I Will Try to Save My Dad - Chapter 81

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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 81

My reflection in the cracked mirror was a disaster. My usually immaculate upswept hair hung in disarray, blood trickled from my bitten lips, my shawl barely clung to one shoulder, and my entire body trembled with rage.

“Pearl earrings from the Shusubia Archipelago.”

I had been about to hand the Balance Diamond to Baltar, the Dwarves’ chieftain, and leave when Oldman’s Representative arrived. I heard clearly as she presented the jewel to the chieftain.
‘How foolish! She actually brought that counterfeit.’
I had been intoxicated by the thrill of victory for days.
Since the pearl earrings were fake, there was no way the Dwarves would choose Baron Oldman’s jewel. Even if Father learned of this fact and, in the unlikely event that my own jewel wasn’t selected, he would never force me to surrender fifteen percent of the shop’s shares to that bumbling baron.
‘It’s a winning hand for me. I have nothing to lose.’
But then—
“A perfect jewel, and it’s a pearl?”
Were the Dwarves so incompetent they couldn’t authenticate genuine stones? I couldn’t accept the result.
I asked Father to have the pearl earrings re-examined, and yesterday evening, a telegram arrived with the Dwarves’ response.
The earrings were genuine, they said.
“Ha.”
I laughed just as I did upon hearing their response.
It was the same feeling I’d had months ago when Priscilla, my mother, had blindsided me.

“Just pretend to authenticate it. Simply issue a certificate of authenticity and call it genuine.”

Oldman’s Representative had visited the appraisal office in Clock Tower Square—a place where Mariane’s influence reached.
She had instructed them to merely pretend because she feared ridicule if word spread that Mariane Cornelian Trabel had purchased counterfeit pearl earrings for 1.2 billion Cona at auction.
After all, she had known those earrings were fake.
That was why Mariane had never once had the pearl earrings appraised.
Yet they were genuine.
“Yo…sel….”
Mariane’s teeth clenched. Had she been wrong from the beginning? Had Yosel, that bastard, lied to her at the auction house, claiming they were counterfeit just to make a fool of her?
“…I was naive.”
Even after being betrayed by her own mother Priscilla, she had believed Yosel’s words. That naivety was her own fault.
She had momentarily forgotten how the Trabel family constantly schemed against one another.
Just because Reytan was a common thorn in their sides didn’t mean Yosel or Hevanth wouldn’t plunge a blade into her back.
Mariane took a deep breath, straightened her upper body, and swept her hair back.
“I won’t let this slide.”
Since her company shares had been stolen, she needed to extract from Yosel an amount equal to what she had lost.
Mariane left the room with a venomous expression. The servants who had been lingering outside the door, startled by the commotion, flinched in fear at her appearance.
Mariane headed straight for Emerald House.
“Eek. Sister?”
Yosel, who had been in his room, instinctively stepped backward at the sight of Mariane’s ominous expression.
“You, you’ve been out all night?”
“Out all night, you say?”
“Your face looks terrible. You look like someone who’s been awake all night outside.”
Mariane approached the panicked Yosel. Before he could protest, she seized his shirt collar with both hands and shoved him against the wardrobe. His back struck the metal handle of the wardrobe door. Yosel cried out in pain.
“Ugh! What, what are you doing…!”
“I heard the pearl earrings were genuine.”
“What pearl earrings? …Oh, the ones from the charity auction? Why would those be genuine?”
His tone was so brazenly evasive that Mariane couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. Yes, I was the naive one.
“You would know, not me.”
“Cough. Now, now, let’s put this down and talk like civilized people. We should resolve this through conversation—”
Mariane’s grip on his shirt collar tightened. His windpipe constricted, and the skin above Yosel’s neck flushed crimson.
“Talk? Because of you, I’ve lost a fortune, and you want to resolve this through conversation?”
“Sis, sis! What, what do you want!”
It truly felt as though Mariane might kill him. Sensing mortal danger, Yosel screamed. Mariane released the pressure from her grip and spoke.
“Compensation. 10 billion Cona.”
“…Are you insane?”
“If that’s not possible, then transfer 30 percent of your clothing shop shares to me.”
“That’s completely unreasonable—! C-cough, cough.”
As she tightened his windpipe again, Yosel surrendered, throwing both hands up in defeat.
“Then, then let’s do this instead.”
“What, how?”
“I don’t have 10 billion Cona to give you, and I don’t want to hand over 30 percent of the shop’s shares. If you need money, this is perfect for you. You won’t even need to transfer half the net profit to the family.”
“….”
Mariane glared at Yosel, then released the tension from her grip and stepped back.
It was true that she needed a place to earn back what she had lost.
“Well then, let me hear it.”
“I’m going to start a new venture. Without family support.”
“…You?”
Mariane was well aware of Yosel’s financial difficulties. The man didn’t even have the funds to cover the Clothing Shop’s losses right now, yet he wanted to launch a new business? Without family backing?
Yosel let out a smirk.
“I’ve secured investment from the Blue Company.”

