“I don’t want to work!”
The next day.
My day started, once again, with a collection notice. I reviewed the ledger that Sophia had handed me.
I slammed down a cup of coffee and focused, but all I saw were chaotic numbers scattered across the pages.
Yeah. As expected.
“This is way worse than I thought…”
If this were a company, it would’ve been shut down immediately. The difference between having proper supervision and not is enormous.
“I heard Viscount William was in charge of accounting.”
Did he drop out of the academy? Or sleep through every class?
The more I looked at the ledger, the more I genuinely wanted to ask him.
‘Something felt off from the beginning.’
It was supposed to be a noble house that ran a business, yet they managed to lose their entire fortune. That couldn’t have been done by Xavier Percy alone.
‘There must’ve been an accomplice.’
Viscount William was probably that accomplice.
The past three years of accounting records were a disaster. Annual budgets were set absurdly high, while unnecessary purchases and luxury expenses kept piling up.
It was the same even when I first possessed this body. Even when I’d just ended up buried under 20 billion Marni in debt, the books were still full of luxury goods.
“I smell something rotten here too.”
How is everything a sewer party?
“This is going to make things harder…”
I rubbed my throbbing forehead and pulled the bell cord.
Soon after, Sophia came in.
“Call Viscount William for me.”
“Yes, young lady.”
About five hours later, a man who couldn’t even properly fix his appearance crossed the threshold.
“Cough! You called?”
“…Have you been drinking?”
And here he was, the man in charge of finances—doing worse than someone who can’t even manage drinking responsibly.
‘This is basically workplace rebellion.’
I sincerely admired his unique working style.
It wasn’t my first time seeing Viscount William. I had run into him a few times before.
I should’ve noticed the rotten smell back then.
“Oh, I apologize. Does it smell that bad?”
“Apologize.”
“…Pardon?”
“Normally, you don’t ask if you smell bad first. You apologize.”
I no longer cared how the original Aria Renesti would’ve responded.
Because I was about to die here.
‘Who has time to care about etiquette?’
Things needed to be fixed immediately. Rotten water only attracts bugs.
“You should bow your head properly.”
I stood up and gave a polite bow.
“I’m sorry.”
Like this.
“W-what?! You’re joking too much today!”
William panicked.
“I’m serious.”
I knew numbers well enough—my degree was in business-related studies. Even in my previous life, I worked in a startup where I had to deal with numbers every day.
‘Even worse companies than this weren’t this bad.’
Something was definitely wrong. Normally, audits would’ve caught this. How did the imperial authorities let this slide for three years?
‘Yeah. Something definitely stinks.’
Corruption in the bureaucracy this time?
My head was spinning.
‘Right. Rot starts from above.’
It trickles down until everything below becomes rotten.
‘This is bad.’
The debt wasn’t the only problem. Even if I had money, the structure itself was a sinking ship. Pouring money into it wouldn’t restore the family’s reputation.
‘I’ll have to cut everything out.’
Which meant rehiring staff, restructuring everything, salvaging whatever remained…
‘I’m going to die…’
“Damn it.”
I’d sworn I’d never work in a startup again after seeing a boss suffer through all-nighters.
And yet here I was.
Already showing signs of burnout.
“Why are you checking the ledger? There are quite a lot of numbers—can you even understand them?”
‘Look at him trying to change the subject.’
He’s done this before. I raised my hand to dismiss it instead of dragging the conversation further.
“Yes. It’s hard to understand.”
“As expected… someone raised in comfort would struggle with this…”
“It’s just badly organized.”
“…Pardon?”
I opened a nearby ink bottle, dipped my pen, and pointed at the ledger.
“So I’d like to reorganize everything from the beginning.”
“Re, reorganize?”
“I can’t do this alone.”
Ignoring his reaction, I pulled the pen out.
“I’ll need your full cooperation, Viscount.”
Before he could escape, I asked Sophia to bring another chair.
‘You’re not leaving today.’
Nine-to-five? I was going to ignore that completely.
By the time I finally finished working through the night, I sent William out.
“You… devil…”
With shaking legs, Viscount William fled without looking back.
I drained the last of my coffee and sighed.
‘Seriously.’
What exactly did he even do?
‘I did all the corrections!’
No—correction wasn’t even the right word. I basically reconstructed reality.
“Corruption inside companies is terrifying.”
Internal rot is always worse than external threats. Once the inner structure eats itself away, collapse is inevitable.
From the ledger, I learned a few things.
The Earl’s couple were gullible.
And surprisingly affectionate toward their family.
Xavier Percy had been weaving a web around them for years.
Every luxury expense recorded in the books had gone straight into Xavier Percy’s pockets.
‘Unbelievable…’
There were four key points for now, but each one was massive.
The problem was, I didn’t know where to start.
‘Still, I have a plan. That’s enough for now.’
Raising 20 billion immediately was impossible. Even using knowledge from the original story had limits.
So I had decided something else.
‘I won’t repay the debt directly.’
More precisely, I would return it to its rightful owner.
‘If I can prove the guarantee was forced, the debt becomes invalid.’
Even if the Earl’s family signed it willingly, it didn’t matter.
‘If evidence doesn’t exist, I’ll just make it.’
And frankly, there was already plenty of circumstantial evidence. Xavier Percy was running illegal slave trading operations.
He had manipulated ledgers and siphoned funds.
‘Would he really just save the money cleanly? No way.’
He definitely invested in the slave trade.
‘He forced the Earl’s couple into guaranteeing the debt, then poured it all into an illegal slave operation.’
I clapped my hands with a grin.
Anyone would find that suspicious.
‘Why would I repay something like that?’
I’ll return everything exactly as I received it.
“Miss, it’s Sophia.”
“Come in!”
Feeling refreshed, I stretched. Sophia entered with a trolley.
It was morning already—she had brought water for washing.
I moved to the sofa. Sophia placed the tray down and looked at me worriedly.
“Are you alright? You’ve only been drinking coffee all night.”
“I’m fine. My heart’s just a little… jumpy.”
My body wasn’t used to coffee. It preferred tea or milk tea.
So the caffeine overload was catching up to me.
“Please don’t overdo it! The debt is important, but your health matters too.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
I’d probably keep overworking anyway, but I didn’t say it out loud.
After washing my face with cold water, I took the towel and asked,
“Where’s Matthias?”