Celebrity Lady

The faltering count said as if I was being unfair to him, “But princess? These bastards have disrespected you-”

“I said I was fine.” When I said it with my molars firmly clasped, the count was stunned and closed his mouth.

As for this ‘disrespect’, he was referring to the situation 10 minutes ago when the girl who was bowing at my feet touched the jewel hanging from the bottom of my dress.

It was no big deal. A young child who knew nothing just stretched out her hand because it looked so shiny and pretty. Of course, I didn’t mind, and I had thought of giving her a pinch because her white and chubby cheeks were cute.

If only this count didn’t make me so mad!

“Are you okay?” I approached the boy who had been hit on the head and asked. He seemed to be about the same age as me but a bit on the small side.

“…”

The expression on the boy’s face, as he clenched his teeth and turned his head without answering, was clearly angry. That was understandable. He was hit on the head for nothing to protect his sister.

“You crazy bastard, the princess said-!”

“Leave it.”

“Heugh.”

Greg, who was about to raise his hand to the children again, shut his mouth at my menacing voice.

“Don’t cry. It’s okay.” As I looked at the girl and calmed her down, I paused for a moment.

For some reason, the siblings had minor scars on their faces. They were fresh scars and scars that were healing…

“What’s wrong with your face?” Looking at the boy’s swollen lips, I asked, and the trembling girl’s gaze went up.

To Greg, who was standing next to me.

<Oh, my…>

Wishit sighed as if he had foreseen the impending catastrophe.

“Sigh.”

As I raised my bent knee indifferently, Greg licked his parched lips and made an excuse.

“These… They are the children of the workshop manager.”

“Oh.”

“Every time the count visits the workshop, the boy acts very arrogantly.”

“Tell me in detail how he acted arrogantly, making you resort to violence. Of course, no matter what you spit, I have no intention of letting you go after hitting children.”

“Heugh.” Greg’s neck jerked like a turtle, and he sent an SOS with his eyes to the count behind me.

The count hurriedly intervened. “It’s not something you need to worry about, Princess. As someone barely making ends meet and living with the grace of the Diollus family, the guys at the workshop don’t even know your grace and keep…”

“Our wages are already three months behind! I asked you to give me our wage this month because we urgently need my mother’s medicine!”

“T-This guy!” The count was visibly taken aback by the boy’s interjection. I looked at the count’s expression and talked to Wishit.

<Did I seriously just witness the scene of illegal labor exploitation and wage arrears, starting with child abuse, as soon as I arrived in exile?>

<Yup.>

<Not to mention it happened in our fief…>

<That’s right. No wonder the way he looks at you isn’t pretty.>

<I agree. If I had been a low-level employee with overdue wages for three months, I would have attacked the boss and pulled out all her hair too.>

I smiled. The count quickly opened his mouth as if he had prepared an excuse.

“P-Princess, you may not be familiar with the situation in Lubon, but the workshop’s income was not good, so the wages…”

“Wow.” Feeling my back tingle, I lightly grabbed my neck and gnashed my teeth. “Are you seriously treating me like an ignorant child?”

“Y-Yes?”

“Even toddlers who have not yet taken their first step know how famous Lubon watches are in the capital. But what did you say? The workshop income is not good?” With a stern expression on my face, I strode away from the count. “What the hell did you see me as that you would lie to me in such an obvious way?”

“Ah, t-that-”

“Your deceit pierces the sky.” Taking my eyes off the contemplative count, I swallowed a sigh and controlled my anger. “Thank you for welcoming me today. Thank you for personally guiding us to the estate. Although it’s been less than half an hour.”

“T-That… Princess-”

“I’ll look around the rest of the place with my secretary, so you should go back to your private residence and wait.”

“G-Go back?”

“I’m in a bad mood, so I want you to disappear from my eyes within 10 seconds.”

“Princess! Wait a minute, let me say-”

“10.”

“…”

“9.”

The count and his servant Greg couldn’t help but stare at each other.

“3.”

“Ekh?”

“Uh…”

“2.”

Five seconds went by in an instant, and as my expression couldn’t get any worse, the count and Greg eventually flinched away in a funny way.

“Whoa…”

I looked back at the remaining siblings. The girl smiled with flushed cheeks, but the boy’s eyes remained wary.

There were dozens of Diollus territories, even if you just count the places that come to mind. It was no wonder that Viego found it difficult to manage them individually. Therefore, each territory was planted and managed by proxy. And this situation was probably a problem that inevitably occurred in the process.

‘There are bullies out there who steal money in the middle like this.’

It wasn’t my fault, and I could fully understand the anger of the underpaid workers who were behind in wages at the boss’s daughter, even more so since I was wearing a dress with flashy jewels hanging down the hem to watch them work.

“I’m sorry.” Speaking quietly, I bent my knees, grabbed a palm-sized sapphire at the bottom of my dress, and began to rip it off.

