I Will Try to Save My Dad - Chapter 82

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 82

Victor has gone silent?
The Shop Manager answered with a sorrowful yet resigned expression.
“I understand. He must have realized it himself—that there’s no way to persuade Reytan. We’ve made several business proposals to him as well, but each time he refused quite firmly.”
“Hmm…”
I couldn’t agree with the Shop Manager’s assessment.
Victor had grown up in the slums and possessed the kind of determination to become the head of a merchant company.
From the day we conspired together until now—roughly a month.
‘There’s no way he’d give up in just that span of time!’
The clothing shop was a means to definitively boost Father’s performance above all else.
Today too, Trang Clothing Shop was so packed with customers that one had to enter through the staff-only passage.
With such clear prospects for success, he couldn’t possibly abandon this.
“Miss Berry even personally hinted at the friendship between the two of them. I’m deeply ashamed of how things have turned out… If only I possessed even a fraction of Reytan’s sensibility as a manager…! Perhaps he would have opened his heart…!”
“How long has it been since you last heard from Victor?”
He was definitely scheming something.
At my question, the Shop Manager, who had been quietly reproaching himself, straightened his posture.
“Let me see—I contacted him the day after Miss Berry mentioned it, and his reply came two days later when we met, so…”
Then he counted on his fingers, searching his memory.
“We’re now entering the fourth week.”

***

Hisport Town, Manager’s Office of Yosel Clothing Store.
‘Hmm.’
I studied the man before me. The clothes he wore were far from my taste.
Victor Stings. The merchant lord of Blue Company.
A navy suit with not a single pattern, a white shirt with its collar left unstarched, and merely a single necktie fastened.
Though his tall, well-built frame carried the clothes adequately, such plainness was unbearable.
“Merchant lord, I’m ordinarily a cultured person who doesn’t speak such rudely in front of others, but I must say—”
I finally opened my mouth.
My attitude was entirely different from when I had escorted Victor here on Hevanth’s errand not long ago.
This was only natural. I was the third son of Count Trabel, while he was merely a commoner merchant lord. Of course, the merchant lord had considerable wealth for a commoner, but my family possessed far more.
In any case, I felt this needed to be said. I spoke to Victor with sincerity.
“If we’re to do business together, our sense of fashion must align, mustn’t it? I cannot have someone plain beside me.”
“….”
“Children’s clothing business—excellent. Children grow rapidly, so clothes will sell swiftly. And when they stop growing so quickly, they’ll seek new clothing shops. Won’t they? Then there will come a time when they recall your austere attire from their childhood, and they’ll wonder if they should visit a similar establishment instead. Wouldn’t that be unfortunate?”
I gazed at the merchant lord, pleased with my heartfelt counsel. He, however, seemed to be cleaning his ear with his pinky finger, as if my valuable advice had gone in one ear and out the other. I asked in bewilderment.
“What, what are you doing?”
“Ah, my apologies. My ears have been itching since earlier.”
Victor smiled and spoke with casual ease.
“They say your ears itch when someone speaks ill of you. Living as a merchant lord, this becomes daily occurrence. It seems I’ll live a very long time.”
Victor’s narrow eyes curved into crescents. His sharp gray eyes swept across my attire.
‘Is he a jester?’
Though I’d sensed it before, Yosel Cornelian Trabel’s clothing was more bewildering and flamboyant than anyone I’d ever encountered.
A green fabric with thick black stripe patterns for the upper garment, shoulders puffed like balloons, shirt collar standing rigidly upright, a cravat layered around the entire neck, voluminous lace secured with pins, and trousers that clung tightly to the calves—
I withdrew my gaze.
It felt like I was doing violence to my precious eyes.
“I understood the advice you gave regarding attire. Though I cannot match Yosel’s standards, I shall endeavor to dress with enjoyment myself.”
“With enjoyment? That’s what having a sense of fashion means. You must gather all the trends together to lead the way forward.”
“I see. I hadn’t realized. Ah, since you mention it, your elder brother Reytan also possesses excellent taste in clothing, does he not? He has quite the reputation among our company’s clientele.”
At Victor’s words, my eyes changed. I raised a finger in warning.
“If you’re to work with me, there’s one more thing you must observe. Don’t speak of Reytan unless it’s praise.”
“You mean no slander rather than praise, sir?”
“Who came seeking me out, hoping to conduct the children’s clothing business under the prestige of my clothing store?”
Victor regarded me silently for a moment, then chuckled.
“That would be me, sir.”
Hevanth’s errand had become a connection. Victor Stings had sought me out, saying he was deeply grateful for how generously I had treated him that day.
Then the matter of business came up. I would establish a clothing shop specializing in children’s garments, and Victor would bear the initial investment capital.
Since a substantial sum of investment would be exchanged, a guarantor was needed for the contract. I had stamped the signature line of the guarantor on the contract with the seal of the Trabel Count Family.

