Chapter 215: I’ll Do It for Free

In the study, Leon sat behind the desk with the bearing of the master of the house. Across the desk, Father Auden stood with his hands behind his back while Adele stood holding a stack of documents, one on either side, as though they were waiting to report their work to Leon, yet also like two advocates preparing to debate in court, with Leon as the judge.

Father Auden glanced at Adele, who stood with her head held high and chest out, looking as though she were a soldier marching off to battle, and faintly sensed that something was amiss.

He had clashed head-on with Adele several times before. Experience told him that every time Adele assumed this posture, he would have to expend considerable effort engaging in a war of words with her.

“Adele, Father Auden told me that you used your status as Viscountess to investigate some of the procedures he handled in Caster City?” Leon first confirmed with Adele.

“Yes, I actually also looked into the assets you purchased within the territory and the approval documents.” Adele admitted it without hesitation.

“Miss Adele, do you really think doing these things will have no consequences? Right now, I only hope that you haven’t done any other unnecessary and foolish things.” Father Auden suddenly spoke.

If Adele had investigated these things with the intention of harming Leon, or had even done something foolish such as establishing contact with some Church figure investigating Leon, then the consequences would probably be more than she could bear.

“How could looking into these things cause you any trouble? Could it be that Father Auden lacks confidence in his own work?” Adele asked in return.

“Don’t change the subject. The point isn’t the impact your actions had on us, but the fact that you did this in the first place, your motive! Surely you didn’t investigate all this simply because you had nothing better to do?” Father Auden continued questioning her.

“Can’t I simply be trying to help?” Adele said without changing her expression.

“Help?” Father Auden frowned.

“Yes.” Adele replied seriously.

Hearing her say this, Leon could not help raising an eyebrow and smiling, but Father Auden did not smile.

He sensed that Adele’s demeanor was somewhat different. From what he knew of Adele, she was not stupid enough to behave like this without reason. If she dared to speak this way, it meant she had come prepared.

“If you want to help, that’s very simple. Stay obediently in this estate, drink some tea, read some books, arrange some flowers. If you want to run that seafood business of yours and sell some fish, that’s fine too. As long as you don’t do anything unnecessary, that will be the greatest help you can give your husband. We’ll have peace of mind, and you’ll be able to safely live through each day.” Father Auden said.

“Stay in this estate drinking tea and reading books, then one day get arrested by the Church along with all of you without even knowing why? Actually, as long as someone knows the situation on this island, they can basically guess what you’re doing.” As Adele spoke, she looked toward Leon, “You’re using the Magical Beasts in that Labyrinth for the Magic Essence Trade, aren’t you?”

“And then?” Leon merely looked back at Adele with an ambiguous smile.

As long as one started from the premise that they were conducting illegal business on Arend Island, this was basically something anyone could deduce. He was not worried about what Adele could do merely by knowing this. He was simply curious about what exactly Adele intended by saying it aloud.

Seeing that Leon did not deny it, Father Auden did not bother saying anything useless to conceal it either and directly spoke in a sarcastic tone: “Oh, how clever, Miss Adele, but truly clever people wouldn’t announce that they’d figured this out.”

“I said I want to help. Naturally, at the very least, I need to know what you’re doing. You aren’t worried about me knowing either, are you?” Adele said calmly.

“I already told you that the best way you can help is by pretending to be deaf and mute. If you think you might be implicated, then that’s all the more reason to do so. Now that you’ve figured out what we’re doing, you’re already guilty of knowingly failing to report it.” Father Auden said somewhat impatiently.

“Reporting it would only make things worse for me. I’m afraid my husband is even more dangerous than the Church, not to mention that I’ve been under surveillance the entire time and never had any opportunity anyway.” Adele looked toward Leon as she said this, “I’ve already seen things clearly. Since I can’t change my circumstances, I might as well fight for slightly better treatment by……proving my value!”

Leon studied Adele with considerable interest. He had already realized that ever since returning from the ball that day, Adele had probably been considering this matter.

“What are you trying to do?” Father Auden’s brows furrowed even more tightly, and his vigilance increased.

“I saw that you were applying for a charitable fund under the name of Viscount Arend, and you also applied for several businesses on the island and signed contracts with the Watcher Merchant Consortium, all of which included large advance payments. Although I don’t know what you intend to do with that charitable fund, I think you’re planning to launder a large amount of cash as quickly as possible within this quarter. I estimate the amount should be around ten million, which you intend to inject into the charitable fund once the application is approved.” Adele slowly said, “And during this process, you’ve encountered a little trouble……”

“There’s no trouble!” Father Auden immediately interrupted Adele, then looked toward Leon as though clarifying matters to his boss, “The money is moving through the accounts extremely smoothly. As long as we obtain approval to establish the charitable association within the remaining month, we can settle this matter.”

“As far as I know, Father Auden, the previous application you handled was rejected, wasn’t it? Are you certain you can secure approval this time? I’d wager that this application won’t be approved either, because you don’t understand the intricacies of noble privileges.” Adele slowly said, “And if you only urgently need this ten million for this quarter, you actually don’t need to sign so many business contracts.

