chapter 6
I immediately flattened myself back down.
“Grandfather! After I repay my uncle Lillius’s debts, I’ll live as if I’m already dead! I’ll take care of the servants of Landerl Castle and live as a proper young master, maintaining manners and dignity!”
The estate was large, but so old that cold drafts blew everywhere! It even cost a fortune just to buy firewood!
“I promise I won’t cause any more trouble, so please lift my indefinite confinement…!”
Silence. No answer came back at all.
Feeling the atmosphere, I slowly lifted my head—and met the Duke’s gaze as he leaned back in his chair, staring straight at me.
“Lillius.”
“Yes, Father…!”
From the side, Lillius looked pale as death. But the Duke’s expression didn’t soften in the slightest.
“Didn’t I entrust the children’s internal affairs to you and your wife?”
“Yes, Father… that’s correct…”
Lillius replied, trembling violently.
As the Duke’s youngest son, he had inherited the title of viscount.
He and his wife were responsible for half of the Frazer ducal household’s internal affairs.
A household as wealthy as the imperial family—managing even half of its affairs meant living as if baking bread daily with grains of gold.
‘Wait… then why is he being pushed like this? Did Lillius do something wrong?’
My question was soon answered.
“Tullia Frazer’s confinement was issued three years ago. Why is a one-month punishment still continuing?”
“T-that is…”
“And it’s been turned into an ‘indefinite’ confinement?”
‘What?’
At Duke Asis Frazer’s words, I looked at Lillius in shock.
So Tullia had been punished three years ago for a major incident and placed under confinement. And since that day, it had never been lifted.
Because of that, the already poor Tullia had become even more dependent and submissive to Lillius. And all of that… had been a lie?
But Lillius only broke into a cold sweat, unable to even look at me.
“So you were siphoning off Tullia Frazer’s budget?”
“It, it must have been a misunderstanding!”
“A misunderstanding?”
“Yes, Father!”
“Then why does Tullia Frazer think this storage building is Landerl Castle?”
This time, I could only blink blankly.
So this wasn’t even a castle—it was just a warehouse?
Lillius’s mouth clamped shut. No one in the room could breathe properly.
Even so, to use such a massive structure as nothing more than a warehouse… It really wasn’t an exaggeration to say the Frazer duchy’s wealth rivaled the imperial family.
‘But why would someone like the Duke quietly eat meals in a warehouse without saying anything?’
“When her confinement ended, you said Tullia Frazer threw a tantrum, insisting she would stay here out of defiance. Your wife told me so.”
“……”
“And that she would foam at the mouth if anyone tried to bring her back to the main estate.”
‘Ah. So that’s how they twisted it.’
By now, Lillius was sweating profusely.
“It seems there has been a misunderstanding, Father. Neither I nor my wife ever told Tullia that this was Landerl Castle.”
Lillius forced a pale smile toward me.
“Tullia, why did you think that, hmm? Who deceived you? Tell me immediately. Your uncle will deal with them properly!”
“You promise?”
I asked brightly, and Lillius hesitated slightly before answering.
“O-of course.”
I had been waiting for those words.
I immediately looked up at Duke Asis.
Even under that terrifying gaze that made my heart shrink, I couldn’t let this chance slip away. I was too cold and too hungry to lose it.
The Frazer Duke disliked family members tattling on each other.
But right now, this was my one and only chance to report him.
Yes.
Let’s do it.
I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth as I spoke.
“Why are you staring at me like that, you worthless trash?”
“……!”
“It’s true you were abandoned by your father.”
“……”
“What’s so unfair that you caused such a scene at the banquet?”
“……”
“So you ended up getting an indefinite confinement from your grandfather.”
The Duke’s terrifying glare began to shift, carrying an unreadable light.
Because those words… were the exact insults I had heard from Tedrick that morning.
“Everyone knows your mother cheated on your father to have you. It doesn’t make sense for someone like you to be above me—”
Crash!
A chair toppled loudly behind me. I turned around.
Tedrick Frazer’s face had gone red, then pale, then red again.
When our eyes met, I stuck my tongue out at him teasingly. Finally losing control, Tedrick pointed at me.
“You… you…!”
“TEDRICK FRAZER!”
The roar shook the entire room.
I only managed to flatten myself in shock, but Tedrick collapsed to the floor as his legs gave out.
At some point, Duke Asis Frazer had stood up, glaring at him with terrifying intensity.
“G-grandfather…”
“I don’t even need to question whether those words are true.”
“T-That’s not it…!”
The Duke strode forward and reached for Tedrick’s neck.
In an instant, a small pendant hanging from Tedrick’s neck was ripped away.
“Ah, Father!”
Lillius shouted in shock.
“The direct lineage pendant.”
Just as uniforms represent belonging in organizations, noble houses also have identifying jewels.
Frazer direct descendants receive expensive, beautiful pendants at their debutante ceremony at sixteen.
To have that symbol of lineage stripped away meant—
“I hereby temporarily revoke your authority as a direct descendant.”
The Duke’s eyes were icy enough to make one shiver.
“Do you understand?”
Tedrick couldn’t even answer properly, only trembling and nodding weakly.
It seemed that stripping the authority of a direct descendant was similar to a form of confinement, as the servants soon escorted Tedrick out.
Concerned for his half-dragged-away son, Lillius hastily excused himself and left as well.
I glanced around, then quickly bowed to the Duke and slowly backed away.
If he stopped me for questioning, I felt like I might actually faint. Thankfully, he didn’t.
Too many things had happened. I had achieved my goal, but I was completely exhausted. I just wanted to rest.
The moment I returned to my room and buried myself under the blanket, I immediately fell asleep.
Fortunately, no one bothered me or woke me up.
The next day.
‘So they’re not even giving me breakfast now?’
Seeing the empty table compared to yesterday, my fighting spirit flared up.
Now that even my tiny budget would be normalized, why should I still have to tiptoe around the butler and maids?
I confidently flung open my bedroom door—then nearly fainted.
Because an unexpected person was standing neatly in front of me.
“Lady Tullia. You’re awake?”
“Ruck?”
The middle-aged man called Ruck looked at me closely and asked again.
“You know my name?”
“Of course.”
If you read The Great Millet Bread a few hundred times, you end up memorizing things naturally. Like Ruck Kelposher, the Duke Asis Frazer’s direct aide.
He was in his early to mid-50s. Rumored to have been a great handsome man in his youth. Even now, he carried a refined, dignified aura. A brilliant strategist. Generally cold in personality.
Completely loyal only to Duke Asis Frazer.
And most importantly—
‘He’s the easiest person for Tullia to recruit in this damn Millet Bread world!’