For the next five hours, Evelina completely buried herself in work.

She pulled dusty, leather-bound volumes from the bottom shelves, records that predated her arrival in the North.

During that period, she ignored the lunch tray the Marta brought in, and she certainly ignored the distant sound of Ace’s horse galloping toward the training grounds.

In fact, Evelina had something that was badgering her mind for quite a while now. She was looking for a leak. The North was prosperous, yet the personal liquid assets of the Duke seemed strangely stagnant for a man of his rank.

"System, run a cross-reference on all outgoing transfers over the last ten years," she commanded, her eyes scanning the columns of numbers.

[Processing...]

[Analysis Complete: A recurring transfer of 1,000 Gold pieces occurs monthly under the label ’Northern Security Stipend’.]

Evelina paused. A thousand gold a month? That was enough to feed a small town. She traced the recipient’s account, her blood beginning to run cold as the System decoded the encrypted destination.

[Recipient: The Royal Bank of the Capital, Account Holder: Baron Snow.]

The ledger fell from her hands, hitting the desk with a heavy thud.

The man who had sold her like a piece of livestock to settle his gambling debt was actually receiving such an enormous amount from the Alvarez Estate?

Ace had been funding him all this while.

For years, it was the Duke of Alvarez had been secretly keeping the House of Snow afloat.

"System," Evelina’s voice was dangerously low, "Analyze the Snow family’s Southern Mine reports. I want to see exactly what this gold is supposedly funding."

[Initiating System Analysis: Scanning Imperial Mining Records...]

[Result: The Southern Mines reached total depletion 8.5 years ago. Current operations are a front. The shafts are dry. Current maintenance costs are being redirected to high-stakes gambling houses in the Capital and luxury imports.]

Evelina nearly laughed in anger. Her father wasn’t just a parasite, he was a fraudulent one at that. He had been playing on Ace’s sense of duty, pretending to maintain a family legacy while he squandered the North’s wealth on mistresses and gambles.

She remembered the Baron’s smug smile when he declared,"You’ve put so much effort into dragging your own bloodline into the mud... But you might not have realized that destroying the House of Snow is an impossible task."

No wonder he thought he was untouchable. He had a secret benefactor after all.

"Impossible, is it?" Evelina picked up her fountain pen and moved it without hesitation.

She didn’t even ask for Ace’s permission. According to the marriage contract she had so carefully renegotiated, she had full authority over the estate’s domestic and charitable expenditures.

She drafted a formal notice of cessation. With an elegant flick of her wrist, she signed her name across the bottom.

[Notice: Monthly transfer to Baron Snow terminated. Reason: Fraudulent representation of assets.]

"System, send this to the Royal Bank via the fastest courier bird," she ordered, "And send a copy to Baron Snow’s estate. I want to personally deliver the news since he made the efforts to visit me the last time."

[Order Confirmed. Funding cut initiated.]

...

In the Capital, the sun was just beginning to set over the Snow estate. Baron Snow sat in his study, sipping a glass of brandy. He was admiring his new rings, thinking about which merchant he would ruin next.

A servant entered, trembling, holding a small scroll bearing the crest of the House of Alvarez.

The Baron snatched it, expecting the usual confirmation of his monthly stipend. In the past few months, everything else had stopped but this stipend from his son-in-law was a permanent thing.

’Having a daughter was a good thing, despite how ungrateful she turns out to be. If you make the right deal with her, you repeat the benefits,’ Baron Snow thought to himself.

As his eyes scanned the cold sentences sprawled on the scroll, the glass of brandy slipped from his hand, shattering against the marble floor.

...

Back in the North, Evelina leaned back in her chair, watching the sun dip below the horizon. She felt a dark satisfaction blooming in her heart.

[System Notification!]

[Warning: Host’s heart rate remains 15% above resting average]

[Detection: Adrenaline and vengeful satisfaction levels high. However, the ache in Host’s heart hasn’t cleared.]

Evelina stared at the screen, her cold smile faltering for only a second. She reached for a fresh piece of parchment and began to sketch a layout, ignoring the system. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

...

The heavy oak doors of the Northern Council Chamber swung open, but the atmosphere inside was far from celebratory.

Despite the receding drought, the room was thick with a new kind of tension.

Evelina sat at the head of the long table, her expression as unyielding as the frozen peaks of the North.

Spread before her were several deeds of purchase, all bearing the official seal of the land registry. She had moved with a speed that left the estate’s accountants breathless, utilizing her 12,450 Gold to acquire thousands of acres of worthless land.

Initially, she wanted this purchase to be a secret.

But she needed some manpower to proceed with it, which is how the word of it had spread.

"Your Grace, I must beg you to reconsider," The eldest of Ace’s financial advisors said as he leaned forward. His voice carried that particular tone of strained patience one used with a difficult child, "These fields are bog-standard wetlands. They are unfit for grain, too soft for grazing, and the soil is far too acidic for anything of value. You are throwing away a fortune on mud."

"I am not asking for a reconsideration," Evelina replied calmly, "I am informing you of the acquisition. The deeds are already signed and the gold has been transferred."

A murmur of disbelief rippled through the room.

These men, who had spent their lives guarding the Duke’s coffers, looked at her as if she had suddenly lost her mind.