You only need to offer several parcels of land in the lord’s name under the pretext of attracting investment for commercial organizations to inspect, then collect a sum of money as a deposit, and afterward use the deposits and investment contracts to take out several more loans. Altogether, that should be about enough. The procedures would be simpler, there would be fewer notarization steps, and you wouldn’t need to handle physical business assets, making it even harder for anyone to uncover a problem.”

After listening, Leon looked toward Father Auden. He did not understand these channels particularly well, so he wanted to see Father Auden’s reaction to verify Adele’s claims.

Father Auden and Adele silently stared at each other for a while before he expressionlessly nodded:

“Alright, Miss Adele, using the lord’s efforts to attract investment as a pretext sounds like a decent suggestion, but whether it’s feasible still needs to be confirmed. As for the charitable association, you sound quite confident?”

“My grandfather once considered using a charitable fund to make donations to Caster City and Helenburg in exchange for certain privileges, but later the matter was shelved because of financial problems. However, I thoroughly studied the process and also know who should be approached for assistance in this area.

I’m guessing you’ve never handled this kind of matter before, Priest? Your biggest client in the past was Potter, the great merchant of Southport County, along with several Merchant Consortiums that cooperated with him. Other merchants and nobles also sought you out for defense services or notarizations, but no one ever hired you to make use of the privileges held by landed nobles. In this respect, unfortunately, Priest, I’m afraid you have even less experience than I do.”

Adele looked rather triumphant as she said this to Father Auden. Because of her father’s debts, she had suffered far too many losses at Father Auden’s hands. This was a rare occasion when she could gain the upper hand over the Priest.

“Fine, fine, impressive, Miss Adele.” Father Auden was not shaken by Adele’s words and instead continued probing, “Then tell me, if you were the one applying for this charitable fund, what would you do?”

“You want to get the method out of me for nothing and then do it yourself, don’t you?” Adele narrowed her eyes and asked in return.

“I’m your family’s financial and legal representative. This matter should have been handled by me in the first place. How could we trouble the Viscountess to personally handle it? Some menial work should simply be handed over to an experienced Church Attendant to serve you.” Father Auden spread his hands.

“Father Auden, your work must also be very busy. If there are some matters where I can ease my husband’s burden, perhaps there’s no need to trouble you with additional work.” Adele stared at Father Auden as she spoke.

“What a coincidence. I happen to have heard of many cases where wealthy men handed their account books over to their wives, only for everything to become a complete mess or even irreparable……” Father Auden said meaningfully.

“But it would be different if the Viscountess were also an expert in this field.” As though she had prepared for this in advance, Adele pulled a certificate from the documents she was holding and unfolded it for Father Auden and Leon to inspect, “When I graduated from the Noren Royal Academy of Law, I obtained the professional qualification issued by the Association of Financial Specialists.”

Leon took a look. He happened to know what this was. It was essentially equivalent to the accounting certification he was familiar with. Ordinary people did not need any special qualifications to handle commercial accounts, but if one wanted to serve nobles and merchants whose businesses had reached a certain scale, provide financial management services to a family or commercial organization, or hold a financial position such as Tax Official at a city hall, this kind of professional qualification was required——the same applied to Money Laundering for others.

“Oh, I have that too.” Father Auden replied.

“Mine is a chartered license issued by the Imperial Capital. It’s also valid throughout the Western Region, and I can directly handle most procedures with commercial organizations under government agencies. It also makes handling trade between overseas territories and colonies on the New Continent more convenient. Your professional qualification was issued by Southport County, wasn’t it, Priest? Is it even valid outside the Eastern Region?” Adele said.

“We don’t need to consider anything that far ahead for now. What we need to focus on instead is resolving the immediate problem. Time is tight, so rashly changing the person handling these connections would be inappropriate!” By the time the Priest said this, his expression had already become considerably less pleasant.

Adele truly had come prepared, and he had no choice but to take her seriously.

“When you have to search for other reasons to argue against this, it means you can no longer ignore the difference, doesn’t it?” Adele pressed her advantage, “I may not have as much experience as you in Money Laundering, but no one can surpass me when it comes to handling affairs within this territory. I’m more proficient with procedures and connections involving noble privileges! More importantly, choosing me also has an advantage in cost. How much do you charge for Money Laundering? Fifteen percent? Ten percent?”

Father Auden’s expression finally changed completely. He felt that this woman had truly aimed straight at his vital point this time.

He immediately turned toward Leon: “Considering the amounts we’ll be handling in the future, we can renegotiate the handling fee. But you need to understand that if even a single problem occurs in this kind of matter, the cost will be immeasurable. More importantly, the project we’re handling right now absolutely cannot afford any mistakes.”

At this point, even if he had to cut his handling fee in half, he could not let someone steal his business!

But at that moment, Adele also took a deep breath and turned toward Leon.

“I don’t care how much he charges.” Adele paused here, then enunciated each word with resounding force, “I’ll do……it for free!”

“Don’t go too far, Miss Adele!” Father Auden finally could not endure it any longer, and his voice abruptly rose.