The Villainess Builds a Department Store - Chapter 55

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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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The Villainess Establishes a Department Store

Chapter 55

…That’s what I resolved to do.

“Father went out with Uncle?”

Clang. The tableware that slipped from my hands made a loud noise, barely awakening my confused mind.

This is why I hate having a child’s body. Just because I tossed and turned a bit last night, I honestly overslept, and when I woke up, Father had already left the estate with Uncle and was nowhere to be seen.

My imagination ran wild, painting unpleasant scenes in my head. Uncle kidnapping Father and threatening him, forcing him to sign contracts, making him stamp documents, things like that.

But I can’t just wait here for Father to return! As soon as I finished breakfast, I headed to Father’s study, hoping to find any clues.

As I entered Father’s study, the first thing that greeted me was the lingering smell of cigars that hadn’t yet dissipated.

“Ugh, that smell…”

I covered my nose and frowned. It must have been from Uncle’s smoking. The distinctive awful smell made me grateful I hadn’t brought Antoine along.

The carpet was also soaked with wine, stained purple. Thinking of the people who would have to clean that up made me feel sorry for no reason.

When I opened the window to air out the room, the clear, cold early winter wind helped chase away some of that terrible smell.

“Ah!”

A sudden gust of rough wind scattered the documents on the desk in all directions. What a disaster. I hurriedly gathered up the papers scattered on the floor.

Fortunately, they didn’t seem to be important documents—mostly doodles and notes. But there were familiar names written on them.

Two of them, in fact.

One was Viscountess Satin, and the other one was…

“This… this is really a royal name, isn’t it?”

To be precise, it was a familiar title.

Since my family fell before I could even debut in social circles, I wasn’t familiar with the family trees of noble houses or royalty.

But I at least knew that the ‘Duke of Sologne’ was the brother of the previous king, meaning the current king’s uncle.

Why is this name here? What does it mean?

My question was naturally answered when I turned to the next page.

“If these people really invested in La Motte Finance, it might be worth believing…”

Like a madwoman, I began frantically searching Father’s desk for other notes. Even the obvious fact that I’d be in trouble if caught didn’t occur to me at that moment.

“Special lifetime benefits for the first 50 people only, after which rankings will be determined by number of referrals and investment amount?”

As I read the sentence written in Father’s handwriting, I felt my throat tighten in real time.

“Platine, Diamante, Or, Argent, Bronze…”

The moment I saw those familiar gemstone names, a shape naturally came to mind.

“…A pyramid?”

That’s how multi-level marketing schemes usually name their ranks, right?

“So you’re telling me everyone from our Father to the king’s uncle is involved in a pyramid scheme?”

W-wait. Wait a minute.

My knees went weak at this utterly absurd situation. I eventually sat down on the carpet and carefully reorganized the situation.

Right, maybe Uncle really did reform. Maybe La Motte Finance is a legitimate company, and maybe Uncle has that kind of talent.

Yes. Rather than all those great people getting caught up in a scam together, that would be more likely.

“Like hell!”

I jumped up from my seat and exploded with frustration. Either way, it was hard to believe and something I didn’t want to believe, but unlike the latter, the former would harm too many people.

If unlucky, not just titles and wealth but lives could be at risk. Why can’t I remember such a terrible incident?

“Ah… did Father escape safely?”

The fact that I couldn’t remember, and that it wasn’t specifically mentioned in the original work either, meant two possibilities.

Either Father was harmed but didn’t show it to Antoine and me.

Or… since it was a scandal involving the royal family, the royal family might have covered it all up themselves, hushing it up.

“If the royal family covered it up…”

If they covered it up for the royal family’s honor and authority while victims were still alive, there was no guarantee this tragedy wouldn’t repeat itself this time.

I had to stop it. Just as I was about to clench my fist with that conclusion, an idea occurred to me.

Stop it at all costs?

No.

“Do I really need to stop it?”

As our ancestors said, the way to deal with enemies is to use enemies.

I sat back down on the floor. And with a much clearer mind than before, I continued my thoughts.

Organizing the notes, the story went roughly like this.

A trading company that heard rumors of a panacea existing in the Eastern Lands was looking for investors, and some place called La Motte or whatever was handling that business.

And La Motte was recruiting investors using the names of high-ranking nobles like Duke of Sologne and Viscountess Satin, and even without those high-ranking nobles’ names, La Motte was trustworthy. It was a company that had made big profits in Eastern trade before. They planned to expand into Eastern art as well.

So Father was also tempted by those names and considering investing.

One puzzling thing was why he didn’t ask Guillaume to verify if it was true. Guillaume would gladly check for him.

Don’t tell me Uncle drove a wedge between them?

“Phew…”

I took a deep breath to calm myself.

What’s meant to happen will happen anyway. This pyramid scheme scandal wasn’t something I could stop at this point, no matter how I intervened.

From the start, what victims believed in wasn’t the scammer’s absurd lies but themselves—specifically, the self-consciousness that ‘someone as smart and excellent as me couldn’t possibly fall for a scam.’

So the victims’ faith in the scammer was beyond absolute, no different from fanatics. Denying that would mean admitting they were idiots who could fall for scams anywhere, and those prideful people would hardly admit that.

I had witnessed too many examples in my previous life of people who ultimately fell to ruin because they couldn’t let go of their pride.

‘It would be fortunate if they just embraced everything alone and died. What plague-like beings…’

Above all, scammers are more skilled than anyone at playing with people’s emotions.

When victims become suspicious, they act as if wronged, stimulating guilt, trying to overcome logical evidence with emotional appeals, and using clever rhetoric to isolate victims.

As a result, victims are left with only two choices: admit they’re the biggest idiots in the world, or become monsters bound together by solidarity, feeding on the shallow recognition given by scammers and their accomplices.

If a mere twelve-year-old child like me could shatter their vain beliefs and bring them back to reality, there wouldn’t be people in this world who lost not only their entire fortune to scams but also the trust of family and friends, falling into despair.

But that doesn’t mean I can just sit still.

This was actually an opportunity. To completely destroy Uncle.

“A panacea, huh. That’s not wrong.”

Remove the cause and there’s nothing to hurt about.

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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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