The Villainess Builds a Department Store - Chapter 56

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

The Villainess Establishes a Department Store

Chapter 56

“Ugh, it’s so cold. Every time the wind blows, my fingertips and face feel like they’re being grated on a cheese grater.”

A construction worker with a red frozen nose rubbed his palms together repeatedly, making quite a specific comparison.

“I need to get into the oven quickly.”

Passersby who had just arrived in Nantes and were peering at the entrance of the rumored Pearl Gallery overheard this and smiled bitterly. No matter how cold it was, how could a person get into a bread-baking oven!

However, the construction workers instead snorted at the gentlemen who were shivering in the cold with their coat collars turned up high, then headed toward an earthen mound set up in one corner of the construction site.

It was too high to be a place where construction sand was piled up, and too large a hut to be a kiln or furnace for baking something.

The construction worker who arrived in front of the hut opened the thick wooden door with an excited face. With a creaking sound, warm air rushed toward him like a pre-warmed blanket. It was as welcome as the little ones who greeted him after work.

“Hey, hurry up and come in! The cold wind is getting in.”

“This is good for ventilation too. You shouldn’t say that if you have any conscience with those smelly feet of yours.”

Breaking through his colleagues’ criticism and condemnation, he went in and sat down with his hands under his buttocks, and the warmly heated stone floor melted his frozen hands, naturally drawing out admiration.

“Ahh, this is killing it.”

Thanks to the small window with a view of the sky and the gentle light of candles, the hut felt mysteriously cozy.

It would be an even more comfortable space if not for the indescribable musty smell. The construction workers looked at each other’s faces, stained with seaweed, soot, and dirt, thinking this way.

“Did you see those gentlemen’s expressions earlier? They couldn’t believe their ears when we said we were going into the oven.”

“Well, we all doubted it at first too. People aren’t bread dough, so how could they be put in a furnace.”

Actually, they still didn’t fully understand the principle. The craftsman who designed this explained that it was a traditional Eastern style, where lighting a fire outside would heat the floor while smoke went up through the chimney, so they just accepted it.

In fact, when they first chose the site for the hut, half the opinions were that they didn’t understand why they had to create more work when they were already busy enough.

But as a result of silently following their superiors’ orders, they were enjoying the luxury of warming themselves in an ‘oven’ that made them sweat profusely even in the middle of winter.

“But why is that young miss so interested in people like us?”

Everyone agreed with what someone blurted out in the darkness. While they were happy to spend a winter without cold thanks to that precious family’s daughter, they had been secretly wondering about it.

“I actually asked about that once before.”

“What did she say?”

“Well… ‘You all need to earn a lot of money so you can buy lots of things from Mother’s shop later, right?’ She chirped like a chick, and she looked so shrewd.”

A low, rough voice imitated the young miss’s way of speaking.

“She’s really an unusual young miss. Isn’t that something only merchants would say?”

“That’s why she’s unusual.”

A burst of laughter followed, and the atmosphere in the hut became much warmer.

Except for one person.

“Oh my, break time is almost over.”

A man sitting in the deepest spot where the wind couldn’t reach got up. Then those who had been sitting around him also got up in a rush and followed the man out of the hut.

However, the man’s steps headed not toward the construction site but toward a nearby alley.

“Do you really think so?”

“About what?”

The man, who arrived at his destination without hesitation as if he had been born and raised there, asked back while wiping his hands and face with a hot towel his subordinate handed him.

“What that kid said. That she hopes people earn a lot of money to spend at her mother’s shop. Surely she wasn’t being serious.”

“Hmm.”

The man, who had already changed into clean clothes, shrugged his shoulders indifferently and replied.

“How would I know what some rich family’s spoiled brat is thinking. We just act as we always have. Exploit those who should be exploited, cooperate with those we should cooperate with, and those who get in the way…”

The man trailed off and began wrapping a red handkerchief around his forearm. It was the same handkerchief that everyone filling the room had tied around their arms.

And as he tied the handkerchief tightly as if strangling an enemy’s neck, the man declared in a serious tone with all playfulness gone.

“Kill them.”

* * *

When the cheerful voices of bargaining merchants and the vigorous shouts of workers unloading cargo from ships were swept away by the waves and night fell on the wharf, it became the time not of pretentious gentlemen and ladies, but of rats and beasts.

Those who had been crouched and hidden in the shadows during the bright day revealed themselves when the moon rose and silence descended.

Empty warehouses and alleys transformed into places of pleasure, tempting drunkards and wandering travelers.

Alain Lemur was the master of the night who had built his own kingdom in the darkest shadows among them.

He had been enjoying each day immensely lately. He was so delighted, so amused, that a smile never left his face all day long.

However, those who knew Alain were busy cowering in fear and keeping their distance as his smile deepened. When he was smiling, it usually meant things weren’t going well and he was irritated beyond measure.

Surprisingly, the reason for Alain Lemur’s irritation was simple.

Adelaide Valencienne de Charmeuze.

One young girl was the cause of all this trouble.

“Damn it! Rich people are really the worst! With all this development and construction stirring up the alleys several times a day, how are the kids supposed to do business!”

With the glass ceiling installed, sunlight finally entered alleys that had never seen light since their completion. Conversely, the shadows where they could operate were reduced by that much.

In fact, when merchants who had been doing business under their protection moved to the passage and its vicinity after it was built, the ‘protection fees’ that had been one of their main sources of income decreased noticeably.

And that wasn’t all.

“Boss. It looks like the outsiders are trying to join hands with each other. Should we watch a bit longer?”

Among those who had flowed into Nantes, there were some who were more familiar with shadows than light.

They gradually grew in numbers among themselves and were now daring to bare their teeth toward the Lord of Nantes.

“A rolling stone gathers no moss, they say…”

“This is all because of that little girl. I mean, does this even make sense?”

Alain sincerely agreed. He too had investigated several times because he couldn’t believe it, but Adelaide truly appeared at the center of every change in Nantes.

“Should I kill her…”

Kill those who get in the way. That was the only iron rule that had kept him alive until now.

His subordinates flinched at Alain’s muttered words to himself.

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