Ni Wei stood frozen, her mouth slightly open, clearly not expecting His Blackstone to admit it so bluntly.
“Y-You… you admit it?”
“I told you, you’re right.”
His Blackstone walked around Ni Wei and sat down on the chair behind the desk.
“There really is no such thing as a free lunch in this world.”
Ni Wei clutched the hem of her maid uniform, her body instinctively tensing up.
‘I knew it!’
‘I knew it!’
‘This man definitely has ulterior motives!’
“I do have an ulterior motive.”
His Blackstone looked at her, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
“Why don’t you take a guess at what I want?”
“Hmph, you just want my sister to be grateful to you so she’ll keep working for you!”
Ni Wei lifted her chin, raising her voice as she spoke with righteous indignation.
“Let me tell you, my sister is—”
“Your sister?”
His Blackstone put on a contemplative expression.
“Oh, I never expected you to think that way.”
Ni Wei choked.
“N-No… then what?”
“What if I told you there’s another possibility?”
His Blackstone tapped the desk slowly.
“What possibility?”
“Between you and your sister, the one I’m more concerned about—”
He paused, deliberately drawing out the word.
“Is actually you.”
The moment the words fell, Ni Wei’s face turned bright red, and her breathing quickened.
“Me? Don’t be ridiculous!”
After a long pause, Ni Wei finally spoke.
“Then who else could it be?”
His Blackstone looked into her eyes and said seriously,
“Your sister is already very busy. I can’t have Florin do a maid’s work. If your body doesn’t recover soon, you’re not expecting me to do the rest of the chores, are you?
Since you’re living in my house, you can’t just eat and stay for free…”
“T-That’s it?”
“What else did you think?”
His Blackstone looked innocent.
“As for why I chose you two in the first place, you’ll have to ask your sister. She was the one who came to apply for the job back then. I never sought her out.”
“You!”
Ni Wei was left speechless.
‘This evil young master! Even worse than the rumors! Not in a bullying way, but in an infuriating way!’
“Don’t worry, I won’t give you too much work.”
His Blackstone waved his hand.
“After all, you’re still young…”
“Who’s young?! I’m only a few minutes younger than my sister!”
“Oh?”
His Blackstone looked her up and down.
“Sorry, I really couldn’t tell.”
“!”
Ni Wei subconsciously puffed out her chest, then quickly realized what she was doing.
‘Wait! Isn’t he leading me by the nose?!’
“Hmph! I see you’re just messing with me on purpose!”
Ni Wei spun around and strode quickly toward the door.
“I’m warning you, don’t you dare have any ideas about my sister. I’ll be watching you!”
“Welcome to the supervision.”
His Blackstone waved at her retreating back.
“Then can I have ideas about you?”
The door slammed shut with a bang.
In the hallway, Ni Wei walked quickly, her cheeks burning as if on fire.
‘It must be anger.’
‘Definitely anger.’
In the study, His Blackstone stared at the closed door and couldn’t help laughing.
Teasing a kid was really fun.
He shook his head and sat back down at the desk.
Just as he was about to continue reading, familiar glowing text suddenly appeared in his vision.
[Today’s Flash Report! (Abnormal Accounts in the Territory’s Stewards! Who Is Secretly Draining the Blackstone Family’s Coffers?) Want to know the details? Pay 300 gold coins to unlock.]
His Blackstone frowned.
300 gold coins?
Didn’t previous intel only cost 100?
But it seemed this involved the Blackstone family’s assets.
“Pay 300 gold coins.”
[Verification complete. Three stewards in the Blackstone territory have long been inflating expenses and embezzling taxes, cumulatively misappropriating over 20,000 gold coins. Detailed evidence and list of involved parties are as follows…]
The more His Blackstone read, the more alarmed he became.
20,000 gold coins!
His personal treasury didn’t even have that much left!
And this was just corruption at the steward level. If he dug deeper…
Just then, another line of text appeared.
[Friendly Reminder: Intelligence prices will be adjusted according to market fluctuations in the near future. The prices of some high-value intel may increase significantly. It is recommended that users plan their funds in advance.]
“…”
A price hike?
Intel can go up in price too?!
Are you even a reliable system?!?!!
Thinking of his dwindling treasury balance and seeing the system’s warning, His Blackstone felt darkness looming over his future.
He had thought his greatest enemy was Feng Aotian.
Now it seemed his greatest enemy was poverty!
The little allowance from his family alone couldn’t keep up with the increasingly expensive intel fees.
He had to find a way to make money.
His Blackstone rubbed his temples and looked at the list of corrupt stewards again.
Guess I’ll start here.
First, clean out the traitors and recover the stolen money.
Then find a way to increase income.
He stood up, walked to the door, and called down the hallway:
“Li Nuo Er!”
A few seconds later, a petite figure appeared before him without a sound.
Short silver hair, indifferent crimson eyes, an expressionless face.
Li Nuo Er was like a ghost, not even making footsteps.
“Young Master His Blackstone, your orders?”
“Come with me tomorrow. We’re going to the town.”
“Yes.”
Li Nuo Er blinked.
His Blackstone thought he caught a flicker of barely concealed excitement in her eyes.
“Ahem, one more thing,” he added.
“The reason I specifically called you is that we might run into some uncooperative people. You know what to do then, right?”
“Understood.”
Li Nuo Er’s tone remained flat, but His Blackstone felt she was standing a little straighter than before.
‘This girl, has she been cooped up in the mansion so long she’s starting to grow moss?’
“Alright, go get ready.”
“Yes, Young Master His Blackstone.”
Li Nuo Er gave a slight bow, then turned and left.
***
The next morning, His Blackstone changed into plain clothes and left the Duke’s Mansion with Li Nuo Er.
The territory town wasn’t too far from the mansion—about an hour by carriage.
Throughout the ride, Li Nuo Er stayed close to His Blackstone, constantly scanning their surroundings.
“Um… Li Nuo Er?”
The girl’s earnest manner made His Blackstone a bit nervous.
“You don’t need to be this alert. We’re still in our own territory, after all.”
“Young Master, the most dangerous places are often where we should be most alert.”
“Sigh, fine.”
His Blackstone gave up trying to convince her to relax.
The town wasn’t large, but since it was the center of the Blackstone territory, it had a decent number of shops and taverns.
His Blackstone headed straight for the steward’s office in town.
His target today was a steward named Molis.
He was the one on the system’s corruption list who had embezzled the largest amount.
At the office entrance, Molis was lounging with his legs crossed, drinking tea.
When he saw His Blackstone approach, his expression stiffened for a moment, but he quickly plastered on a smile.
“Oh, if it isn’t Young Master His Blackstone gracing us with your presence! Why didn’t you send word ahead? I would have come to welcome you properly!”