25. The Impatience of the Count of Allingham (Parent’s Perspective)

Around that time, the Count of Allingham family began to undergo some changes.

“Hey, Keira, why haven’t I received the dress I ordered the other day?”

Keira, who had become her maid in place of Carol, furrowed her eyebrows. She could tell that Corinna was in bad mood.

“Lady Corinna, like I previously said, please clarify the situation with the lord. As the payment was delayed, it’s only to be expected that the dress wouldn’t be delivered.”

“What!? How impertinent—! Who told you to serve me!? Oh, right, you used to be close with Avril. Just you wait, I’ll kick you out!”

Keira nonchalantly ignored Corinna’s chiding. Her father, the Count of Allingham, called out to her.

“Enough, Corinna.”

“But, father—! Can you believe the audacity of this maid—!?”

“Keira is doing her best. Besides, if even Keira quits, our family will be troubled. Therefore, please don’t pester her too much.”

“What are you defending her for!? In the first place, the dress didn’t arrive because you didn’t pay for it! Father, what’s the meaning of this!? Call for Sebastian, the butler, so that we can make the payment right away!”

“…T, that’s—anyway, be kind to your servants. This is my order as the head of the family.”

“F, father—!?”

Corinna resentfully glared at her father as he awkwardly retreated to his stud while the servants coldly glared at them.

A month had passed since Avril left. In that time, the atmosphere within the Count of Allingham household had shifted drastically.

The financial situation of the Count Allingham family, which was known for its haphazard management of the territory, was originally dire. After being forced to urgently repay their debts, their cash flow became more and more difficult.

Under normal circumstances, they’d have borrowed from somewhere to make up for it. However, the household of Count Lindbergh forced them to repay the debt in one lump sum, and now there was no money lender willing to give them a new loan.

Aware that their salary wouldn’t be paid for a while, some of the well-informed servants gave up and left. Those who hadn’t were also busy with job hunting, leaving the mansion deserted.

Her mother, who had been silently listening to Corinna, spoke in a coaxing tone.

“Hey, Corinna… Why don’t you give the offer from Lady Alexandra a try? At first, I thought that it was a horrible prospect. But after carefully thinking about it, it might not be that terrible, you becoming her maid.”

“Absolutely not—! Ugh, even mother has started spouting such nonsense—! Besides, who would work for that boorish woman, anyway—!?”

Keira, who was watching from the side, let out a sigh.

***

After being pestered by his daughter, Count Allingham fled into his study. There, he began tearing his scalp in front of the documents.

“Good grief, since when did Corinna become this selfish and rebellious?! Avril tended to be blunt, but she otherwise never complained.”

Documents were piled up in front of him.

None of this was supposed to happen…

Previously, when Avril was still there, all he needed to do was organize the documents and information.

It was supposed to be his job to govern his territory and guide his people. When he had just inherited the title of count, he had an excellent entourage, but he complained so much they dwindled.

Around that time, he discovered the existence of his late wife’s daughter, someone who had outstanding memory.

Thus, to make everything easier for himself, he made Avril his secretary and had her take care of the paperwork. Of course, he hadn’t told his second wife and daughter that. The two of them were usually cold towards Avril.

As such, he’d tell them that, “She’s a mere helper.” Or, “I’m reluctant to let her go out to social gatherings, because despite being a daughter of an aristocrat, doing chores is all that she’s good at. Not to mention, her revolting skill.”  In a way, it was also to maintain his ego.

Nearly 10 years had passed, and only a huge pile of unidentifiable documents remained in the study where Avril disappeared from due to a sudden marriage offer.

“Anyway, I need to hire someone excellent from the university as soon as possible. However, once I posted the wage, no one responded… Am I being scammed?”

Due to the lack of a predecessor, people were reluctant to work with him.

In terms of finance, things are going to get really bad at this rate.

“…If I were to borrow money from Count Lindbergh family, be it this house, my territory, and the surrounding land, all of it will have to be pledged as collateral.”

He hadn’t told anyone about that, let alone his wife and daughter. It was a fact that even Avril, who was in charge of organizing the documents, shouldn’t have known.

In other words, if things were to go on like that, the Count of Allingham would even lose the family mansion and fall into ruin.

After Count Allingham locked the study, he opened the hidden door at the far end of the bookshelf and entered the password into the safe.

The document with the land and mansion as collateral was hidden there. It was an important document that couldn’t be shown to just anyone. As such, the document was protected by a lengthy password…

—at least, that was how it was supposed to be.

“…Gone.”

A dumbfounded voice echoed in the spacious study.

The reason was because Avril borrowed the document for a bit just before she was kicked out and moved it into the closet in the servant’s room she formerly used.

Of course, that thought never even occur to Count Allingham.