"Todd, have a seat."
Watching Todd stand stiffly by the door, Jeanne walked up and grabbed his arm, "When I say sit, just sit. What’s there to be reserved about?"
Sitting on the soft woolen cushion chair, Jeanne first served Todd a cup of coffee.
After all, being close to Black Snake Bay, coffee is the cheapest and easiest to obtain besides black tea.
But even then, the prices are not too low.
There are too few pearl rice plantations in Black Snake Bay, and a portion of the coffee produced has to be exported to gain trade surplus.
Todd, having grown accustod to coffee on the battlefield, could only drink dandelion nectar mixed with coffee powder now that he’s here.
Upon seeing familiar military-grade coffee now, he couldn’t help but take a large gulp.
Jeanne smiled and added a little more for him, "If you like it, I’ll send you a few bags. I have quite a bit in my monthly rationing, but I’m not fond of the stuff."
Todd grinned and stamred, "Th-th-th-this, how-how can I accept it..."
Jeanne kicked him, "Why the false modesty?"
Sitting face to face in the reception room in front of the tea table, several secret monks waited outside the door.
After a couple of sips of coffee, Jeanne got straight to the point, "Don’t be nervous. I asked you here to consult your opinion on sothing."
"Please go ahead."
"It’s about the Grace Market in South Mangde County. Since it involves you, I had no choice but to call you here..."
Only now did Todd let out a breath of relief; it was not about the landslide.
At this mont, his curiosity was piqued — what else happened in South Mangde County that he was unaware of?
"In a Grace Market in South Mangde County, they believed sweet beans as pig feed would see a price surge, so they hoarded a batch of sweet beans.
But unfortunately, due to poor managent by pig farrs locally this year, swine fever broke out, and nobody wanted to buy it.
To cover the losses, the person in charge borrowed public funds from Priest Town to buy epidemic dication to treat the swine fever, only then managing to sell the sweet beans.
Having sold the sweet beans, they naturally could repay the public funds, with no losses accounted and even a slight profit.
When reporting upwards, they concealed the swine fever incident, only stating a small profit from sweet beans. The Priestly Order followed suit in hiding, entirely omitting the swine fever issue.
What do you think should..."
"Which little bastard is pulling such a stunt right under my nose?!" Todd’s face turned half-blue and half-red upon hearing halfway through and finally couldn’t help but stand up.
"What are you yelling about? Sit down!"
Todd sat down with a face full of anger.
"This case initially pertains to the Holy Production Supervision Bureau, but it’s tied to Priest Town, and we’re considering how to handle it."
"What’s there to consider? Just tell who and I’ll lead people to arrest them," Todd couldn’t resist asking.
Jeanne sipped a bit of coffee, "Why arrest? There’s no actual loss caused."
"No loss, huh? They were just lucky. If epidemic dication wasn’t available in the market or delivery was delayed,
not only would the money hoarded in sweet beans have been lost, but even the funds of Priest Town couldn’t be recovered. Hmph, I can foresee it.
If it failed, they would inevitably shift the loss onto the civilians.
Besides, it’s an insult to the County Monastery, an insult to the Imperial Cardinal Conference, an insult to His Holiness the Pope!
This precedent should not be set, Your Highness. We can’t be lenient; not only should they be caught, but caught severely, treated as a typical case to be announced nationwide through The Truth Report!
Damn it, who exactly is it? I..."
Halfway through his sentence, Todd suddenly felt like he was choked and couldn’t speak further.
Watching Jeanne in front of him with a half-smile expression, cold sweat started seeping from his back, "You-you already know?"
Jeanne’s expression didn’t change much, "Know what?"
This left Todd unsure; he opened his mouth but couldn’t utter a word.
The face of Jeanne in front of him kept alternating with the image of Lesander in his mory; he froze for a long ti before slumping down weakly, "I have sothing to confess about the previous landslide incident..."
"Finally speaking up? Not easy, huh."
"Actually, you’ve known all along." Todd smiled wryly, "Thank you for being lenient, intentionally letting confess myself."
Being pushed to confess and voluntarily confessing are two different concepts.
Jeanne’s face finally changed; she retracted her smile, "You understand the reasoning well enough, so why commit such a foolish deed?"
"I..."
"You’re a straightforward person, I know you. Lots of people must have convinced you, right?"
"I...I was blinded by honey in mind all alone, that’s why I made this decision..."
"Bang!"
Jeanne slapped the table, pointed at Todd, and scolded, "Still covering up at this mont? In the battle regint, they’re all fellow believers; do you think everyone locally is a fellow believer?"
Todd was stunned, looking at Jeanne without understanding what had just happened.
Letting out a turbid breath from her nose, Jeanne glared at Todd twice in vexation before turning around and taking out two stacks of docunts from behind her waist.
"Is your secret monk nad Lysander?"
