Episode 2: Draining the Duke's Cash Flow
Ding-dong.
As soon as Eleanor pulled the silver bell cord by the bedside, the firmly closed door swung open.
"Did you call, Madam?"
The person who entered, bowing cautiously, was Martha, the head lady-in-waiting of the Duke of Castillo's estate.
Martha approached holding her usual plain, drab, colorless dress, but flinched at the sight of Eleanor standing by the bedside.
'M-Madam, how can you possess such an aura...'
Usually, Eleanor wore a dry, weary complexion, exhausted from the excessive duties of the estate and attending to her husband.
However, the mistress standing before her now was different. Thick mana flowing from her restored mana core enveloped her like a shimmering heat haze, and the sharp intellect of an arrogant ruler gleamed coldly in her blood-red eyes. It was an unreal appearance, as if she had perfectly returned to her days around the age of twenty, when she was the 'genius magician' who had astonished the imperial social circles.
"Martha. Get rid of that dreary rag immediately."
"Huh? B-but, Madam. The comfortable clothes you usually wear in the office..."
"Can't you hear me?"
At Eleanor's calm yet heavy voice, Martha gasped. Overwhelmed by a suffocating sense of intimidation, Martha hurriedly flung open the closet door.
"From today onwards, I will not dress modestly. Take out that blood-red velvet dress tucked away in the back."
It was a dress she had inherited from her mother-in-law, the former Duchess, as a symbol of the 'authority of the mistress', but she had never worn it because her husband, Valdemar, had given her disapproving looks for being too flashy. However, now, there was not a single gram left of reason to be wary of her husband's disapproval.
Dressed in the gown and wearing the signet ring engraved with the family crest on her index finger, Eleanor headed straight for the office. Knights and servants passing through the hallway bowed and stepped aside as if entranced by the mistress, who exuded an unprecedentedly splendid and overwhelming aura.
Eleanor, leaning deep into the heavy ebony chair in her office, gave a chilling command.
"Bring the butler and the Treasurer before me immediately."
***
Less than ten minutes later, Count Linus, the Treasurer, and Hans, the butler, were summoned to the office, sweating profusely. Before them lay a mountain of the Castillo family's financial ledgers for the entire year.
"Treasurer Linus. I clearly ordered that the family freeze spending on luxury goods until the estate's tax revenue stabilizes."
Eleanor's white fingers tapped a page of the ledger. Even at that light sound, Treasurer Linus's heart sank.
"What is this? [Lumiere Jeweler, Imperial Avenue 1 - Premium Pink Diamond Necklace, 50,000 Gold Advance Payment.] The buyer is even my son, Claude, and the recipient is Vivian, the daughter of the Baron."
"Th-that. Because the Young Duke insisted so adamantly..."
"And here. [Imperial Underground Auction House - Premium Succubus Elixir, 100,000 Gold.] The buyer is the Duke."
A bitter, mocking smile spread across Eleanor's lips. A succubus elixir, to think of it.
She vividly remembered how filthy her husband, Valdemar, had been behaving in illegal gambling dens and secret social clubs before their regression, when he was always out and about. Though her head and mana were completely empty, he had been sucking the life out of the Duke's household just to fulfill his role as a man.
"Treasurer."
"Yes, yes! Madam!"
"And Butler Hans. Listen carefully, both of you."
Eleanor slowly rose from her seat. The cold mana emanating from her entire body weighed heavily on the air of the office.
"From this moment on, not a single penny of the family's funds will be permitted to leak without my handwritten signature and this seal. Whether it is my husband or my son, refuse every single one of them, even if they demand money by invoking that arrogant ducal bloodline."
"M-Madam! But His Excellency the Duke and the Young Duke will be furious! How can mere servants like us obey His Excellency's orders...!"
"My word is the law of Castillo."
Eleanor's red eyes glared down at the two terrified men. It was Eleanor herself who had held the family's actual purse strings and worked day and night tirelessly. Her husband, a Duke in name only, was an idiot who couldn't even properly memorize the safe's password.
"If anyone gives them even a single silver coin without my permission, I will mobilize the Knights of Castillo that very day to charge them with embezzlement and have them beheaded. Do I sound like a joke?"
