The Strongest Man’s Fake Wife Wants to Live Chapter 10

“…….”

At those words, Owen remained silent for a moment.

He could roughly imagine what had happened.

Amid the overwhelming workload and the Emperor’s order to depart for war, the butler had probably insisted that, as a count, he needed to maintain a certain level of dignity and therefore had to improve the appearance of the castle.

The talk about blue roses must have come up around then as well.

A situation like this would not have happened simply because the head of the household was inattentive.

Regardless of trends or dignity, it was clear that Owen knew very little about noble society.

It was unfortunate that, in the midst of all that, the money he had allocated while trying to take care of things in his own way had ended up lining the pockets of a worthless man.

Before his expression could harden any further, Pesha held out the flower she had plucked.

“This is the blue rose that was in the flower bed.”

The blue rose in Pesha’s hand was in full bloom, its pale-blue petals unfurling layer upon layer.

“What I’m trying to say isn’t that you were mistaken about the trend.”

“……Then what is it?”

“How much did you pay for this rose?”

“How much?”

“I heard you paid a very high price for it.”

“I did allocate a budget, but managing the castle’s finances is the butler’s responsibility, so I never thought about the price itself.”

“Then what would you do if this rose were fake?”

“Fake?”

Pesha tore the head of the blue rose she had shown him clean off and crushed it in her hand.

The blue petals scattered onto the floor like falling leaves.

Seeing Pesha suddenly crush the flower, Owen’s eyes widened slightly.

“The truth is, blue roses don’t actually exist. So why would the butler go so far as to lie and purchase fake flowers?”

“He may have been scammed.”

Seeing Owen, who probably already knew the answer yet still wanted to believe in his own man, Pesha gave a soft laugh.

“That may be possible, but I think the butler deliberately made fake roses and siphoned off the budget. Isn’t that why he tried so desperately to keep me from seeing the financial ledgers, even going so far as to point out my lack of knowledge?”

“……What of yours did he point out?”

Owen’s expression had barely changed even when Pesha told him that he had been deceived by a butler he had trusted for years, but it instantly turned cold.

Startled, Pesha hurriedly placed the petals she had been clutching onto her palm and showed them to him.

Along the shape made by her fingers, the petals’ original white color could be seen.

Meanwhile, blue dye had stained Pesha’s hand, making it obvious to anyone that the flower had been dyed.

“This…… is a characteristic of plant-based dye. It doesn’t wash away with water or discolor easily, but when it comes into contact with something at a high temperature, the color comes off quickly. That’s probably why he strictly prohibited the servants from approaching them. And since you don’t seem to have any interest in flowers, he must have felt safe.”

“…….”

“This isn’t even a rose. It only resembles one, but it’s actually a wildflower that’s much cheaper than a rose.”

After finishing, Pesha asked,

“What are you going to do? Is a butler who dared to deceive his master with lies and even embezzle money still one of your people?”

Owen’s cold, lowered gaze fixed on Pesha.

He silently pulled the bell cord, and before long, a servant appeared.

“Yes, my lord. Did you call for me?”

“Bring the butler. Right now.”

The servant was startled by Owen’s unusual demeanor and bowed his head deeply.

While the servant went to fetch the butler, Owen looked down at the petals scattered across the floor and asked,

“How did you know about this, My lady?”

Pesha had not expected him to question her about herself rather than press her further about the butler. She casually shrugged and answered as though it were nothing important.

“I’ve just been interested in plants and flowers since I was young.”

Her father disliked the fact that Pesha studied herbalism, something unrelated to the qualities expected of a noblewoman.

Studying abroad, which cost an enormous amount of money, had been impossible without her father’s support.

That was all there was to it.

Pesha thought that if she gave him a vague answer, Owen would simply let it go, but even after receiving such an insincere answer, he asked another question.

“If you were interested in them, did you receive any separate education? Perhaps you invited an expert to serve as your teacher…….”

That was when he reached that point.

The maid who had gone to fetch the butler returned.

“My lord, I have brought the butler.”

The butler, who had been summoned so suddenly, looked somewhat bewildered.

With one hand pressed against his chest, he greeted Owen with a nervous expression after sensing the unusual atmosphere.

“I heard you called for me, my lord.”

