TVTIW Chapter 72

Chapter 72

After finishing the meal, I left the dining room with Richard. Since his work was not yet done, he was planning to return to his office. Of course, the same applied to me. There were still numerous documents I needed to go through. Since I wasn’t particularly familiar with such paperwork, I knew I would have to review and analyze even the ones I had already seen to get a better grasp of things.

“Don’t overdo it. Take it slow. You’re not feeling well, so if you push yourself too hard, you might collapse, and that would be a big problem.”

Before we parted ways in front of the restaurant, Richard gave me a word of caution. To reassure him, I smiled and nodded.

“I will. But you shouldn’t overwork yourself either, Richard.”

“Me? It’s nothing.”

Richard shrugged as if the work he was doing was no big deal. He seemed to be saying that this amount of work was nothing for him. While I admired his stamina, I couldn’t help but worry that he might be hiding his exhaustion, trying to tough it out. Given that he had been working late into the night even after arriving in the capital, my concern was inevitable. No matter how strong someone’s health, overworking will eventually catch up with them.

“Well then, I’ll be going.”

Putting my worries aside, I turned and started walking. After a while, I noticed there was no sound of footsteps behind me. When I turned around, Richard was standing still, watching me.

Thinking that perhaps I had worried him more than I thought, I waved my hand as if to reassure him everything was fine. Only then did Richard turn around and begin heading back to his office.

After parting with him, I immediately returned to my office. There, the financial statements I had been staring at before heading to the meal were still scattered across the desk. The thought of having to go through them again made my chest feel a little tight, but I had no choice but to face it. I took a deep breath and sat down in my chair, steeling myself for what was to come.

I checked the financial statements once again.

The financial situation of the Tristan Duke’s estate was still in a poor state. It was due to the gambling debts incurred by Baron Hazel.

It seemed that the 30,000 gold I received as part of my marriage agreement with Richard had helped pay off some of the debts. However, that only covered the debt, so the financial state of the Tristan Duke’s estate hadn’t fully turned into the black yet.

At the moment, it was barely holding on.

Had I not recovered the title and estate from Baron Hazel, the Tristan Dukedom would have likely gone bankrupt and walked the path of ruin. Perhaps Baron Hazel had even accumulated more gambling debts in the meantime, and the estate might have collapsed even faster than I had anticipated.

It was just a guess, but it seemed plausible enough that I couldn’t help but sigh quietly.

As far as I could remember, the Tristan Duke family had been a wealthy noble house in the capital. When my mother was still alive, they had supported numerous artists and had even sponsored an orphanage in the capital under the Tristan Duke’s name, indicating their strong financial standing.

But during the ten or so years that Baron Hazel had become the Duke, the financial situation had deteriorated to this extent.

Most of this was due to gambling, and the rest was from excessive spending on luxury goods.

In the original story, the Tristan family hadn’t been of much importance, which is why I hadn’t paid attention to this part. But now that I was directly involved, it made my head spin.

Even I didn’t have a clear plan on how to restore the current state of the Tristan Duke’s finances. Until I married Richard, I had pretty much given up on everything. At that time, I thought I would never be able to reclaim the title of Duke, and I had even expected to end up dead, abandoning everything.

So, I hadn’t cared much about the other matters.

That was the problem.

If I asked Richard for help, the situation would likely be resolved quickly. But I couldn’t keep relying on him forever. What I wanted wasn’t to depend on him continuously, but to stand on equal footing with him.

To do that, I needed to find something I could do in the current situation. If it didn’t work out, I could always ask Richard for help later on.

For now, I needed to look into how my mother had run the estate and check the luxury goods Baron Hazel and Cecilia had hidden away, making sure they didn’t sell them to outsiders, which would be important to get rid of the ones we could dispose of.

To do that, I needed a list of the items they had purchased and information on the businesses my mother had run.

“Julia, could you bring me the financial statements from the time of the previous Tristan Duke? And also the list of luxury goods Baron Hazel purchased?”

“My lady, perhaps it would be better to rest for today. How about getting some sleep first?”

As I asked Julia to bring the financial statements and the list of luxury goods, Olivier, who had been standing nearby, approached me with a concerned expression and suggested this.

