“Please speak, madam.”

Bushin bowed respectfully, as if ready to answer anything.

“It’s about the personal budget allocated to the mistress of the house. Something seems to be incorrectly recorded.”

“……Pardon? Incorrectly recorded? That shouldn’t be possible.”

He looked perplexed, like someone who had heard something unexpected. But Giselle opened the budget document he had brought and continued.

“Here, this part.”

Giselle pointed to the section with her finger so Bushin could check. It was the amount she could freely use as “pocket money.”

Bushin took out the monocle from his outer pocket, put it on, and looked at that section again.

“I think the amount is wrong. It’s too large to be personal pocket money.”

“……Haha. That’s not the case, madam.”

He laughed as he finally understood what was going on after hearing her additional comment.

“The amount is correct, as you see it.”

“But isn’t this excessive? It’s comparable to the budget of a decent public institution.”

‘You want me to use such an enormous amount of money as pocket money?’

Giselle held back what she was about to say to maintain her dignity as the mistress.

Of course, her wide eyes and surprised face still gave her away.

“It’s not excessive, madam. As the mistress of the Taylor family, it’s only natural for you to use this much.”

“But……”

Giselle stared at Bushin for a moment, then slowly lowered her gaze to look at the document again.

Too much money felt unreal. She frowned as she looked down at that terrifying amount made up of numbers.

‘Use all this money just as pocket money? That’s absurd.’

“You can use it to purchase clothes and jewelry for each season, or to buy paintings or sculptures that you like. Or you can use it for other purposes. You can use it for whatever purpose you wish……”

Bushin added more words toward Giselle, who seemed overwhelmed. However, he couldn’t finish his sentence because she suddenly looked up.

“So I can do things like investments?”

“Of course, madam.”

“And I can make donations or sponsor things?”

“Yes.”

He nodded and answered Giselle’s questions. Perhaps she had finally found a way to use the money, as her expression noticeably brightened.

“I understand. Then let’s leave the budget discussion here for now….. Ah! Did you come to tell me something?”

Giselle was nodding her head but suddenly remembered to ask him. Since he had come without being called, he must have had something to discuss.

“Ah….. Yes, ahem, that’s right.”

But Bushin’s reaction to her words was strange. A look of discomfort crossed the elderly man’s face, which had been smiling gently.

Giselle looked at him with a puzzled expression before speaking in a tone mixed with amusement.

“What’s the matter, Bushin? Speak freely. I won’t be disappointed even if you say you’re cutting my pocket money.”

Despite her added joke, Bushin didn’t smile like he had earlier.

Just as Giselle’s expression began to harden, thinking there might be a serious problem, he hesitated before speaking.

Unlike what she had worried about, his words were quite ordinary.

“Would it be alright if I went out briefly tomorrow afternoon? It should take about two or three hours.”

“Of course you can. You could even take a full day off if you wanted.”

Giselle, who had been quite tense, relaxed and laughed at his request. But Bushin shook his head without smiling.

“Going out will be sufficient. Thank you, madam.”

“It’s embarrassing to receive thanks when I haven’t done anything worthy of gratitude……”

Giselle erased her smile and looked at him again with a suspicious expression. It was because his expression was too rigid for merely getting permission to go out. His complexion was also darker than usual.

‘……Does he have some personal problem? Maybe he’s going to the hospital because he’s sick.’

She was about to ask Bushin the reason but closed her mouth.

Although she had become the mistress of this household, she didn’t think she had the right to pry into the butler’s private life.

‘I’ll ask Lucas about it later.’

Having been together for so long, he might be able to guess Bushin’s circumstances, and if it was something that needed to be known, it would be better for Lucas to ask rather than herself.

“Then I shall take my leave, madam.”

Bushin politely bowed his head to her before turning around. Giselle watched him leave and then turned her attention back to the ledger.

“Ah! I had more to ask……”

She belatedly raised her head as she remembered. But Bushin had already gone outside. The nanny, who was shaking a feather toy for the cat, asked her.

“Shall I call the butler back?”

“No. It’s not urgent, so I’ll ask him later.”

