I Bought the Villains With Money - Chapter 70

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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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Chapter 70.
“I will do it.”
At last, Hendricks gave his consent.
Foolish Hendricks—he had accepted a contract he would come to regret bitterly in the years ahead.
“Wait just a moment. You’re not signing there.”
I rummaged through my Magic Pouch. Hendricks’s face betrayed his desperate curiosity about what I might produce next.
I placed before him a Contract—the kind mages used when binding themselves. The Magical Parchment bore a field for the notary’s name.
I flourished the document and laid it on the table with a flourish.
“You’ll be receiving Magical Notarization as well?”
Hendricks’s brow furrowed as he questioned me.
“To solidify our trust, let’s include Magical Notarization. The contract period is exactly eleven years—you’ll work for Helsinkin and serve Helsinkin’s interests throughout, no matter what.”
Since he’d supposedly studied 4th Circle Magic for ten years before fleeing, I’d set the contract duration at eleven years.
‘Ten years is tolerable enough; let him suffer just one more year on top of that.’
“Eleven years is rather long….”
Hendricks instinctively bristled at the prospect.
A contract without renewal was unsettling enough.
So I tripled the salary I’d originally proposed.
“At this rate, even after eleven years you won’t find wages like this anywhere else. You understand, don’t you?”
The skepticism in Hendricks’s eyes shifted, yielding to something else.
He glanced toward Oskin. Oskin was watching me with a satisfied smile, and for some reason that expression seemed to reassure Hendricks.
I offered him a pen—a special one imbued with mana.
“As you know, you sign first.”
“But who exactly are you getting to perform the Magical Notarization? Surely you know it must be done by a mage? If you don’t have someone in mind, I could introduce you to someone?”
Hendricks was fretting over a non-issue.
I took the pen back from Hendricks after he’d finished signing, added my own signature, then passed the contract to Jennis. Once I confirmed she’d sealed it in an envelope, I addressed Hendricks’s unspoken question.
“I have a notary.”
“Who is it?”
Hendricks asked. That faint smirk playing at his lips told me exactly what he was thinking.
Typically, Magical Notarization must be performed by a mage of higher Circle than those signing the contract. Otherwise, if the contract is violated, the violating party suffers no magical consequence.
There were unscrupulous mages who exploited this to commit fraud.
Hendricks likely hoped to bring in a mage of lower Circle and have them notarize it—
That way, he could circumvent the eleven-year term.
‘Absolutely not on my watch.’
I smiled sweetly and spoke.
“Guardian, the Mage.”
Hendricks’s jaw went slack.
“You know—Guardian. The mage who became the first to open the 8th Circle.”
“G-G-Guardian the Mage? H-How do you know him?”
Hendricks asked with the expression of someone who’d just bitten into a cockroach. I answered cheerfully, explaining my connection to Guardian.
“He’s my betrothed’s—the Third Prince’s—master.”
The rosy future Hendricks had been dreaming of—defaulting on his wages—crumbled to dust.
The contract had succeeded.
***
After concluding the contract with Hendricks, I immediately began packing for the trip to the Capital.
“Push things forward as quickly as possible. You understand?”
I said this to Oskin.
It was a request to work Hendricks mercilessly.
“Yes, I’ll make sure to get it done! But you’re not telling me what’s buried underground?”
Even as Oskin did exactly as I instructed, he still couldn’t bring himself to believe my claim about digging for profit.
Good heavens, if I told him later that I made money selling water, he’d faint dead away.
“Governor Oskin, this time just do exactly as I say. All expenses for this project will be covered by House Irenber, and should any harm befall Helsinkin, we’ll compensate it fully.”
“No, that’s not it!”
Oskin bristled at my words.
Listen here, you territorial administrator.
You need to think about your finances a bit more.
I felt exasperated, but I continued with a smile.
“Whatever the reason, just proceed according to the blueprints and designs I’ve drawn.”
“Couldn’t you stay a while longer and oversee it?”
Oskin made this request of a girl much younger than himself without the slightest hesitation.
That was Oskin’s strength—he judged people by their competence alone, regardless of age or station.
The problem is that his eye for talent isn’t sharp.
I handed him a list I’d prepared as a final measure for the coal mining venture.
It was a roster I’d drawn up the night I discovered that Oskin couldn’t even read blueprints and that Helsinkin had no one to assist him.
“Go to the Academy at once and recruit the people listed here.”
“But they’re only third-year students?”
Typically, the Academy requires six years of study.
It was understandable that Oskin would be puzzled at being told to recruit children who couldn’t be brought over immediately to work after investing significant sums.
“Think of it as an investment. Once they graduate, they’ll be rooted in Helsinkin. And for immediate staffing needs, look at the second paper I gave you.”
“Ah, the Lora Region. It’s close by and full of good-hearted people. My late wife once went there to recuperate when she fell ill, and the hot springs were wonderful—the locals were so attentive and caring…”
Oskin rambled on with personal anecdotes.
“The people of Lora Region are genuinely fine folk. The names I’ve given you are mathematicians and architects from the Lora Region. Help them settle in Helsinkin and put them to work on this project. For anything you don’t understand, ask Hendricks. If he slacks off or dawdles, contact me directly. Appearances aside, he’s quite competent at reading designs and blueprints. As for engraving magic into machines—just assign it to him. He’ll figure out what magic to inscribe.”
I cut off Oskin’s meandering at an opportune moment and quickly explained what I’d already worked out.
