I Became The Mother Of the Male Lead Who Lives With An Adulterous Man

“Ma’am! Why are you suddenly asking me to pay compensation?”

“Keria, you’ve been working at the mansion for three years, right? You mainly ran errands in the kitchen.”

“Uh, yes. How did you…”

Rachel laughed.

“Did you think I didn’t know what was happening in my own residence? I guess that’s why you did everything you did.”

Rachel said indifferently, looking down at Keria’s pale face.

“You wanted to be assigned meal assistance, which would be less difficult and pay more, but you couldn’t do it because you made too many mistakes. You were desperate for money, so you started stealing kitchen ingredients last year.”

“What… I never did that!”

“Oh, I’ve collected the evidence, so let’s not waste our energy. Did you see what happened to Marsha?”

“Ugh.”

Most of the employees working at the mansion had committed some form of fraud. The types ranged from theft and work negligence to defamation and leaking of secrets.

However, it was impossible to know specifically what, how much, and who were at fault because there were so many employees and so many problems.

She was even starting to consider whether she should make another request of Cian, the guild informant.

Then Marsha came to see her.

 

 

‘Lady, I can help you.’

‘How are you going to help me?’

‘As you know, I ran a meeting group. It’s was a conversation group where people shared concerns, chatted, and gossiped.’

‘So?’

‘Many of the employees of this mansion were regular attendees of the meetings. I know their secrets.’

This caught Rachels attention.

‘And?’

‘Most of the people who serve the mansion have committed crimes.’

‘I know that.’

Marsha shook her head.

‘What I know is who specifically committed what crime. I know what evidence there is and where all records remain.’

‘And why would you be telling me this now?’

‘If you reduce the amount of compensation, I will organize all the details and give it to you. I promise to give you everything without any lies.’

 

 

It wasn’t a bad offer. No, it was an incredibly good offer.

Rachel accepted Marsha’s conditions. Rachel had her compensation drastically reduced each time she submitted evidence of corruption.

As a result, the only compensation Marsha paid was the 3 gold that Rachel gave to Keria. Compared to the compensation Rachel initially proposed, it was nothing.

“Ponya, you asked street orphans to do the garden work that you were assigned to do yourself.”

“How…”

“You made a hole in the wall of the mansion to secretly bring the children inside. While the kids took care of the garden, you gave them extra bread you took from the kitchen and pretended to work, then collected your wage.”

“…”

“I won’t charge you money for the bread because it was given to hungry children. Instead, you have to compensate me for the cost of repairing the wall and 125 gold is to be paid as compensation for the wages you received without working.”

“Ma’am, I don’t have that much money!”

“Isn’t 125 gold nothing compared to how much you have received thus far?”

Rachel tilted her head and pointed to another servant standing next to her.

“It has to be around the amount of Kanna’s compensation to be considered a lot of money. That’s 2,500 gold. Haven’t you been seelling the Count family’s financial information and private property information to the guild secretly? The money you received from the guild so far is over 10,000 gold.”

For a long time, Rachel recited the sins and compensations of the maids gathered together.

At first the maids were skeptical. They thought their stupid madam just happened to notice a few things.

However, as Rachel pointed out everyone’s crimes one by one, they had to admit that their sins were all known.

The first to fall to the ground was Keria.

“Ma’am! I’m really sorry! Please forgive me just this once!”

“No.”

“Ah… No… Madam, please have mercy…”

“What’s wrong? When you do something bad, you should be prepared to be punished. You think I’m so nice I can turn a blind eye to everything. You’ve been secretly doing bad things and gossiping about me, but you’re asking me for forgiveness and mercy?”

“Aah…! I’m sorry. I really… I’ll make sure it never happens again…”

“I warned you when I fired Marsha. I’m really angry at the moment, so please be quiet.”

Some were devastated, and some fell to the floor and begged like Marsha had.

“You don’t have to worry about forgetting the amount, we will kindly provide you with a written document showing how much compensation each person has to pay. It may not be much of a comfort, but I will fire you all at once so you can grieve together. In the meantime…”

Rachel, who was about to say that they’d worked hard, burst out laughing.

They actually hadn’t done much.

“You must have had fun, so now, you should try harder.”

The compensation to be returned from the maids in front of her was close to 5,000 gold. The Elrosa family’s coffers would grow, and the amount of alimony Rachel would receive increased as well. She felt good and proud.

 

 

The entire mansion was in turmoil.

Rachel fired most of the employees. The only ones remaining were three people who had only recently started working at the mansion and whose crimes were minor. She felt sorry for the three who had to stay and take care of all the work, so she tripled their wages.

