I Was Reincarnated as a Marquis in Another World- Chapter 9

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Bobto
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As soon as the next morning arrived, I headed straight to the office where the Marquis was waiting.

“His Excellency Marquis Kreutel, Ciel von Kreutel has come in response to your summons.”

After a brief silence, the Marquis’ voice was heard from beyond the door.

“Come in.”

When I opened the door and entered, I saw the Marquis sitting at a wooden office desk and chair inside.

Fortunately, he did not greet me with an angry expression, so at the very least, it meant he did not suspect me.

I survived, at least now the death flag of being suspected by King Injo like Prince Sohyeon of the Joseon Dynasty has been broken.

“Well, since it seems the conversation will be quite long, sit over here.”

“Yes, Father.”

Following those words, I sat upright like an interviewee in the chair the Marquis pointed to.

Then, the Marquis made a serious expression and spoke in an earnest voice.

“So, according to the words of the messenger sent from the village…

I heard that Bailiff Mars disobeyed my orders and dared to embezzle an enormous amount of money from the peasants under the pretext of death taxes, watermill usage fees, and farming tool rental fees.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“And he even sold peasant woman who couldn’t pay the death tax to mercenaries as prostitutes, and sold children to slave traders or worked them to death.

I heard that he tried to take the girl you brought, Ella, as a concubine and offered her to you to appease you.”

“That’s correct. It was truly an infuriating act.

Ella’s younger brother Zack…”

As I continued speaking, the Marquis raised his hand to stop me and resumed the conversation.

“My story is not over yet, Ciel von Kreutel.

I have never taught you to arbitrarily interrupt my words.”

“I apologize.”

When I bowed my head to express my apology, he withdrew his previous anger and continued speaking in an icy cold voice.

“If you understood the situation, you should have reported to me and executed him through a proper trial.

However, Ciel von Kreutel.

Killing the territory’s officials without reporting, no matter how justified the purpose, is difficult to tolerate.

Likewise, I cannot understand returning the property he embezzled to the peasants.

Because I have never given you the authority to do so.

However, I will give you a chance to explain yourself.”

At this point in the conversation, I could vaguely sense it.

The Marquis definitely did not suspect me.

If he had suspected me, he would not have summoned me like this one-on-one and given me a chance to explain myself.

And he wouldn’t even give me this admonishment.

He could have openly scolded me in front of other nobles and simply imposed a nominal house arrest to bring me down or weaken my base.

No, rather, it’s because he cherishes me that he is listening to my explanation even though I committed such an overreach of authority.

“First, the bailiff made you break your unique authority as the lord to determine tax collection and the duty to protect the peasants.

Especially the fact that he sold peasant girls using non-existent taxes, and furthermore, offering Ella to me as a plaything to bribe me is an outright trampling of your honor, Father.”

Hearing those words, the Marquis nodded his head in agreement.

“Therefore, to restore your honor, it was naturally necessary to return everything to its original state.”

“What you said is correct.

I only gave the bailiff the right to collect additional taxes on crops, marriage taxes, and occasionally more taxes from peasants if there was a war.

Arbitrarily exercising authority beyond that and selling peasants into slavery is akin to making them break my duty to protect them.”

“Yes. That’s right.”

Hearing those words, the Marquis now slightly relaxed his expression and spoke in a somewhat more comfortable voice.

“Yes, this act was a just punishment as a proper noble, as you said.

Although I don’t like that you exercised the ‘right of life and death’ on an official, which was not permitted to you.

But you have not yet explained why you arbitrarily distributed the bailiff’s property and why you did not report the bailiff’s disposal to me in advance.”

“Yes, that’s why I tried to report the bailiff’s misdeeds and punish him as much as possible.

However, the reason I punished the bailiff was because of letting Ella into my room.

Ella was not a prostitute, nor a slave, but a proper peasant of this territory.

But please think about what it means to offer Ella as a plaything to me, the successor of the lord of this territory.”

As I said, peasants may be slaves, beggars, or poor people, but in this world, peasants are legally all “owned by the lord of that territory.”

Therefore, even noble knights do not arbitrarily kill peasants even if they have a decent pretext, and they punish them through the cumbersome process of trial.

Otherwise, it would be seen as a mere vassal daring to challenge the authority of the lord, and they could be beheaded for treason.

But the way the deceased bailiff did it, creating debts for absurd reasons and making me take the girl he exploited?

This is a clear act of treason against the lord, and at the point of suggesting such an act, the bailiff became a piece of trash who tried to taint my loyalty to you as a noble, Father.

Therefore, what I did becomes a perfect excuse that I had no choice but to kill the bailiff to show my loyalty to the Marquis.

Whether my words got through to him or not, the Marquis, who had been pondering for quite a long time after hearing my words, eventually relaxed his expression and treated me with a less guarded attitude, even if not with the usual smiling face.

