Chapter 5: Unreadable Ledgers, A Shaken Duke

The ledger cannot be read.

Duke Alberto Glanz sat in his study chair and let out his third sigh.

The ledger open before him was not blank.

Faint magical patterns floated across it.

Where there should have been words, only unreadable streaks of light ran across the page.

A rune book seal.

A ledger that cannot be deciphered by anyone other than its administrator.

And that administrator—was no longer here.

“My lord.

Should you not call Lady Serena back after all?”

Lillie stood by the door.

A thin shawl draped over her narrow shoulders.

Her expression was anxious.

“There is no need.”

“But the quarterly report deadline—”

“I know.

I will handle it myself.”

Lillie closed her mouth.

Still looking like she had more to say, she quietly withdrew.

Another letter lay on the desk.

Stamped with the royal crest.

“Regarding the income and expenditure report for the first quarter of this fiscal year in the Glanz Ducal territory, we have not confirmed submission past the deadline.

We request an explanation at once.”

Alberto’s hand stopped.

At the same time, morning in the Weiss territory began with the smell of baking bread.

When I opened the window of the accounting room, smoke from the kitchen drifted in with the wind.

When I first arrived a month ago, this place smelled only of the sea and wind.

Now, little by little, more scents had been added.

The smell of bread.

The smell of ink from the ledgers.

The smell of soil from the small potted plant by the window.

(Perhaps I have grown accustomed to this place.)

A letter had arrived on the desk.

A familiar seal.

The crest of the Glanz Ducal house.

I opened it.

“Serena.

I am unable to read the ducal ledgers and am in difficulty.

I request your urgent assistance in deciphering them.

Conditions are open for negotiation.

—Alberto”

It was a short message.

As always, a man of only the necessary words.

He had written “urgent,” but it took two days for this letter to arrive by magic bird.

Which meant he had already been in trouble two days ago.

(Conditions are open for negotiation, is it.)

In seven years, I had never once been asked to negotiate conditions.

I took out writing paper and wrote my reply.

“To His Grace, Duke of Glanz.

I have received your letter.

As our divorce has been finalized, please make any requests regarding the handover of ledgers through royal arbitration.

I regret that I am unable to assist you directly.

—Serena von Felsen”

I signed with my maiden name.

For a moment, my hand hesitated at writing a name I had not used in seven years.

The pen stopped on the paper.

Then, in a firm hand, I wrote “Felsen.”

I waited for the ink to dry, then sealed it.

—My hand trembled slightly.

It was not anger.

Nor was it sadness.

I simply realized that the person writing this letter was no longer the same as I had been a month and a half ago.

It had only been forty-five days since the night I closed the ledger in that study.

And yet, it felt like much longer.

I placed the envelope at the edge of the desk and opened my ledger.

There was work to be done today.

I had no time to think about him.

That afternoon, people had gathered in the central square of the Weiss territory.

The monthly governance report meeting.

Lucas stood before the people to report the month’s policies and results—

Though normally, attendance was sparse.

Hannes had said, “If ten people show up, that’s a lot.”

Today, there were over thirty.

“I revised the tariffs on the trade routes.”

Lucas began his report in his usual short manner.

“I corrected the double taxation of transit and transaction taxes.

As a result, merchant traffic last month increased by forty percent compared to the previous month.

Port trade volume is also showing signs of recovery.”

The people murmured.

Those were good numbers.

A forty percent increase in one month was a visible change.

“This reform—”

Lucas paused briefly.

He looked at me.

Directly.

“—is Lady Serena’s work.”

The atmosphere changed.

All at once, the people’s gazes turned toward me.

(—What?)

“Lady Serena analyzed the ledgers and designed the improvement plan.

The tariff calculations, negotiations with contractors, and the alternative sea route—everything was her work.

I merely stamped approval.”

Merely stamped approval.

That was not true.

Lucas had approved the plan immediately, stood before the people himself to explain it, and personally bowed to those who opposed it.

To say he merely stamped it—

“Lady Serena! Thank you!”

A voice rose from the edge of the square.

“Thanks to you, the market’s gotten lively again!”

“My husband got work at the port!”

“Lady Serena, please stay with us!”

Voices overlapped.

From all directions.

Smiling.

Looking at me.

—They were calling my name.

(…Wait.

Just a moment.)

“N-no, um— I only did what was natural— I simply organized the numbers—”

I was speaking too quickly.

I could feel my eyes darting.

My face was hot.

I did not know where to put my hands.

If I had a ledger, I could hide behind it, but today my hands were empty.

For seven years.

Not once had my name been called.

My work was rephrased as “our territory’s achievements.”

I was not even referred to as “the duchess.”

For seven years, I organized numbers in the shadows of ledgers.

A name had made no difference.

So—

I was not used to being called by name.

I was not used to being praised.

“Lady Serena.”

Lucas’s voice came.

Low and short.

When I looked up, Lucas was frowning slightly.

(…Is he angry?

Did I do something wrong?

Was I too carried away?

No, it was the people who were excited—)

But his gaze did not seem directed at me.

It felt as though it was directed somewhere beyond me—

At something behind me.

At something spanning seven years.

“…Well done.”

Just those brief words.

Then Lucas turned back to the people.

His cloak fluttered in the wind.

The sternness in his expression from before was gone.

—Well done.

Those simple words echoed strangely loudly in my chest.

(…Ah.)

The back of my eyes grew warm again.

I held it back.

I could not cry in the square.

Even if asked why, I did not think I could explain it well.

Hannes, standing beside me, silently offered a white handkerchief.

“…I won’t need it.”

“Well, just in case.”

I did not take it.

But Hannes remained beside me for a while, still holding the handkerchief.

That night.

A reply from Serena arrived for Duke Alberto Glanz.

He broke the seal, read it, and placed it on the desk.

The signature was in her maiden name.

“Please make your request through royal arbitration.”

Polite.

Flawless.

Written entirely like that of a stranger.

He remained seated for a while without moving.

Eventually, he stood and reached for his cloak.

“—I’m going to Weiss territory.

Prepare a horse.”

His voice echoed down the hallway.

No reply came immediately.