Hearing her, I looked out the window, and I realized the darkness had already settled outside. The hour hand on the clock tower was nearing 11 o’clock. Time seemed to fly by as I focused on my work.

“Should I?”

Although my mind was still tangled with thoughts on how to save the finances of the Tristan Dukedom, I decided to call it a night since it was getting late. I stretched my arms wide.

Having been seated at my desk and concentrating for so long, my body felt stiff, but stretching a little made it feel much better.

“I’ll have the materials you asked for ready by tomorrow morning.”

As I was about to get up from my seat, Julia quickly spoke up. When I turned to look at her, I could see the tired expression on her face as she stared at me desperately. If I said I was going to do more work now, she would probably be very disappointed.

After all, I had been busy with official duties, and time had passed quickly, but for someone who had been waiting on the side, simply standing by must have been a real ordeal. Waiting without doing anything is harder than it seems.

“Okay. Please take care of it.”

It was already late, so there was no point in working any further today. I thought it would be better to rest and tackle things again tomorrow with a clear mind. Not just for me, but also for Julia and Olivier, who also needed their rest.

“And please have someone organize the materials here. Don’t take them away, just organize them for now, since I might need to look at them again tomorrow.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

After hearing Julia’s response, I got up from my seat. I hadn’t realized it while I was focused on my work, but as soon as I stood up, fatigue hit me.

Following Julia’s guidance, I began thinking about whether there were any luxury goods we could resell. After all, they wouldn’t be luxury items for nothing, and they should still fetch a decent price if sold. So, I thought I should start looking for places to dispose of them.

I knew there would be things I needed to do after reclaiming the Tristan Dukedom, but facing it now made it feel a little vague. Would it have been easier if I had been doing this all along since I was young…?

When I arrived at the bedroom, Julia opened the door for me. I intended to go straight to bed and rest, but as soon as I stepped inside, I couldn’t lie down to rest immediately. This was because there was someone already in the room.

“It seems there’s been a misunderstanding.”

Richard was sitting on the sofa in the bedroom. He must have been reading a book, as he was holding one in his hands despite it being late at night.

“Oh, sorry. I had told Julia earlier to prepare another bedroom…”

Earlier, when Julia had guided me, I had clearly asked her to prepare another bedroom, but it seemed like the message hadn’t been properly conveyed.

“It seems I’ve disturbed you while you were resting. I’ll go to another room, and you can rest here.”

There was no specific rule about who would use the main bedroom, but since I had arrived late, I thought it would be better for me to leave. Just as I turned to walk away, I heard footsteps behind me.

“No need for that.”

The footsteps grew closer, and Richard’s voice sounded from just behind me.

“I told you. The rights to this place are yours to claim. If this bedroom is the one meant for the owner of the estate, then it makes sense for you to use it and for me to leave.”

Turning around, I looked at Richard. He was looking down at me with a smirk, his much taller frame towering over me. It made me feel smaller than I actually was.

“But Richard, you were already resting here. This entire estate belongs to me. So, what does it matter which room is for the owner or not? There are other rooms just like this one, so you should rest here.”

I stammered, stepping back half a pace, feeling too close to him.

Richard seemed to be thinking about my words for a moment. Seizing the opportunity, I tried to leave the bedroom and open the door. However, as soon as I touched the door handle, it closed again.

“Or, perhaps, sharing the bed wouldn’t be such a bad idea.”

“Wh-What do you mean by that?”

I stuttered in surprise, and Richard chuckled softly.

“We’re married, after all. It would look strange if we kept separate rooms. It’s no different from the Starlight Hotel, so there’s no real need for us to use separate rooms, don’t you think?”

Only then did I understand what Richard meant.

“Still, the Starlight Hotel had two beds.”

“One bed will be just fine. If you’re uncomfortable, I’ll leave.”

After speaking, Richard started walking as if he was about to leave the room. I felt a pang in my chest as though I was the one sending him away. Just as he reached the door and grabbed the handle, I grabbed his clothes.

“Alright. It’s fine if we share the room. You don’t need to leave.”

Hey dear readers, the advance chapters of this novel are now available on Patreon. Also I’ll be posting chapters of my other novels there more frequently than here for some time due to some technical issues. Make sure to not miss your favourite novels. Thank you, have a nice day.✨❤️