I’m glad my excuse worked, even though I calculated and planned this to turn out this way, if that person had been crazy, no excuse would have worked and I could have gone straight to the afterlife or been purged.

“I see. As expected of my son. Well done.”

There was no longer any hint of reproach towards me in the Marquis’ voice as he said this.

“Thank you, Father.”

“However, it was somewhat rash.

If I had not trusted you, I would have been enraged that you arbitrarily distributed the property.

And I would have suspected you.”

Only then did I remember.

Yes, even the groups called righteous thieves like Hong Gil-dong, now that I think about it, stole several thousand seok of rice or various treasures from the storehouses of “rich people,” “landlords,” and “yangban,” and then distributed them all.

Among the reasons for distributing them, there was the purpose of returning the property extorted from poor people to the original owners, but the biggest reason was… to gain the hearts of the people so that they could continue such righteous thief activities in the future.

And those righteous thief activities were essentially a rebellion against the king.

In other words, my actions, while finding and returning the property of wronged peasants as the successor of this territory, could conversely be seen as an attempt by me to buy the hearts of these peasants and attempt a rebellion.

Of course, it would be unfair to be misunderstood like this, but in reality, there are countless cases of people gradually building up the hearts of the people in this way and starting a rebellion.

Damn it, I was too rash.

Seeing my face crumple, the Marquis said with a laugh,

“You only realize it now? Hahaha.

It’s not easy to conduct yourself in the territory, is it?

That’s why I told you to go to the academy to learn these things.

Various nobles form factions there, and small-scale politics take place.”

“Hahaha, I see.”

I laughed hard earlier, but cold sweat was running down my back.

Because I was acting like the generals or nobles I considered most foolish when studying history, who lost their heads due to “excessive loyalty.”

And I was in danger of being suspected by my father and possibly dying because of acting that way.

Looking at me like that, my father laughed loudly for a while, then looked into my eyes and said,

“Well, anyway, you did well.

To be honest, from the moment you said you were going to inspect the countryside of the territory, I was going to give up on sending you to the academy if your will was that firm.

If a man has set his will and it’s right, well… nobles like us in the countryside don’t need to go to the academy anyway.”

Hearing those words, my heart suddenly swelled.

The person in front of me right now is not my biological father, but still, I haven’t met a “father” who believes in me and supports me to this extent for over 10 years.

So the paternal love of the Marquis in front of my eyes was even more impressive.

“Father…”

“Alright. Then, as you suggested, I will not send you to the academy. You may return now.

However, regarding this matter, I will hold a separate trial to examine your mistakes and impose a nominal punishment.

After all, executing an official without reporting is wrong.”

Well, since the Marquis has already said, “Okay, you pass,” the punishment will probably be at the level of a slap on the wrist.

Even if a noble says, “Your Excellency the Marquis, isn’t this too lenient even for the successor?”

if I just explain it as it is, they will have nothing to say.

Rather, I’ll be lucky if I don’t get scolded in reverse.

“Yes, I will take my leave.”

***

A few days later, as my father said, I was put on trial in front of several knights.

When the trial began, some nobles thought about what would happen to me, and there were even those who tried to approach my half-siblings.

But the result ended with a slap on the wrist punishment, as Father had already hinted.

No, it was rather beneficial.

Because it ended with 14 days of house arrest, I’ll use this excuse to sleep in as much as I want, make plans, and have fun.

Ah, of course, I also have to make plans using the data obtained from this inspection.

All the problems were solved really well.

And I considered entrusting Ella to an orphanage, but the Marquis ordered me to take responsibility for her, so Ella became a “dedicated maid” in name.

When the Marquis entrusted Ella to me, he said,
“Even if you entrust her to an orphanage, this child will just end up as some noble’s concubine.

This is still the better life she can live because she is truly pretty.

Most orphan girls end up becoming prostitutes in brothels.”

So when I heard those words and looked into orphanages, it was just as he said.

Because in a world like the Middle Ages, orphanages are places that gather and protect orphans, but the facilities are truly poor.

Children who enter orphanages do not do as hard work as adults, but they work for the same amount of time as adults.

They are only given a bowl of thin wheat or barley porridge and a piece of bread per day.

Moreover, after leaving the orphanage, there are no places to find employment, so they become the poor of the city, and in the case of girls, it is common for them to become prostitutes who sell their bodies.

Occasionally, pretty girls become maids or playthings of nobles.

If I entrusted a cute child like Ella to such a place… In the worst case, the head of the orphanage’s eyes could roll back and he could touch her.

And since I have decided to live in this world, no matter what, I cannot treat the child I saved like a dog or cat I met on the street.

It was a bit rash.

So in the end, I kept her under the pretext of being my dedicated maid.

And living like that, before I knew it, my house arrest was lifted, and an order from my father arrived for me.

[I grant the Windheim region managed by Bailiff Mars as a territory to Ciel von Kreutel.]

As soon as I received that order, I went to my father to express my gratitude and immediately set out for the village the bailiff had managed.

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