I Bought the Villains With Money - Chapter 57

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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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Episode 57.
[To Diana.
I heard there’s a Vassal Council Meeting.
Flack is terribly worried.
He said you’ll have to make a major decision this time.
I’m sure it will turn out well.
And even if it doesn’t, you’re clever enough to find a solution quickly.
By the way, the mage stopped by the palace. He told me to call him Master from now on.
But he hasn’t actually taught me anything.
Sometimes he holds my hand and mutters things I can’t understand, then leaves.
I trust him since you introduced him, but there hasn’t been any special change in my body since he’s been coming by.
I thought you’d be curious about it, so I’m writing.
That’s all for now.
Come pick up the reply yourself.
From Casion.
P.S. If there’s anything I can help with, just say so. Liam seems more capable than I expected.]
I burst out laughing when the letter arrived this morning.
Despite its blunt tone that revealed Casion’s taciturn nature, my mood lifted.
He was worried about me—so much so that he’d apparently asked Liam all sorts of questions trying to figure out how to help.
The way he opened his heart to me while remaining suspicious of the Guardian was endearing.
I tucked Casion’s letter into a drawer.
I started to write a reply right away but decided against it.
What Casion was really curious about was the outcome of the Vassal Council Meeting, but I didn’t know how that would go either.
‘I’ll visit him once the Council is over.’
I also needed to check how well Casion was adjusting to the palace with its new people and changing dynamics.
‘According to the investigation Cho conducted, there were no servants or maids who would particularly torment Casion.’
Casion’s household staff had been composed entirely of people with no connection to Julia.
‘Though I don’t know when she might try to win them over.’
For now, I could breathe easier.
“Miss, your Lavender Tea.”
Though I’d tried to seem calm, my heart fluttered anxiously as the important Vassal Council Meeting loomed.
Unable to focus on any single task, I’d fidgeted with this and that until Jennis brought the tea.
“Thank you, Jennis.”
By the time morning had slipped away into afternoon, the sky had clouded over without warning.
Clear all morning, it had suddenly turned gray, and now rain pattered steadily outside.
“The vassals are arriving one by one, miss.”
Once all the preparations were finished, Matthew approached and made his report.
His gaze lingered long on the person standing beside me.
“How do I look today, Matthew?”
I straightened my back from where it had been resting against the sofa and raised my hand lightly toward him.
“Lovely as always, miss.”
Matthew’s lips curved upward, and his face creased with wrinkles.
“But surely today is more than just lovely, isn’t it?”
Only then did Matthew examine my outfit more carefully.
“You look quite striking, miss.”
Instead of a large ribbon, I wore a neat Cravat, and my dress was a composed violet-tinted shade overall.
My hair was pinned up cleanly in a single knot, and with each turn of my head, the ends of my bound hair grazed the nape of my neck.
“This isn’t Jennis’s handiwork, is it?”
He hadn’t noticed immediately, but he wasn’t the sort to lack an eye for detail.
“You’re right—if Jennis had done it, she probably would’ve made me look like an enormous gift wrapped in ribbon.”
Ugh, just the thought made me cringe.
“Shall we go now?”
Matthew glanced at his watch and spoke.
I sprang from my chair and led the way. Matthew followed behind me.
Only I would be entering the Vassal Council Meeting today.
Cho, Rumdracks, Matthew, Jennis—even Lebert had insisted on coming, but I’d refused them all.
‘Their positions are all too ambiguous.’
Lebert’s role within the household was still unclear. Rumdracks was merely a tutor, and Jennis was just a maid.
Matthew was a butler, but what good was a butler?
He couldn’t be my guardian or my spokesman.
The most plausible choice was Cho, who shared my blood and thus could accompany me—yet also could not.
‘I can’t let it slip that Cho is my aunt.’
“Diana, your face took quite a beating.”
As I resolved to end the meeting quickly for the sake of those who worried about me, I encountered an unwelcome face in the corridor. It was Count Colcos.
“The meeting is being held downstairs, sir.”
Count Colcos laughed silently at my words—not from amusement, but from ceremony.
“I’ve come to fetch you. It’s your first Vassal Council Meeting, isn’t it? You’ll be nervous, so why don’t we enter together?”
Count Colcos’s intention was transparent.
If we entered side by side, it would look as though Count Colcos was protecting me and I was relying on him.
“Matthew, I left something in my room. Would you mind escorting Count Colcos to the meeting hall?”
I had no intention of playing along with his scheme. The smile vanished from Count Colcos’s face.
“Wait a moment.”
“You should go downstairs. They’re probably discussing your uncle quite a lot.”
Ever since I’d planted seeds of suspicion about Count Colcos among the vassals, I’d noticed their gatherings.
When I wondered what they were discussing, Jennis brought me word within half a day.
“They were talking about someone named Maccari. Apparently, it’s become a major issue that he resigned from his position as Count Colcos’s attendant.”
Count Colcos’s credibility had cracked, just as I’d anticipated.
‘Now is the time to drive the wedge deeper.’
