I Picked Up My Father Who Left Home 34
Lia fixed a sharp gaze on one noble, like a predator preparing for a hunt.
He was Lia’s first target.
“Lord Raon, you suddenly increased the taxes collected from the residents last month.”
Despite her sharp look, Lia spoke calmly and softly.
“There are reasons for that.”
The noble known as Raon spoke indifferently, appearing disrespectful.
“What reasons?”
“Even if I explain, would the young lady understand?”
Laden with disdain, the noble responded with a sarcastic tone.
“To understand or not is my judgment. You lack the qualifications for that.”
Despite the noble’s dismissive remarks, Lia remained composed.
Knowing that showing emotions in this situation wouldn’t benefit her in the slightest.
“In that sense, yes, you wouldn’t understand.”
Lia spoke confidently.
The noble, seemingly astonished by her words, openly sighed as if ignoring Lia.
It was as if he couldn’t comprehend how such a person became a noble.
However, Lia wasn’t finished speaking.
“There were no reasons from the beginning.”
“Did you bother to read the reports properly? Even if you did, you probably wouldn’t understand.”
The noble’s words were met with dissatisfaction.
Lia was already busy, and submitting reports under her name wasted precious time. Moreover, attending another futile meeting further drained her time.
“Oh, that was a report? I thought it was just kids’ scribbles.”
Not a joke; the reports submitted by the nobles were embarrassingly unprofessional and disorganized.
Checking their disrespectful reports took even more time.
To extract the desired information from their rude reports, additional research was necessary.
Furthermore, it seemed they struggled with basic arithmetic; their numbers were a complete mess.
“Your words are overly harsh.”
“Consider yourself fortunate. If I had acted impulsively, I might have simply thrown you in prison instead of bothering with this troublesome meeting.”
In truth, that’s what Lia wanted to do. However, to avoid unnecessary complications, she intentionally endured some inconvenience and followed these tedious procedures, as she didn’t want to create unnecessary trouble.
“Even though you’re a noble, you can’t simply imprison someone without any crimes.”
“No crimes? You embezzled taxes that should be sent to the dukedom; that’s clearly misappropriation.”
“What a ridiculous claim… Surely you don’t think raising taxes on the citizens is embezzlement?”
Lia, facing the noble’s arrogant attitude, quietly handed over the prepared documents.
“What is this?”
“If you have eyes, why don’t you read it?”
Lia didn’t bother explaining kindly.
She didn’t want to show courtesy to someone who couldn’t control themselves, and she didn’t want to be overly polite to the discontented noble.
In response to Lia’s words, the noble read the documents she handed over. Soon, a look of defeat appeared on his face.
“Taxes collected from the citizens have been consistent over the past 10 years. Why, all of a sudden, after my grandfather passed away, did you raise taxes? The taxes sent to the dukedom are still the same.”
“Well, recently, there has been an increased need for funds to manage the territory…”
“Upon investigation, even that claim didn’t hold up. There hasn’t been a substantial increase in operating funds to warrant a tax raise.”
“You read the report I submitted…”
“Yes, and I’m saying this. Do you think it makes sense for operating expenses to double within a month?”
“Well, the circumstances are…”
“The circumstances are freezing to death. When I checked the items used for operating expenses, the amounts were inflated. Moreover, regarding employee salaries, the actual amounts received differed. Checking with the parties involved in transactions revealed that the amounts written in the report were completely different.”
With Lia’s detailed refutation, the noble’s face became even more bewildered. He hadn’t expected Lia to verify everything so thoroughly in such a short time.
Unaware that she had checked everything in that brief period, the noble was taken aback.
“Don’t even think about claiming it was a mistake. There isn’t a single thing that adds up. If you’re making such foolish mistakes, it means you’re not qualified to manage the territory.”
“… I will be more careful in the future.”
Realizing everything was already exposed and further denial was futile, the noble admitted his mistakes without further protest.
Considering she likely hadn’t received proper heir education due to her young age, they decided to handle it leniently.
“No need for that. There won’t be a second chance.”
“What do you mean by that?”
A sense of unease shook the noble as Lia’s focus shifted.
He thought admitting and apologizing for what he had done would be sufficient since his opponent was a child, but Lia’s attitude indicated otherwise.
“I mean to strip you of your right to manage the territory.”
“This is absurd…”
“It’s happening. Oh, and aside from that, embezzlement is a serious crime, so off you go to jail.”
“J-Jail…?”
