I’m a Mother-in-Law, but I Dislike Conflict with My Daughter-in-Law - Chapter 61

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I’m a Mother-in-Law, But I Don’t Want Family Conflicts Episode 61

Leaving Nata in the carriage, Wilhelmina slowly walked toward the shop with her umbrella up.

“….”

The sound of rain was so heavy that Jane didn’t notice Wilhelmina’s arrival as she picked up broken window fragments with her hands.

This was not the Jane that Wilhelmina knew.

Wilhelmina called out to her with a voice that deliberately concealed her emotions.

“Jane.”

“…Grand Duchess?”

Jane slowly turned her head.

Her rain-soaked hair clung to her cheek, and the other cheek was swollen red. There was no trace of the intellectual appearance she had when listening attentively to Wilhelmina’s stories.

Her eyes were dead. There was no strength felt in the hands that had been collecting glass shards.

“I heard about your situation.”

“I’m sorry… This morning, there was something to deliver to the annex building….”

“I understand the circumstances. You weren’t in a situation to focus on work.”

“The contract was… taken too. It had the Grand Duchess’s seal on it, but I couldn’t protect it. Even though it was a contract between you and me.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“I’ll refund the payment. Not just for today, but I received payment for next week too, so I’ll exchange the promissory notes first- Oh, but then I’d have to return to the main house.”

“Jane.”

“Could you wait just a little? Let me clean up the shop and try to prepare the money. With it broken like this, guests will really think we’ve closed, so I’ll just finish cleaning. There’s no employee, so I have to do it alone….”

“That’s not what I want to hear.”

Wilhelmina took a step closer.

Jane squinted as raindrops hit her eyebrows.

Wilhelmina with her umbrella looked like a different person. She looked the same, but her atmosphere was like….

“What do you want to say?”

“….”

She forced Jane to answer.

At this forceful attitude she had never seen before, Jane flinched and trembled her shoulders.

“I didn’t come here to break our contract because I couldn’t receive the goods.”

“Then….”

“I came here to hear what you want to do from now on.”

Whoosh-

The rain grew heavier and heavier. For rain announcing spring, it was far too heavy and made her hang her head.

“Last time… you said you would invest in me.”

“That’s right.”

As soon as the word investment came out of her mouth, Jane frowned as if chewing sand.

“Could you trust me and invest in me? Just a little, just a very little would be fine. If you could invest at least enough money to buy ten sacks of flour, I could pay it back within three months.”

Jane was desperate. More frightening than the fact that the contract was broken or the sadness of having the shop’s goods taken was the reality of having to give up being a merchant.

At this rate, she would have to return to the main house. Her merchant qualification came from Goldrail, and even this shabby building belonged to her father. If she lost this shop, she wouldn’t even have a place to sleep immediately.

When she returned to the main house, she would have to live not as a merchant, but as ‘Jane Billow’. That terrified her so much.

If she had even a little money, she thought she’d rather flee this city and try being a peddler.

Even knowing how absurd that dream was, she moved her lips.

“If, if it’s too much money… even a million peon would be fine. No, I’d rather disguise my identity and work as a servant…”

“I can invest as much money as needed. I trust you.”

As if she could no longer listen to Jane’s pleas, Wilhelmina firmly cut her off.

“Your abilities are exceptional. I guarantee it. You’re clever and intelligent, so I believe even if I gave you a million gold, you’d turn it into ten million.”

“Then…”

“But if I give you money, will you be satisfied?”

Satisfied?

Jane stared blankly at Wilhelmina as if she had forgotten to blink.

Under the dark sky, because she was holding a black umbrella, her face wasn’t clearly visible. Wilhelmina, hidden in deep shadows, spoke.

“If you succeed with the money I invest, if you earn enough to repay all these losses, can you be satisfied with that? Do you have the confidence to forget all the humiliation you suffered and enjoy a new life?”

“What do you… mean by that?”

“I’m asking if you’re not angry.”

To meet her eyes, Wilhelmina raised the umbrella higher.

Rain began pouring down, soaking her dress, but Wilhelmina’s unwavering gaze fixed only on Jane.