“Does the Trabel Count Family provide guarantees as well?”
“Our family has always done things this way. Since I, as a direct heir, am conducting business, wouldn’t the family provide a guarantee?”

Yosel spoke casually, though it was a kind of bluff.
The Trabel Count Family allowed direct heirs who possessed the Separate House to appoint the family itself as a joint guarantor for amounts below a certain threshold, without requiring the family head’s permission. In such cases, the family seal would be obtained through the butler.
However, if the Trabel Count Family assumed debt as a joint guarantor, twice that amount would be deducted from the direct heir’s performance record.
‘A negative balance suits bastard children better.’
But Yosel was confident. Hevanth’s one billion, Victor Stings’ substantial investment.
No matter how fiercely Mariane came at me, my world was turning smoothly these days.
‘My financial luck has opened up.’
Recently, I had been receiving large sums of money one after another. Money was clinging to me.
Business was all about momentum. No matter how I thought about it, all I could see in my future was the success of this new venture.
“I will keep both points you mentioned in mind. And.”
Victor placed the rectangular bag he had brought onto the table.
With a click, as the bag opened, bundles of bills packed tightly inside came into view.
“Two billion Kona.”
“Really now. You could have brought a check. Bringing cash instead—how heavy.”
Though he spoke with reproach, Yosel’s eyes gleamed as he gazed at the money.
Grinning widely, Yosel picked up one bundle of bills.
With a rustling sound, hundred-thousand-Kona notes fluttered, carrying the scent of money on the breeze.
‘Ah. This scent.’
To Yosel, who was savoring the intoxicating feeling, Victor gave a solemn reminder.
“You mustn’t forget that this is investment capital, yes?”
“I understand, I understand.”
I’ll earn it back splendidly.
Yosel shot a meaningful glance at Victor. Victor chuckled.
“I’m counting on you, Yosel.”

***

‘What is Victor up to?’
I pondered this the entire journey back from Trang Clothing Shop, but couldn’t quite grasp it.
If the Shop Manager had positively received Victor’s opinion on business expansion, wouldn’t Victor have approached Father at least once?
Back at Stone House, I was lying with my head resting on Father’s lap. The sofa in Father’s room was wonderfully spacious.
“Father, aren’t you going to Goldport?”
“Goldport? Why there?”
Father, who had been organizing his cards, turned the question back on me.
“Just… I want to see Demian, and I want to see Victor too~”
“Demian isn’t in Goldport, and the Company Head must be busy.”
“Hmm.”
Something smelled like evasion.
“Father, Father. Look at me.”
Father knew far too well when I was lying. Which meant I possessed enough ability to see through Father’s lies as well. In that modest two-story house in Bonwell Village where Quartz and I lived, there were no secrets.
As I raised my upper body and repositioned myself to face Father, he set down his cards on the table and looked at me.
“Reytan, if I may ask you something.”
“It’s been a while, Detective Berry.”
“Have you visited Goldport Town at any point since meeting Demian last time?”
“No.”
Interesting. The truth.
My question’s real purpose was to find out whether Father and Victor had met. But if I mentioned Victor directly right away, it would look suspicious—
“And have you met with Demian since then?”
“No.”
“Um… then did Victor contact you?”
“He didn’t. Berry, what is it you want to know?”
I detected no hint of deception from Father.
Rather, Father turned the interrogation on me. Ugh. I can’t meet his eyes.
I averted my gaze and searched for a different topic. As I looked at the table, something suddenly came to mind.
“Oh, that’s right. Father, I saw someone who looked like Peter in Hisport Town today.”
“…Peter?”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————