Her Graceful War Song

As luck would have it, on the day Rafael and Carissa were preparing for their visit to Northwatch Estate, Jessica had someone deliver the accounts. And it was none other than the shopkeeper himself, Eric, who brought them.

Since Helen was staying at Hell Monarch Estate, Eric made the trip personally. Had Helen been at the palace, Jessica would have handled the delivery. Gillian suspected that Eric's visit was also to recognize the people involved, so they could identify them if they came by in the future.

Helen eagerly opened the account book, only to find that the few sparse pages contained sales of only mundane items, with no expensive jewelry at all. The final summary showed a loss.

In one quarter, there was a loss of over ten thousand silver coins. Over ten thousand-this was even more than before.

Helen trembled with anger, and threw the account book to the floor.

"How could there be such a loss? You'd better give me an explanation!" she hollered.NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.

Eric knelt on the floor with a sorrowful expression, and said, "Lady Helen, you don't know how tough business is these days. We hoped to make some profit before the New Year, so we stockpiled a large quantity of goods. Little did we know that many of these goods were flawed and unsellable. While other shops are thriving, our shop is deserted, which is truly heart-wrenching."

He crawled forward, picked up the account book, and opened a page. "This loss was mitigated somewhat because you and Lady Jessica had previously injected some money. Otherwise, the loss would have been at least twenty thousand silver coins."

"Nonsense!" Helen slammed her hand on the table, her face turning pale with rage. "The Gilded Tower, deserted? Why did I see it full of customers when I passed by? And many of them were leaving with their hands full!"

Eric was startled. Had Helen visited The Gilded Tower? When did that happen? What day specifically?

He suddenly recalled that a day ago, a shop assistant had mentioned that a woman, who appeared to be from a high-ranking family, had come to buy the popular filigree gold bangles from The Gilded Tower. Could that have been yesterday?

Eric's eyes darted around as he decided to take a gamble.

"Lady Helen, you must be referring to yesterday. Recently, the only day we had good business was yesterday. We had accumulated too much stock, so Lady Jessica instructed us to sell it off, even at a loss, rather than have too much inventory on hand. If we didn't do that, we wouldn't be able to give you a good justification. We sold a lot yesterday, but it was all at a loss. We're still having a discount sale today. If you don't believe me, you can go and see for yourself."

His earnest tone moved Helen, and she began to believe him.

Observing from outside the door, Carissa realized that Helen had been deceived. She immediately stepped inside.

"Really? If so, why did your shop assistant say that you sold batch after batch of the filigree gold bangles, which were copied from The Golden Tower's design? You wouldn't be selling them at a loss, would you? Let me see if this transaction is recorded in your accounts."

With that, Carissa grabbed the account book from Eric. He instinctively tried to hide it, but she was quicker, and the account book was soon in her hands.

She flipped through the few pages with a cold smile.

"What a surprise! There isn't any record of this transaction. Not even the large gold bracelet my guild senior bought for me is listed here. So, what exactly does this account book record? Eric, embezzlement is a grave crime."

When Eric saw Carissa, he was instantly terrified.

It was the young lady who came to collect the large gold bangle the other day! She was the Hell Monarch's princess consort?!

"Guards, take the account book and this man to the Royal Citadel. Have my nephew's uncle, Lord Klein, thoroughly investigate to see how much money The Gilded Tower really defrauded from Lady Helen and Lady Jessica," Carissa said calmly.