I Bought the Villains With Money - Chapter 66

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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 66.
“I’ll stake Irenber’s name on it. I’m certain you won’t regret it. There’s no point explaining now—you wouldn’t believe me anyway. I didn’t believe it myself until I saw it firsthand.”
“Believe what, exactly?”
I hesitated for a moment, then decided to speak. Oskin didn’t strike me as the type to gossip about our conversation.
“The substance of magic.”
“Magic? You mean in Helsingkin, where they make magical artifacts—surely you don’t mean—!”
Oskin’s nostrils flared. He began breathing in sharp, excited bursts.
“Is there a hidden Mana Stone in our Helsingkin?”
His dreams were certainly ambitious.
“No.”
Oskin, who had been squirming with excitement moments before, visibly deflated.
“If it’s not a Mana Stone, then what needs to be dug from the earth? As you know, there’s no gold or silver in Helsingkin.”
I let out a short laugh.
“Just finish looking at the blueprints.”
When it became clear I wasn’t going to reveal anything more, Oskin bent his head back over the blueprints.
He was quick to give up.
I turned my gaze toward the window. The barren slopes of Helsingkin flashed past in the distance.
‘The mountains are bleak now that every tree has been felled, but at least it’s led to a new industry.’
The magical substance I’d spoken of was coal.
A black stone that could replace wood.
This black stone, which burned longer and hotter than wood, lay buried deep beneath the earth.
It was the children of Helsingkin who first discovered it.
After several floods and a landslide transformed Helsingkin into barren slopes, the deep earth was exposed, and children began collecting and playing with the black stones that rolled out. Then, by pure chance, someone tossed one into a fireplace—and!
‘They witnessed a terrifying inferno.’
The people of Helsingkin, convinced the black stone was a magical substance, brought it to the mages. They likely thought it was some undiscovered variety of Mana Stone.
Through research, the mages discovered that unlike ordinary Mana Stones, the black stone contained no detectable mana and could not be inscribed with magical runes.
The black stone was an entirely new material, and the mages named it coal. They declared they would study it themselves and flooded into Helsingkin, turning the mountains inside out.
When it became clear that enormous deposits of coal lay scattered across Helsingkin’s mountains, the mages soon returned, this time eager to develop the resource.
It was the period when the mages were beginning to taste profit.
Oskin, fool that he was, handed over the mining rights to coal in exchange for merely thirty percent of the net profits.
When coal was introduced to the market, it became wildly popular.
No longer did anyone need to build warehouses for winter fuel storage, or worry about wood rotting with mold.
Afterward, coal mines sprouted up across the Kingdom, but none could match Helsingkin’s coal.
Helsingkin coal produced no smoke or stench—the crown jewel of coal itself!
‘And he just handed it over to the mages. When I heard that news, I was absolutely furious.’
Even I, who had been so infatuated with Dayson that I’d paid little attention to House affairs, heard that Helsingkin’s coal had fallen into the mages’ hands. That very day, while calculating our losses and gains, I forgot my evening appointment with Dayson.
It was that shocking. That painful.
But I won’t let it pain me this time.
‘Because I’m going to have it.’
“Good heavens, how is this even supposed to be made?”
While I’d been lost in thought, Oskin continued studying the blueprints.
Though Oskin was somewhat simple-minded, I had to credit him with his sincerity and dogged persistence.
Oskin scratched near his eyebrows.
Digging down four hundred meters was certainly no easy task.
“Only a mage could manage something like this.”
Oskin muttered in frustration. My eyes snapped open.
How had I not thought of it sooner?
“Oskin, that’s brilliant!”
Oskin tilted his head, puzzled by my sudden praise.
Since the mages had wronged us in the past, it was only fitting I use a mage against them this time.
I immediately wrote down a name for Oskin.
A 3rd Circle mage—a villain who had squeezed Oskin dry and stolen away the coal mining rights.
I didn’t know where he was or what he was doing now, but past debts were the present’s responsibility to settle.
I would find this man, and I would drain every last drop of mana from his Mana Pool.
***
Where was I? Who was I?
I sat with my chin propped in my hand, my expression openly apathetic.
This morning I’d only meant to deliver a note to Oskin and rest.
So why—how—was I here at a party? And worse, a party thrown in my honor, which I didn’t even want.
“Miss, have a look at this. Isn’t it absolutely darling?”
Sitting in a chair positioned above the ballroom decked entirely in pink, swinging my legs, I watched Jennis thrust her tenth teddy bear at me.
“How. Absolutely. Delightful.”
And she delivered the same refrain for the tenth time.
Why did people assume every child in the world adored teddy bears?
‘I don’t.’
There’s something I need to clarify here. It’s not that my soul is in its twenties and therefore I dislike teddy bears.
Even when I was truly a child—at thirteen—I never liked them.
“Are you not enjoying yourself, Miss? Do try to have some fun.”
