Right now, if I defeat Roben, Janice’s forced marriage will be canceled.

But as soon as the family passes to me, the Gwen mother and daughter will lose their title and fall to semi-nobility.

Do those who have only played around and lived off others their whole lives even know how to make money?

How will they repay all that debt?

To put it coldly, the point about having to use Janice’s marriage will ultimately remain unchanged.

“Anyway, those two will become very unhappy. Even if I don’t lift a finger, they’ll fall into ruin.”

After muttering coldly, I realized what I was like and made an awkward expression.

“Still, she’s my stepmother, and she’s my sister connected by blood. If I say things like this, do I seem too cold-blooded?”

“Not at all. Just because someone wears the mask of family doesn’t make them real family.”

Fortunately, Carl took my side. I was relieved since I had been inwardly worried he might think badly of me.

“Right…… those two tormented me terribly. Even if memories fade somehow, I don’t think the scars will disappear.”

My hands and heart that trembled slightly whenever I met the Gwen mother and daughter proved this.

This was a trace left on Shailyn’s body, who had lived oppressed by them for nineteen years before I possessed her.

Wounds that don’t change even when another person’s soul enters.

“I know how you feel too. Still, if you eliminate those monsters, the scars will fade a little. And when new meaning accumulates in your life, they’ll be covered up before you know it and will no longer be visible.”

Carl comforted me with a voice that seemed blunt but was actually gentle.

It wasn’t just simple encouragement but seemed to truly empathize with my words, making my heart flutter a little.

“How do you know so well?”

“Because I’ve had similar experiences. I lost my birth parents and had everything stolen by the humans who took their place.”

“Carl……”

I got up from sitting on the bed and slowly approached him.

“Did your memories come back?”

At my question, Carl flinched and avoided my gaze as he answered.

“……That’s not it.”

“Then?”

“Listening to your story, I vaguely remembered only my childhood.”

“I see.”

I didn’t dig deeper into his plausible excuse. Because I didn’t want to send Carl away for no reason.

I wanted to stay together with him as much as possible until the ending before I leave. It seemed like he would want that too.

We lay down in our respective sleeping places without saying anything. I closed my eyes while feeling Carl’s presence lying not far from the bed.

The more I shared with him, the greater the unknown fluttering in my heart grew.

While that was a little frightening, I paradoxically fell asleep feeling reassured that Carl was keeping watch beside me.

During the week working at Roben Trading Company, I did nothing and just silently managed the warehouse.

The people who had initially paid attention to us as newcomers gradually got used to our presence and lost interest.

I aimed for exactly that moment and began moving in earnest.

“I’m thinking of sneaking into the deputy director’s office during lunch. Carl, keep watch for me.”

“Got it.”

When the time came, we slipped out from among the people busily moving to eat and secretly headed to the office.

While Carl guarded the hallway, I entered the room alone.

‘There aren’t many things that could be weaknesses for the trading company. It’s definitely embezzlement, illegal deals, importing prohibited goods, etc.’

Then there was one thing I needed to find. Roben Trading Company’s ledgers.

Besides what Viscount Roben, the company owner, managed, there would definitely be secret ledgers hidden by the deputy director who handled the actual work.

I carefully examined every corner of the interior so it wouldn’t show that I had rummaged through it.

But the deputy director’s office didn’t even have a single locked desk drawer. Everything was just placed in its proper place as if everything was upright and honest.

‘What if Gwen Sharofe was mistaken and Roben Trading Company has been making money honestly…… what do I do?’

I don’t have time to honestly file a lawsuit and fight either.

As I paced around the room anxiously while holding my forehead, the bookshelf on the front wall suddenly came into view.

‘Does the deputy director like reading? There are so many books.’

As I approached and skimmed the book titles, I noticed the bookshelf was filled quite haphazardly.

There were books about accounting, but even third-rate romance novels that only girls would read were stuck in there.

Moreover, all the books were clean like new. As if they had never been read even once.

“This isn’t a real bookshelf……”

I muttered to myself without realizing it and frantically searched the bookshelf.

It wasn’t made because someone liked books, but artificially decorated to hide something.

I dragged a chair over and carefully checked from the topmost shelf, finally discovering a book without a title stuck in the middle.

When I took it out and checked, it was a ledger covered in black leather.

‘I found it……!’

I crouched down on the floor and opened the ledger. As I flipped through the pages reading, I discovered something strange.

“Huh……?”

At that moment, I heard two knocks from outside the door.

We had agreed that Carl would knock twice on the door as a signal if someone came.

I first put the ledger back and returned the chair to its original place, then left the deputy director’s office.

“Let’s go.”

“Yeah.”

It was when Carl and I were leaving the hallway where the office was located.

“You two, what are you doing there?”

I heard the deputy director’s voice from behind. I quickly linked arms with Carl and turned around.

“Hello, I was talking with my husband and before we knew it, we had walked all the way here.”

“Don’t you know that regular employees aren’t supposed to come up to this floor?”

The deputy director shot back coldly with a stern face. Then Carl, who had wrapped his hand around mine, bowed politely.

“We’re sorry. We’ll be careful from now on.”

“……I’ll let it slide just this once. Get out of here.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Thanks to Carl, we safely escaped from the deputy director and came down to the fish warehouse.

We worked through the fishy smell, whispering to each other in between.

“So, did you discover anything?”

“Yeah. I found a hidden ledger and there was something strange. Since we started working, 100 fish boxes have been coming in per day, but the ledger says 120 boxes came in.”

“Suspicious.”

“Not only that, they irregularly imported oranges from a specific trading partner. The quantities weren’t even consistent.”

There were separate trading companies that dominated the fruit and grain sectors.

There was no reason for Roben to specifically pick oranges and trade them so abnormally.

Carl, who had been thinking after hearing my words, said bluntly.

“Looks like they’re smuggling.”

“So the actual transaction figures don’t match the ledger because they’re secretly bringing in goods, and strange records are being discovered?”

“Probably.”

At Carl’s answer, this time I fell into thought. I said while diligently stacking fish boxes neatly in the warehouse.

“The ledger said oranges were coming in today.”

“Then smuggled goods will be coming in.”

“I need to see with my own eyes whether that’s true or not.”

That way I can accurately raise smuggling suspicions against House Roben.

That night.

In the dead of night when most people were asleep, we secretly snuck onto Roben Trading Company’s ship.

We had been hiding behind boxes stacked on the deck and waiting quietly for a long time.

The deputy director and several employees appeared through the darkness carrying candles.

The deputy director even had the ledger I had seen during the day in his hand.

Soon after, one suspicious ship docked next to Roben’s ship, and several people climbed onto the deck.

“Did you prepare the goods well?”

“What’s there to say. We brought plenty of the red diamonds that Viscount Roben wanted, you know?”

When the man who answered the deputy director’s question made a cocky gesture, the people behind him carried boxes from that ship to the other.

They opened one and showed it to the deputy director, and inside were all kinds of jewels and precious metals.

‘Now it’s certain that Roben Trading Company is smuggling.’

I exchanged glances with Carl and stayed hidden holding our breath until they left.

It was when the man who had finished moving all the smuggled goods seemed to be saying goodbye to the deputy director and leaving.

“Wait, don’t you smell something fishy?”

The man who stopped walking and turned exactly toward us frowned.