“Albert.”

At Owen’s unusual way of calling his name, the butler anxiously darted his eyes around.

“Yes, y-yes…….”

“The reason the Battle of the Toriya Plains was able to end successfully several years ago was largely because of your help. Despite being a civilian who should have been protected, you overcame your fear and came to tell us the enemy’s position while they were lying in ambush.”

“Th-That’s right. Whenever I think about that time, my knees still go weak…….”

Why was he suddenly bringing that up?

Cold sweat beaded across the butler’s forehead.

Even though Owen knew the butler was frantically watching his mood, his voice remained calm.

“Thanks to you, we were able to prevent a great number of soldiers from being killed or wounded, so as the man who led them, I believed I should properly repay you. The reason I deliberately hired you at the castle rather than simply giving you money as a one-time reward was because I believed you were someone I could trust.”

“……My, my lord…….”

“But now that I think about it, it seems I made that decision impulsively, overwhelmed with joy after our victory.”

The butler squeezed his eyes shut and tried to say something, whether an excuse or a confession, but Owen did not wait any longer.

“I don’t have time to waste listening to pointless excuses, so answer me concisely. How much did you siphon off through the blue roses?”

“Th-that, th-that is…….”

The butler’s hands began to tremble violently.

“Answer.”

He seemed to be trying somehow to get himself out of the situation, but enduring Owen’s piercing gaze was impossible.

“Gold coins…… about fifteen hundred…….”

Pesha’s eyes widened as she listened to the conversation beside him.

‘With that much money, we could buy a huge amount of fresh food for the castle, fill the wine cellar, and still have enough left to hire two gardeners!’

The butler, who had confessed the amount with his own mouth and was instead frightened by what he had done, hurriedly began spouting nonsense.

“B-but the flower itself really is a rare variety! I was only trying to preserve my lord’s dignity……!”

Pesha looked at the butler, who had begun lying in an attempt to somehow lessen his guilt, with pity before opening her mouth.

“Stop saying ridiculous things. There’s no way you could not know that these are fake roses dyed blue, that there was no such nonsense about blue being fashionable in the capital, or that you were siphoning off the money. So where do you get off lying?”

“How could my lady know that? No, could it be…….”

The moment the butler’s eyes met Pesha’s, his face turned bright red with anger.

“Th-That’s a lie!”

“What?”

Pesha could not help but be flustered when he suddenly pointed at her and shouted.

“These flowers really are blue roses! Please believe me, my lord!”

Pesha stared incredulously at the butler, who had thrown himself face-down on the floor and was begging Owen.

“What does he take me for…….”

“I know you’re doing this because you hold a grudge against me for not handing over the ledgers!”

“This is absurd. Who wouldn’t know that you deliberately didn’t even hire a gardener to hide those fake blue roses?”

As Pesha’s temper slowly began to rise and she fired back, the butler, who had lost all reason, accused her with a flushed face.

“What does a young lady raised in a greenhouse know? You’re slandering me with some half-baked knowledge you picked up somewhere!”

“What?”

“My lord. I’ll bring in a new expert. Let us ask that person and determine who is telling the truth!”

His performance of looking wronged was truly first-rate.

Pesha wanted to agree immediately, but if they brought in someone new, there was no telling what scheme the butler might pull.

Who knew whether he would bribe someone and bring them in to turn the situation against her?

She was just about to insist that they absolutely could not do that when—

A low voice rang through the study.

“No.”

It was Owen.

Pesha and the butler, who had been arguing, simultaneously turned toward him.

With a cold expression, Owen rose from his seat and walked steadily toward the butler.

Then, while the butler was still kneeling with his hands against the floor, Owen mercilessly stepped on the back of his hand and said,

“Argh!”

“We’ll find out which of you is telling the truth once we conduct a proper investigation of everything. But.”

He kept grinding his foot down so mercilessly that Pesha’s own face twisted as though her hand hurt just watching it.

“Regardless of whether you’re innocent or not, I cannot understand your attitude of defying and ignoring the orders of the lady of the house, whom you should be loyal to.”

“My, my lord, wait a moment……!”

“If what you said is proven to be a lie, you will also have to take responsibility for the things you said and did to my wife today.”