The Lady Only Deals With the Real Ones - Chapter 34

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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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4. The greeting is quite intense

“The Tehita Mountain sapphire you consigned sold for 2.4 million gold. Here’s the payment, Lady Helena.”

“…Yes, thank you.”

Even with news of earning such a large sum, Helena’s expression wasn’t particularly bright.

The street scene visible behind her was the same.

Ashen Street was as quiet as a graveyard. There were no open shops, no people around.

“The atmosphere has been terrible since yesterday’s general meeting. Everyone’s gathered at the guild hall with dejected faces, having lost their livelihood in an instant.”

“Are there many without guarantors?”

“From what I’ve gathered, about twenty people.”

There were roughly a hundred merchant guild members in total.

It meant a full 20% would be closing their doors.

“Everyone was working together enthusiastically, even planning a festival, but with this happening, the rest aren’t feeling good either.”

Helena let out a deep sigh.

“I reached out to some nobles I know through connections, asking if they might help….”

“You were refused.”

“Yes. They said they didn’t want to be associated with us since our image is bad. Yet they secretly bought our goods saying how good they were.”

Helena clicked her tongue.

“When we asked for help with security, they didn’t even pretend to listen, but now that everything’s cleaned up and we’re trying to do well, they’re rubbing salt in the wound. It’s really infuriating.”

According to Grandfather, Helena had requested help from the imperial family multiple times to maintain security.

But they were all ignored. They said they lacked manpower and told us to handle it ourselves.

That’s why even now, Ashen Street’s security wasn’t managed by knight orders or guard units, but by the guild hall.

‘When they caught criminals, they’d hold them and then hand them over to knights who occasionally came on patrol as if doing us a favor.’

Helena, who had been wearing a troubled expression, looked at me and spoke in a deliberately bright tone.

“I’m telling you all sorts of stories, sorry. When I come here, my heart just opens up somehow.”

“No, it’s fine.”

“Still, Guild Member Elisha is fortunate. Even though Michele is traveling, he can stop by briefly to act as your guarantor.”

Unable to answer, I just nodded.

“You look terrible, like someone who hasn’t slept a wink, so I thought I’d mention it since you seemed worried. Well, I’ll be going now.”

Helena really was good at reading people.

She was right that I hadn’t slept a wink last night, having gone to the Raum estate.

Though her own heart must be complicated, I grabbed Helena’s hand as she was looking after others.

“It will work out well. Don’t worry too much either, Lady Helena.”

It wasn’t just a casual greeting.

I spoke with a clear and strong voice.

Helena, who had been looking at me intently, smiled slightly.

“…Yes. Let’s hope for a miracle.”

After she left.

I took the dish out of the safe.

Looking down at the dish with Nicholas’s painting on it, I muttered.

“It’s not a miracle. There will be results from our efforts.”

Helena’s efforts.

My efforts.

And Nicholas’s efforts.

The conversation I had with Nicholas last night came to mind.

***

“D-Duke Michele sent you…? Then are you His Grace’s granddaughter?”

“Yes. You’ve never met Grandfather directly, have you? You might be skeptical, but look at my eye color. It’s the color of Rionet.”

I pushed documents across to Nicholas.

It was the details of what I had inherited from Grandfather.

Watching Nicholas receive and read the documents, I reviewed the information I knew about him.

‘Nicholas Raum. A painter of common birth who caught Rosaline’s eye and became an adopted son-in-law. He was the perfect pawn for Rosaline, who preferred manipulating from behind the scenes rather than stepping forward.’

Rosaline had never loved him.

It was merely a smokescreen marriage to use Nicholas as a forger and to show that she loved art enough to marry an unknown painter.

Of course, even in a loveless marriage, people’s hearts can change anytime. But Rosaline’s heart never changed.

I knew that better than anyone.

Because….

‘In my past life, Rosaline killed Nicholas.’

Exactly six months after taking Grandfather away like a kidnapping.

Nicholas was cast out. Under false accusations of committing adultery and fathering an illegitimate child.

The day Nicholas went to give an interview to a small gossip magazine to try to clear his name.

Coincidentally, he died in an accident.

On that very day.

‘The perpetrator fled immediately and there were no witnesses. The investigation fizzled out, and the man who was once a viscount was buried so miserably.’

The Nicholas before me was destined to die soon.

