Reputation and punishment

Ki's mother's family returned from where they came and began to try to salvage their situation but Ki had assigned some spies to infiltrate into the city and lay low to gather information to be sent back on the cities current activities.

Ki did not wish for anymore surprises so began to look into the situation with any other distant relatives that had come from past generations where one of the daughters was married out of the family into a new one.

Marilyn began to search for any leads but Agnes helped go through the family tree to discover other sources.

The closest bloodline to Ki right now would be from her mother's family but what of others in the past that married out or separated or were banished from the family and established their own family afterwards?

Although they had no rights to inheritance or such things, they may still know of their families distant relatives if a record is kept.

Those families would only really qualify as a branch family only if they were acknowledged by the head of the main family and helping them in their time of need was something that possible so long as they were not as bad as her mothers family and they were to be useful and loyal to the family.

The Bombyx family never supported slackers or disloyal people throughout their many years and were strict on the management of their businesses so accepting distant relatives back would be something carefully considered and investigated fully.

If they possessed some skill and were hardworking then they may even be approached, of course if they had a trustworthy and honest character.

Months passed by and the situation with the Herb Pavilions were dealt with, the Bombyx family and Ki did suffer a little backlash from bad public opinion but various rumours began to sprout from nowhere that they were in fact the victims.

The old herbalists and doctors that had been working with the Herb Pavilion had been captured swiftly after the account books and other types of evidence like written letters and signed contracts were brought forward to fully investigate.

The Law Department of the Capital was called upon once again, giving Isaac and his old friend a chance to communicate.

He had been stuck in his position after his promotion years ago but since then he saw no hope for another promotion, Isaac gave him the tip to begin investigating.

With Isaacs strategy, Marilyn and Ki's spies who were planted and obtaining lots of evidence, the case was given to him pretty much solved.

All he had to do was bring some men to different lands and begin to collect those pieces of evidence and dispense justice upon the criminals.

He returned home with high honours and achievements just like before, giving him enough enough of a chance to get noticed by his superiors.

His gift wrapped case earned him a promotion that he had previously seen no hope for so he expressed happily that if such cases come up again in the future, Isaac should contact him first.

Isaac readily agreed as having a friend who had some status or rank of some kind within the Capital was something that was needed if the Bombyx family wished to prepare if they were suddenly being targeted from someone in the Capital and could be warned beforehand to prepare for it.

It also didn't hurt to have someone that he could push up into a high status to ask favours from if it is needed whether it be investigating something or organising a sudden operation that may cause harm to their enemies.

Some of the pieces of evidence also provided some proof that the people from the Herb Pavilions who had broken the rules and law for their own greed were also working with others or as a group so many others got brought into it and investigated fully.

Some received light punishments since some had only completed some verbal agreements and verbal agreements but many of them that were found to be connected to the written agreements or exchanged letters were given a much harsher punishment.

Some of Ki's stores remained after removing their competitors completely after they were caught and punished, those that were not put in prison suffered from the rumours and light punishment only to have their business suffer along with losing their support from the people who thought themselves to be Bernard's heirs who had also been imprisoned.

Proof was found that the so called heirs were planning a plot to assassinate the young miss of the Bombyx family through an exchange of letters between them after many of their belongings had been checked and confiscated.

In other places where the competition was more fierce and far away, Ki ordered for everything to be packed up and removed while any loyal workers would be given the chance to work in another location.

After everything was cleared up by the rumours that had been spread, public opinion shifted to praise the Bombyx family for their swift management and resolution of the problems and corruption within their business.

Ki Bombyx was a name that was becoming a little more known as she was known to be the true owner of the Herb Pavilions which got her more praise from the public for her young age that did not hold her back from having the ability to resolve the trouble within her business.

Although the way she had dealt with it was not publicly known and could be doubted and taken as something her family had done for her, it was still impressive that everything had been dealt with so quickly and efficiently leaving very little room for her business rivals or the traitors to escape.

Even if it was her family that assisted her, it was still an impressive feat.

When criminals are suspicious that they have been exposed they will do everything to cover up any tracks or evidence they have left behind or simply run away to the best of their abilities so Ki or the Bombyx family being able to privately investigate the ongoings of their businesses so well from far away showed that they had a great eye for detail and knew how to handle various difficult situations and come out of it without suffering huge damage.