I Became the Wife of the Hero Who Killed Me - Chapter 124

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#Episode 124

 

The powder was an excessively murky gray to be called flour.

 

This time, even someone with no knowledge at all could tell at a glance that something was wrong with its condition.

 

Mariana’s sharp gaze immediately turned toward the manager.

 

“What is this? Don’t tell me you distributed this for people to eat?!”

 

Then the flustered staff members began rambling nonsense as excuses.

 

“No! Th-this is something we only use in very urgent situations.”

 

“Yes, yes, we can’t let the poor starve when donations are insufficient, can we?! We stockpile it just in case, and we never use it normally!”

 

But there was far too much stockpiled for that excuse.

 

The sacks that Gareth and the knights had brought outside were only a tiny fraction of what was piled up in the warehouse.

 

Excluding those, everything else was this garbage flour.

 

It was more convincing that they had originally been distributing this stuff, then hastily bought proper flour before the Empress’s inspection to cover only the entrance.

 

Nevertheless, I asked back with feigned generosity.

 

“Is that really so?”

 

“How could there be any doubt? Th-this year the donations were particularly low… we couldn’t bear to let the poor starve, so we…”

 

“Really? Then bring out the ledger.”

 

But such tricks wouldn’t work on me.

 

* * *

 

Don’t try to fool an expert.

 

I thoroughly exposed every corruption I could see – not just food ingredients, but embezzlement of medicine, registration of ghost residents, forced labor of residents, and misappropriation of donations.

 

This much came out from just one year’s worth.

 

Combined with what had accumulated in the past, it was hard to imagine how large the scale of embezzlement might be.

 

Mariana, faced with the truth, was literally furious.

 

It was the first time I’d seen her, who was always calm, display such intense emotion since the incident when Joseph nearly died on the Feast of the Holy Mother.

 

“Take them away and investigate thoroughly. I will allow no mercy whatsoever.”

 

“Pl-please spare us!”

 

“We were just following orders from ab-above… no, that’s not it, it was a clerical error…!”

 

Even the noble ladies who had come out for light social activities seemed shocked by the poorhouse’s wretched state.

 

At the same time, they looked at me with secretly amazed eyes.

 

“How did the Duchess of Lombard catch all these complicated things?”

 

“I manage my household finances too, so I’m not completely ignorant about ledgers, but I was completely fooled just by looking.”

 

“Double ledgers, ghost records, false records… ugh, just thinking about it gives me a headache.”

 

Regardless of their chatter, I was troubled.

 

‘Aaah, please God!!’

 

There’s a saying about the tip of the iceberg.

 

What’s visible is only a tiny part, and the true form is hidden beneath the water.

 

As I examined the contents of the double ledger in detail, I suspected this incident would definitely not end as just one poorhouse’s problem.

 

Committing corruption on this scale would be impossible through individual effort alone.

 

The entire Imperial Capital might need to be turned upside down.

 

‘Or perhaps something unimaginable might be dragged out…’

 

It would be a lie to say it wasn’t troublesome.

 

Today too, I had to verbally crush the poorhouse manager and staff who were spouting nonsense—actually, I also hit them with the edge of a document file—and I felt so drained I wanted to lie down on the floor.

 

But I soon made up my mind.

 

Since I was going to leave the Imperial Capital anyway, I decided to leave a big and beautiful farewell gift that the citizens here would never forget.

 

Of course, blood pressure management is self-service. Everyone can handle it themselves.

 

“Aunt!”

 

“Yes, Elisia.”

 

Mariana, who had been busily giving orders to her attendants, turned around.

 

I realized today that having the Empress as backing makes cleanup much easier.

 

Since Mariana also cared deeply for the citizens, I rationalized to myself that my plan would be good for her too, and asked with sparkling, cute eyes.

 

“Could we inspect other poorhouses besides this one?”

 

“Of course. Since the schedule is two days, tomorrow we can go to another place…”

 

“No.”

 

“Hm?”

 

“All of them.”

 

I added with a bright smile.

 

“All twelve Imperial Poorhouses in the Imperial Capital.”