“Ah, why is this-” How could a tightly stitched jewel easily fall off with just a few strokes? As I struggled, a blade suddenly shone in front of my eyes.

“Ack, that surprised me.”

I looked up and saw the boy holding a familiar folding knife. Accepting it, I asked while removing the jewelry, “Thank you. What’s your name?”

“Jeremy.” It was still a short reply and a curt expression.

“Brother! She’s a princess!” the girl pouted her lips and immediately criticized Jeremy, and then the boy added, avoiding my gaze.

“… My name’s Jeremy.”

“Hu.” After removing the jewel, I put it in the girl’s hand and said, “If you’re annoyed, you can just drop the honorifics. I don’t think it’ll sound good either.”

“…” Jeremy hesitated, staring at me with blue eyes. It seemed that his anger had subsided just a little bit.

“P-Princess? What’s with this? Are you giving it to me?”

“Yes. Didn’t you want to?”

“Wow…”

“Luna, give me that. We have to go buy medicine with it.”

“Mm-hmm!”

Jeremy took the sapphire quickly, but Luna only nodded with a big smile as if it were natural.

I got emotional for a moment, so I took the sapphire from Jeremy’s hand and put it back in Luna’s hand.

“Is your name Luna? You keep this. I didn’t give it to you to pay for your mother’s medicine.”

“What?”

“The overdue wages and the money for your mother’s medicine… I’m sorry. Don’t worry, and please wait.” I sighed and turned around. “I’ll be back soon.”

***

Next to me, as I eagerly scrawled with a pen, Secretary Sienna opened her mouth. “I’m sorry. I should have accompanied you, my lady.”

“Oh, no. You have nothing to apologize for.”

The competent secretary Sienna had been on her way to Lubon estate, where I would be staying for a year, to get a rough idea of the situation when the situation had occurred.

“Rebecca.”

“Yes, lady!” 

I handed a letter with a red wax seal to Rebecca, who also looked at me with a lot of anger.

“Please send this to Brother Viego right away. Along with the letter I wrote to Becky and Sarah on the way.”

“Yes. This can be sent after the inspection… by Sir Paul, right?” Rebecca, quick-witted, asked.

In principle, if I, who was in isolation, wanted to contact the outside world, I must be inspected by a member of the investigation team. But…

“If you don’t want your correspondence reviewed or if you want to keep in touch with the outside world, find an investigator named Paul. I’ve informed him, so he will help you.”

Due to the privileges granted by His Highness Lark, there were no restrictions on me. I smiled and nodded toward Rebecca. “That’s right.”

“Alright! I’ll be back soon!” 

Rebecca quickly left the room, and I asked Sienna as I prepared to leave again, “So what kind of place is Lubon?”

“This is a fief bestowed by the imperial family to Duke Diollus IV. Since then, the Diollus have been entrusting the fief’s management to the family of Count Lubon.”

“It’s been quite a while.”

“Yes. However, Lubon started to attract attention 50 years ago when the workshop business in the territory was activated.”

“Right. Their watches are famous. But what I’m wondering is…”

“The fief’s income is thoroughly managed through a contract renewed yearly. 30% of the total income goes to the Diollus, and the fief proxy, Count Lubon, is being paid an annual salary by the duchy.”

“Oh!” So they collect their annual salary to manage the fief but also steal income from it? “There must be a lot of leftovers from the workshop’s income, so why doesn’t Count Lubon pay the workers wages?”

“…?” Sienna tilted her head at my question and flipped through the file she was holding. “According to the copy of the workshop business contract that I received from the Duke…”

“…”

“The workshop manager, Charlie Works, reserves all rights to the workshop’s income.”

“What?”

“Charlie Works pays the workers’ wages, not Count Lubon.”

Bang!

Sienna was startled when I stumbled as I was about to leave the room. “Princess?”

“So, you mean that the workshop’s income was all attributed to the workshop?”

“Yes. In the first place, the Works family established the workshop 50 years ago, and Lubon developed as the watches produced there drew attention. Although the business has grown and profits have increased, the Diollus respects the autonomy of income management, considering workers’ expertise and contributions so far.”

In other words, our family had allowed workshop workers to manage the enormous workshop income.

Therefore, the workshop manager Charlie Works should be extremely wealthy, and the brother and sister I met earlier were the children of the supposedly rich workshop manager.

“So what’s this story of wages that have been delayed for three months, and what about the money for their mother’s medicine…”

<What else could it be? The mean count with the mustache just ate it in the middle.>

Wishit clicked his tongue.

<And he didn’t do it little by little, I suppose?>

<… That’s right. He made a blunder. It would be better to say that he forgot everything. It seems that the workers are only paid after they are all pocketed.>

<Even that was pushed back by three months?>

I became more confused the more I communicated with Wishit. The frightened Sienna soon asked, “My lady, are you alright? Is there a problem?”

I pointed at my throbbing temple and smiled at Sienna. “There are so many problems. I need to go to the workshop right now. Come with me.”