***
“You want to look at the ledgers, Lilian?”
Cedric Islar was a great man who would do it even if his sister insisted on making soybean paste with red beans.
No, it won’t be about just giving permission. He was probably someone who would roll up his sleeves and come up with a way to use fermented soybeans with red beans instead of Lily, saying, ‘You don’t have to go through such trouble yourself.’
There was only one case where such a person expressed disapproval of Lilian’s request.
It’s only when Lily asked him to do something that will harm her.
In most cases, Lilian didn’t ask anything that Cedric would disapprove. She used to accept both overprotectiveness and extreme sincerity only to assure Cedric.
But not as much as this time.
“Handling the ledger is a basic household chore.”
This Empire has maintained its great reign through countless wars.
As such, all the privileged classes of the Empire were basically soldiers and took the lead in defending the country in case of emergency.
Thus, the Empire considered it the most noble act to defend the country at the cost of one’s life, and it’s traditionally the woman’s role to lead the family while men were out on the battlefield.
A woman who wisely governs her household is as respected as a soldier who achieved great merit.
“Now that my mother is gone, I have the responsibility of fulfilling my duties as the only woman in the family.”
“But…”
“I can’t leave the work that I have to do to my older brother, who is already overloaded with work.”
Cedric was a little confused whether to like it or not.
He genuinely liked that his sister was worried about him. But he couldn’t yield.
To be honest, this wasn’t the first time this happened between the two.
At every opportunity, Lilian would briefly express her desire to take on household tasks.
Cedric refused with a straight face every time. He was vocal about the household tasks. He’s the Lord of the family with a history longer than the Empire’s history.
He had to hold seasonal annual events, organize gatherings, and manage budgets.
Because he had to deal mainly with vassals he knew and had blood ties with, there were also corners that were more difficult than outside work.
A family with prosperous descendants might have an assassin sent from a branch family because they were dissatisfied with the hostess’ management.
At least, it’s rare on Islar and there are fewer branches, so the hassle is less.
‘Even so, it’s not a job for that weak child to handle.’
Oh, where will this be? Even if he passed out on the desk, he couldn’t borrow Lily’s hand.
“When you get married, you’ll have to do it even if you don’t want to. No need to suffer in advance…”
“If I don’t want to be looked down upon for being clumsy after getting married, I have to get used to it even if I have to go through hardships in advance.”
It’s a logical persuasion…
“Then don’t get married.”
Cedric’s love for his sister always transcended logic and common sense.
Words didn’t work so there’s no place to persuade. Lilian let out a sigh.
“Brother.”
“In any case, the ledger is absolutely not possible.”
It was tough on Lily, but so was Cedric. He said “stop!” and flatly refused his sister’s request.
“I know you’re busy preparing to go to the Imperial palace.”
Sooner or later, Lilian was doomed to be thrown into the core of a human storm made up of various groups of humans.
There was nothing more exhausting than dealing with people.
‘Wouldn’t this sickly child wither and be killed by those people?’
Cedric was worried about that.
Of course, Lilian was mentally stronger than Cedric.
But…
“Brother…?”
Her complexion returned slightly but she was still pale.
Her languidly lowered eyelids seemed to be burdened with even the weight of her long eyelashes.
It looked like she’ll collapse if given a push, no different from a sickly patient. Cedric wanted to sigh.
‘What do you want to do when you’re this tired? Your body’s like a sheet of paper, not even a glass vessel.’
“I want you to pay more attention to your health.”
“But.”
“Lilian Mariestad Islar, I clearly told you to stop.”
If Cedric went this far against Lilian, it would have been a complete refusal.
“This is an order form the Lord. I don’t want to argue about this anymore.”
If Lilian knew Cedric’s weakness, so did Cedric.
As long as the word ‘order’ came out of his mouth, Lilian had no choice but to follow the family leader’s orders as a faithful family member. That’s why she’s secretly looking at the books like this…
‘Strictly speaking, it’s an act of defiance.’
