I Bought the Villains With Money - Chapter 62

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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 62.
Beyond the back of the sofa, Jennis’ long brown hair spilled down in a cascade.
She’d fallen asleep waiting for me.
‘While Jennis is sleeping, I might as well look over more.’
My eyes kept drifting back to the stack of documents.
I knew Jennis was right that I needed rest, yet I begrudged every moment that slipped away.
To make up for the time the Irenber Family had lost, I had to move quickly.
It had only been a few days since I’d announced I would become Acting Family Head.
I’d spent day and night poring over the family’s papers, yet even that barely scratched the surface of truly understanding the Irenber Family.
‘At least now that I’m here, I’ve managed to grasp this much.’
I gazed down with satisfaction at the notebook I’d compiled with various information about the Irenber Family.
Normally, I should have received apprenticeship training from the Family Head as his designated heir. But there was no one in the Irenber Family now to provide such training.
So all I had to cling to were the family’s past records.
From the moment I returned until now, I’d relied on my memories and made only vague guesses about the family’s affairs—there was little I truly knew with certainty about the Irenber Family.
That was because even as the official heir, I’d had no authority to access the family’s various important documents.
But now that I’d become Acting Family Head, that authority was mine.
I stared at the Golden Key resting on the desk.
‘This key is practically a symbol of the Family Head itself.’
This single small key was the gatekeeper to the Archives that unlocked centuries of Irenber history.
‘I never imagined Matthew would have the key. I never dreamed it in my wildest thoughts.’
The night I received Karman’s letter, Matthew came to find me. And he handed me the key.
It was the key to the Archives where the Irenber Family kept its most important documents.
“Father entrusted me with one key as a precaution against unforeseen circumstances.”
According to Matthew, Father had always kept contingencies in mind. For all his thorough preparation, though, Father’s imagination had its limits.
He’d never conceived that he might die a sudden, violent death.
What Father had asked Matthew to do was pass the key to whoever would take over the Family Head’s duties in his absence.
Looking at the meticulously written documents, he must have believed that person could handle immediate urgent matters without difficulty.
“Why are you only giving this to me now?”
Matthew hadn’t revealed the key’s existence to me. When I asked, he replied in his characteristic flat voice:
“When the Duke entrusted the key to me, he instructed that I was to hand it to whoever would serve as Family Head.”
In other words, since I’d been merely a princess with no standing to act as Family Head, he hadn’t given it to me.
But now that I’d gained that standing, Matthew brought the key to me without delay.
Thanks to that key, I’d found myself buried in centuries of the Irenber Family’s ventures and accumulated records.
When I first saw the vast collection of documents, what I felt was rapture.
Records from hundreds of years ago, preserved perfectly by magic, set my heart racing.
Yet I had no time to read through all of them.
I’d asked that only the most recent years’ worth of materials be brought to the study.
For days now, I’d been wrestling with those papers.
‘The Irenber Family has been running smoothly.’
In the family’s early years, they’d pursued aggressive investments and ventures, but once they’d reached a certain stability, they’d operated on a solid system, maintaining their scale through steady, conservative investments.
‘And they devoted themselves to social contribution projects.’
Father and Mother preferred to use the power the Irenber Family wielded not to display it, but to help others.
It was perfect.
The business always turned a profit, and the Irenber Family’s growing wealth flowed back to their territorial subjects and society at large.
Yet problems existed nonetheless.
‘The sacrifice of certain regions.’
I tapped the papers I’d set aside to the right, one after another.
Light casts a shadow. Behind the Irenber Family’s dazzling glory lay the sacrifice of certain territories.
“For example, like Helsinkin.”

I stared at the report’s cover for a long time.
***
Count Kolkos’ Residence was gloomy despite the fair weather.
“Father, what’s happened?”
Bella, her hair braided into two thick plaits, huddled close to Count Kolkos’ side as she spoke.
“Oh, my dear Bella.”
Count Kolkos, reeking of drink since morning, pulled Bella’s shoulders into an embrace. Bella recoiled from the smell of alcohol wafting from him.
“Do I have to go back to the provinces again? To that backwater?”
A few days ago, Bella had learned that Diana had become Acting Family Head of the Irenber Family.
“You said Father would become the master of the Irenber Family, didn’t you?”
Bella glanced around to ensure no one was listening, then turned to Count Kolkos with a question.
The count’s hand froze mid-pour, suspended above empty air.
“Yes. That’s right.”
The events surrounding the late Family Head of Irenber—before his death and after—flickered through Kolkos’s mind.
“You said I would stay in the Capital. Diana’s room would become mine, and everyone would bow and call me Miss. Didn’t you say that?”
