Celebrity Lady - Chapter 81

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Celebrity Lady
Episode 81
“…Lizbet?”
“Yes, yes. It’s me. Lizbet. But what are you doing there? It’s dangerous, so why don’t you come out first and we can talk?”
“….”
For a moment, Evelyn looked startled to see me suddenly appear. Then the light drained from her eyes again.
“Evelyn?”
With an empty expression, Evelyn simply stood there in a daze, saying nothing. Soon she turned her head away from me.
‘This is driving me crazy. My heart feels like it’s going to fall out.’
I tried to calm myself and moved toward Evelyn in small, careful steps.
“Lizbet.”
“Yes, yes.”
“I’m sorry. For locking you in the closet. I didn’t want to do it.”
“I know. And I’m sorry too. What I said earlier was too harsh. I was misunderstanding you.”
“It’s fine. Everything you said was true.”
“No, it’s all wrong! You’re not following that Nora Pelkan girl around because you like her!”
“….”
“Let me listen. Just take my hand and come out of here, and tell me what’s going on.”
“Don’t come closer.”
Evelyn spoke coldly, as if she’d sensed my gradual approach.
“I’m really sorry to you.”
“I told you it’s fine.”
“And… look, I know this is shameless to ask, but if you don’t mind… c-could you tell my dad and m-mom… that Evelyn l-loved them very much?”
My heart shattered the moment I heard the child’s confession mixed with sobs.
“Why would I tell them that? You can go tell them yourself.”
“I’m going to die now.”
“Do you want to die?”
Evelyn flinched at my question, her back still to me.
“You’re scared right now. You don’t want to die.”
“No, I….”
“It’s not that you want to die. It’s that you don’t want to live like this.”
At my words, Evelyn slowly turned her head toward me again.
Who really wants to die? No one understands the heart of someone who’s decided on suicide better than I do.
“I tried to kill myself too.”
“…!”
Molgha and the twins who tormented me my whole life. And even when I went back in time, I couldn’t escape them.
Everything felt so hopeless that I decided to end it.
“But then I felt wronged, you know? I thought—what did I even do wrong that I have to die?—and I got emotional right at that moment.”
“….”
“If I die, would those awful kids regret it too late and cry? Would they come to my grave and apologize?”
Evelyn’s eyes wavered.
“You know the answer too.”
“….”
“If you die, only you’re wronged. So don’t die—get your revenge instead, or live spectacularly just to prove them wrong.”
I reached out my hand to Evelyn as if to say, take it.
“I’ll help you.”
“You…?”
Blink, blink.
We stared at each other blankly, blinking. Just a moment ago we were being serious, but….
Even in this critical moment, Evelyn’s eyes were full of doubt.
‘Well, I suppose she has reason to be skeptical.’
After all, what has she seen of me? A foolish lady-in-waiting who only takes abuse and can’t say a word in protest.
No wonder she’d think my words are just empty promises.
She couldn’t possibly know that the soul of Juliet Karerina—who repays tenfold for every hit received and can’t stomach losing—now inhabits this body.
“I understand your suspicion, but it really is dangerous, so please come out….”
Evelyn’s head turned away again as hope left her eyes.
‘Ugh.’
As I was thinking hard, rubbing my temples, I suddenly sensed a presence approaching from behind.
That was it—I turned around, certain now.
“Yes! Not me—this way!”
Lark, who had approached, stopped short. Evelyn’s eyes widened as she turned to look at him.
“The Crown Prince will help you!”
“….”
“You see, His Highness already knows my situation, and he’s promised to discipline those children. So, doesn’t that make me trustworthy now?”
“W-what?”
“Your Highness?”
Lark looked between Evelyn’s face and mine before catching on and playing along.
“Of course.”
He smiled and came to my side, placing a large hand firmly on top of my head.
“Bad children who bully my friend will face my punishment.”
“Yes, yes.”
I nodded eagerly, my head bobbing up and down.
Watching Evelyn’s eyes, which had been wavering, now seem to gain confidence, I felt relieved and reached out my hand.
“I’ve been locked in a closet all day and I’m starving. Shall we head home?”
Evelyn, who had been hesitating, slowly took my offered hand.
I smiled and said to her:
“Let’s go get some warm soup.”
* * *
When we returned to the villa, we ate warm soup, roasted meat, and cake until we were stuffed.
In the bedroom, where the fireplace crackled with a warm glow,
after tucking Evelyn in—satisfied and asleep—with her blanket pulled up to her neck, I left the room.
Lark, who had been waiting with his back against the wall, straightened up, and as if by prior arrangement, we headed straight for the office.
The moment we sat down inside, I spoke.
“That must have been difficult. And she’s still so young.”
“Tell me about it.”
We had just learned all the details of Evelyn’s circumstances.
Evelyn’s father, Baron Torso, had been a Defender of the Realm.
Originally from the personal knight order of the current Emperor, he had departed ten years ago and returned as a Retired Knight, having lost a leg.
What could a man who’d spent his entire life as a knight possibly do after losing a leg?
“He’s blaming himself, isn’t he?”
“Immensely.”
Waiting for Baron Torso, who had fought with honor for his nation, was nothing but a miserable reality—poverty and hardship.
As the Empire’s crown prince, Lark was reproaching himself for not having shown proper respect to the baron.
“There’s no welfare law for retired knights, is there?”
