“What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know either… People keep looking at me with pity, and you’re not that kind of person, Uncle. No matter how much I try to explain, they just keep feeling sorry for me. I can’t stand those looks anymore.”
Artur’s face had already turned red and pale by turns. He understood exactly what I was implying.
“That is absolutely a misunderstanding.”
His expression hardened as he firmly denied it. I fluttered my eyelashes and spoke with feigned innocence.
“I think so too. But those pitying looks bother me so much… I don’t want to go back to the academy.”
Artur groaned and pressed his brow.
“Have you found the one who spread such rumors?”
“No.”
Since I was the one who spread them, of course I shook my head as if I knew nothing.
“What an idiot…”
He muttered to himself, then flinched and asked awkwardly,
“Did you… happen to hear what I just said?”
“I’m sorry, Uncle. I didn’t catch it. Could you repeat that?”
I heard everything, you bastard.
To prove so blatantly that it was an insult directed at me—how ridiculous.
“Ahem. Anyway, Clara, should you really let yourself be swayed by the gossip of common rabble? The best course is to ignore such things.”
“You’re telling me to just watch while your reputation is damaged? I can’t do that.”
I finally brought up my main point.
“So I want you to prove before everyone that you don’t harbor such impure ambitions, Uncle.”
“…How do you propose I do that?”
As if I had been waiting, I answered immediately.
“Please formally pass the position of acting head of the family to me. If you do, those rumors will disappear completely.”
This was the last opportunity I was giving him—and an ultimatum.
A well-fed guest should know when to leave.
If Artur stepped down cleanly even now, I was willing to quietly throw him out after recovering the money he had siphoned off using the family.
Though he won’t, of course.
As expected, he jumped up in outrage.
“What kind of nonsense is that?!”
I blinked innocently and tilted my head.
“Why is it nonsense?”
“You’re still too young! You lack the judgment to lead this family!”
Now he was bringing up my age. I was already growing bored of this conversation. It was unfolding exactly as I had predicted, without the slightest deviation.
“According to imperial law, the age at which one is granted decision-making authority over family matters is fifteen, Uncle.”
“W-what?!”
“I learned it at the academy, so I’m sure it’s correct. So there’s no need to worry. Ah, of course—that is, if you’re truly concerned about the family.”
I was now fifteen. Although the empire recognized adulthood at eighteen, I couldn’t afford to wait.
I’ve already found Lenox, after all.
If I wanted to become Lenox’s patron, I needed to take control of this family as soon as possible.
If Artur continued as head, he would squander everything on alcohol and gambling.
I can’t just sit back and watch this family become nothing but an empty shell until Lenox finishes it off.
For a moment, the meager meals that had been set before Melin crossed my mind.
“I’ll give you a choice, Uncle.”
“What nonsense are you spouting now?!”
Ignoring him, I raised my index finger.
“First, you take a small sum of money and leave the family on your own.”
Then I raised my middle finger.
“Second, you get thrown out with nothing.”
“W-what?!”
Hearing this, Artur flared up and spat out curses.
“So this was your plan all along! You shameless wretch!”
“Choose quickly. I don’t have much time.”
“Do you think people will take your side?”
But soon, a smug smile spread across his face.
“Yes, I think they will.”
Without hesitation, I spread the documents I had brought before him. They were all evidence of his corruption.
“W-where did you get these…?!”
“If you keep resisting, I plan to send them to Duke Dinero.”
“D-Duke Dinero?!”
Artur’s face instantly turned pale.
Understandably so.
If the imperial palace was the body, there were four great families that acted as its supporting pillars.
First, the House of Euclid.
Though it has now fallen.
Next, the House of Penelope.
The Grand Duke Andreas’s family.
And finally, the House of Dinero.
The heads of these four families held ultimate authority over matters concerning their vassal houses.
And the Count Jacqueline family—my family—had long served the House of Dinero.
The only reason Artur held the position of acting head was because Duke Dinero had permitted it.
“Hmph! Do you think you can drive me out with such fabrications?!”
“Wouldn’t Duke Dinero already find it a bit strange by now?”
“W-what do you mean?!”
“Since you became acting head, the profits from the businesses tied to the ducal house have decreased. And with these double ledgers, it all makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?”
What kind of man was Duke Dinero?
He was the most money-obsessed person in the empire—a complete miser.
Hmm. ‘Money-obsessed lunatic’ might be a bit too rude for grandfather.
Let’s just call him a miser.
Artur, face flushed with agitation, shook the papers I handed him.
“D-don’t tell me… you deliberately investigated the businesses connected to Duke Dinero…!”
Correct.
The authority I had, not yet being the head of the family, was limited.
There was no way someone not even fully an adult could expel a guardian like Artur without any leverage.
So I had no choice but to borrow the blade of a greater power.
If a miser like Duke Dinero discovered that the ledgers of a business he heavily invested in had been manipulated by Artur—
He wouldn’t die peacefully.
Artur, who clearly knew that, trembled with a reddened face.
“Do you think I’ll just let this happen?!”
“Would you like to try? I’m curious what happens if you don’t.”
“Y-you…! Ungrateful wretch!”
Unable to contain his anger, he suddenly grabbed a marble ashtray and hurled it at me. I easily dodged it.
So this is all the resistance he can muster.
For something I had spent so long preparing, it was almost disappointing.
I knocked on the office door.
“Agathe, come in.”
“Yes.”
She had been waiting outside and entered immediately at my command.
Seeing a woman smaller than himself walk in, Artur scoffed.
“Clara! So this is your last desperate attempt!”
Ignoring him, I raised my ring finger.
“Third, you get beaten, thrown out, and end up as wolf feed. It’s surprisingly easy to pass off a drunk person’s death as an accident.”
At my signal, Agathe slammed the table.
Crack!
The corner of the table split. Artur’s face turned deathly pale.
Finally realizing the situation, he stammered,
“C-Clara, you know how much I’ve cared for you all this time, don’t you?”
“That’s why I’m giving you three choices, Uncle.”
I had been smiling, but my expression suddenly turned cold as I glared at him.
“I don’t have much patience. Choose quickly, before even what little affection I have left disappears.”
Caught between a rock and a hard place, Artur trembled and staggered out of the office.
“Y-you think I’ll just take this?!”
But just as he seemed to be leaving, he suddenly drew the sword from his side and charged at me with a scream.
“Aaaah!!”
Thud!
With a single punch to the stomach from Agathe, Artur foamed at the mouth and collapsed unconscious. I looked at him with a pitiful expression.
“Oh dear, it seems you’ve chosen the third option.”
Agathe asked in a flat tone,
“What shall we do with him?”
“Our dear uncle should learn how to earn money, not just spend it.”
Tilting my chin, I gave the order.
“Send him to the mines. Somewhere remote—so remote he’ll never find his way back here.”
“What about feeding him to the wolves?”
Agathe, whose hobby was raising wolves, asked with a hint of disappointment.
“Even wolves deserve proper nutrition. We can’t feed them someone soaked in alcohol.”
“That’s true.”
Smiling faintly, I waved my hand. Agathe dragged Artur out of the office.
With that, I hoped that Artur—who had done nothing but drain the family’s wealth—would at least contribute something to its finances from now on.