Count Kolkos gazed at his daughter, who hung from his arm whimpering.
She bore a striking resemblance to her mother, celebrated for her beauty, and was simply a lovable child.
Transparent skin, clear eyes as bright as a puppy’s, and hair of an uncommon rose-pink hue.
In Kolkos’s eyes, she deserved the finest treatment.
Yet having chosen her parents poorly, she had always felt inferior to Diana.
In turn, Kolkos himself had begun to wonder what he lacked compared to his elder brother.
There was only one deficiency.
Not possessing the Irenber Family.
And that injustice had festered in his heart.
‘My brother received special treatment from childhood simply because he was the eldest. Father said my abilities were lacking, but… was it truly that my abilities were insufficient, or that I simply lacked the opportunity?’
His twisted affection for his daughter had touched upon Kolkos’s inferiority complex.
It was the catalyst that drove the once-quiet Count Kolkos to covet the position of Family Head of Irenber.
But Kolkos lacked any faction of trusted supporters.
First and foremost, he needed to demonstrate his competence and win the confidence of the family elders.
“Elder brother, grant me an opportunity as well!”
“Kolkos, you’ve already drawn an enormous amount of the family’s money. I’ve seen your business reports. In my view, this venture has no chance of success. Abandon it before you invest too much. Salvage what you can.”
Yet his elder brother had somehow sensed his intentions and obstructed every enterprise he attempted.
Inevitably, his influence within the family diminished.
Then it was Julia who extended a hand to Count Kolkos.
“Let me provide the capital. Do as you wish.”
Julia praised the ambition in Kolkos’s heart as aspiration rather than greed, and showed him unwavering trust.
With Julia’s money, her coaching, and Noanda’s assistance, Count Kolkos achieved profits from several ventures.
Though compared to the profits the Irenber Family generated, it was nothing.
Still, Kolkos’s confidence grew daily.
‘If only my brother were gone!’
This was when such thoughts began to take root—when Kolkos’s pride soared to the heavens.
And then, by sheer chance, his brother died.
Count Kolkos believed the Irenber Family would become his.
But it was not to be. At some point his brother had arranged matters so that his young nephew was established as the official Successor of the Irenber Family.
It was nonsense. There was an obvious candidate for the family succession! He had naturally assumed he would take priority!
“I believe Count Kolkos ought to become Family Head of Irenber. But if that cannot be, then at least I can become guardian and raise my young nephew. That’s all that’s left.”
Julia had shown Kolkos the path he must take.
From that point on, Count Kolkos remained in the Capital and did everything he could for Diana.
Every time he saw her, his brother came to mind and he hated him for it, yet he smiled warmly, and when she was troubled, he held her, listening as she wept in his arms.
He had believed he would become her guardian. He was not alone in thinking so.
Banks that had turned their backs after he’d botched several ventures began to reach out to him, and his wife, who had been cold toward him, grew tender and affable.
Even Bella’s face brightened considerably. She no longer made comparisons to Diana, and he heard reports that she was thriving admirably in the Provincial Territory.
Everything had proceeded smoothly.
And then—!
Bang!
Count Kolkos struck the table.
The wine bottle toppled, pouring liquid in streams from its mouth.
“Aah!”
Bella recoiled in alarm. Kolkos snapped back to awareness at her piercing cry.
“Oh, my daughter. Bella! There you are.”
Half-drunk, his eyes glazed, Count Kolkos rose and seized Bella’s forearm.
He failed to control his strength; Bella’s brow furrowed.
“Bella, don’t worry. Everything that is Diana’s will become yours. Don’t worry.”
Count Kolkos spoke as if swearing an oath, his breath reeking of vile liquor with each word. Though Bella grimaced, she did not push him away.
“Really? Diana’s things will become mine? I won’t have to go down to that provincial estate?”
“That is…”
Count Kolkos did not answer readily.
What would Bella do remaining in the Capital? His own position was precarious. The sums he’d borrowed from banks to establish himself as Diana’s guardian were staggering.
They might pressure him for repayment at any moment. He did not wish to show Bella that desperation.
So it would be better if Bella returned to the provincial estate.
“Let me create a reason for me to stay here. So please don’t send me back to the Provincial Territory.”
Bella, who had a good idea, whispered something into Count Kolkos’ ear.
I Bought the Villains with Money (Serial)
Author │ Lee In-hye
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyung
Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd. – Tiramisu
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyuk
Address │ Room 1101, 11 Dochital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong, Ace Techno Tower 8th Building, 11th Floor)
Email │ [email protected]
Homepage │ 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 contents may not be used in any form or by any means without the permission of the company and the 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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