My Husband is so carefree and constantly Cheats on me, so I Kept making him Suffer as Payback, but somehow, he’s started to seem Kind of Cute. - Chapter 5

In an Office at the Royal Palace.

“I FOUND IT!!!”

“Lord Erald? What exactly are you doing?”

The civil servants, diligently working at their desks, all turned to stare at Erald, who had suddenly shouted.

He was triumphantly holding up a stack of documents, his face beaming with pride.

One of his colleagues—the woman he was infatuated with—hesitantly spoke up.

“What… exactly did you find?”

“Oh, Rafelia! I’m so glad you asked. Listen to me—I have discovered evidence of tax fraud!”

“…What?”

Her voice trailed off in stunned disbelief.

Because the documents he was holding…

…were the Crusroden family’s tax records.

Yes. His own family’s tax records.

The entire office froze.

Typically, when someone is reviewing tax reports, they’re searching for irregularities in other noble houses.

Yet here was this idiot, flushed with excitement, loudly proclaiming that he had found his own family’s financial discrepancies.

“Uh… and what exactly is the irregularity you found?”

Rafelia, possessing the self-discipline of steel, knew that if she laughed, she would be reprimanded.

Even so, she struggled to maintain a neutral expression as she asked him.

“It’s this, Rafelia. Look!”

Erald held up another set of documents.

“These are the tax records from House Maximilian.”

The moment those words left his mouth, the entire office shifted.

The previously amused air turned deadly serious.

Because, unbeknownst to this fool, the people in this office belonged to two factions:

1. Those secretly investigating House Maximilian for tax fraud, having been placed there by their political rivals from House Laverrois.
2. Those embedded by House Maximilian to cover up any discrepancies.

And now, this idiot had unknowingly stumbled right into the heart of the conflict.

Incidentally, House Crusroden was officially neutral in this power struggle—though, in truth, they leaned toward House Laverrois.

So for Erald, a man who ignored factional politics in favor of chasing women, to suddenly uncover something critical was nothing short of alarming.

The entire office was now caught in a moment of high-stakes tension.

“A prestigious house like the Maximilian Marquisate must have a meticulous and well-organized tax record. However, when comparing their tax reports to those of House Crusroden—look here, here, and here! The calculations are inconsistent! Only this part matches!”

Erald continued his grand revelation, gesturing wildly at the documents.

“If we correct these discrepancies, House Maximilian should be paying an additional 100,000 gil in taxes! Ah, Minister! Perfect timing! Here—I present to you the proof of fraud!”

He was beaming with pride, completely unaware that he had just accused his own family of miscalculations.

And, just as fate would have it, the Finance Minister happened to be walking by.

Half of the office gasped in excitement.

The other half turned deathly pale.

“Ah… Lord Erald, was it? You’ve certainly… done something interesting.”

The Finance Minister finally addressed him.

“Why, thank you, Minister! But please, think nothing of it. Even if this concerns my own family, I cannot allow any corruption to go unchecked!”

Erald declared, brimming with self-importance, as if he were some self-sacrificing hero.

“No, no…” The Finance Minister sighed.

“House Crusroden’s calculations are completely correct.”

“…What?”

Erald… had miscalculated.

A simple arithmetic error—one so basic that even a merchant’s child wouldn’t make it.

A bureaucrat from House Laverrois’ faction took pity on him and quietly whispered the truth.

The moment Erald realized his mistake, his face turned as pale as a corpse.

Because…

His entire dramatic revelation had been based on the assumption that his own family’s tax reports were incorrect.

Worse still, by trying to discredit his own house’s records, he had unintentionally declared that House Maximilian’s records were legitimate—the very documents that his beloved Rafelia had been sent to protect.

And just like that—

All his plans went up in smoke.

But his true mistake wasn’t just the miscalculation.

It was this—

“The first issue, Lord Erald, is that these sections you pointed out? They weren’t supposed to be compared in the first place. House Crusroden’s calculations are accurate. The mistake lies in your own handwritten notes.”

The Finance Minister pointed at Erald’s scribbled calculations.

A mistake so obvious that a child could have spotted it.

Erald’s face turned bright red from shame.

But it was far too late.

He had just publicly declared, in front of the Finance Minister, that his own family’s tax reports were fraudulent.

And…

“The real issue is—why are House Maximilian’s tax records being calculated using the same formula as House Crusroden’s?”**

The moment the Finance Minister spoke, the members of House Maximilian’s faction turned ghostly white.

“A Marquisate that produces magic stones should be taxed under a completely different system. Instead, their reports mirror House Crusroden’s, despite House Crusroden being a Count’s house with historical tax reductions due to past contributions.”

“So why… has this gone unnoticed for so long?”

“I would say this was a failure in the selection of government officials.”

The bureaucrats from House Maximilian’s faction began trembling.

For years, they had rushed through the paperwork, stamping approvals without publishing detailed calculations.

And yet—

This idiot had mistakenly assumed his family was at fault… and in doing so, had unintentionally exposed House Maximilian’s tax fraud.

Every single member of House Maximilian’s faction was immediately dismissed.

Naturally, this included Rafelia.

Erald’s plans to win her favor? Gone.

Completely obliterated.

Later, the Finance Minister personally visited me—

To thank me.

While laughing hysterically.

I, on the other hand, had no idea how to react.

So much so, in fact, that my stunned expression only made him laugh harder.

Erald… you absolute fool.