Five days passed in the blink of an eye.

After Ramelata left the ducal estate, Martiana asked Melissa and Tapnad to follow her, and suddenly found herself very busy indeed.

She had failed to find the child she was searching for.

However, upon returning to the duchy, she had a promise to fulfil: to resume managing the Vandyk household.

The first task was—

“This is everything the Dowager Duchess currently holds.”

—was reviewing the household accounts that Drisena had been overseeing.

“That’s… quite a lot.”

Martiana’s expression hardened as she surveyed the towering piles of documents stretching from her desk to the floor.

She had anticipated this the moment she volunteered to take charge again.

But the quantity of paperwork was even greater than she had expected. It would take more than a month to properly review everything.

Each document would need to be examined and cross-checked line by line.

If a single glance had revealed neat, careful organization, that alone would have made the task easier.

But Martiana did not expect such good fortune.

After all, Drisena had been in charge.

“As she was before.”

Things would probably be no different to how they were before.

She remembered the days just after her wedding, when she had first taken charge of the household. Back then, she had had to sort through an even greater pile of documents.

Still, it had been more manageable at the time. The former duke, her father-in-law, had overseen affairs alongside her mother-in-law.

He must have known that

His wife had little aptitude for such matters.

This time would likely be no different.

“Ah. As expected.”

Martiana clicked her tongue softly as she opened the nearest ledger.

She had barely turned a few pages before she spotted some errors.

For example, there were miscalculations in the figures.

And—

“This furniture was never replaced.”

Some items were listed as having been purchased even though they had not been.

That was embezzlement.

She spread the papers out in front of her, frowning.

Over the past few days, she had walked through every corner of the estate to verify this.

Nothing had changed.

Compared to five years ago, when she shut herself away, everything remained the same: the furniture, the curtains. Even the servants’ wages.

It was as though time itself had been frozen.

“And yet the expenditures have more than doubled every year.”

On top of that, guest expenses had been recorded. However, no outsiders had been invited into the house since their daughter’s death.

It seemed that her mother-in-law had been entertaining herself quite often in the meantime.

If that were not the case, it would be impossible for such a large sum to be necessary.

“This will have to be reduced first.”

Martiana drew a line through Drisena’s travel expenses on the list of items to be reorganized.

Although she had been confined to her room for the past five years, she knew exactly where the money had gone.

She had always known that her mother-in-law was careless with money. She had learned this even before the marriage. In those early days, this had sparked frequent arguments between them.

Martiana had tried to cut unnecessary spending, just as she was doing now. Drisena made no effort to hide her displeasure at the reduced allowance.

As a result, the already fragile relationship between mother- and daughter-in-law deteriorated further. This continued until Siliar finally intervened and sided with Martiana.

It was only when her own son pointed out her financial misconduct that Drisena finally relented.

However, once her son became too busy to keep watch, her old habits quietly resurfaced.

“Five years…”

Even half a landscape could change within that timeframe. Yet clearly it had not been enough to change her mother-in-law’s ways.

Then again, without anyone to restrain her, perhaps that was inevitable.

“I wish she would exercise some restraint now.”

This was done for the sake of peace in the household, even after Martiana had left.

Some might wonder why a woman planning to divorce in six months’ time would care so much.

But she did.

Overseeing the household had always been her responsibility, whatever the reason.

Had she not lost herself for those years, so much money would never have slipped through their fingers.

No matter how stable the ducal finances were, this could not continue without consequence.

At the very least, for the sake of the future.

“Ah, Melissa. Leave it. I’ll handle it.”

Martiana lifted her head from the ledger and noticed a shadow moving nearby.

Melissa was tidying up the account books that the steward had carelessly stacked, arranging them neatly by year.

“It’s all right. I don’t have anything pressing to attend to at the moment.”

Melissa tilted her head slightly and picked up a nearby ledger. She had been by Martiana’s side day and night for several days.

This was ever since her younger brother, Tapnad, had left to track Ramelata at Martiana’s request.

Although she didn’t show it, the duty must have been rather dull.