Seeing my tepid reaction to opening the gifts, Jennis set down the bundle and sat beside me.
“I’m enjoying it.”
I turned my gaze toward the clown spinning in circles at the center of the ballroom. If only for the sake of the person who’d prepared so carefully, I had to at least pretend to be entertained.
‘That person’s quite flexible.’
I did manage to appreciate the clown’s skill.
Then came a heavy sigh. When I turned, I saw Jennis wearing a serious expression.
“Jennis, what’s wrong?”
“Miss, have you noticed you’ve changed?”
My chest tightened. Since I spent nearly every day with Jennis, I’d assumed she’d be the first to notice my transformation. Yet as time had passed since my regression without her saying anything, I’d thought perhaps I’d gotten away with it.
‘I wondered if I was pulling it off.’
Truth was, I hadn’t even tried to hide the change—I’d just been rushing forward, focused only on what lay ahead.
“I’ve changed? For the worse?”
Jennis rested her chin on the back of her hand, flaring her nostrils as she pondered this seriously.
Hearing that I’d gotten worse from Jennis would sting.
I wanted to be good to her more than anyone else—she’d risked her life for me.
“I’m not sure I’d call it bad, exactly.”
“Then how have I changed?”
“You’ve become far too mature.”
Well, that makes sense—there’s an adult living inside this body.
“What made you think that?”
Once I heard her reasons, I’d make sure to do the opposite going forward.
“You always brush your teeth before bed. You bathe regularly. You’re reluctant to go outside on rainy days…….”
The examples were so perfectly reasonable that I couldn’t bring myself to act against them.
Though now I wondered—hadn’t I brushed my teeth as a child? Hadn’t I washed myself?
‘The me I know and the me Jennis knows seem to be different people.’
“There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”
I cut in quickly before she could say more. She nodded.
“No, it’s not wrong, but……I worry your childhood will disappear.”
“Hm?”
“They say people live on the memories of their childhood. When adults face hardship, they endure it through the memory of being loved in times like these, through joy. But you’re becoming Acting Head of Household and working instead of gathering the joy you’ll need to draw on when you’re grown. Is that truly a good thing?”
I could feel how deeply Jennis cared for me.
The joy of childhood giving strength to endure adulthood’s sorrows.
It did sound true.
But I wasn’t a child.
“Whenever you act so grown up, I worry I’ve failed you somehow. And I’m sorry that I can’t be the support you need, even though I’m supposed to be older.”
That wasn’t true at all. I relied on Jennis greatly.
The fact that I didn’t take care of my own health and still worked, that I ran about recklessly in shoes—all of that was because of Jennis.
‘If I go hungry, she’ll prepare meals. If I fall, she’ll apply medicine.’
“I wish you’d be more childish with me.”
Jennis spoke shyly, as though confessing her love.
I thought I was being childish with her in my own way, but apparently it fell far short of what she hoped for.
But what does childishness look like for a thirteen-year-old? Asking to be held? Squealing with delight over teddy bears? Or throwing a tantrum about eating sugary desserts and refusing to brush my teeth?
None of those were things I could do.
There are things a soul in its twenties can and cannot do. Sometimes I forget, having grown so accustomed to being thirteen, but…….
Still, since Jennis wanted it, I decided to show her my own brand of childishness.
“Jennis, I rely on you greatly. I receive your help time and again.”
“It’s nice to hear you say that.”
It’s not just words, though she doesn’t seem to believe it.
“All right then. Since you don’t believe me, maybe I should show you some childishness starting now.”
“Oh my, that’s wonderful! Shall we open the gift bundle right away?”
“No, the kind of childishness I want to show is a bit different.”
“What kind?”
Jennis’s eyes sparkled.
“Please end this party right now. I really need to rest. I want to sleep.”
I clasped my hands together in supplication, looking only at Jennis.
“If you simply left… ah, but all these people have gathered for you, so you couldn’t brush them off coldly. I understand! You want me to give you a legitimate reason to leave the party, don’t you?”
Jennis was sharp, as always.
In truth, I could have just walked out, but given Oskin’s temperament, he’d certainly have followed, questioning whether the party had displeased me, pestering me with endless inquiries.
And he’d make a fuss about hosting a party tailored to my tastes.
‘I really can’t bear a second one.’
I wished that while I was here, he wouldn’t so much as breathe a word of “party.”
‘But Jennis might actually pull it off.’
“Just a moment, Miss.”
Jennis rose with a look of determination. I watched as she moved into action.
I Bought the Villains with Money (Serialized)
Author │ Lee In-hye
Publisher │ Kim Joo-hyung
Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd. – Tiramisu
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyuk
Address │ 1101, 11F, Ace Techno Tower 8th, 33 Digital-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ http://blog.naver.com/jayplemedia1
© Lee In-hye 2021
※ This work is published by J Plus 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 provision 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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