“Don’t you hate him for turning your efforts into nothing? Can you tolerate having the Goldrail name stolen? I don’t like your face right now. That pathetic look of frustration and despair irritates me.”

“Grand, Grand Duchess?”

“Jane, I’m disappointed in you for the first time. What you should be doing isn’t begging pathetically. This isn’t the time to whine and fret over a few coins.”

Only then did Jane realize how different Wilhelmina looked.

She was like a demon from a fairy tale. A demon who incited evil emotions and urged one to fulfill their wishes.

More beautiful than an angel, a demon offering the sweet path of corruption rather than the road to heaven.

“When you see me, who has the ‘status’ your father so desperately wanted, the emotion you should feel is anger.”

“…Anger.”

“I want revenge. I won’t forgive. Anger that says you’ll do anything to achieve that. And the one who can fulfill that anger is right here.”

She slightly lifted the umbrella and extended it forward. Even though her back was getting wet, she didn’t care.

“Use everything you can. Instead of crying pathetically in the rain, make a resolution while hating someone. Don’t think of running away, think of taking back what’s yours.”

“…”

“Now do you know what you should say to me?”

I know.

With her saying this much, there was no way not to understand.

Jane took a step closer to Wilhelmina. Wilhelmina also moved to create empty space under the umbrella.

Even knowing that entering her embrace, that place untouched by rain, would lead to irreversible consequences—Jane took another step.

If she just took money from her and fled, perhaps a more comfortable life awaited.

She could escape from the terrible Yulkes while burying any dangerous thoughts of revenge.

But she couldn’t be satisfied with that. She would surely spend her life remembering this humiliation, ignoring the rising anger.

She couldn’t do that.

“Grand Duchess.”

“Yes.”

“Will you… help me?”

In the end, Jane came under the umbrella.

The two, now close enough to feel each other’s breathing, met each other’s coldly sunken gazes.

“I want revenge. I want to make Father regret it. I want him to realize that I’m superior to my other brothers, superior to the branch managers.”

“And?”

“I want to take back what’s mine. This branch store, the contracts, the goods, and…”

First-generation nobility – status isn’t inherited, but trading companies are.

It was proper to pass the trading company to the most brilliant child. Yes, that was common sense. Knowing this, Jane had worked hard all this time.

“I’ll steal Goldrail.”

If Father had stolen everything, she would steal everything from Father.

Wilhelmina raised the corners of her mouth. It was an unfamiliar smile. With a satisfying sneer, a smile like a demon looking at a contractor, she answered.

“Let’s make a contract.”

-The rain did not stop.

* * *

‘-I said that, but nothing comes to mind right now.’

I sat on the bed and stared blankly out the window, thinking.

‘I got caught up in the atmosphere and went a bit… overboard.’

The plan was to first call people to help clean up the store, then slowly listen to Jane’s circumstances, but seeing Jane getting rained on like an abandoned puppy made anger surge up in me instantly.

So I ended up making a contract I couldn’t even be sure about.

“Sigh.”

What should I do now, I was trying to sort out my complicated thoughts when Nata, who had brought warm tea from the kitchen, approached me.

“Grand Madam.”

“Ah, thank you. Where’s Anna?”

“She went to take care of Miss Jane.”

Usually Anna would bring it, but she seemed to have gone to the guest room because of Jane.

It was a bit strange for a knight to run tea errands, but Nata would sometimes calmly take on such tasks.

He looked at me with a peculiar expression as he set down the tea.

Feeling somewhat burdened, I avoided his gaze and took a sip of tea.

“…What are you staring at?”

“My apologies. I just thought it was very like you, Grand Madam.”

He seemed to be having strange expectations again.

That peculiar expression was the same as Anna’s that I had seen on the day I returned after finishing the congratulatory speech.

I frowned as if uncomfortable.

“It was something I did in a fit of anger.”

“I know.”

“Like you’re looking at some mastermind…”

“Pardon?”

“…Never mind, it’s nothing.”

Excessive expectations are bound to lead to disappointment, so I wish they’d tone it down a bit.

I let out an imperceptible sigh.

“Sir Nata, you said last time that you knew something about the Goldrail Trading Company, right?”

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