Once Mine, Always Mine!

The knighting ceremony of Karl went smoothly. Captain Mylan attended the ceremony but he did not disturb it. He must have realized that Huvel did not care about the opinion of knights at all and since there was no one with higher nobility than Huvel, there was nothing he could do.

Huvel quite liked with Mylan. He was surprised that a knight who was the commander of important troops and was away from his lord's side for a long time actually had good manners and was righteous. When Huvel exposed that Knight Luc had a dagger in his coat, Mylan did not hesitate to jump onto Luc to confirm his words. He did not try to hide the incident or sweettalk to Huvel either. Huvel believed he was not pretending through the look in his clear eyes.

After the ceremony, Huvel headed straight for his office and read some reports. Spread in front of him were papers of financial affairs of Boswel. Another pile of papers included records of merchant groups that entered Boswel region and their transactions. The papers Huve was most interested in were the ones in his hand. The information in those papers were vastly different from the former ones that it even seemed exaggerated.

"I felt that… Mylan is the type of knights in stories who are quite innocent and stubbornly righteous!" Huvel remarked inwardly as he skimmed through the papers on the table. "But, if he is actually that type of person, how come did he approve these papers?! Did I judge him wrong?"

Huvel made Parcivel look into all the information of Boswel when he met him in Capital Tournesol. Parcivel seemed to have collected some information from his guild, and also went to Boswel before Huvel and gathered more information there. The result of his hard work was the papers in Huvel's hands. Parcivel's papers stated that the merchant groups currently in Boswel were four times more than the records on the official papers.

"There must be a high-rank noble involved for the embezzlement to be this big!" Huvel thought. "Still, they are quite daring to pull this off in the land of the royal family. It seems those ministers in the capital did not know about this either. If they knew, they would not happily hand me such a town with this high income. Now, I don't feel bad for getting this rural town. This was indeed a stroke of luck! All I need to do is threaten or wipe out the officers who forge the papers and steal the money."

Huvel was all smile with his own thoughts when he heard a knock on the door.

It was Chance.

"I apologize for arriving late, my lord," he said as soon as he entered.

"It's fine," Huvel replied; he looked up as he noticed that Chance's voice was weaker than usual. "You, kind of… don't look well, unlike before the ceremony. Are you sick?"

"About that, my lord…," Chance mumbled as he stared at the floor, "actually, my father contacted me."

"Your father? Ah, I forgot that your father was Marquis Boden of the neighbouring land! So, did he scold you for becoming my vessel?"

"It… it is something more serious than that…"

"Chance Boden, elaborate."

"A… according to his letter, one of his knights stationed here has been embezzling some taxes. He wants me to… to pretend that I do not know about that matter."

"Oh? Are you fine with telling me this? He must have promised you something in return."

"I've pledged my loyalty to you so it is only right to come clean to you. But I hope you would not make it too difficult for my father. If this matter reaches the ears of His Highness, Prince Leonard, my father might be charged with treason!"

"I'm not sure about that. But do you how much his knight embezzled?"

"He did not mention about it. Since the tax income here is small, I do not think there are much to take in the first place."

"Hahaha! That's where you are wrong. If your father who has not contacted you for a long time suddenly contacts you and asks your help, will that really be a small matter? It seems your father believe me to be an ignorant toddler and that he could control me through you, his son. Here, see these yourself!"

Huvel handed him Parcivel's report papers. Chance's eyes went wide after seeing the numbers. He could not believe them and checked against the official reports.

"My lord, where did you get these reports from?! These numbers… are they real?!"

"It's your job to go into the town and check if they are real or not. However, in my opinion, they are most likely real!"

"If the amount is real, then, my father…"

"Is it the first time your father writes you a letter after you left his household?"

"…Yes…"

"He cares about you only when you are useful to him. Why worry about such father?"

"But… still…"

"Never mind, you don't need to worry about your father. Even if these numbers are real, I've no intention of reporting this matter to the capital."

"W… would it be fine to not report something this big?!"

"At first, you are worried for your father. Now you are worried about not reporting him. Be consistent, man!"

"But you will get into trouble if someone finds out that you hide this matter despite knowing it!"

"Since the capital does not know the trades that are happening here, it seems your family has been doing this for generations. They are not satisfied with what they had already got and continued even after Prince Leonard inherit this place. This is a crime that can get all of your family burn down to ashes! Do you think you can walk out freely just because you have left the family? No chance, my Chance!"

"Are you saying…"

"For the sake of my one and only butler, I'll not report this matter to the capital."

"My lorddd…"

Chance was so touched by Huvel's kindness that his eyes were filled with tears. He made up in his mind that he would follow him till his death.

On the other hand, Huvel had already concluded that if he reported the embezzlement and the royal family found out the real income of Boswel, they would take it back from him. There was no way Huvel would let go of a gold mine that was already in his possession!

As such, he wrote a threatening letter to Marquis Boden. In the letter, he wrote that he was willing to pretend he did not know the embezzlement if the marquis returned 20 years' worth of money his family had stolen from Boswel back to him!