The butler, the head maid, and the head chef stood at a respectful distance from the sofa as Miller arrived in the drawing room.
“Ah, Miller, you’re here. Come, sit,” Francesca said, patting the velvet cushion opposite her. Miller nodded and took a seat, his presence immediately grounding the room.
“Now then,” Francesca began, spreading several documents across the low table. “Tell me, how were the household accounts audited during Miss Maria’s time?”
“The household ledgers were supposed to be reviewed by auditors sent by the vassals in a rotation,” Miller replied, his brow furrowing as he recalled the procedure. “It was designed so that no one would know who was arriving for the quarterly audit.” He picked up one of the documents Francesca had highlighted, and his eyes widened. “This... this can’t be.”
“Yes. It seems Miss Maria was only ever audited by the three specific vassals she was conspiring with,” Francesca said, pointing to the signatures on the review sheets. Miller’s own signature was at the bottom of the stack, authorizing the reports. “You were drowning in documents while trying to fix the Viscounty’s failing economy. You couldn't focus on the household affairs, so she took full advantage of your distraction.”
“But that shouldn't have been possible,” Miller questioned, his voice low. “The auditors were selected through a lottery to ensure randomness.”
He fell silent for a long minute, staring at the names of the vassals who had supposedly been 'randomly' chosen for years. Then, he looked into Francesca’s eyes. “I understand now.”
Francesca offered a small, knowing smile. Good, he gets it. The only way Maria had pulled this off was because the entire council of vassals; even those who weren't directly involved in the kidnapping had been looking the other way. They had allowed the 'lottery' to be rigged just to keep the status quo.
“Now, let’s look at the employees of the Ironwood House,” Francesca continued. She took a thick stack of contracts and staff lists from Stella’s hands and fanned them out on the table. Finally, she placed several charts she had drawn herself on top.
“These are called Statistics,” she explained. “It’s a more efficient way to represent large amounts of data this way. I’ll teach you how to read them properly later, but for now, just look at these trends.”
Miller nodded, leaning in to study the clean lines and bars she had drawn.
“The way the servants and maids are employed is a complete mess,” Francesca began, lifting a finger to emphasize her point. “Miss Maria calls it the Two-Tier Payment Problem.”
She tapped the charts as Miller finished reading her notes. “First, we have the low ranking laborers… the kitchen workers, laundry staff, stable hands, and groundskeepers. Their work is physically visible and easy to verify, so it was tracked meticulously. These people are paid weekly, yet there is a massive turnover rate. They quit constantly. I'll explain why in a moment.”
She moved her finger to the second chart. “Then, we have the monthly salaried staff, the leader maids, butler leads, personal attendants, clerks, and storehouse managers. These are the positions where Miss Maria needed loyalty, not labor. By paying them a fixed monthly sum regardless of their actual hours, she rewarded her favorites with effectively paid time off. It kept them financially dependent on her goodwill.”
Miller let out a heavy sigh of realization. “And the monthly salaried positions are the ones with access to resources. A storehouse manager who only shows up three days a week and is never questioned is the perfect person to help her embezzle goods.”
Francesca nodded. “Exactly. She was buying their silence.”
She took a slow sip of water, allowing the weight of her words to settle before continuing. “Since the monthly salaried staff is guaranteed a paycheck and holds long-term contracts, they’ve become lazy. They’ve shifted almost the entire workload onto the weekly staff.”
She handed Miller another graph, this one jagged with red lines. “As I mentioned, the weekly staff quit constantly. They have no fixed hours. They are worked like pack mules by the monthly supervisors, exhausted until the burden becomes so unbearable that they simply walk away.”
A heavy silence lingered in the room. Francesca tapped the table with her fingers, snapping everyone’s focus back to her. “This results in the Castle constantly being forced to hire new workers, negotiate new rates, and waste time on training periods.”
“And even after all that training, they quit again,” Miller noted, nodding as the picture became clear. “It’s a massive money pit. We’re paying for a constant cycle of recruitment because the working environment is toxic.”
Francesca sighed, her expression shifting to one of annoyance. “Worse still, individual servants have vague, undefined duties rather than clear boundaries. No one knows exactly what their job is, which kills the Castle’s efficiency.” She tapped her cane against the floor. “Miss Maria had experience running the Zeta Mercenary Company and that small mansion you lived in back in the capital before getting your title, but...”
“She is running a noble household as if it’s a mercenary camp,” Miller finished for her, his voice tight.
“Precisely,” Francesca agreed. “She had access to the ladies of other vassal houses and the council’s advisors, yet her pride wouldn't allow her to seek guidance. She ran things in the way she found least troublesome for herself, regardless of the cost to the Ironwood name.”
“So...” Miller leaned forward, his red eyes reflecting a mix of curiosity and respect. “What do you plan on doing, Francesca?”
The head maid and butler looked at her with nervous anticipation, their hands clasped tightly. They were expecting a lecture and maybe on the spot firing from their jobs.
Francesca smiled, a bright, predatory look that belonged to a woman who had survived the corporate jungles of her past life even while sick.
“Of course, we are going to overhaul how this household functions,” she declared. She slammed a fresh set of documents onto the table, the ink still fresh. “We shall begin with Hourly Pay Standardization and the implementation of an Eight-Hour, Five-Day Work Week!”