Chapter 61
That night, Laszlo immediately summoned Calliope's followers. Among them were the deputy commander Nathan, one who was skilled in books and financial transactions, others with extensive experience in the city's markets and shops, as well as three sources of information.
“Nathan, check the stores that are connected to our family, and make sure how much money they received from the butler. You, check the butler’s assets.”
"Yes."
“And as for you, Pete, go through the books and receipts.”
"Am I alone? To do all this?"
“Ask anyone you need to, and start by reviewing your last year first.”
The mercenaries acted swiftly on his orders. The shopkeepers, who had collaborated with Marsha in writing the double books, could not resist for long and quickly confessed their crimes to Count Crisis's men.
The extent of the embezzlement that was uncovered was greater than Laszlo had anticipated. The same was true of the family books, with Pitt, known for being the best in Calliope when it came to financial matters, expressing his displeasure after reviewing the records.
“This is utter chaos. I’m not sure there’s any point in organizing it.”
“I tried to improve it whenever I found the time.”
“…It’s clear you don’t have the talent in this field.”
Exhausted after returning from the palace, László quickly reviewed the ledgers before bed, but this wasn't enough to properly organize the Count's family records, especially with Marsha's forged receipts and notes. Although he knew something was amiss, the direct comments from his subordinates embarrassed him, and he coughed, trying to conceal his discomfort.
“Everything is wrong from beginning to end. Nothing is right at all. How can even addition and subtraction be this difficult?!”
“I didn’t do that, she’s the head maid.”
“Do you think that’s an excuse? If these notebooks had been part of Calliope, the commander wouldn’t have let me live.”
Pete threw the notebook down angrily, indicating that repairing it was pointless, which in itself was sufficient reason to punish Marsha.
A week after Edel was charged in the theft case, Laszlo summoned all the servants again.
Since it was Laszlo himself who had summoned them, and not Linnea, and with mercenaries around them, the servants were clearly feeling nervous.
“I have gathered you here today to punish the perpetrator in connection with the unfortunate incident that recently occurred.”
Upon hearing this, Marsha's face lit up with overwhelming joy.
'It seems that Miss Linnea told the Count what happened. This is better than I expected!'
Marsha planned to steal small items of accessories and keep them in the rooms of servants close to Idyll, then gradually move on to stealing larger and more valuable items that could not be overlooked.
But because things had come to light sooner than she expected, she worried that the matter would be dropped without any real consequences due to the small size of the stolen items. However, Laszlo's involvement meant that Linnea now considered the theft a serious matter.
'He's gathered all the servants here, so they won't be able to get away with it easily. Edel, it's time you paid the price!'
Although there was no direct evidence, the physical evidence and circumstantial evidence clearly pointed to Edel as the culprit, making Marsha confident that Edel would be severely punished.
Laszlo looked at the servants with boredom before continuing his speech.
“A small theft occurred a short time ago, but it appears to have been an attempt to cover up a much larger theft.”
Murmurs rose among the servants, for theft in the homes of the nobility was a serious crime, often punished severely. But the idea of two thefts left everyone astonished and apprehensive.
“The items that disappeared from Linnea’s drawer included a pearl brooch, four pairs of earrings studded with small stones, and four gold necklaces. These are things that Linnea had been using regularly since Edel had become her personal maid.”
Then Linnea intervened and explained:
“That’s why Idil wouldn’t have stolen these things, because she knew they would be discovered quickly. But the maid who was in charge of my service before Idil… wasn’t aware of that.”
Silence fell over the hallway and everyone's eyes turned towards Marsha.
Marsha felt extremely confused and began waving her hands in denial.
“W-What do you mean, miss? Why are you suddenly accusing me?!”
“I heard that you recently tried to win Daisy over, asking her to abandon Idil and join you.”
Daisy nodded in agreement.
But Marsha denied it again, waving her hands.
“This is slander! I did not try to win her over; I was only offering her advice in good faith!”
Laszlo nonchalantly raised his hand, calming the noise.
