Inheriting a Lost Bloodline, My First Task is to have heirs?!

Chapter 701 - Visiting the in-laws: Shareen Territory (Part 1)

The next day, I discreetly made my way to Shareen territory at the crack of dawn. The only one who knew about my departure was the woman who was working at the reception desk of the inn that I stayed in for the last five days and maybe, the eyes of the people from Quest who seem to never sleep in their search for any information they can get their hands on.But who cares if I was seen? I certainly don’t.

Once I reach the new territory, I will sport a new face, name and identity. No one can find me in this world if I do not want to be found. These people will find out about that fact soon enough.

As I arrived at Shareen, I first made my way to the duke residence as this is not only an academe immersion but an official visit as a representative of the capital, an identity I received from my in-laws to make it easy for me to make a move. I made my official visit, had some tea and snack as well as other perfunctory nobility things that needed to be done to be considered polite.

The duke’s family offered to house me during my stay but using the reason of a possible issue with conflict of interest, I gracefully declined their offer. The duke may look gentle and gracious on the outside but I already noticed that he was too nice which means he may have an inkling of my real connection to the capital.

Once I have left the duke residence, I made way to the main government office which is where the official auditing of territories are usually made. My in-laws have already arranged for a small team of three people to assist me during my stay: an insider within the office which will act as my official assistant, a butler who doubles as a carriage driver and a personal attendant and a guard who stays in the shadows for my safety.

Not surprisingly, the assistant and the butler are both men in their 50s while the guard in his 30s. All of them are married which is most likely through my husbands’ arrangements, not that it mattered to me if they were making sure no men approached me.

I decided to only go to the office for work purposes alone but stay out when outside work hours. I also plan to only come to the office thrice a week but the catch is I do not tell anyone which days I would report to work. It would make things incredibly fun. As for the other days I was not at the office, I used it for personal affairs like snooping around for information.

On my first week in Shareen, I did work faithfully and came to the office everyday of the week. I audited every single noble household using the checklist provided in the official documents and with the guidance of my assistant. I also investigated on my own, not just relying on reports sent by the households and the staff. I also passed sanctions, penalties and even fired those that were found guilty of crimes regardless of the rank or household they belonged to.

Once the results of the investigation and the appropriate sanctions have been passed down, I disappeared from the main city and went to the countdom of Drusilla with a different identity as a student on immersion just looking around. Once in the territory, I started the first steps on my plan.

As I left the main city, I have already left clues about the countdom of Drusilla’s shady dealings for others (particularly the duke) to discover in the near future. The duke as expected, following my footsteps of being a fair and just official, made a move to punish them to show the royal family that he is worthy to stay in his position. Borrowing this knife surely has its own benefits.

As for the shady dealings, it is in the form of embezzlemen of the countdom taxes and budget to fund the lavish lifestyle of the Drusilla family members specifically the younger sister of the current countess, her parents and other older relatives. I also procured evidence that the countess tried to get rid of to hide the promiscuous nature of her sister which included cases of molesting males from common families, servants and even forcing those who work in the entertainment district when they clearly said no. I even discovered that those that said no or fought back were silenced permanently or were disfigured then exiled. I looked for all these men and interviewed them one by one then took care of their safety since they are important witnesses.

As for the evidence that I found regarding the countess’ own brothers-in-law siphoning money back to their own families, I cleaned all their tracks. I would just take it as compensation to their troubles of having to put up with such a waste of space of a wife. Most of them were also forced by the countdom into marrying in so a little financial assistance is not so bad.

As to the lost money, since the countess and her sister would surely not be able to trace it back and explain where it went, they just have to choose between returning it from their own pockets or rot in prison. They also have to cough out even more money to pay for damages for the bereaved families and medical expenses for him those they disfigured. This sudden need of money would surely make them desperate and that is where me and my little minions would come in to swipe to buy out their land and other valuables that they are selling in a hurry.

I also paid off the loan sharks who owned the gambling dens where the countess’ sister and one of her brothers-in-law liked to frequent. In exchange for that payment, I asked them to threaten the two nobles to pay their loans earlier than it should. I do not care how they do it but they accepted the money readily. They must have thought that it was a win-win for them since they get to be paid earlier and earn payment for following my orders.

During my investigation, I have also found out that after my mother-in-law sold off and sent Helios to the capital, my father-in law immediately left her and went back to his family. My mother-in-law did not care one bit or even showed remorse about what she has done. She even shamelessly married three more men into her family one after the other. She received the money and successfully gained a higher rank which is what she asked for in exchange for his son. She felt that sacrificing one husband and a son was well worth it all.

The three men she suddenly married each had their uses. One was connected to the guards, another connected to the merchant union and the last one, she bought off from a fighting arena. The first two has obvious uses while the last one, she enjoyed using to clean up her family’s mess and to destroy evidence of crime.

Afterwards, she then married a few more men from rich and influential families to bear children for her. She refused to touch the first three men since they were commoners and they clearly did not want to have anything to do with her. She simply forced them to marry in because she found them useful. As for the next ones, they were also forced to marry in but she took them in specifically to bear children so it did not matter if they were willing or not.

Technically, she was just like her younger sister as all her husbands were also married in not of their own free will. Because of the circumstances on how they joined the Drusilla family, it was so easy to get them on to my side with just a few conditions and the right amount of money. They were willing to do all of my instructions as soon as I promised them a way to freedom and benefits for their own respective families. With their assistance, it was easier for me to manipulate things in the background within the Drusilla houseold.

Lastly, I made sure to leak about the duke’s upcoming plan to launch a cleanup on all corrupt and lazy officials soon. My goal is to create panic. The more panic they felt, the more they would likely have slip ups while trying to hide the evidence of their illegal dealings and connections. Who knows how much more shady deals and personal connections they have had in the past that are for the duke to discover on my behalf.

Once I have completed the first half of the plan, the gears on the rest of the plan started to turn quite quickly without me doing anything much. I left the area of the countdom of Drusilla just at the same time that the duke found out about all the evidence I have left on purpose for him to work on.

I am now on my way to my father-in-law’s family, the barony of Tilden. I must say that this was way more important than anything else I came for here in Shareen.