If I hadn’t been there.

“Ah, I understand. But what business does the Duke have in seeking me….”

I looked at his gentle, drooping, tear-stained eyes.

Nicholas must also vaguely sense it.

The fact that as long as he stayed by Rosaline’s side, only a bad ending awaited him.

So.

‘I’ll change that ending for you.’

“He highly valued your talent, Viscount. So he said he wanted to invest.”

“…Invest in me…?”

“Yes. Not in your forgeries, but in your real paintings, Viscount.”

Looking at Nicholas, who seemed dumbfounded as if he couldn’t believe it, I smiled brightly.

“The condition is very simple. Would you like to hear it?”

Nicholas, who had been frozen in a daze, tensed his weak jaw.

He nodded resolutely.

“Yes. Please tell me anything.”

***

It was when I was about to leave after finishing our conversation.

Nicholas held out a dish with a waterfall painted on it.

“Would you accept this?”

“Oh, may I take it?”

“Yes. Everyone thinks the owner of a work is the artist, but… I don’t think so. The owner of a work is the person who first recognized its value. So please become the owner of this painting. It doesn’t matter how you use it.”

After carefully wrapping the dish I brought back and putting it in the safe, I looked at the quite substantial stack of bills.

It was about time to start investing anyway.

I decided to invest in Nicholas.

‘It’s not simple sympathy. It’s a business choice.’

Because Nicholas’s paintings were truly excellent.

A painter who married a young lady from a ducal house but met ruin due to unsavory affairs.

Thanks to such a sensational story, his death was briefly covered in the duchy newspaper.

In that article, I saw several of Nicholas’s paintings from when he was alive.

Before being exploited by Rosaline, the paintings Nicholas drew were beautiful and full of life.

So much so that people who fell in love with his belatedly revealed paintings competed to buy them.

‘Rosaline must have continuously undermined his self-esteem to prevent Nicholas from thinking of anything else. Saying things like, who else but me would recognize your talent? But it was only a matter of time. Nicholas would have eventually seen the light.’

I was fortunate to have an eye for art.

Because I was able to notice that the forger Rosaline had kept hidden was Nicholas, who was known to have put down his brush after marriage.

‘Rosaline’s forgery business will inevitably suffer a major blow.’

I had already planned everything to prevent Rosaline from touching him.

Now I just had to wait.

Looking at the night auction schedule written on the calendar, I fiddled with the magic orb.

It’s defective, but since it’s bumpy, I might as well use it as an acupressure ball to stay awake.

‘Speaking of which, to hide Lina’s pendant, I need to obtain another sacred relic…’

That ruffian knight would definitely come back. With that sacred relic tracking device, no doubt.

But the tracking device didn’t specifically detect only the pendant.

So I planned to play dumb, claiming it was a different sacred relic and they were mistaken.

But the problem was?

The fact that I didn’t have any other sacred relic.

‘As if you can just get a sacred relic because you want one.’

Money wasn’t the issue.

If sacred relics were expensive? I could buy high and sell high. Though I wouldn’t make any profit.

But what if there were no sacred relics to buy in the first place?

‘Should I dig around the Temple of the World Tree or something?’

While I was pondering, something suddenly came to mind.

The only sacred relic I had encountered besides the pendant.

The golden music box.

But my expression soon crumpled.

‘But getting it from that thief would be dealing in stolen goods. That’s absolutely not happening!’

Should I try applying for a loan from the Temple of the World Tree?

I heard they very rarely grant permission for such things.

I was deep in thought when it happened.

‘Am I seeing things right now?’

“Hello!”

I must be tired from not getting enough sleep.

Right. Of course.

Unless this was a dream…

“I came to keep my promise to visit again. You remember my name, right?”

The very person I was thinking about suddenly appeared before my eyes.

Why is this thief walking in so confidently? And I never made any promise with you, by the way?

Without a second thought, I threw the binding orb magic device I had been rolling in my hand.

‘Right! That thing is defective!’

I only realized it after throwing it, but what could I do?

Since it’s come to this, just take the hit obediently! This is revenge for the spray incident!

…Or so I thought.

“Uh, hmm.”

Spider web-like strings burst out from the orb that hit the thief’s body.

“That’s quite a, how should I put it.”

The thief, now bound in strings and lying on his back, let out a hearty laugh.

“Passionate welcome…”

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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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