“That doesn’t matter. What matters here is that you have been embezzling huge sums of money over the past period.”
Marsha's face turned pale and she was unable to respond, simply opening her mouth without saying a word.
Laszlo ignored her expression and gestured to one of his followers, who nodded. Then a group of people were brought in, being dragged by the mercenaries.
"Please forgive us, sir!"
“We were simply following Mrs. Bohen’s instructions! She threatened to cut off business if we didn’t!”
“We will return all the money we took, and we will even return double! Please, give us another chance!”
These merchants, who supplied meat, vegetables, grains and flour to the Count's family, were screaming as if they were being led to their deaths.
“Stop crying and start confessing to your crimes.”
Nathan gave them orders on behalf of Laszlo, and the merchants stopped crying and began to confess what they had done.
“We would write on the invoices that we supplied the best types of meat, but in reality we were supplying low-quality meat. And we would get 30% of the difference.”
"Who was paying you?"
“Ms. Bohin…”
The confession of the butcher was followed by the confession of the vegetable seller and the grain seller, and their statements were similar.
"Who suggested this first? You'd better speak honestly."
“Mrs. Bohen suggested it! How could we dare to think of such a thing on our own?”
Then Laszlo intervened and asked Pete:
“Based on the duplicate records we obtained, what is the expected amount of the theft?”
“The exact figure won’t be, but it seems to be around 250,000 ringgit. It wasn’t just the food suppliers, but even the art gallery that sold us paintings, and the suppliers who sold us curtains and carpets, they also boldly raised their prices.”
Laszlo nodded coldly and looked again at Marsha, who had become very pale as if all the blood had drained from her face.
“I think Edel was a thorn in your side. You were no longer able to control the servants as you wished, embezzlements began to be discovered, and even Linnea was no longer on your side.”
“No… no, that’s not true…”
“Isn’t that so? We investigated the maids who were paying you bribes, and they readily confessed to everything.”
At that moment, Marsha turned quickly to look at Mina and some of the other maids, but they were avoiding looking at her, bowing their heads shyly.
Marsha had begun to realize something was unusual from the moment they gathered, and now it was clear what was happening. Her hands began to tremble.
“My dear Count…! How could you do this to me? I have worked so hard and put in so much effort over the past three years in this house!”
"Effort? Is there a maid who gets paid without making this kind of effort?"
“But…”
“So, you had to embezzle an amount that could be overlooked. Do you expect me to overlook a theft equivalent to the price of an entire house?”
Cold sweat began to trickle down Marsha's back.
'I should have escaped a long time ago…!'
Marsha felt deep remorse. Greed had blinded her, and she had convinced herself to go a little further with her thefts, imagining that no one would discover her, but she was sinking into an inescapable quagmire.
Marsha collapsed to the ground, clasping her hands together in supplication:
“My dear Count! Please remember all that I have given to this house all these years! I will return all the money I took, please forgive me…”
"Recovering stolen money is normal, so why are you talking like you're going to do something great?"
"What…?"
“In any case, the matter will be referred to the security office, and the punishment will be thirty lashes, along with a fine…”
"My dear Count! Please, please forgive me!"
Marsha crawled down to her knees and lay prostrate at Laszlo's feet. The mere thought of the thirty lashes made her feel as if darkness had descended upon her. She knew that, with her immature body, she wouldn't be able to move for a full month after receiving the punishment.
“I was wrong! I was wrong, Count! Greed blinded me and drove me to do what I shouldn't have. Please, give me one last chance! Don't hand me over to the security office…!”
Her face was covered with tears, and she was banging her forehead on the ground as she pleaded.
The other servants were shocked by the amount of money Marsha had embezzled and by her complete breakdown in an instant. They were also astonished by Laszlo's composure and patience in waiting for the right moment to gather evidence and witnesses without showing any emotion.
“Forgiveness, huh…? Indeed, transferring the case to the security office will make the process of recovering the funds more complicated.”
Marsha absorbed some hope in his words, and approached Laszlo with even greater eagerness and pleading.
Laszlo looked at her with contempt and said slowly.