Giselle shook her head and flipped through the ledger. What she was looking at was the ledger from the previous generation.

“Hmm……”

She examined the ledger and tilted her head. Her brow furrowed repeatedly as if something was suspicious.

“Meow!”

“Ah! Elizabeth, no!”

But the cat that had climbed onto the desk knocked over the ink bottle, preventing Giselle from continuing her thoughts.

* * *

“What happened to your hands?”

Lucas paused during the meal and asked after seeing Giselle’s hands. She was in the middle of eating soup but awkwardly clasped her hands together.

Of course, that couldn’t completely hide the ink stains scattered all over her hands.

“Elizabeth spilled the ink bottle. You have no idea how alarming it was. I was looking at the ledger from your father’s time……”

“You were looking at my father’s ledger? Have you already figured out the current financial situation?”

Lucas, who had been listening to her complaints with a smile, looked at Giselle with a surprised expression. Giselle nodded with a proud expression.

“Of course. Since the records have been organized more neatly after you became the family head, it was easy to understand. The problem is with your father’s time……”

Giselle was chattering but suddenly made an uncomfortable expression. He raised one eyebrow as if wondering what was wrong. Seeing his reaction, she shrugged.

“No, there’s just something that bothers me.”

“What bothers you?”

“Well….. Looking through your father’s ledger, I found expenditures with unclear purposes. A considerable amount of money was spent, and I wonder how that part was omitted.”

“My father probably didn’t record it properly.”

Lucas responded in a nonchalant tone. Of course, the moment he heard her words, he also had questions.

It was doubtful that his father, who was extremely meticulous when it came to ‘money,’ would be careless about financial records.

But since there had been no problems so far, and Bushin, who had served his father most closely, had not reported anything to him, he didn’t think it was something he particularly needed to know about.

“No. It doesn’t seem like something we should just overlook.”

Giselle put down her spoon, contradicting his words. Since the topic had come up, she thought it wouldn’t be bad to share her opinion with him.

“No matter how I look at it, it seems like your father, the previous family head, deliberately concealed the purpose of the money. Not simply omitting it by mistake, but because he didn’t want to disclose something……”

“Why don’t you ask Bushin then? Should I call him now?”

Lucas was about to pick up his teacup but put it back down and reached for the bell beside him.

He had dismissed the butler, head maid, and others, wanting to have a comfortable meal with just the two of them.

“No need. Is there any need to call him now? Just……”

Giselle shook her head, stopping him. Then she looked at Lucas quietly before continuing in a playful tone.

“So you completely trust Bushin? What if he’s the one who didn’t record the ledger properly?”

“That’s impossible. Don’t say such things, even as a joke.”

Lucas frowned and spoke firmly in response to her words. It was unfamiliar yet pleasing to see.

That a man who seemed like he wouldn’t trust anyone actually trusted someone.

‘Well…… I wish I could be included among those he trusts.’

Giselle stared at him with her arms propped on the table, gave a small smile, and then nodded.

“Alright. I won’t say such things anymore. But in return, may I ask one thing?”

“……?”

“Besides Bushin…… is there anyone else? Someone you completely trust.”

She asked carefully, trying not to let her trembling show in her voice.

Lucas’s gaze turned directly toward Giselle. And he stared at her for a moment before slowly nodding.

“Yes, there is.”

“Who……”

“Fernan.”

Giselle’s eyes, which had been waiting for his lips to open, momentarily wavered. Just as a bitter smile was about to cross her lips, Lucas continued.

“It was just those two, but recently one more person was added.”

“……!”

Giselle’s green eyes rippled widely. Even though she hadn’t directly heard her name from his lips, somehow she felt as if she had.

She pulled down the corners of her mouth that were trying to rise on their own, then hurriedly changed the subject.

“Anyway, don’t trust carelessly. What will you do if you get backstabbed?”

“Well, with those hands, if you hit me……”

Lucas retorted jokingly and picked up his teacup again. A smile crossed Giselle’s lips as she glanced at him.

And a smile spread across Lucas’s lips as he quietly looked at her.

Without realizing it themselves, their smiles resembled each other.