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16. The Big Player, the Snake, and the Fool

Summer was waning. The weather had turned crisp.
If anything had changed recently, it was that the ownership of the Crest Mine had transferred to Baron Oldman.
‘I’m the owner of a mine!’
Hehe. I felt full without even eating. For days, I couldn’t contain the corners of my mouth rising uncontrollably, and just recently I overheard Jeffrey and Theon whispering that I must have gotten into some kind of trouble.

“Still, it doesn’t seem to be anything dangerous, so I’m relieved.”

Just a few months ago, Theon was the one insisting we should have no secrets, worrying about what kind of trouble I might cause.
Had he built up enough trust in me that he wouldn’t even ask what I was doing?
‘My male friend supporter plan is going smoothly too!’
And I met with my official representative once.
It was the day I went to a restaurant in Hisport Town.
Click. Click.
‘This is…!’
As I walked down the corridor, a sound caught my ear with unusual intensity.
If I didn’t look right away, something bad would happen. Sensing the urgency, I turned my head toward the source of the sound. It was Jack Jack. This time, not outside a window, but around a corner leading to another corridor.
I made an excuse about the restroom and slipped away, heading in the direction Jack Jack had disappeared. A woman was standing in the corridor.
She was beautiful enough that you’d believe her if you said she was the leading actress of a famous theater troupe.

“I am Jena Chaser. I serve as Baron Oldman’s representative.”
“Wow.”

A rabbit-kin hybrid.
She said that when she was young, she crossed over from the Edencia Kingdom to the Heishal Empire together with Jack Jack, and that’s when she met my grandfather and formed a connection.
After the brief introduction, Zena Chaser’s violet eyes fixed upon me. Her expression was inscrutable.
For some reason, it felt like she was looking at my head rather than my face.

“…You have a lovely head shape.”

It was praise that made no sense.
Though right now, there were others more deserving of compliments.
“It suits you well.”
“You look like a model!”
At Father’s and my words, Theon’s face flushed red.
Today we had visited the Trang Clothing Shop to purchase autumn clothes. Jeffrey had intended to come along to help with fittings, but Anne had firmly opposed it, so he couldn’t make it.
“The new designs suit you all wonderfully! Reytan, Miss Berry, and Young Master Theon—you all carry off any garment so beautifully that I’m absolutely thrilled…!”
The Head Designer clasped her hands together in delight. Then, mentioning that there was an adult formal suit tailored to match what Theon was wearing, she eagerly led Father and Theon to the fitting room, insisting she wanted to see the two of them dressed together.
Left alone on the sofa, I was sipping juice when my eyes met the Shop Manager’s.
“Oh.”
It was around the time when the scheme we had plotted together last time should be progressing.
Whether he was thinking the same thing as me, the Shop Manager approached and we quickly made contact.
“How did it go?”
To my vague question without an object, the Shop Manager answered immediately.
“The company head showed considerable interest. He said he would prepare everything himself and to simply wait—”
Oh. So it was Uncle Victor after all.
He had shown interest in the collaboration between Father and the Trang Clothing Shop!
“And then?”
I waited eagerly for the Shop Manager’s next words. If things proceeded smoothly, then four years from now, right after the first Separate House competition ended, we could immediately give wings to the clothing shop business—
“He went dark. In other words, he’s stopped all contact.”
“Huh?”

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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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