“Th, that……!”

When the ledger that had been stolen just before coming down to the county appeared from Shailyn, Viscount Roben’s face turned pale blue and froze.

“How do you have that…… Don’t tell me, was it you who sent spies to our trading company?!”

Shailyn shrugged and didn’t reply. But Viscount Roben knew that was silent confirmation.

Shailyn, who calmly opened the ledger in front of him, turned the pages and said.

“You really have some nerve, Viscount. Growing a trading company through smuggling.”

“……!”

“This is in my hands now, but in a few days it’ll pass to Duke Diart’s hands.”

She smiled while lightly waving the ledger in her hand.

“Then what will happen…… I’m sure you know better than I do, Viscount.”

At her clearly threatening tone, Viscount Roben shut his mouth tight.

If the Diart ducal family investigated the smuggling incident, it would be reported directly to the imperial palace before he could stop it.

This meant that all of House Roben would receive immediate punishment.

‘No matter how much I covet the count title…… it’s not worth risking my life.’

Since smuggling was treated as a serious crime under imperial law, he could receive the maximum sentence at trial if things went wrong.

“……Fine, alright! I’ll give up on House Sharofe! But what about the money I spent on Gwen and Janice?! How will you compensate for that?!”

Eventually giving up the count title, Viscount Roben protested to at least recover some money.

However, Shailyn, who had not even a speck of intention to repay the count mother and daughter’s debts, asked back with a dumbfounded face.

“Why are you asking me that? It’s not money I spent, so go collect it from mother and Janice yourselves. It has absolutely nothing to do with me.”

At those words, Gwen’s shoulders jumped up greatly. Watching the viscount’s expression, she clenched her fists tightly.

‘How heartless, she could at least cover for us a little……!’

Cursing Shailyn’s coldness for not taking their side until the very end, Gwen opened her mouth spitefully.

“If the vow becomes invalid, we don’t have any reason to pay you back either, right? Everything becomes like it never happened!”

“Gwen, you……”

Viscount Roben, whose blood pressure rose at his sister’s shamelessness, grabbed the back of his neck.

Watching the siblings whose relationship was completely ruined as of this moment, Shailyn thought.

‘If it were me, I would have rather begged brother for forgiveness to prepare for the future.’

That way there would at least be room to cling to him later.

But Gwen, who only knew how to look at immediate benefits and situations, was desperate to avoid paying back the money somehow.

“Fine, sure. I’ll consider the money I spent on you two as charity!”

Viscount Roben, who barely regained his reason, glared at Gwen with bloodshot eyes and declared.

“But you and I are finished as of today, Gwen Sharofe. Never come looking for me calling me family again! From now on I’ll live thinking my sister is dead!”

“Hmph, suit yourself.”

Gwen replied primly while inwardly feeling relieved. Anyway, the debt she owed her brother was settled with this.

So Viscount Roben left the count’s residence in great fury.

From Gwen, who didn’t realize her mistake at all, Shailyn formally received House Sharofe.

Now what remained was organizing the count’s family while the documents sent to the capital were being processed.

***

Since it seemed difficult for Mandy alone to supervise Gwen and manage the mansion, she called a special helper from the capital.

It was Paul.

His experience and gentle charisma from commanding the Diart ducal family for decades was exactly what she needed, having no standing in the current mansion.

“Was there any trouble while I was away, Mandy?”

“No, Gwen dismissed half of the mansion’s servants. The existing head maid and butler were also kicked out, so Butler Paul temporarily posted notices and hired new people.”

Mandy, who had quickly downgraded Gwen’s title from Count to just honorifics, explained clearly.

She said she had caught Gwen trying to sneakily keep some of her people with eagle eyes and pressured her to fire them.

Oh my, our dear Mandy is admirable.

After praising her plenty, she called out Paul who was suffering here because of her.

“Thank you for coming to help, Paul.”

“Not at all, Miss. Lord Bartholomew and His Grace also told me to be sure to help you.”

