Pesha shoved the quill into the inkwell, then turned her entire body toward Philia and pressed her for answers.
Philia answered in a hushed voice, as though the butler might still be somewhere nearby.
“The butler…… He didn’t officially get the position through an interview. He’s a commoner.”
“…….”
When a family was large or belonged to the higher ranks of nobility, it was common for them to hire lower-ranking nobles, such as second sons who could not inherit their baronial titles or baronets, to serve as butlers.
Although the household itself was poorly managed, this was the castle of Count Namoi, whose territory was large and whose influence reached even the capital, so Pesha had naturally assumed this place would be the same.
But it seemed the butler’s background was somewhat unusual.
“Is that all you have to say?”
After hesitating, Philia continued.
“I heard they’ve known each other since the time our lord was leading a mercenary corps, that is, before he received his title. But since the people who have been with him since then are usually knights, I haven’t been told the details.”
“Since before he received his title.”
“Yes. There’s a rumor that when our lord stopped at a village during the war, he almost fell into a trap, but the butler, who was an ordinary civilian at the time, tipped him off and helped him escape the danger. He also received various other small forms of help from him, so when the war ended, our lord sent people to the village to bring him here and make him his butler.”
“That worked out well.”
“The problem is that after the butler became responsible for the castle’s finances, the financial situation, which wasn’t very abundant to begin with, became even worse.”
It was a predictable story.
‘Owen was simply repaying him for his help, and it seems the butler’s eyes turned greedy after suddenly becoming responsible for the castle’s large sums of money.’
When Pesha nodded as though she understood, Philia, relieved, lowered her gaze to the floor and repeatedly cautioned her.
“Even though the butler seems like a nice person…… all the maids who raised objections about this matter were driven out. Of course, the butler can’t really do anything to my lady, but…….”
Pesha could tell what Philia was worried about.
Even while explaining everything, Philia had remained visibly anxious, so Pesha gave her a smile.
She thought it was admirable that Philia had told her despite being afraid.
“Yes, thank you. I’ll keep what you said in mind.”
“Thank you. Then I’ll be going now.”
She had been certain that once she came here, everyone from the knights to the servants would only harbor hostility toward her, so receiving this kind of goodwill left her both bewildered and pleased.
After Philia withdrew, Pesha fell into thought for a while.
Judging by the butler’s attitude when he refused to show her the ledgers, it was obvious there was something wrong with the finances.
It was necessary to uncover the truth, but the method was important too.
‘It would be nice if I could not just have him punished, but completely humiliate him and drive him out altogether. Is there really no good way to do that?’
As Pesha paced around the room, deep in thought, the garden beyond the window caught her eye.
The garden, left unattended without even a single gardener, looked green at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it was a mess of freely growing weeds, various wildflowers, and the like.
“Hmm.”
After slowly looking over the garden for a moment, Pesha’s eyes caught sight of a flower bed filled with clusters of blue flowers.
“Hm? What’s that…….”
That couldn’t be.
‘Why is that flower blue?’
Sensing something strange, Pesha hurried down the stairs and approached the flower bed.
She had not seen it incorrectly.
The flower bed was filled with blooming blue roses.
What was more, the soil had recently been covered with nutrient-rich earth, as though the flowers had only recently been planted.
Finding this strange, Pesha stopped a passing servant and asked,
“Do you happen to know what kind of flower this is?”
“Pardon? Ah…… this is a precious flower that the butler ordered us to plant.”
“A precious flower?”
“Yes. The butler spent a great deal of money to plant these precious blue roses, so he repeatedly told us to handle them with great care.”
With those words, Pesha’s expression became peculiar.
“Ah-ha…… precious blue roses. I see. Thank you. You can go now.”
After sending the servant away, Pesha plucked a petal from the flower to examine it and became certain.
‘Maybe I’ll be able to drive the butler out even sooner than I thought.’
She plucked one of the roses and abruptly rose to her feet.
***
Pesha went to Owen’s study and knocked on the door.
“What is it?”
An unfamiliar man’s voice came from inside.
Perhaps the man who had arrived earlier had asked on Owen’s behalf.
Pesha pretended not to know that and spoke gently.
“It’s me, Pesha. I came because there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”
“…….”
A brief silence settled before Owen’s voice could be heard this time.
“Come in.”
When Pesha opened the door and entered, Owen was casually going through some documents, as though he had been in the middle of working.
“You can go.”
Jane, the red-haired knight who had been so startled by Pesha’s sudden appearance that he could not hide his surprise, only came to his senses a beat late even after hearing Owen’s order.
“My lord. Then what should we do about the painkillers?”
“For now, tell them to purchase more tobacco leaves. Pay a higher price for anything harvested within the territory.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jane bowed and left, and Owen lifted his eyes from the documents.
“You said you had something to say. What is it?”
He wore his usual slightly sullen expression, giving Pesha the feeling that he was saying, ‘I’m busy, so don’t disturb me,’ but Pesha did not back down.
“It’s nothing much. I went to look at the garden and noticed there were blue roses. I heard the butler went to great lengths to obtain them, and they were really beautiful.”
“……I’m glad you thought they looked nice.”
“Yes. I noticed them because they were planted in a spot where they can be seen clearly from my bedroom window.”
“I have heard that blue roses are popular among the nobles in the capital these days. Do you like them?”
“Do I like them?”
Pesha looked momentarily bewildered.
Owen kept his gaze lowered, still looking at the documents.
As though the time he had coldly snapped at her in the carriage had never happened, he seemed, perhaps only in her imagination, to be slightly hoping for some praise.
The moment she had that thought, her shoulders instinctively flinched.
‘Am I crazy? Owen Namoi wants praise from me? Obviously, he’s just asking what I think of them.’
Pesha vigorously shook her head inwardly before asking in return.
“Does whether I like them matter?”
It was not even a gift specifically meant for his wife, so she found it a little bewildering that he had suddenly asked whether she liked them or not.
But at those words, Owen’s quill, which had been moving quickly, abruptly stopped, and he raised his head.
Startled when their eyes suddenly met, Pesha hurriedly changed the subject.
“Anyway, what I’m curious about is who first brought up the subject of blue roses.”
Owen looked as though he had something to say, but after hearing Pesha’s question, he remained silent for a moment before searching his memory.
“Let’s see…… Was it the butler? Before I left for war last year, he said he needed money to spruce up the castle, so I allocated a budget. I think that was when he mentioned it while purchasing furniture and furnishings in bulk.”
He really had taken advantage of a master who paid no attention to the household.
When Owen looked at her as though asking why she was bringing this up, Pesha answered with a smile.
“Ah, but that’s a lie.”
“What do you mean?”
At the unexpected statement, Owen furrowed his brow.
“Think about it. Even if blue roses really were fashionable, how would the butler, who couldn’t leave the territory because he had to manage the castle, know about it?”
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