Losing the right to manage the territory was already a significant blow, and now jail?
The noble, who hadn’t anticipated being sent to jail just for skimming a bit of tax, was deeply bewildered.
However, before the noble could offer any excuses, the knights, who had been waiting under Lia’s orders, opened the door and dragged him out.
The noble resisted being taken away, but it was futile.
The atmosphere in the meeting room changed dramatically due to this minor or major commotion.
Something didn’t feel right.
Somehow, it seemed like the person being taken to jail wasn’t just the noble.
The new head of the family, initially perceived as an innocent and naive child, turned out to be more cunning and decisive than expected.
Lia had detected the embezzlement even from the clumsy report.
“Now, shall we move on to the next agenda?”
Lia, observing the sudden tension in those who had ignored her, spoke with a relaxed demeanor.
“Oh, no, before that, our report…”
Sensing that the next agenda might concern them, another noble hastily spoke up.
The situation was unfavorable for them, and they needed to speak up to secure their positions.
“You wasted your chance. There won’t be a second one.”
Lia didn’t grant the nobles the right to speak. Their reports would only be excuses.
With plenty of remaining tasks, Lia didn’t want to waste time listening to irrelevant reports.
Lia continued to point out flaws in the reports submitted by the nobles.
From simple calculation errors to intentional omissions.
Lia handed down disciplinary actions for deliberate mistakes and sentenced those who embezzled to jail, just like the noble taken away earlier.
Consequently, the number of nobles in the meeting room had significantly decreased.
More than five had already been taken to jail.
“I truly feel unjust!”
“What’s so unjust about it?”
“I didn’t intentionally reduce the taxes going to the dukedom! Recent poor harvests in the territory were unavoidable.”
The noble confidently presented their case, seemingly daring to claim that lowering taxes due to poor harvests was embezzlement.
“Sure, I’ll acknowledge that. However… as far as I know, in preparation for the possibility of reduced taxes due to poor harvests affecting the commoners, an annual reserve fund is set aside. What happened to that?”
“Well, you see…”
The noble appeared flustered, not expecting Lia to know about this detail.
“Come to think of it, the operating budget seems to be missing the reserve funds. Where did it go? With no poor harvests in the past five years, if you’ve properly accumulated reserves, you should have enough to pay the taxes due this quarter and still have some left.”
Despite the noble’s attempt at a plausible excuse, Lia’s sharp gaze left them speechless.
Lia’s piercing eyes, seemingly capable of seeing through their true intentions, alone was enough to overwhelm and silence them.
“Also, to prevent the meeting from dragging on with nonsensical excuses, I plan to impose fines if you waste time with unreasonable justifications. Time is more precious than gold, as the saying goes.”
“This is absurd!”
“Unlike you, I’m extremely busy.”
Unfazed by the nobles’ strong resistance, Lia, with an indifferent demeanor, flashed a cheerful smile that, to some, might seem endearing but felt ominous and unsettling to the nobles.
Her smile, seemingly adorable to some, only induced unease and discomfort among the nobles, who remained defiant.
“Well then, it’s time for you to leave.”
Lia, signaling the end of any further justifications, rang a bell to summon the knights outside. The noble implicated in embezzlement was escorted out by the knights, looking pitiful.
With their departure, the atmosphere in the meeting room sank further.
There was an eerie tension that hinted at an explosion with the slightest provocation.
Although those caught embezzling had been removed, the remaining nobles couldn’t escape the lingering discomfort.
“Shall we wrap up the meeting now?”
Amid the silence where even the sound of swallowing could be heard, one noble gathered courage to speak.
“Deciding to end the meeting or not is within the authority of the mistress. It’s not your place to interfere.”
Though it seemed they were now more cautious after recent events, the noble had yet to entirely shed the air of disregard.
Despite her lack of intention to conclude the meeting, it appeared someone was eager to make such a suggestion.
While it could be an attempt to escape the suffocating atmosphere rather than intentionally ignoring her, the nobles behavior remained undeniably impolite.
“I-I apologize.”
The noble quickly apologized, realizing that futile explanations wouldn’t serve any purpose given Lia’s demeanor throughout the meeting.
“Well then, let’s continue the meeting. But I also don’t want this to drag on, so let’s try to wrap it up quickly.”
Lia’s face held a peculiar excitement as she spoke.
Understandably so, as the final significant event of this gathering was about to unfold.
Her last target was those who had been a nuisance with guardianship issues, causing ongoing trouble for her.
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