I asked carefully. Lark fell silent, his eyes deepening, then nodded.
“When they retire, they receive a sum as severance, but I’ve now learned all too well that it’s mere lip service—utterly inadequate.”
“….”
“And here I am, a military man myself. Really….”
I smiled sympathetically, watching Lark’s self-deprecating expression.
“Still, at least now you know. Your Highness will be able to do something about it from here on.”
“That’s true.”
Lark nodded and smiled.
“But what about the other matter? What would be best for me to do?”
“Ah. Leave that to me, Your Highness.”
“The other matter” referred to….
Count Pelkan, who had employed Baron Torso as a manager of his estate.
“I thought since Father was suffering more, I shouldn’t complain or whine. My father always smiled gently even when Lord Pelkan spat in his face.”
“It was so our family could eat. Father was sacrificing so much—how could I complain about being Nora’s maid?”
“But even though I could bear the insults and the hitting, when she locked me in the closet, it really broke my heart. I wondered if it had to go that far. I’m truly, truly sorry.”
Nora Pelkan was one thing, but Nora’s father, Count Pelkan, was quite the villain himself.
Not content with simply taking Evelyn away as a playmate for his daughter, after hearing dozens of stories about how he’d treated Baron Torso like a dog, I felt sick to my stomach and couldn’t eat.
Both the father and daughter treated people like toys. Like sowing beans and harvesting beans, or planting red beans and reaping red beans.
“Is there anything a lady-in-waiting can do?”
Lark asked with concern.
Truth be told, neither Lark nor I had any legitimate way to do anything.
There wasn’t a law that would throw a CEO who engaged in personal abuse and tyranny toward his employees in prison.
“But here’s the interesting thing….”
I rifled through the documents on the office desk and spoke.
“God does exist, it seems.”
“Huh?”
I flashed a slight smile at the puzzled Lark.
“I’m going to show you what ‘Benevolent Use of Power’ really means.”
* * *
Count Pelkan had amassed his wealth through trading.
Under Marquis Frank, the linchpin of the Empire’s leather goods trade.
“M-Marquis? W-what on earth are you… what is this s-supposed to mean?”
“What, Count? Have your ears stopped working? How many times do I have to repeat myself?”
Marquis Frank, who had come to the Pelkan residence directly that morning, delivered a bombshell announcement.
“I’m done working with you from now on!”
“W-what’s the reason… if I may ask….”
Count Pelkan’s fleshy face, as greedy as it was thick with fat, trembled visibly.
The Marquis, regarding the Count with clear displeasure and clicking his tongue, pulled a letter from his pocket and threw it down with a snap.
The Count fumbled to examine it.
To Marquis Frank.
We hereby wish to terminate the collaborative contract currently in progress with Your Lordship, effective immediately.
We have heard rumors that multiple laborers working under the Pelkan house, a partner firm of Your Lordship, have resigned due to inhumane treatment and poor working conditions.
As one engaged in commerce, we cannot help but feel a moral responsibility.
We do not conduct business with those lacking basic principles. This is my uncompromising creed.
Should you reply, we shall send you compensation for contract termination.
Should you wish to avoid contract termination, we shall meet again only after you have severed your business relationship with this unscrupulous scoundrel who does not guarantee basic human rights to his workers.
Respectfully, Madam Ruby, CEO of Blanc de Ruby.
“N-no, what is… what is this….”
“A person should know their limits. How did such rumors even spread?”
“M-Marquis!”
“Do you know what kind of contract I had with you?”
“I….”
“Hundreds of nobles are waiting with bated breath for the leather products about to be released here—hundreds. We’re talking about an exclusive contract with those people, you fool!”
“B-but surely this isn’t right! I don’t know why the boss here is doing this to me, but… we’ve had years of working together!”
“What good is that in the cold-blooded world of commerce?”
The Marquis clicked his tongue and got to his feet with no hesitation, adding:
“Don’t you dare acknowledge me in the future!”
“W-wait! Marquis!”
“No, no way! Let go of my arm!”
The Count rushed after him trying to stop him, but the Marquis coldly shook him off.
“Your Lordship!”
Watching the door swing open behind the departing Marquis, Count Pelkan swayed, his face drained of color.
‘Why in the world is that shop owner doing this to me…?’
According to the letter, it seemed the problem was the rumor spread by those who had quit out of dissatisfaction with working conditions….
“Damn it! Which one of those bastards started this rumor!”
The employees he’d bullied were too numerous to count. It was impossible to even guess who.
“I’m… I’m ruined….”
The “money stream” that had allowed the Pelkan house to boast of being a wealthy family had been cut off overnight.
If he could strike a deal with a magnate like Marquis Frank again, there might be a chance at recovery, but could he really…?
In a world as sensitive to rumors as this one, who would want to do business with Pelkan, who had been shamefully abandoned in such a manner?
‘Is this a dream?’
No, it was a truly desperate reality.
“Why is the door open?”
Oblivious or uncaring that her house had crumbled, his daughter Nora walked in with a careless gait, chewing gum thoughtlessly.
“Dad, Dad. I need some money. I’m going shopping with the girls.”
“Sigh….”
“Hurry, hurry!”
Nora frowned and thrust her palm out in a demanding gesture, and the Count ground his teeth and let out a strangled cry.
“GET OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW!!!!”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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