Some of those fired protested, others were frustrated, but after seeing the evidence presented, the compensation statement, and the letter from the guild’s debt collector, they quieted down.

Guild debt collector. He may have a cool name, but he was just a guy who took money from those who owed it. He was known to do anything to get paid.

Among the people staying at the mansion, the only people smiling were Rachel and Graham, who were chatting while eating snacks.

“Mom. Are we going to spend time together every day now?”

“Yeah. But life will be a bit uncomfortable for a while. You have to fetch your own bath water and clean your room yourself.”

“That doesn’t matter! Hehehe, I’m excited. I hope it stays like this in the future.”

Rachel stroked Graham’s head.

Although she was glad that Graham didn’t hate her, Rachel was still concerned by the fact that she was the only one her child could play with.

It was common for children of noble families to grow up surrounded by other people such as nannies, brothers, and sisters.

“Graham. Don’t you need a friend?”

“I don’t.”

He answered without hesitation, but soon looked sad.

“Mom is… Does mom want me to have a friend?”

“Well, I guess so. It’s good to have friends your own age and play together. There’s no one else in the mansion anymore, and I thought you might be bored.”

“It’s okay for me to be bored. All I need is mom.”

What a wonderful boy.

If this continues, when he meets Dolorosa, she would fall in love with him right away, right? Rachel felt like she would be sad when that time came.

Graham, lost in thought like Rachel, silently rubbed his head.

“…”

“What’s wrong, Graham? Are you upset that mom asked you to hang out with friends?”

“Does Mom hate me?”

“No way! Absolutely not. I was afraid Graham might be bored. I am your mom and I will never make you do anything you don’t like or that will make you sad. Promise.”

She thought he would say ‘thank you’ right away, but surprisingly, Graham became silent again.

After some time had passed, the child raised his head and looked at Rachel.

“…No, Mom. You don’t have to.”

“What?”

“I love my mom, so I will protect her. To do that, I have to do things I don’t like. In fairy tales, the prince goes to great lengths to save the princess from a scary monster. I can at least play with friends.”

Oh my god…! How can he be so adorable…!

Rachel hugged Graham.

“Graham is the best! Mom is soaring with happiness for Graham!”

Graham was startled and hugged Rachel’s waist tightly.

“Oh, no, Mom. Don’t float away! I don’t know how to fly!”

“Ahaha, okay. I won’t float away.”

The two hugged each other for a long time.

 

* * *

 

They spent some time adjusting to the now quieter atmosphere of the mansion. There were few people working, but there were enough of them that there weren’t any major inconveniences, but there were task left undone.

First of all, the meals became very simple. Fortunately, there was still one chef left, so Rachel didn’t have to cook the food herself.

The garden had become overgrown with weeds.

Clumps of dust rolled around in the corners of the already unkept mansion.

After about a week, Carl returned. He seemed very surprised by the changed appearance of the mansion.

Rachel asked Graham to go play alone in his room for a while, and then she and Carl headed to the parlor.

Carl asked immediately, as if he had been waiting for Rachel to sit down.

“My Lady. What happened? I’d heard the rumors, but I can’t believe you’ve fired so many of the mansion’s employees.”

“You left the manor without permission, and now you’re nagging me as soon as you get back?”

“…Without permission.”

“It’s not unauthorized because you were with Theodore, the owner of the mansion. Is that what you want to say?”

Carl kept his mouth shut. He’d sensed something unusual in Rachel’s sharp tone.

She wasn’t playing innocent anymore, not like the old Rachel. They were going to get divorced soon anyway, and there was no point in faking it.

Rachel tapped the arm of her chair with her fingertips.

“Why is there no response? Oh, you weren’t with Theodore? Then, where were you? Did you ask Theodore for permission and go to your daughter?”

Only then did Carl’s face turn pale. His face, which had more wrinkles than someone his age should, instantly looked like a corpse.

“It appears I was correct. After all, your daughter has been humiliated so publicly, so who else should be there to console her? Theodore couldn’t do it because he would have been stopped by Berengella, so she needed her own family to be with her.”

“… How did you know that…”

“I’m not stupid. How could I not? I just pretended not to know.”

“…”

“So, was it fun? How does it feel to watch me beg for Theodore’s love while helping him have an affair with your daughter?”

Carl lowered his head, and Rachel’s eyes gleamed sharply.

Of course, Theodore, who cheated on his wife, and Jane, his mistress, were both terrible.

However, Rachel hated Jane’s father, Carl, who knew everything but remained silent and even helped with the affair.

It was time for retribution.