I’m a Mother-in-Law, but I Dislike Conflict with My Daughter-in-Law - Chapter 231

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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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I’m a Mother-in-Law, But I Don’t Want Family Conflicts Episode 231

Side Story. Desert, Travel, and Jealousy

I hate going out.

Since I believe resting at home is better than any hobby, I wouldn’t take a single step outside my bedroom if I had no schedule.

And yet here I was, managing the incredible itinerary of crossing a desert.

“Lady, your parasol…”

“It’s fine, it’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed the sunlight.”

I declined the parasol Anna offered and slowly looked around.

The blazing sun, the vast expanse of desert, and in the middle of it all, an oasis showing its blue light like a jewel.

The beauty of nature that couldn’t be captured in photos or paintings was spread before me.

But rather than being moved by the sight, I sighed thinking about the tasks ahead.

‘I shouldn’t have interfered. I should have stayed quiet.’

The incident began a month ago when a new maid tore a cloak.

The Wind God’s Cloak – the reason I could travel to and from the Western Region, and a treasure Rohan held especially dear.

One day, when I discovered dirt on the cloak, I asked Anna to wash it.

No matter what, I couldn’t send such a treasure to the laundry room, so I entrusted it to Anna, whom I could trust.

Anna diligently finished the washing and brought the cloak to my bedroom.

Since I happened to be out on external business with Rohan, she placed it on the bed so I could see it as soon as I returned.

But the first person to discover the cloak wasn’t me – it was a maid who had entered the room to change my bedsheet.

‘A cloak I haven’t seen before? It’s too big to be Grand Madam’s… whose is it?’

The maid, who had never seen me wearing the cloak, mistook it for a laundry delivery error.

So she tried to take it to the butler or Anna for confirmation, but…

‘Ah!’

Her foot got caught in the hem of the cloak and she fell. And the cloak, stretched out under the maid’s foot, tore magnificently in two.

‘…It tore? The Wind God’s Cloak?’

Rohan’s expression as he stared at the cloak split in two was still vivid in my memory.

It was the expression of someone who never imagined such a precious treasure – one that couldn’t be traded even for an entire castle – would end up in such a state.

‘I’m sorry, I’ll compensate for it.’

A servant’s mistake is the master’s mistake. No matter how much the new maid had erred, I had no intention of avoiding responsibility.

When I bowed to apologize, Rohan stopped me, saying it wasn’t necessary.

‘It can be repaired, so don’t worry. It will take some time though.’

Fortunately, there was a mage in the Eastern Region who could repair and restore such treasures.

It would cost some time and money, but as long as the magic hadn’t disappeared, it could be fixed right away, so he comforted me not to worry.

The reason the cloak was a treasure was because of the magic imbued within it, not because the fabric itself was important.

After that, I gave the maid appropriate disciplinary action and decided to cover the repair costs myself… but the problem came after that.

My inability to return to the Western Region was a secondary concern, but the biggest problem was that Rohan couldn’t use it.

‘This means… secret investigation will be impossible.’

The land of the Eastern Region was wider than the Western Region or the capital. Most of it was uninhabitable desert or canyons, which meant the distances between territories were tremendously far apart.

While in the Western Region, traveling to a neighboring territory took half a day or at most a full day, in the Eastern Region you had to prepare for three or four days.

That’s why Rohan used the cloak for territory inspections.

It had the great advantage of being able to ignore distance and visit without giving information to the lords.

But that work had become impossible because of me.

‘…I’ll take on that job.’

Anyway, to the people of the Eastern Region, I was an outsider. Few people paid attention to me, so sneaking around while hiding my appearance was no big deal.

So I stepped forward, saying I would do the work in his place until the cloak was repaired.

Rohan kept trying to dissuade me, saying there was no need to go that far, but thinking I couldn’t just keep owing Rohan debts, I forcibly inserted myself into the schedule.

The result was this current journey.

“…Sir Nata, how many days did it take to get here?”

“Three days and half a day, my lady. Since we drove the carriage slowly, it became quite a long journey.”

It felt like we had crossed about two territories, but three days had already passed. I was newly amazed by the vastness of the desert.

“I only stayed inside the carriage so it doesn’t matter to me, but are you alright, Sir Nata?”

“I’m fine. Rather, it reminds me of marching in the old days, so it feels like training.”

I was a bit amazed by Nata’s spirited answer too. Unlike him, I was exhausted from the tedious desert crossing.

‘I guess I’m the only one who’s tired.’

Behind Nata, I organized the carriage and looked after the servants.

Half were servants that Rohan had provided, and the other half were maids that Anna had brought, but they all looked healthier than me.

Then, I noticed a masked woman who was folding the carriage’s canopy behind Anna.

“Are you going to keep wearing that mask?”

At my question, the woman slowly turned her head to look at me.

“Of course, Lady.”

“Lady…”

I had told the servants to call me Lady instead of Grand Madam when outside, but hearing that title from that girl somehow made my ears tingle.

“There’s no one watching, so just speak comfortably.”

“This is the proper attitude as a servant. Lady, please also feel free to call me ‘Lena.'”

What part of that elegant way of speaking was servant-like?

For such a cheerful name, her polite attitude made me sigh involuntarily. She seemed to have taken a liking to acting.

Still, even though he couldn’t change his way of speaking, his gestures were quite convincing, and with the round mask used by desert minorities and a hood pulled over his head, he looked exactly like an easterner.

Thinking that continuing the conversation would only make me more uncomfortable, I called Anna again.

“So Anna, what exactly do we need to do?”

“Um, just a moment. The Duke’s purpose for this secret investigation was to track the funds of this oasis city… that is, ‘Haldia’. Their expenditures are excessive compared to the taxes they’ve collected.”

To summarize, it meant they reported earning small amounts but were spending far too much money.

I read through the documents Anna handed me again.

‘Indeed, the scale is small but there’s too much money circulating. This level would be appropriate for a major city.’

The Lord of Haldia wasn’t a fool either, so he had hidden the flow of funds, but even from the rough investigation costs from the Duke’s estate, there was excessive money changing hands compared to the territory’s level.

Haldia is a trading city centered around an oasis. So there are more people coming and going than residents, but even considering that, the numbers were far too large.

‘The main form of funds is gold ingots rather than currency or goods… They must be planning money laundering too.’

Perhaps because it was an era when economic and market concepts were just beginning to emerge, there were several obvious schemes. If Jane had been here, she would have guessed the scale of this case just from looking at these documents.

My mission was to confirm Haldia’s fund circulation routes with my own eyes and bring back evidence.

“Let’s go down first.”

Haldia had multiple watchtowers but was a flat-structured city without castle walls. Thanks to this, I could estimate the city’s size just by looking from afar.

Our destination was the central plaza and market where many people gathered.

While approaching leisurely so as not to look suspicious, I saw what appeared to be security soldiers kicking some man.

“Aaah!”

He fell so dramatically that not only we but everyone on the road turned to look.

The soldiers glared at the man who had become covered in sand and was rolling on the ground, shouting in harsh voices.

“Stop that blasphemous talk! A merchant should just spread out his bundle!”

“Be grateful we’re not throwing you out! Don’t ever say such things again!”

The soldiers even spat before withdrawing. And as they resumed their inspections, the fallen man groaned in considerable pain and muttered.

“Ugh, these ignorant fools…”

‘Well, look at this.’

From his curses that I happened to overhear, I could discern an unexpected characteristic. He was using profanity mixed with archaic language that only nobles would use.

‘A noble pretending to be a merchant, nearly thrown out of a city hiding corruption.’

He seemed like he might be quite useful.

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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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