Oskin let out a small wait partway through, then accepted a pen and paper, jotting down everything I said.
A genuine eagerness to learn—excellent.
This was the extent of what I could help with.
Part of me wanted to oversee the entire process of mining and distributing coal, but given Helsinkin’s current state, it seemed coal extraction wouldn’t be feasible in the near term.
This problem arose from my attempt to accelerate something that shouldn’t happen for another five years.
‘I’ve been too hasty. The engagement ceremony isn’t far off—I should focus on that first.’
“Your Grace.”
While Jennis packed behind me and I reviewed my hurried schedule, Oskin spoke up.
“Yes, Lord Oskin?”
“About that engagement ceremony…”
He trailed off.
He seemed to be working up to a request, so I responded with an encouraging smile, inviting him to speak freely.
“Yes, the engagement ceremony.”
“May I… might I attend as well?”
Hmm?
I raised one eyebrow.
Thanks to Oskin, I found myself seriously considering the engagement guest list for the first time.
***
Near the Rose Garden of the Royal Palace.
Bella was hiding behind a thicket of bushes.
‘Prince Dayson takes his evening walk here at this hour, or so I was told.’
She was waiting for Dayson, intending to arrange what would appear to be a chance encounter.
Well past the time she’d been told to expect him, her legs had begun to ache, but Bella bore it without complaint.
‘I must see Prince Dayson today, no matter what.’
Bella stretched her numbed legs with a sharp movement, pins and needles shooting through her feet.
She barely stifled a groan that threatened to escape her lips, then extended her other leg. When she was halfway through the stretch, the pain became too intense, and she gripped her thigh with both hands.
‘Why is he so late!’
Bella was beginning to doubt whether the Countess Kolkos’s information was accurate.
It was already past four-thirty in the afternoon.
She’d been told that Dayson took his walk at four o’clock.
‘I need to tell Father to change who brings him information.’
That person’s missteps had caused problems more than once.
‘Father didn’t even know Prince Kasion and Diana’s engagement was being arranged!’
Bella couldn’t fathom it.
Since the age when she could speak and form memories, Bella had assumed that she—not Diana—would be the one to forge a connection with the royal family.
Diana had grown up believing that House Irenber was supreme, and naturally she wanted a life devoted to House Irenber.
So Diana’s husband was bound to be someone willing to dedicate himself to a woman who lived for House Irenber.
“A husband in name only would suit her perfectly. My brother will obviously bring in some obedient boy from a minor house. That’s why he even married his wife—just a provincial woman who inherited a title, nothing more.”
Those were words Countess Kolkos had spoken to her husband when Bella was young, and Bella had agreed with them.
She’d been confident that she herself would marry a man of far better station than Diana’s.
So why this!
‘The royal family, no less!’
There was no man in the Kingdom with better prospects than a prince. To surpass Diana, Bella would have to marry the King himself.
But even accounting for Bella’s youth and limited perspective, she could never seriously consider Karman as a marriage prospect—the age difference alone was more than triple.
That left only one option: a prince, someone of equal rank to Diana’s betrothed.
While it was extremely rare for two branches of a single house to forge royal connections simultaneously, technically Countess Kolkos was now independent from House Irenber, so it was permissible.
‘But ultimately, Father will become House Irenber!’
Suddenly, as Bella contemplated this future vision, she grew calm.
‘Besides, once Father becomes the head of House Irenber, he’ll cast Diana aside anyway. There’s no reason I can’t marry Prince Dayson.’
Diana without House Irenber.
Would King Karman even accept such a Diana as his princess consort?
‘Not a chance. Strip away the name Irenber, and there’s nothing left of Diana at all.’
As she painted this rosy future, Bella’s mood—which had grown heavy—lifted considerably. The waiting itself had become a pleasure.
It was then that she heard footsteps in the distance.
Bella rose slowly from her seat. She brushed at her Dress and inspected it for any soiled patches.
Fortunately, having sat carefully, no dirt had found its way onto the fabric.
The problem lay not with the Dress, but with her legs. The emotion had masked the ache, but now a prickling sensation crept through them.
Bella rolled her legs beneath the Dress, trying to drive away the tingling before meeting Dayson.
Yet the sharp sensation refused to fade quickly. She furrowed her brow at the discomfort, then smoothed it away just as fast.
Dayson drew near faster than expected. She needed to slip out now to stage their meeting as a chance encounter.
Bella limped awkwardly around the Rose Garden, her legs still half-numb, moving with affected casualness.
Hoping he would spot her soon.
‘Surely he’ll recognize me?’
Bella felt a flicker of worry. But it was groundless.
“Oh! Lady Bella!”
Dayson hailed her in a bright, cheerful voice.
Bella turned, then spun around with deliberate force. Her waves of hair caught the breeze and fluttered behind her—just as she’d pictured it.
She’d been mimicking a scene from the romance novels she’d loved since childhood.
“Lady Bella! Your hair is in your mouth…….”
She’d imagined such a beautiful moment, but reality diverged from fantasy. As Dayson approached, he smiled awkwardly and pointed to the corner of her mouth.
Bella brushed her hair aside nonchalantly and greeted him. Internally, she cursed.
“It’s been so long, Your Highness. I trust you’ve been well?”
I Bought 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 | 1101, 11F, Ace Techno Tower 8th, 33 Digit-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 no content may be used in any form or by any means without permission from the publisher and author.
Violation of this will result in civil and criminal 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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