I Bought the Villains With Money - Chapter 30

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

Episode 30.
The method was wrong—terribly wrong—but the intent itself had been for his son’s sake.
“That can’t be. My father, who’s neglected me all this time?”
Casion’s words made my thoughts waver slightly, but I spoke as though unmoved.
“I may have read too much into the part about giving him strength, but I’m confident that Your Majesty won’t interfere with Casion’s and my plans.”
“Or else?”
I lifted my shoulders in a shrug.
“It doesn’t matter whether he does or doesn’t. We’re going to climb higher regardless. Since we’re going anyway, we might as well interpret it in a way that helps us.”
I jabbed my finger upward toward the ceiling.
Once I’d made up my mind, there was no turning back. The only path left for us was forward. No retreat.
“Sigh—fine. Let’s say His Majesty doesn’t hate me, as you claim. What’s next? He doesn’t answer letters, so you’re going to request an audience?”
“Julia will intercept any request for an audience. Honestly, I even doubt your letter reached His Majesty at all.”
I didn’t point it out right away because what Casion had done was commendable, but when he said he’d sent a letter, I suspected Karman had never received it.
‘Julia could have intercepted Casion’s letter along the way.’
Julia, who knew about my comings and goings, wouldn’t have been careless about watching Casion.
‘Even if she’s busy with the Phoenix Bank.’
Julia had a history of intercepting letters meant for Karman and raising her voice at him about it.
‘Getting caught once doesn’t mean much—the odds she’s a repeat offender are much higher. It’ll be after that incident when Karman replaced all the people around him who seemed to be Julia’s spies, but.’
That would happen much later.
“My letter…… didn’t reach him?”
“It might not have. So go meet him directly and ask. Did he receive it but simply not reply? If he didn’t receive it, what’s the reason?”
Casion fell silent in thought, rubbing his thumbnail with his eyes cast downward.
“Is there a way?”
Casion had asked—he’d made the decision to meet Karman.
“Would I have said I’d meet him if there weren’t a way? Dayson’s birthday is coming up soon!”
Casion’s brow furrowed.
“How do you know when Dayson’s birthday is?”
“Huh? What?”
“Don’t tell me you proposed to Dayson before you proposed to me?”
Why had the conversation gone in that direction?
“That’s absurd! Never would I even dream of such a thing. I regard that man Dayson as beneath contempt!”
I was startled at first, then indignant. Casion flinched at my vehement response. Hot breath hissed sharply from my nostrils.
“Yeah, all right. I know you hate Dayson.”
Had I gotten too worked up?
Casion spoke cautiously, gauging my reaction.
“If you know that, why say something so disagreeable?”
I was somewhat embarrassed at my own overreaction to mere words, but there was nothing for it. Dayson, Count Kolkos, Julia—they were my fury buttons.
“But from my perspective, I could misunderstand. If you hate Dayson so much, how strange that you know his birthday. If I said I knew Julia’s birthday, wouldn’t you find that strange?”
The logic hit close enough to raise goosebumps.
“Fine, I understand. Let’s finish what we were discussing. About that pig’s birthday.”
“Please don’t insult pigs.”
“It’s unbearable even to say his name.”
“Then don’t say it. We won’t.”
“Good. It’s been a while since we’ve agreed on something.”
Conversations with Casion had a way of wandering down side paths. Perhaps because there was so much we needed to discuss and so little time. Or perhaps because, outwardly at least, we were peers and enemies alike, and that put my mind at ease.
In any case, I needed to steer back to the matter at hand before we strayed off course again.
‘Not much different either way,’ Casion said, nodding. I could see his body leaning further onto the table—he was beginning to reach the limits of his stamina.
I rose and fetched some cushions. Casion naturally bent forward, and I placed one cushion against his back and another in front of his stomach.
He embraced the cushion and rested his head upon it.
‘Next time I should bring a stuffed bear. A bear would suit him better than a cushion.’
Watching Casion embrace the cushion, I indulged in another pointless thought.
“Speak quickly. I’m tired.”
Casion urged me on. I hastily pushed aside my idle musings and continued the conversation.
“Princes’ birthdays usually include a Morning Banquet.”
“They do?”
Casion made a face as though he’d never heard such a thing.
Now that I thought about it, Casion had never once experienced a birthday Morning Banquet.