Todd nodded, but felt sothing was off.
Handing one docunt after another to Todd, Jeanne spoke continuously.
"This is the March shipping record from the ry Court Barracks’ pharmaceutical workshop."
"This is the April sweet bean shipping record from the Black Snake Bay branch of the Saint Scythe Monastery."
"This is the confession of Kash Yang, the director of the Favors Market."
"This is the confession of the warehouse manager."
"This is the confession and account records of the interdiary, Goetshark."
"This is the tiline of the entire incident."
As Todd took the docunts that Jeanne handed him, the more he read, the wider his eyes opened, and his expression beca increasingly angry.
However, by the ti he reached the end, his anger gradually dissipated. Looking up, he slumped down powerlessly, his face filled with despair.
"What a clever sche. If the swine fever hadn’t broken out, the profits from the sweet beans would have covered the losses from the pharmaceuticals.
If the swine fever did break out, the losses from the pharmaceuticals would cover the losses from the sweet beans.
But no matter if it breaks out or not, no extra profits needed, Lysander doesn’t lose anything, and can even make a gain from the interdiaries.
It’s a pity that the subsidies and interest-free loans given to pig farrs are easily snatched away as soon as they receive them."
Jeanne applauded lightly: "Brilliant, truly brilliant. Both official and personal affairs were handled without delay.
What do you think he should do? What should you do?
Should it be published in The Truth, so people can see what the brave soldiers of the two Thousand River Valley wars look like now?"
With trembling hands, Todd took a sip of coffee unsteadily: "You told privately to preserve my honor. Please believe , I will resign tomorrow."
"Resign, resign; whenever there’s trouble, resign. If you resign and I resign, who will do the work?"
Hearing Jeanne say this, Todd beca even more confused.
Resigning is not acceptable, and not resigning is also not acceptable. Could it be, could it be...
Todd straightened his back suddenly and waved his hands in panic: "I really didn’t know about this, I didn’t collude with them, I swear, really."
"If it’s found that you colluded with them, Jia Li would be the one looking for you now!"
Jeanne crossed her legs in annoyance, took a sip of coffee, and cald herself before speaking again.
"If you had just now harbored a fluke ntality and hadn’t confessed, then naturally I wouldn’t manage you, next would be the Cheka coming for you.
Since you confessed, it shows you still know right from wrong, and there’s hope for redemption; your position as superintendent of the monastery will definitely be revoked.
As for other honors and dals, you can still retain them, finally dealing with your matter.
Firstly, your Chief Privy Monk cannot escape; Cheka should have already found him by now while you were talking to .
Secondly, it’s you. His Holiness has spoken—after this eting concludes, you will go to the Windmill Land with Armand.
He needs to train the Saint Father’s Association ard group over there; that’s your expertise."
"Yes!" Todd’s face was a mixture of sorrow and joy as he stood up and saluted Jeanne enthusiastically.
"Alright, don’t spread this matter around, His Holiness will et with you tomorrow; think it over when you get back, understand?"
"Understood." Todd turned around, his face showing a shaful smile.
Not to ntion anything else, this ti he lost face and brought disgrace to Her Highness the Saintess.
There are bad people around!
"Wait a mont..."
Todd imdiately turned around, but saw a dark shadow flew towards him. He instinctively reached out to catch it and found a cloth bag.
"Your Highness, this is?"
"Open it and see." Jeanne closed a cabinet door beside her.
Todd opened the bag and found it was full of roasted pearl rice—the raw material for brewing coffee.
"Why are you in such a hurry to leave? Our old-flavored coffee is more expensive in Windmill Land; take it with you to drink."
Jeanne organized the docunts, clipped them, stood up, and noticed Todd still standing at the door.
"... Don’t crying in front of , go outside if you want to cry."
"Goodbye, big sister." With a touch of sadness in his voice, Todd saluted Jeanne and walked out.
As soon as he left the porch, he saw his young loyal successor rushing over, breathlessly speaking: "Uncle Todd, Privy Councillor Lysander was just taken by Cheka. Before leaving, he asked to find you, saying you have a way."
"I have a way? I wish I could tear him to pieces!" Todd cursed, putting on his hat with still trembling hands.
"What’s wrong?"
Seeing the young successor, thinking he’s a battlefield comrade’s son, Todd patted his head: "I’ll be going to Windmill Land soon; you, stay and study at Loyal Successor Academy... that’s fine too."
"Why?"
"You’ll understand when you grow up." Todd patted his back, leading him outside, speaking as he walked, "It’s just a pity, Windmill Land is so far, I probably won’t make it to His Holiness and Her Highness Jeanne’s wedding."
"Ah, just now Her Highness Jeanne told you..."
"No." Todd shook his head, "But it could only be Her Highness Jeanne, nobody else I recognize."
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