If she had to make an excuse, even Lilian didn’t want to go this far.
Her beloved brother, Cedric, was the head of the family who deserved respect.
Lilian wanted to show respect to the feudal lord who defended this land, prepared for battle, injury, and sometimes even death.
Unfortunately, however, this ledger had a crucial flaw that made even the naive Lily give up her loyalty.
For her, who has memories of her other life, the fatal and unbelievable flaw that can never be ignored is…
“It’s still not double-entry bookkeeping…”
Lilian groaned and her teeth itched.
The flower of modern accounting, double-entry bookkeeping!
Compared to single-entry bookkeeping, which simply lists income and expenses, double-entry bookkeeping gave a clear picture of the overall financial situation.
It was also remarkably easier to verify errors in the ledger.
Depending on the following, the contents that need to be confirmed in a mountain of reports can be summarized in a single document.
That means.
Cedric was basically a competent family head. Besides, he used to get six hours of sleep on average, much to Lily’s annoyance.
However, when the busy farming season was over and the preparations for the Grand Reconciliation overlapped at the time of taxation, the heavy workload would overwhelm even the talented household head.
Lilian would really want to cry when she thought of her brother trying to get the big picture after receiving such a poor report at the busiest time of the year.
To explain the horrors of the situation with an analogy, it was like Cedric and all the officials in Turin stayed up all night trying to understand that 1+1+1 equals 3.
She couldn’t stand seeing it any longer.
Looking through dozens of reports she’d stolen, Lilian put her glasses back on the bridge of her nose.
The blue eyes shining through the intermittent smoke seemed almost as cold as Cedric’s.
***
A few days after that.
“Lilian Islar.”
Cedric rubbed his tired forehead and called Lilian’s full name.
In his hand was a document written by Lily.
But Lilian was calm.
‘There are no eternal secrets in the world.’
In addition, that document was written on the premise of a report in the first place.
Cedric sighed as he looked at his younger sister’s smiling face without panic.
“Did you really have to do this?”
“Yes.”
Lilian calmly affirmed.
She had no regrets.
‘I couldn’t help but do that.’
If Lily was Cedric’s only sister, he was also Lilian’s only brother.
If Cedric couldn’t stand to see a single stone thrown under Lily’s feet, then Lily couldn’t bear to see her blood brother being abused.
‘But defiance is defiance…’
Even if she’s his younger sister, it wasn’t something to pass over. Lilian lowered her eyes meekly.
“I dare to ask for the crime of defying the Patriarch. As it was originally, I shouldn’t have seen it, but since I secretly stole the forbidden ledger, I will accept the punishment for it.”
“Wait, Lily.”
Cedric was stunned.
‘Ask for punishment?’
How can she say such a scary thing?
To be honest, Cedric had no confidence to be angry with Lilian for her defiance.
What’s more, she did this because she was thinking of him.
“To punish you for acting for me?”
“But it’s still defiance.”
Lilian shrugged her shoulders embarrassingly.
“You have to discipline me, older brother.”
From the time she initially decided to rebel and steal the documents, Lilian was counting on being punished as an example.
To be honest, it could be said that that was Lilian’splan.
The loyalty of the people belonging to Turin and Islar is beyond question.
However, at times when he’s not dignified, Cedric’s outrageous side and anecdotes regarding her went through the mouths of his subordinates.
Overall, it wasn’t much of a concern. However, the problem was that when the atmosphere overheated, somewhat embarrassing stories would come out.
Among them was an unsubstantiated story that Cedric was going to pass his seat on to Lilian’s child. Once in a while, he needed to show that he too was hard on his dear sister.
‘It wouldn’t be strict with my older brother’s standards.’
At most, other than adding a surname to Lilian’s name, it was necessary to do something that would make him look cold to others.
But Cedric…
“No.”
Flatly refused.
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