. Cliff knew the immature Judith, so I had to refuse accordingly.
“No, ma'am, it's not a nuisance....”
“Oh my, that’s exactly what a nuisance is. I’m the type of person who can’t live without being a nuisance.”
I opened the door to the Count of Rhineland's mansion as if I were running away, saying that if I died, I would never bother Cliff.
“Don’t worry about me anymore, Mr. Cliff. The help you’ve given me so far is enough.”
“No, Ma’am, let me tell you my story...”
I, like the protagonist of a tragic tale, pushed Cliff's shoulder and closed the gate. I, holding onto the iron bars of the gate, lifted the hem of my skirt slightly and bowed politely to Cliff, who was wandering around without leaving.
“I can’t stand it if I cost a good man like Mr. Cliff three thousand gold. Oh, you're such a good man. You’ll be blessed.”
I took the spices Cliff had given me and ran into the mansion.
"Excuse me..."
Cliff's fingertips stretched out in the air and fell to the ground in vain. He crumpled the hat he was holding while talking to Judith and burst out laughing.
“Is it still worth living for, or is it that she doesn’t have the sense to tell right from wrong?”
This was something Erne would sometimes say to those who would nag at him. But they never dug their own graves with their own hands. They had been beaten by Erne before and were unable to even lift a shovel.
“Hey, Sir.”
They say karma comes back. Erne, who was digging his own grave with his own hands, threw down the shovel nervously.
“Why did you bury it so deep?”
Erne Rhineland is digging. This is something he has never done even when he was a servant. Henry shook his head as he watched Erne getting angry after digging everything up.
“Let’s open the coffin quickly.”
Henry roughly swept away the remaining dirt on top of the coffin with his hands and then pushed the tip of the shovel into the gap in the coffin lid.
Kikkikk-
As the coffin lid opened with the sound of wooden nails splitting, Erne grabbed it with his hand and began to tear it open.
“As expected, there isn’t any.”
The coffin was empty. It was obvious since Erne was alive and well here, but it needed to be confirmed.
“It looks like they buried the coffin without a body in the first place.”
Was the funeral a show of force, the purpose of which was to steal the body?
Erne frowned as he closed the coffin lid again. He would have to dig again to restore the tomb, but it seemed unlikely that he would get a clue after digging.
“It feels strangely like digging.”
“That’s because you’re digging right now.”
Is that what you mean? Don't you know the metaphor?
Erne glared at Henry with annoyance, but he continued to cover the coffin with dirt regardless.
“So what are we going to do now?”
“First, I have to search everything, everything I can remember.”
***
“Thank you, Ma’am, I really appreciate it.”
Meanwhile, I, holding a luxurious bottle of wine in my arms, kept bending down.
“I think it’s too much of a greeting to give up your drink, Miss Harrington.”
The Marchioness of Ferny motioned for me to leave. I bowed again and hurried out of the drawing room.
“Miss Harrington, just a moment.”
As I was about to leave the mansion, the Marchioness's maid stopped me. She took me to the kitchen and gave me some potatoes, a loaf of white bread, and pork wrapped in paper.
“The lady was worried about whether Miss Harrington was eating well.”
“Oh my, the Marchioness is truly a kind soul.”
I was truly moved. As they say, human nature comes from the granary. The Marchioness was one of the biggest customers of my candles.
Not only did they give me a large order, they always gave me a bonus. On top of that, today they readily gave me their leftover alcohol and shared some food with me.
'She is a really nice person.'
If it weren't for the Marchioness, I would have bought alcohol with my own money. This morning, Erne dared to ask me for pocket money.
He said he was going to buy clothes, so of course he had to buy clothes. It was a shame, but not so much that I couldn't give them away.
However.
“I searched the kitchen, but there wasn’t a single bottle of alcohol. Go buy some.”
“Yes? Alcohol? Me?”
“Yes, Miss Judith Harrington, you. Or what, divorce? Shall we divorce?”
Isn't this the kind of thing you threaten?
I'm sick of it. My husband is threatening me to buy him alcohol. That's the worst.
I had no intention of getting married, but if I were to get married, I wanted to do so with a salaryman who would pay me a regular salary.
But then, all of a sudden, I found myself in a situation where I had to take care of a jobless, drunken husband. I had nowhere to complain, and I just felt frustrated.
“You don’t drink a bottle of alcohol a day, do you?”
It was ominous. Judith was heading home, her shoulders shaking as if trying to shake off the ominous feeling when a familiar voice called me.
“Miss Harrington, no, Countess.”
“Mr. Cliff?”
“How have you been?”
Attorney Cliff dismounted from his horse and waved at me.
As expected of a man with a long bag, he did not come empty-handed.
Cliff offered me a box of spices as a gift, including salt, pepper, and ground herbs, which I gladly accepted.
“Thank you so much, Mr. Cliff. The emergency fund you gave me last time was put to good use.”
