I Became the Villain’s Wife

Considering that the room had no dust on the bed, the maids must have been cleaning it daily since it was a room that the owner hadn’t used for a long time.

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Eun-woo sat next to him, then placed the booklet on her lap, and carefully unfolded the first page.

The unfolding of papers came with a rustling sound.
What greeted her eyes was his neat handwriting, in a small size.

Tashian explained to her step by step about the content of the booklet.

“The first page is the table of contents of the book.
The next chapter was about basic notation I wrote down, such as how to collect money and record them.”

Eun-woo gasped looking at the detailed diagrams and examples that were written neatly and in an easy-to-understand manner.
Tashian pointed with his finger one by one, explaining to her how to use the diagram properly.

“It’s preferable to keep a log of the agricultural products that were being sent to your territory.
They will put those products into the residence while you keep them in the warehouse.
Examples of those are, after you paid for livestock, there will come a few sheep and bulls.
A few shilling if cash like this will be returned by firewood from the forest under the jurisdiction of the monastery, a load of firewood for the lord’s cabin, a bottle of wine when grazing pigs in the forest of in the farmhouse, and pastures with sheep in the fields every three years…”

 

His detailed explanation left Eun-woo surprised.
How could he have told her so much in detail?

“Other than that, it will be your job to manage tenant farmers and to select managers who will set quotas for them.
He would be the one supervising and informing you whether blacksmiths have weapons such as knives and spears in time, carpenters have boards, vine supports, wooden wheels, etc., and whether serfs have woven fabrics according to their quotas.
It’s impossible for you to look around the vast territory one by one.“

Eun-woo felt that she could not keep her mouth shut when she looked at the tax collection records at the permanent residence.
Just the names of the residents in the territory written in the first chapter seemed to be more than the number of people she had known all her life.

She asked with a stunned look.

“Yo, you mean… all these people work in the duke’s estate?”

“Mostly, but not all.
The marquis will not be much different.
On the contrary, if you include the property brought by the former marquis, who was the one managing the Mansion, the actual number of workers under the control of the duke’s residence might be even greater.
The territory of the Marquis family itself is more extensive than that of the Duke family.”

Eun-woo felt the illusion that her shoulders were shrugging by his words.
It felt as if she had inherited the enormous inheritance of a distant relative, the eighth cousin of his in-laws who had never seen her before.

She coughed in front of him to hide the corners of her mouth rising naturally.

“We, well, Tashian, who is this Ragenold, whose name is repeatedly listed here?”

Replied Tashian immediately.

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“He is in charge of the eastern part of the duke’s estate.”

He then added bitterly.

“He has a dirty temper, but one thing is certain, so I kept him by my side until now.
But that is only until this year.”

Tashian frowned as he remembered what Ragenold had done last year and it made him angry.
He advised her to be careful too.

“You better be careful.
The caretakers will climb to the top of being the head of the family and give you orders, even if you give them a little favor.
When I went to the temple one day, I saw the people of the Temple paying bribes to please interest.
It’s kind of corrupt, but I had to close my eyes because I couldn’t find the right person to do this job other than Ragenold.”

He chewed his lips and murmured.

“That darned bastard… He encouraged the residents of the temple to pay bribes with small amounts of cash or small items that weren’t even listed on the ledger without being noticed by me.
This time I had no choice but to let it go, but I’ll kick him out barefoot when the other manager Johannes training is ready.”

His brutal words surprised Eun-woo.

It happened because it was unfamiliar for her to see a man who looked like the final boss of the black screen grinding his teeth saying he was going to get rid of corruption.

Looking at Eun-woo, Tashian continued to speak enthusiastically.

“It’s better for such managers to root out weeds as soon as possible.
If you leave it as it is even if you are good at your work, the entire territory will be stained with dirty habits.
Only innocent serfs and their young children are being affected.”

He rubbed his temples and opened his mouth as if in trouble.

“The list of things to be devoted to the owner is piling up day by day, but there is not enough time to fill it up.
Today, the rabbits might pull down those young grains and ruin the grain farming, and the next day, the fence near the forest breaks down in a storm.
The barn has a hole in the roof on a fictional day.
There are many farming tools that need to be plowed, pickaxed, and repaired, but in the meantime, you are thinking about how to pay the bribe to the manager? I guarantee you that if this situation continues, the children of the territory will not be able to eat a bowl of barley porridge a day.“

Eun-Woo didn’t know what to say, so she was stunned, with her mouth open.

“Tashian… you speak as if you had lived as a serf.”

Tashian’s hand, which had been rubbing his temples at last, stopped.

His bewildered, enlarged eyes were fixed on her.
But he could not look her in the eye for a long time and immediately lowered his head.
He bowed his head and said coldly.

“I, I just… I just hope that the children don’t starve.“

He answered coldly, slowly interlocking his fingers, and looking somewhere with a brooding look on his face.
He added, staring casually at the floor.

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“… At least I could help those young lads to eat porridge without having to work.”