 

Until now, I had thought Lombard was the greatest hall of corruption in Baldin.

 

But that was merely the perspective of a frog in a well who had lived only in the Northern Region her whole life.

 

Indeed, the Imperial Capital was different.

 

The scale of corruption far surpassed Lombard.

 

My temperament, which had been suppressed and silenced for a while due to the imperial succession struggle, the conversion, and the possibility of war, quickly revived.

 

“If I just pass over these damn documents, I feel like I’d become not a human but garbage.”

 

* * *

 

Elisia brought the Empress along and raided one poorhouse per day at random.

 

There was no advance notice.

 

Visiting unannounced, they opened the poorhouse doors wide so that passing citizens could comfortably watch the investigation process.

 

They say words travel faster than feet.

 

By the fifth day of inspection, rumors spread like wildfire throughout the Imperial Capital.

 

“Well, at the Imperial Poorhouse…”

 

“I heard too. My daughter saw it directly? Duke Lombard’s wife hit a corrupt manager on the head with the edge of a document file.”

 

“Oh my, getting hit on the head with that edge must have really hurt.”

 

The entire Imperial Capital was buzzing with the massive scandal that erupted from the poorhouse.

 

Evidence emerged that various forms of embezzlement and exploitation were rampant in many poorhouses operated by the Imperial Family.

 

They had siphoned off most of the support funds and donations, and forced residents into labor to secure enormous profits.

 

Patients were left neglected without receiving proper treatment, and when they died, money was extorted from bereaved families under the pretext of funeral expenses.

 

As deep-rooted corruption was exposed in detail, the people’s trust in the Imperial Palace began to waver.

 

The establishment of poorhouses and relief for the poor was Vittorio IV’s greatest achievement that he took pride in.

 

Public sentiment was already turbulent due to Rosalind’s conversion, and now even the poorhouses were in such a state.

 

“Honestly, is it really just the construction site managers’ problem? If corruption broke out in all those poorhouses, the real problem lies higher up.”

 

“Who doesn’t know that? The question is how high up ‘higher’ goes.”

 

People were curious about who the real culprit behind the poorhouse incident was.

 

At the same time, such talk began to leak out little by little.

 

“I’ve been thinking, wouldn’t it have been better if Elisia became Emperor? If she had been Emperor, at least this kind of thing wouldn’t have happened.”

 

“Hey, even so!”

 

“Did I say something wrong?! Elisia has such a generous personality and above all, how great is her love for the people? Even at the Imperial Palace tournament…”

 

Only when the boiling public sentiment was about to explode in another direction did the Imperial Palace, which had remained silent all along, finally begin a full-scale investigation.

 

But even the judicial officers would have a headache.

 

The person who managed the donations going to the poorhouses was Marquis Andre, and he was simultaneously the chief administrator managing the Emperor’s Imperial Private Funds.

 

In other words, the deeper they dug into this incident, the more disadvantageous it would be for the Imperial Family.

 

“Lady Rosalind, His Highness Nigel has come to visit.”

 

Rosalind, who had been sitting in front of her vanity lost in thought, raised her head.

 

A few days ago, she had completed her conversion under Imperial Father’s irrefutable command.

 

At the baptism ceremony officiated by Protestant Priests, she declared that she was abandoning heresy and accepting true faith.

 

Now there was truly no turning back.

 

The brilliantly shining scenery of the Imperial Palace late into the night, the beautiful sight of Imperial Capital Bellenua, and the court culture of Baldin that was considered the most splendid in continental history—all of it

 

Had become past glory that could never be enjoyed again.

 

Because of Mariana, that old fox!

 

“Rosalind.”

 

“…”

 

Just as burning vengeance was consuming her mind, Nigel entered at that moment.

 

Even though he sensed her presence, he quietly gazed at Rosalind’s back as she still sat blankly in front of her vanity.

 

To desperately call for help saying she needed it, then pretend not to know.

 

Nigel inwardly sighed and sent all the ladies-in-waiting away. Then he placed his hand on his sister’s shoulder.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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