Martiana had not left the estate, so Melissa had no free time either until Tapnad returned.

“This is the oldest volume.”

“Ah, thank you.”

Martiana offered an awkward smile and nodded.

Seeing Melissa carry the heavy books so easily made her feel slightly self-conscious. She wanted to help organize them, but was afraid she would only get in the way.

The last time she had tried to help with cleaning at the temple, everyone had nearly panicked.

Besides, she could not easily tear her eyes away from the ledger in her hands.

With each page she turned, she let out another quiet sigh.

“Ha.”

Especially when she discovered that none of the budget allocated to her remained.

‘She even touched this.’

She hadn’t spent a penny in five years. The funds should have remained untouched. And yet, there was nothing left.

Then again, if everything else had been spent, why would these funds have been left untouched?

It was like a horse without reins.

‘She truly indulged herself.’

Martiana clicked her tongue softly.

That horse would need a bridle now.

***

The next day.

Thud. Thud.

Heavy footsteps thundered through the estate, loud enough to rattle the floors.

Someone was striding urgently down the corridor.

The hand clutching the hem of a billowing dress looked resolute. And the voice that burst into the room was no less fierce.

“What is the meaning of this?”

Drisena flung open the door, her face as red as the gown she wore.

Her target was her daughter-in-law, Martiana—who had recently returned to her deep displeasure and was now buried nearly up to her neck in account books.

“You’re here, Mother?”

“You’re here? So you knew I would come? Then explain this to me. What is this?”

Thud!

Drisena threw an envelope onto the desk and glared furiously.

Martiana didn’t let go of the pen she was holding. She merely glanced at the envelope.

There was no need to check it.

She had sent it herself.

After reviewing the accounts yesterday, she had delivered a formal notice to Drisena.

Namely—

“You read it carefully, I trust? If so, I will take that as your agreement.”

“Have you lost your mind? Agreement? Do you think this makes any sense? How dare you cut my personal allowance by this much?”

Yes, it was a notice informing her that the funds allocated to Drisena were going to be reduced.

She had sent it the previous evening.

It seemed that Drisena had only just opened it.

She snatched the paper from the envelope and waved it frantically.

“Is this an amount anyone can live on? Twenty thousand a year? I can’t even buy a single dress with that!”

“Please calm yourself, Mother.”

Martiana spoke evenly, glancing at the figures she had written.

She didn’t really expect Drisena to calm down.

It was merely courtesy.

“Calm down? Would you be calm? Since the day I married into the Vandyk household, my annual allowance has never fallen below three hundred thousand. And now it isn’t even half of that—only twenty thousand?”

Drisena shook the paper violently in front of her.

The fluttering sheet made Martiana frown.

“Well. I originally intended to cut it entirely. I left that amount out of consideration.”

“What?”

“You may not have noticed when you were managing things, Mother, but I dislike unnecessary expenses. You know that.”

Her gaze made that clear enough.

Haven’t they already been through this five years ago?

Truth be told, Martiana had never cared for extravagance. Perhaps it was the influence of growing up in a clerical household — that was simply how she had been raised. Restraint had become second nature to her.

Even her birth family, the House of Kisca, had never spent on such a scale. Believe it or not, the marquisate supported the entire household for a whole year on barely half the budget of this duchy.

Furniture and clothing had been kept to an absolute minimum. The only significant expenses were servants’ wages and charitable donations.

Before her marriage, Martiana herself had also spent very little. In fact, she had spent far less than the twenty thousand she had now allotted to Drisena.

Could anyone truly call that a small sum?

Especially for someone who seemed to spend almost all their money on entertainment.

“This is not a monastery. How is that unnecessary spending? You’ve avoided society for years, so of course you wouldn’t understand. Meeting people costs money.”

“Ah. Society.”

“Yes! While you locked yourself in your room, who do you think represented this family? It was me. I carried the duchy on my shoulders. That much must be made clear.”

“Did you?”

“Yes! I—”

“Mother.”

Martiana cut her off smoothly.

“In any case, you are not permitted to leave the estate now.”