The Circumstances of Being Chosen as the Villainess’s Favorite - Chapter 146

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

Chapter 146

This reading group’s selected book was a famous mystery novel.

“Murder isn’t the solution to everything, and having characters keep dying is too much! How annoying!”

Lady Claudius had exploded while reading that book.

It was a story about a victim murdered for trying to expose corruption and the detective searching for the truth.

“Well… killing to silence someone is the most effective method though.”

Lady Claudius, who had been trying to calm her excitement, raised her voice again.

“Even so, isn’t it too easy to kill people?!”

‘Huh?’

I suddenly stiffened my shoulders.

A certain possibility had flashed through my mind.

‘Isn’t the current situation somewhat similar to this mystery novel?’

Father Pedro who had exposed fabricated corruption.

As a result, Claudius’s reputation was damaged, and naturally The Duke’s Orphanage Foundation that had been threatening the Imperial Curia’s charity work also faltered.

The Imperial Curia had gained a reflected benefit.

But that accusation wasn’t true.

Since Claudius possessed documents certified by the Imperial Court, if those documents were revealed, the Imperial Curia would suffer great damage in return.

Then, if the Imperial Curia wanted to cover up this problem…

“…Personal speculation.”

I unconsciously muttered quietly.

Lady Claudius, who had been fuming, turned to look at me with wide eyes.

“What?”

“Wait a moment, Evangeline.”

After asking Lady Claudius for understanding, I fell deep in thought about how the Imperial Curia would react next.

‘What if they claim this accusation was just Father Pedro’s individual transgression?’

Then the Imperial Curia’s lukewarm response would make sense.

‘Father Pedro isn’t a fool either… he’ll naturally resist.’

But if Father Pedro died and disappeared, all problems would be cleanly resolved.

First, the dead cannot speak, so he wouldn’t be able to protest.

Also, the doubts Father Pedro had raised, and even the priest’s death.

Wouldn’t that create a situation sufficient for the public to suspect House of Claudius?

‘If that happens, even if Claudius presents rebuttal evidence, it’ll be too late.’

The subsequent development would be obvious.

The public, already with firm suspicions planted in their minds, wouldn’t care about rebuttal evidence.

‘Am I jumping to conclusions too much? But…’

I bit my lips tightly.

‘If I assume this, everything fits together.’

Then.

I jumped up from my seat.

“Larit?!”

Lady Claudius called me with startled rabbit eyes.

“Evangeline, I need to meet Dietrich right away.”

“Really?”

She could have asked why, but Lady Claudius nodded and stood up from her seat.

Then she quickly grabbed my wrist and pulled me along.

“Evangeline?”

“You said you need to meet Her Brother, right?”

“Yes? Yes, I do need to meet him…”

Fortunately, Lord Claudius was at Claudius’ Townhouse today.

However.

“He’s, he’s currently in a meeting about the childcare foundation. We should wait until the meeting ends…”

“Didn’t you say you need to meet him right away?”

“Uh, th, that’s right?”

I was at a loss for words.

If my prediction was correct, it was indeed urgent to see Lord Claudius right now.

Since a person’s life was at stake.

…That was true, but.

‘Is it okay to visit him so suddenly like this? What if my assumption is wrong? Wouldn’t that be completely inconsiderate?’

Countless worries filled my head.

Then Lady Claudius spoke decisively.

“If Larit said it’s urgent, then it must be urgent.”

“…Evangeline.”

“There’s no need to hesitate unnecessarily. If Larit made that judgment, there must be a reason.”

A voice filled with firm belief in me.

Somehow my nose started to sting.

“And so what if we’re a bit unreasonable? Larit is Her Brother’s lover after all.”

At the same time, Lady Claudius gave me a mischievous smile.

“Lovers are allowed to receive such privileges sometimes.”

With those words.

Lady Claudius dragged me straight into the meeting room.

“La, Lady Claudius?”

“What the…?”

The administrators attending the meeting looked at us with wide eyes.

Receiving all those gazes, Lady Claudius proudly lifted her chin.

“Her Brother, come out quickly. It’s urgent.”

Shortly after.

Lord Claudius walked out with a troubled expression.

“Evangeline, what on earth is this…”

Before Lord Claudius could say anything to Lady Claudius.

“Lord Claudius, about that priest. Pedro, was it?”

I spoke urgently.

“That priest might be in danger.”

After hearing the whole story from me, Lord Claudius immediately stood up.

“I should go see for myself.”

What? He’s going personally?

I widened my eyes.

“If Larit’s speculation is true, Father Pedro is in a very dangerous situation right now. We need to move him to a safe place as quickly as possible.”

Lord Claudius picked up the jacket hanging on his chair and continued.

“But Father Pedro likely has no idea about this situation. In that case, sending a representative would only make him misunderstand that we’re trying to win him over.”

“But, still.”

“It would be much more convincing if I go and speak to him directly.”

Lord Claudius, who had been walking quickly toward the door, glanced back at me one last time.

“Thank you for the advice, Larit.”

“Ah…”

Lord Claudius gave me a gentle smile.

“It was something I hadn’t even thought of… it was a great help.”

With those words.

Lord Claudius immediately left the room.

* * *

Father Pedro stayed up all night examining the documents.

And he realized.

“…This can’t be.”

Father Pedro, unable to overcome his overwhelming feelings, squeezed his eyes shut.

The documents that High Priest Evans had presented as evidence of House of Claudius forming slush funds.

Those documents explained how House of Claudius’s donations were distributed to each orphanage, and how much of those donations flowed into slush funds.

In that process, it roughly stated how much funding each orphanage had received.

“This… none of the support items and numbers match?”

Father Pedro bit his lips until they bled.

“Even if High Priest Evans was displeased, I should have verified from the beginning….”

The only thing he could cross-verify was Roman Orphanage, which he was in charge of.

But even the numbers related to that small orphanage were completely wrong.

Father Pedro scanned through the list of what was supposedly provided to Roman Orphanage with bloodshot eyes.

<Roman Orphanage, One Month’s Allocation>

― 8,000 derks in support funds

― 30 sacks of wheat

― 5 containers of milk

― 15 chickens

[※ Food supplies are distributed once a week, divided from the total allocation.]

But Father Pedro had never heard of receiving such large quantities of supplies.

What he had been receiving all along was at most 3,000 derks in support funds.

And even that came only once every 2-3 months after pleading and begging repeatedly, like charity given to a beggar.

With just those support funds, it was absolutely impossible to feed and clothe over twenty orphanage children.

That’s why he had been using almost all of his personal funds to care for them….

“If we had received support as written… our children’s lives would have been much better.”

Father Pedro, thinking of the children who were skin and bones from not eating well, unknowingly reddened his eyes.

“The documents raising suspicions seem somewhat inadequate. Don’t you have any other materials?”

A journalist’s question that he had simply brushed off now hit him painfully.

Roman Orphanage was the smallest among the orphanages under the Imperial Curia’s Archdiocese Charity Foundation.

But if even this small orphanage had such mismatched numbers….

‘The other documents must be even more of a mess.’

Father Pedro’s eyes narrowed.

Then.

‘Where did that money go that was supposedly embezzled by House of Claudius as slush funds?’

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