Karman, you villain! I can no longer stand by him.
This small, delicate boy—though small he may be, delicate is hardly the word—kept locked away in the Estate, and didn’t even remember his own birthday.
“Your Highness, on your birthday, I’ll prepare a Morning Banquet, an evening meal, a breakfast—whatever you like.”
“What nonsense are you spouting? A birthday for someone whose name I won’t even call? Drop it and move on.”
Whether Casion ignored me or not, I resolved to show him proper honor on his birthday.
“Everyone in the royal family can attend. And several nobles as well.”
An Evening Banquet is held separately in the evening, but those nobles the King particularly favors receive their invitations from the morning.
No one knew yet which prince would carry on the next generation, so the custom was to let them grow familiar with the faces of power and forge bonds early.
‘Father was always invited. An Invitation Card came this year too.’
Even after Father passed, the cards still arrived. But I never received one.
Since guardianship had already been assigned by then, Count Kolkos received it and attended in my stead.
It was around the time I’d begun growing close to Dayson, so I should have expected an invitation to be sent to me. But now it struck me as odd—could it be that Count Kolkos had deliberately prevented me from being invited so as to consolidate his own position?
“So you want to go there?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“To ask for permission to marry.”
Casion leaned his full weight against the cushion wedged between his armpit and the table. I’d expected some grand reaction, but seeing him slouch so limply, my own spirits flagged.
“Talking with you exhausts me.”
“That means you like my plan, doesn’t it?”
He shook his head but offered no objection.
“Your Highness, do you dislike me pushing it forward so quickly?”
“Dislike it? There’s nothing to dislike. If things go as you say, there’s nothing but good ahead after I marry you.”
His tone sounded skeptical, but I let it pass.
“But Diana—”
His voice grew softer by degrees. Sleep must have been creeping in.
“Yes, speak. Your Highness.”
The flush faded slowly from his face. When would he run about in such unbridled joy again, declaring he wanted to keep playing?
“Do we really need to call him by that tedious phrase—the one whose name we can’t speak? It’s tiresome.”
Saying it at length must have worn him out.
“Fine, let’s just call him the bad one.”
“Better yet, don’t mention him at all……”
With those words, Casion drifted into deep sleep.
They say he can’t sleep when others are present. Pure nonsense.
I gently smoothed back the hair that had fallen across Casion’s forehead and called for Flac.
“Yes, Miss.”
“Move him to bed.”
I watched Flac carefully lift Casion and lay him on the bed, then I left the palace.
For the first time in ages, an afternoon of peace—and I desperately hoped it would last.
***
A stretch of relatively calm and quiet days followed. Thanks to the commotion I’d stirred up at the Phoenix Bank not long ago, its reserves were draining steadily.
The Phoenix Bank’s director had tried every avenue to manage the situation, but only made it worse.
‘It’s about time to toy with the bankruptcy card.’
Jennis set refreshments on the table.
“The Phoenix Bank director must be searching for someone worthy to hand the bank over to.”
Rumdracks reached first. He mumbled while eating the snacks, and his thoughts aligned with mine.
Rumdracks was presently serving as my tutor, staying at the Estate.
When I first brought him as my teacher, I recalled Matthew’s ghostly pale face.
Matthew had been hurt, asking why I hadn’t mentioned needing a tutor beforehand.
Yet he turned a sharp eye toward Rumdracks, the unfamiliar outsider.
Rumdracks played the good-natured gentleman, but Matthew wasn’t easily fooled. He’d been the Irenber family’s butler for well over twenty years.
Matthew announced he would personally assess whether Rumdracks was qualified to serve as my tutor.
Rumdracks thanked him for the opportunity and followed Matthew into his quarters.
Though I knew Rumdracks was quite the accomplished con artist, I still felt anxious.
But my concerns proved needless—Rumdracks passed Matthew’s exacting inspection with ease.
According to Jennis, before Matthew, Rumdracks was the very picture of an exemplary educator.
“You weren’t even there—how do you know so much?”
“…I heard it.”
In any case, no one in the Estate received information faster than Jennis. She’s always at my side, yet I can never figure out when or where she picks up news—it never stops amazing me.
In the end, even suspicious Matthew fell smoothly for Rumdracks’ deception.
‘I wonder if I’m being fooled too without realizing it.’
I made a mental note to be careful and we discussed the next steps.
“Build a relationship with the director of Phoenix Bank. It’s good to meet them as a major investor.”
“You could also ask them to invest a large sum.”
“In that case, show reluctance. Say that Phoenix Bank’s situation isn’t favorable for making such a large investment. And don’t forget to slip in questions about the bank’s operations during the conversation.”
Rumdracks set down the cookie he’d been eating, pushed off against the empty air, and settled back onto the sofa with exaggerated precision. Cookie crumbs scattered in all directions.
Every time I saw Rumdracks abandon his usual courtesy for such behavior, I was struck by the contrast.
‘That such a person can transform into a gentleman in an instant.’
“Diana.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“I’m going to say this seriously.”
As if a swindler’s words could inspire confidence. I tilted my head dismissively.
“Become my disciple.”
“I’m already your disciple in appearance.”
I’d been waiting to hear what he was getting at, but this was nonsense.
“I’m serious about this.”
Only then did I grasp the meaning behind Rumdracks’s words.
My expression twisted.
Rumdracks was telling me to become a swindler.
I Bought Out the Villains with Money (Serialized)
Author │ Lee In-hye
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyung
Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd. – Tiramisu
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyuk
Address │ 11F, 1101, 33-gil Digital-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul. (Ace Techno Tower 8th, 11th Floor, Guro-dong)
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ http://blog.naver.com/jayplemedia1
© Lee In-hye 2021
※This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder,
and the content cannot be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and author.
Violation of this may result in criminal and civil legal liability.

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