Chapter 69

“I’m sure it’s not a difficult question.”

“M-my salary changes little by little every year.”

“I mean this year’s salary.” She tapped her finger on the desk with a bored look on her face.

“I mean… I mean…”

“Your Highness, the salary he received is…”

The butler, who wrote the book himself, tried to intervene. But before he finished his words, Apollonia nodded to Sid, and Sid immediately drew his sword at the butler, who then turned a ghastly pale.

Shiing-!

The sword made an eerie sound. The butler hurriedly shut his mouth when he saw the sword facing him.

“What were you saying again?’ Apollonia asked Stan again. Stan wasn’t stupid. He knew that he would be safe only if he said what was written in that black book.

“I-I get ten gold coins a month.”

He lied. In fact, his salary was only three to eight coins, but he assumed that the book contained much higher amounts.

“Ten gold coins. It’s not a small amount.”

“It’s my lord, no, the viscount’s generosity.”

Apollonia raised one of her eyebrows as if it was unexpected. Stan thought that he managed to quickly adapt and roughly guessed it correctly. He didn’t even notice the viscount’s face take on a pallid shade.

The questions continued. “Who is your adjutant? How much does he get paid? What about the other soldiers?”

“Ah, that… the adjutant is Thompson, and he takes six, or seven, no, eight gold coins. Same goes with the soldiers…” Stan had finally noticed the viscount’s face, which was getting crumpled by the minute, so his answers were mumbled out.

Tak-!

Even before Stan’s words were finished, Apollonia threw the thick black book she had in her hands.

“Heugh!”

The book hit Viscount’s nose and fell. It was one of the most painful and insulting moments of his life, but he couldn’t say anything.

“Pick it up and read it.”

“Yo-Your Highness.”

The viscount, who failed to overcome his embarrassment, slowly opened the book without a chance to complain about his pain. “The so-soldiers monthly pay… S-Stan Boris…” His lips quivered as he read. “…Fifty gold coins.”

“What?”

When the ridiculous number came out, Stan forgot to maintain his facial expression and asked back reflexively.

“Luhan Thompson… forty-five gold coins.”

The other soldier’s jaws dropped.

“Viscount, what does it mean when the money written in the record is different from the money received by soldiers?”

Apollonia’s low and calm voice was mixed with anger. Her dark, red eyes stared at him like she would burn him alive.

“Your second sin is corruption.”

“Your Highness, this is a misunderstanding. Th-that bastard is lying because he’s afraid that he’ll look like he’s getting a lot of money..”

“And you lied endlessly throughout my interrogation.” Apollonia cut off his words. The Viscount froze wordlessly.

“Rather than being loyal to the lord, you only care about your own interest. Your third sin is disloyalty.”

Taang-!

As soon as she finished speaking, there was a third whipping in the reception room. This time, the end of the whip fell between his right and left feet. The Viscount immediately fell on his knees.

“Have mercy on me! I haven’t touched the big funds! I’ll return all the money and…”

“We need to search the house to see if you’re right. The butler shall guide us.” When she gestured at Sid, he grabbed the butler’s arm and stormed out the room along with the Bellas.

This time, he had no time to protest. His men were confused as to whether they should block Sid or not, because the viscount was kneeling and trembling.

In an instant, the positions reversed. The princess, who had invaded the mansion along with several guards and residents, had taken control of his mansion. But they wouldn’t be able to search everything… oh no!

He regretted not separating her from the others the moment she came. He could have just said she got into an accident when she went missing! He didn’t expect he would be so badly humiliated in front of people like this.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Dejected as he was, he also grew curious about this… true lord of Lishan. But all his secret agents had all agreed unanimously that this crazy princess was dumber than her peers.

If so, who was the woman in front of him? Without the knights’ assistance, she visited a mansion full of his men and overpowered him with only a few words. The viscount had never met anyone like her in his life.