“It’s something I should naturally take care of.”
As I had felt before, Cliff's speech and actions were very kind. If the situation when we first met had been normal, I might have mistakenly thought Cliff liked me.
“I heard that a loan shark was visiting.”
Cliff, who had been asking after my well-being out of courtesy, began to hesitate as we approached the mansion.
The excuse continued to be that he had not known about the contract between Smith and the Count of Rhineland because it was missing and that he had recently discovered the document.
“I didn’t know that the Count had reached out to a moneylender. How surprised you must have been. I was so sorry to hear the news.”
I was subtly annoyed by Cliff's attitude. It seemed as if he was taking a step back from all of this.
From the day of my wedding until today, Cliff has always maintained the attitude that 'everything is the work of the collateral families, and I am merely their agent in handling it.'
If Cliff is an outside lawyer, his current attitude is not strange.
But Erne's explanation was different.
“Cliff blames the collateral families for this? You’re spitting in your own face. The Ackermann family is the closest collateral family to the Rhineland family.”
Then isn't Cliff also involved in my marriage?
“It’s a little late, but I would like to provide some small help to you, Madam.”
“Help?”
“Yes, I think I can lend you about 3,000 gold. If you pay them back 3,000 gold first, wouldn’t you be able to postpone the payment date a bit?”
But why would the family lawyer lend it to me?
“I’ll lend you money interest-free.”
Even interest-free?
“Yes, I should have informed you of the debt in advance. Didn’t I make a mistake?”
Yes, it was his mistake as a lawyer. But he's only going to give away 3,000 gold for one mistake.
It was very suspicious that he had been taking a step back until now and then suddenly said he would take moral responsibility.
“Why do you trust me and lend me so much money?”
I could have run away with the three thousand gold. Even if I paid off the debt and postponed the due date, Cliff would not benefit in any way.
I did not believe this favor.
“Madam is very knowledgeable.”
Cliff spoke as if he felt sorry.
“Actually, I need some suitable collateral. You don’t have to worry about it. It just has to look good on paper.”
Then that's right. My eyes grew dim. As it happened, I had some plausible collateral.
“How about the Rhineland Mansion?”
If Cliff's offer was purely a favor, he would take the mansion as collateral. It's not a mansion that can be sold, but it's perfect as nominal collateral.
“Isn’t the mansion more like actual collateral than nominal collateral, haha? I don’t need a mansion since I’m not lending money to Madam.”
Oh, you don't like mansions.
I hid my sharp eyes behind my troubled expression. Cliff held out his hand in a show of goodwill, wondering what he wanted to take.
“Don’t you have any title?”
“Isn’t that illegal?”
“So it’s collateral on paper. In reality, even if Madam can’t pay back the debt, I have no way of taking it.”
No. He must have some way. Some way to take away the title and give me 3,000 gold. He's a lawyer, so he'll know a way to avoid the law.
'It seems like Mr. Cliff wants to use me to become a Count.'
Does Mr. Cliff think I'm a fool? I pretended to be troubled and watched him closely.
“Don’t worry about it, Ma’am.”
He made a suspicious proposal that could have been easily detected with just a little thought, but he seemed to have no expectation that it would be rejected.
Well, considering she was the old Judith, it would be expected. She was naive and weak-willed.
How weak-hearted must she have been to see Erne die and be so shocked that she followed him to the other world?
'That Judith' might have been trembling at the usurer's urging, but she might have readily accepted the offer that Cliff made with a kind face.
But not now. The Judith of today is just a shell, inside she is a completely different person.
“Thank you for your kind words, Mr. Cliff. But no matter how I think about it, I feel like I’m causing too much trouble.”
I refused earnestly, waving my hands on purpose. Cliff knew the immature Judith, so I had to refuse accordingly.
“No, ma'am, it's not a nuisance....”
“Oh my, that’s exactly what a nuisance is. I’m the type of person who can’t live without being a nuisance.”
I opened the door to the Count of Rhineland's mansion as if I were running away, saying that if I died, I would never bother Cliff.
“Don’t worry about me anymore, Mr. Cliff. The help you’ve given me so far is enough.”
“No, Ma’am, let me tell you my story...”
I, like the protagonist of a tragic tale, pushed Cliff's shoulder and closed the gate. I, holding onto the iron bars of the gate, lifted the hem of my skirt slightly and bowed politely to Cliff, who was wandering around without leaving.
“I can’t stand it if I cost a good man like Mr. Cliff three thousand gold. Oh, you're such a good man. You’ll be blessed.”
I took the spices Cliff had given me and ran into the mansion.
"Excuse me..."
Cliff's fingertips stretched out in the air and fell to the ground in vain. He crumpled the hat he was holding while talking to Judith and burst out laughing.
“Is it still worth living for, or is it that she doesn’t have the sense to tell right from wrong?”
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