Eun-woo stared at him saying the word.
Staring blankly into the air, he was calm and determined as if he was looking down at the vast land beyond his territory, not this room.

Eun-woo looked sadly at his side profile, which seemed to stand up and somehow showed weakness that he wanted to embrace.

“Of course, I can’t just give you the duty of head as it is.
If you are a man of my land, you must be able to do your role in your place.”

Out of his mind, he insisted firmly.
Eun-woo listened to him and blinked like a person who woke up from a dream.

“Tha, that’s true.“

Eun-woo clenched her hands as if some invisible force had sprung out of her.
She shouted louder than she had intended.

“Tashian, let’s cheer up together…!“

Tashian, cheered by Eun-woo, blinked his eyes as she did earlier, and soon sympathized with his cough.

“Oh… Well, yeah, cheer up.”

Eun-woo did not notice that his cheeks were slightly red as he replied excitedly.
She turned over to the next page and began to ask him a lot of questions.

“Tashian, how do you pronounce this region? Hilgert? Hilgegart?”

Tashian, who was staring at her, explained it in a low voice.

“Hildegard is an area where high-quality wool is produced intensively.
Not only wool but also the textile industry that weaves textiles is very developed.
It would be of great help to visit at least once.“

Eun-woo eagerly listened to his explanation and he continued on with Eun-woo’s nodding face.
There was a faint smile hanging from his mouth as he watched her.

“You’ll make a fine head of the family.”

Eun-woo looked into his booklet and immediately raised her head to the words he brought up.
She smiled shyly in confusion.

“Me? I’m not even a good student, when I can’t even read the words properly…”

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Tashian’s eyes glistened firmly when he heard her.
He encouraged her and affirmed.

“If you read the history of Hellasium, you’ll see.
Have you ever heard of the Count of Shueta?”

Eun-woo shook her head.
And at that moment, he opened his mouth.

“Shueta is one of Hellasium’s most prestigious families.
It is said that women have served as family heads for generations.
When Hellasium was engaged in a fierce battle with Mozantier, the Shueta family also led the men into the war by the husband of Countess Schieta, the head of the family.
There were only women left in the castle, including the head.
Then her castle was besieged by enemy air strikes.
The count endured the constant attack of the enemy, and with the strength of only women and young children, she survived for three years and six months.“

Eun-woo opened her mouth wide to the anecdote of Countess Shueta he told her.

“Three and a half years? That’s amazing.….”

“Of course, if we had opened the gates and fought an approach, we would have been defeated.
But fortunately, the territory ruled by Countess Shueta had abundant water and resources inside the gates, and the system, which the family had been self-sufficient for a long time, was of great help in sustaining it.”

His eyes glowed clearly but warmly at Eun-woo.

“The most important factor, of course, was Countess Shueta, who led the family bravely and unitedly.”

Eun-woo blushed at his serious face looking at her.
Because she knew what he was thinking.
She waved her hand to deny his idea.

“I’m not as determined and brave as you are.
Perhaps within a few days I would give up and cry for surrender.”

But Tashian did not back down and immediately refuted her.

“What are you talking about? It’s not right for you to give up.”

He then said, as covered her small hands, which were placed on the book, gently.

“See, you’re trying so hard to make up for what your brother has done.”

His eyes overlooking her were as tender as ever.
Eun-woo could feel her warm heart trying to cheer her up by touching her hands.
Her chest began to flutter like the wings of a little bird.

“… Then, Tashian is very good, too.
Where did you hear about Count Shueta?“

Eun-woo changed her words because she wanted to praise him for his knowledge of history.
But his answer was short and concise.

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“You’ll understand as time goes by.
These are the knowledge that the aristocrats learn by themselves as they acquire the various cultures they learn.”

His voice sounded somewhat cynical.
Eun-woo gasped at his words.

The anxiety that had been raging for a long time wrapped her.
Eun-woo was not from here.
The simple common sense that anyone born and raised here naturally knew, are all unfamiliar to her.

She asked him in a bright voice that she tried to conceal her anxiety.

“But I was worried about being unbefitting to this position.
I’m afraid I’ll have a tutor.”

Even if she couldn’t completely melt into this world, she thought that she might be able to imitate Eleanor.
But his reaction was unexpected.

Tashian, who heard her, suddenly shouted loudly.

 

“What? No!”

“Pardon…?”

His violent response was the first time for Eun-woo to experience it.
She looked at his expression with surprise.

He coughed quickly and opened his mouth.

“No, hmmm.
It’s not impossible, but…… What do you want to learn? History? Foreign language? Is it, instruments?”

“It’s just, this and that… Things going on in the world….”

Eun-woo answered his persistent question equivocally.
Then Tashian spoke quickly.

“Politics? If it’s politics, I can take time to teach you.
I don’t want to say this myself, but I’m probably better than most scholars.“

Eun-woo opened her eyes wide at his serious look as she looked straight at him.
He snapped at her with a stern look that he had never seen before.

“But you can’t have a tutor.
I’d rather have you learn it from me, I can’t recommend you a tutor.”