Paul smiled kindly. His character was truly incomparable to our original family butler.

“Then, sorry but could I trouble you a bit more?”

“Use me as much as you like. I’ve already received orders to return with you, Miss.”

Sob, my family are definitely all angels.

When a family’s butler is away for a long time, they would be inconvenienced too, but they endured this and sent Paul to me.

“Then fire all the remaining existing servants and replace them all with completely new people. If it’s too much to fire them all at once, you can do it slowly.”

“Understood. I’ll proceed step by step systematically.”

After Paul withdrew, she ordered Mandy.

“Call the maids to pack mother and Janice’s belongings. Tell them to pack everything without leaving a single hair behind.”

“Yes, Miss.”

Mandy moved briskly. Soon the belongings for two people were neatly stacked in front of the entrance.

During this time, the Gwen mother and daughter came looking for her several times, but she didn’t meet them because she didn’t want to be bothered.

But they were quite persistent too, knocking on her room door and pleading every day.

“Shailyn, are you really going to kick us out like this right away?!”

“Sister, come out and let’s talk! If you suddenly tell us to leave, where are we supposed to go?!”

She deliberately didn’t respond. She was tired of arguing anymore, and intended to make them suffer desperately.

You didn’t listen when I was locked in my room pleading to be let out either, did you?

“Um, Miss. Gwen and Miss Janice requested that we call porters for them.”

“Tell them to call them with their own money. If it’s hard, they can abandon their luggage and go.”

Mandy suffered going back and forth between her and the mother and daughter to relay messages, but that didn’t last long either.

Finally the day came when the Gwen mother and daughter left the count’s residence as if being kicked out.

“The two of them said they want to see you one last time, Miss.”

“Tell them to stop talking nonsense and just go.”

She, who refused to meet the two people until the very end, stood by the window and looked down at them.

They seemed to have no money to call porters, so they tried to carry a few suitcases themselves but got annoyed at the weight and threw them down.

‘Oh my, they still haven’t come to their senses.’

They looked completely wretched and barely managed to shoulder just a few suitcases.

Watching the two figures stagger out of the mansion and disappear into the distance, she opened the window and shouted excitedly.

“Yahoo! Freedom!”

It was a historic moment of permanently banishing from her life the stepmother and half-sister who had terribly bound her.

It felt as refreshing as having an aching tooth pulled out.

The 20th day since coming down to the county.

When the capital government office approved her title succession, she officially became Count Sharofe.

Now the county became a territory she owned, and the small assets excluding the Gwen mother and daughter’s debts also became hers.

— Ding!

【Congratulations! You’ve successfully completed the mission again safely ദ്ദി˶˙ᵕ˙˶ )

As a reward, we’ll give you a hint usage ticket that you can use for the next mission♥

By the way, the next mission is scheduled to occur near Sharofe County, so please wait while managing your territory until then!】

Huh, what? I couldn’t go up to the capital right away?

She, who thought she’d return within a month, was a bit flustered. But since a mission would occur here, she couldn’t ignore it and move.

‘And actually I do need to solve the territory problems before going……’

Inheriting the family and territory, and bringing in new mansion servants was all good.

The problem was that she had never received heir lessons so she was ignorant about territory management, and she couldn’t stay here forever to learn either.

“Sigh, how do I solve this……”

It was an unexpected person who showed her the way while she was lost in thought holding her head.

“House Sharofe has retainers. Pick one trustworthy person among them and make them your representative.”

When she kept sighing, Carl, who had asked what was wrong, gave advice after hearing the situation.

“Anyway, to take control of the family as the new head, retainers’ help is essential. If you create a solid faction, you will be much more comfortable too, Master.”

“Wow…… Carl, that’s really helpful advice for me right now. Such a great idea?”

She, who found a breakthrough thanks to her smart bondservant, moved immediately.

She held a retainer meeting and summoned people to host ‘Produce Retainer 007.’

The purpose was one.

To pick the top choice among the seven retainers of their family to become her representative.