By the time Julia arrived at Baur Courtyard, the bodies had already been dragged away.
Large patches of water stains indicated that the area had been thoroughly scrubbed.
However, the bloodstains still wouldn’t wash away, and the acrid scent of iron remained pungent.
Her boots felt sticky as she stepped onto the marble slabs of the courtyard.
Entering the main hall, she saw the staff of the Council of Ten already at work.
Every letter and ledger that could be scavenged had been moved to the hall for cross-referencing.
Upon seeing Julia arrive, the staff members hurried to stand and salute, but she motioned for them to stop.
“Other matters here have nothing to do with you. Keep searching, do not stop.”
Mr. Luca of the Council of Ten had also arrived.
He was Domenico’s most steadfast ally and had been ordered to take command of the guards.
He tipped his hat to Julia and spoke.
“Excellency Julia, I will bring the guards to watch every entrance to the courtyard. Rest assured, not even a bird will fly in.”
Julia returned the gesture to show her gratitude and watched Mr. Luca walk out of the hall.
She had to find ironclad evidence of the crimes Baur had committed before dawn — any crime would do.
But before the staff could turn anything up, she decided to rest for a while.
She walked straight to the most luxurious chair on one side of the hall, turned, and sat down.
‘This must have been Mrs. Baur’s seat,’ she thought.
Resting her chin on her hand, she leaned her head to the side in a half-asleep state, her narrowed eyes watching the busy staff.
At that moment, a woman suddenly stood up.
Waving a letter in her hand, she rushed over to Julia and handed it to her.
“Excellency, look at this letter.”
Julia took it.
Using the candlelight on the wall, she squinted her eyes to make out the contents.
The letter seemed like nothing at first, appearing to be a report from a fleet regarding the situation in the upper reaches of the Great River basin.
However, upon closer analysis, a problem emerged.
The fleet had bypassed the Navy Office, the Council of Ten, and the Governor’s Mansion to report a very delicate matter directly to Mrs. Baur — the Frostwave Kingdom had spent 15,000 Ducats to request the purchase of sea charts and surveying data for the vicinity of the continent of Aurelia.
Aurelia lay to the northeast of their own continent.
It required ocean-going vessels to reach.
The Republic had successfully established several settlements along the coast, but exploring the interior was far too difficult.
The terrain was as complex and impassable as a natural moat — less than one hour inland from the coast, one would encounter steep slopes that rose abruptly into the clouds.
To this day, no one had figured out how to climb them.
Therefore, no one knew what the land at the top of those slopes looked like.
This was a virgin land the Republic was determined to keep for itself.
It was no wonder that after Julia spent a few moments staring at the letter in thought, she began to laugh.
Her laughter grew louder and louder until she nearly rolled off the chair.
‘With just a bit of framing, Mrs. Baur’s status as a traitor to the state will be set in stone,’ she mused.
Yes, she only needed to find a matching entry of 15,000 Ducats in the ledgers, which wouldn’t be too difficult.
She instructed the staff to store the letter carefully.
If she could, she even wanted to have it framed.
Then, she waited with great interest for the next surprise.
A short while later, another ledger was brought over.
Julia had learned her lesson this time; she asked a staff member to bring her a moonstone to make it easier on her eyes.
The entries in the ledger were quite messy, as even expenditures for purchasing necklaces and similar items had been recorded.
However, one entry noted the sale of 124 shares of the South Island Company, totaling 15,000 Ducats.
Julia, of course, knew why the staff member had handed her this ledger.
By calculation, each share was worth less than 121 Ducats.
But in reality?
Even the guidance price given by Landisset was around 500 Ducats.
Not to mention the prices on the black market or when using nobles as proxies!
What did Mrs. Baur mean by selling so many shares at such a low price?
The interesting part was that, according to trading rules, the buyer likely used a shell agent for the purchase, meaning even the company itself wouldn’t know who the buyer was.
If that were truly the case, then nothing could be more perfect.
‘Who would be the most “appropriate” buyer for these 124 shares?’
Julia calculated in her mind.
Should it be King Władysław, or his brother, Prince Jagiellon?
Or perhaps a certain council member, or someone from a specific family?
The harvest was bountiful.
Julia intended to handsomely reward the two who had discovered the letter and the ledger.
Unable to sit still any longer, Julia stood up and began to pace around the hall.
She stared at the face of every staff member, watched their hands as they flipped through papers, and tried to see the content of every sheet.
‘Every single piece of paper could be the rope to hang Baur.’
Soon, problems were found in letter after letter and ledger after ledger.
For instance, there was a high probability that she had purchased Republic bills of exchange from Prince Jagiellon at a low price.
There was a high chance she had used improper means to inherit a wine estate and more than ten hectares of national forest near Tar Horn Port.
She had used a certain fleet as her private merchant ships to transport goods from the upper reaches of the Great River.
She had obtained land-use rights for a certain island in the South Island colonies, though the title deed made it impossible to determine how it had come into her possession.
Nations even treated her as a diplomatic chief with more practical contact value than the Secretary of the Foreign Office or even the Governor himself.
The Elven Kingdom, the Frostwave Kingdom, the Grand Duchy of Tiro, the Kingdom of Kamelot, the Dwarven Ironfort Kingdom, and the Kingdom of Iledia — they had all vied to send her letters to discuss affairs.
Indeed, Julia already planned to frame the Elven Queen’s deliberate contact with Baur as a misunderstanding, as if the Queen believed Baur was the Chief of Diplomacy.
That way, everything would make sense.
‘Who told you to enjoy private diplomacy and backroom deals so much, Baur?’
Julia thought.
‘You brought this on yourself.’
She provided the staff with a general direction, leaving them to find the materials and write the reports.
Exhausted, Julia returned to her chair and sat down.
With her chin in her hand and her head tilted, she intended to truly sleep this time unless someone woke her.
In the space between dreams and wakefulness, her lips faintly whispered Liv’s name.
After appearing to sleep for a long time, she opened her eyes.
She found that the staff had already begun to register the rare treasures seized from Baur’s home.
Though she was usually accustomed to such things, she stood up out of curiosity and took a closer look.
There were jewelry and accessories that couldn’t fit into several large chests.
Famous paintings were piled haphazardly against the walls.
Furs from the north, pearls from the islands, and elven silks left one dazzled; the entire hall was filled with them.
Julia approached and began picking through the pile.
‘I’ll confiscate a few of the most unique items to give to Liv,’ she decided.
Soon, she pulled out a beautiful, eye-catching pistol.
It felt very light in her hand.
It appeared to be carved ivory, but ivory wasn’t this light.
This sensation of something that was almost a magical creation instantly attracted Julia.
She couldn’t help but examine it closely.
The pistol was engraved with extremely intricate patterns.
The best part was an opening at the rear that could be pried open; according to the design, gunpowder could likely be poured directly inside, while the muzzle only needed to be stuffed with a lead ball.
Moreover, unlike an ordinary pistol, it seemed to have a catch designed to lock the bullet in place, preventing it from accidentally falling out before being fired.
It was truly a masterpiece of craftsmanship.
She waved the pistol, gesturing to the staff member in charge of registration.
The staff member hurriedly flipped forward in the ledger, tore out the page that recorded the pistol, and then, in front of Julia, threw the page into the fire at the far end where certain letters were being burned.