So I sought out the attendant who had once been close to Count Colcos before retiring to the countryside.
Maccari.
A steady, composed man of thirty this year, he had been Count Colcos’s valet.
There was a time when Count Colcos became a topic of conversation for his impeccable style—all of Maccari’s work.
Count Colcos had valued Maccari, and Maccari, for his part, had gotten along reasonably well with Count Colcos.
Yet he received summary dismissal from Count Colcos.
The reason was simple: Count Colcos wanted to wear a particular outfit, but Maccari insisted on propriety and urged him to wear something else instead.
It would have been wise to entrust medicine to Lebert, deception to Rumdracks, information to Cho, and matters of dress to Maccari—but Count Colcos refused.
Maccari wouldn’t compromise, and Count Colcos, claiming his wishes weren’t being respected, cast out a man who had served him for ten years without so much as a severance coin.
One could guess what Maccari had told them.
That the mood among the nobility had grown grave.
Count Colcos stared at me without moving. I was considering how to separate myself from him when his attendant approached.
He whispered something in Count Colcos’s ear.
“Go downstairs and wait.”
Whatever was said, he suddenly hurried toward the meeting hall.
“Miss, if you tell me what you’ve left behind, I’ll retrieve it for you.”
Matthew spoke in the empty corridor.
“Oh, not an object—a person. Could you bring the person in my room here?”
Matthew moved at once.
I walked alone through the empty corridor.
As I walked the long passage, my thoughts grew heavy.
Today would determine whether the efforts of these months since my regression would bear fruit.
My parents came to mind.
Each time Father attended a Vassal Council Meeting, he walked this corridor alone.
He needed time to gather his thoughts, however briefly.
I’d always wondered what he thought about while walking this path. Now I think I understand.
The futures of so many people that my decision would change—did I have the right to determine those futures?
A smile played at the corners of my mouth.
I had the right.
At least more than Count Colcos.
‘So there’s no need to shrink, Diana. Don’t look back.’
I quickened my pace.
***
Junoas, who oversaw the granaries of the Southern Region of the current Irenber lands, had come up to the Capital a few days ago.
The House of Junoas had received its title from the Petrola Royal House and had served the Irenber loyally for generations.
Yet stagnant water grows foul, and comfortable lives make people indolent.
Count Junoas had begun to wonder how much longer he must remain in the quiet Southern Region.
He appreciated the abundance the Southern granaries provided, but he envied the glittering life of the Capital.
From boyhood, he had been more interested in commerce than agriculture, and given the chance, he would have preferred to establish a trading house rather than inherit the family lands.
But his two elder brothers died. In the end, Count Junoas inherited the management rights to the Southern granaries.
For seven long years, Count Junoas lived as a loyal servant of the Irenber, just as his predecessor had.
Then the previous Duke of Irenber died.
The death of the Irenber Duke had not diminished Junoas’s loyalty to the family.
There would be someone to inherit the Irenber Family, and there was no reason Colcos would seize the operations of the Southern Region’s granary from House Junoas when it was running so smoothly.
So he had given little thought to the matter of the Irenber Family’s succession.
Then one day, Count Colcos came to him.
Colcos made a sweet proposal—urged Junoas to dream again the dream he had forgotten, promising to help. A merchant’s dream.
Junoas, who had once dreamed of commerce, knew well that nothing in this world was freely given.
He asked what price Colcos wanted, and Colcos demanded something simple enough.
Only that Junoas recommend him quickly as Guardian—suggest his name to fill the position.
There was no one else worth recommending, and as the uncle of Princess Diana, his credentials were more than sufficient.
Junoas and Colcos came to an accord without difficulty.
And now the day had arrived that would determine whether Junoas’s dream would be realized.
Junoas had not slept since last night. The cause was a rumor that had been circulating among the servants for several days.
“Once Colcos gets what he wants, he wipes his hands clean.”
‘Surely that can’t be true.’
Junoas trusted Colcos, yet on the other hand he was uneasy.
Their agreement left not a shred of evidence—it was built entirely on mutual trust.
Having spent nearly the entire night awake, Junoas prepared early in the morning to go to the Vassal Council Meeting.
And he arrived at the Irenber Mansion well before the appointed hour.
Only Junoas was in the meeting chamber. He deliberated endlessly over what decision he ought to make.
Soon the other servants began to arrive, one after another.
It was the first official Vassal Council Meeting held since the death of the previous Irenber Duke.
The servants who had not seen each other in some time were busy exchanging greetings.
“Are we finally choosing a Guardian today?”
I Bought the Villains with Money (Serialized)
Author │ Lee In-hye
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyung
Published by │ JPlus Media Co., Ltd. – Tiramisu
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyuk
Address │ 1101, 11-1 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul. (Guro-dong, Ace Tech Tower 8th Building, 11th Floor)
Email │ [email protected]
Homepage │ http://blog.naver.com/jayplemedia1
© Lee In-hye 2021
※This work is published by JPlus Media Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder,
and the contents may not 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.

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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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