Faced with a chilling murderous intent, the treasurer and the head butler prostrated themselves on the floor, barely able to breathe.
"I-I will bear this in mind, Madam! Such a thing will never happen!"
"Very well. Immediately send a letter in Castillo's name to Lumiere Jeweler and every social club and auction house in the capital. Declare that all credit and advance payments under the names of the Duke and the Young Duke are being canceled, and that the accounts are being frozen."
It was the moment the first button of this revenge drama was perfectly fastened.
***
A few hours later, 'Lumiere,' a high-end jewelry store located on the most splendid First Avenue in the Imperial Capital.
"Oh, Young Master Claude! Does this pink diamond really suit my neck?"
Vivian, a silver-haired beauty with an angelic, innocent face, blushed as she held the necklace up to the mirror. Claude Castillo, watching the scene with satisfaction, lifted his chin arrogantly.
He was annoyed by his predicament of being forced into a political marriage with Liliana, the daughter of the soon-to-fall Count Werner family, but whenever he saw Vivian boosting his ego like this, a sense of superiority welled up inside him.
"Of course, my beautiful Vivian. The only diamond on the continent-it suits you perfectly."
Claude snapped his fingers triumphantly at the jewelry store manager.
"Manager. Wrap this necklace right now."
"Just record the calculation in the Duke of Castillo's ledger, as usual."
The shop manager would normally have bowed and scraped to wrap the necklace in a top-quality velvet box. However, for some reason, his face was pale and rigid, and in his hand was an urgent letter bearing the Castillo family crest.
"Um, Your Excellency, Young Duke. That is..."
"Why are you standing there stupidly instead of wrapping it?"
"I, I am extremely sorry, Your Excellency. We are unable to sell this necklace."
At the manager's words, Vivian's smile froze, and Claude's brow furrowed menacingly.
"What? What kind of bullshit is that! How dare you say I can't buy it, me, the next head of the Castillo family!"
Wiping his cold sweat, the manager cautiously handed over the letter.
"A, an urgent personal letter from Lady Eleanor has just arrived from the main household. Effective today, all credit transactions and accounts receivable under the names of His Excellency the Duke and His Excellency the Young Duke are completely frozen. If payment is forced through, the Castillo family will not pay a single penny..."
"What?!"
At that moment, the eyes of the other noble ladies in the jewelry shop fixed simultaneously on Claude and Vivian.
"Oh my, did you hear that? It looks like the Young Duke of Castillo has run out of money. Good heavens, with the wedding just a month away, he tried to buy a necklace for his mistress, not even his bride-to-be, and ended up having his card confiscated by his mother? Ugh, what a disgrace."
The blatant sneers and whispering of the nobles mercilessly struck Claude's ears. Vivian grabbed Claude's arm, pretending to be on the verge of tears from shame, but inwardly she was biting her lip tightly.
"Th-this crazy! How dare Mother tarnish my reputation?!"
Claude, his face turning red and then pale, kicked the glass display case and stormed out of the jewelry store. He simply could not believe what had happened to him.
***
At that very moment, Eleanor sat by the window in her office, lazily savoring her black tea. The fragrant scent of the freshly brewed tea brought a sense of peace to her mind. It was a time of complete rest she had never once enjoyed before her regression.
Bang-!!
Just then, the thick oak door of the office burst open roughly, as if it would break. As expected, her husband Valdemar, his face hideously contorted, and her son Claude, huffing and puffing from his nose, had burst in.
"Eleanor!! Are you out of your mind?!"
"Mother! What on earth was that crazy message you sent to the jewelry store?! Do you realize how humiliated I was outside?!"
The voices of two men echoed loudly through the office. Her husband, who had suffered utter humiliation at the secret auction when his payment for the elixir was blocked, and her son, who had lost face in front of the mistress. However, watching those two unsightly men raging in anger, Eleanor set down her teacup and offered the most elegant and beautiful smile.
"Did you ask if I was in my right mind?"
Eleanor's red lips slowly curved into a smile.
"Yes. Just moments ago, I regained my sanity more perfectly than in my entire life."
It was the beginning of a full-scale lesson in hardship.
"I have come to my senses more completely than ever in my entire life."
It was the beginning of a full-scale true education.
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