The Villainess Builds a Department Store - Chapter 59

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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 59

Surprisingly, about 10 minutes later, we were sitting face to face with Alain Lemur. The only body search we underwent—something I’d expected to be thorough for visitors to such a place—was having the candy stick that Bastian had been holding confiscated.

Not only were we immediately escorted to the drawing room, but we were even served tea and pastries. Of course, neither I nor Bastian touched the teacup or pastries.

Finally, the door opened and Alain Lemur appeared, looking much younger than I remembered.

He was putting on the expression of a cultured gentleman befitting the owner of a luxurious mansion.

However, despite his deep emerald eyes and smooth smile that looked painted with a brush, his first impression was closer to a symbol of a self-made success story rather than a born aristocrat.

Perhaps it was due to his black ponytail tied casually instead of being neatly combed back, and the dark tan typical of port men.

To put it nicely, a young nouveau riche; to disparage him… some wealthy lady’s lover. Just as that thought was about to surface in my mind.

“You came to see me.”

I reflexively started to stand up abruptly but stopped myself, tensing my thighs to hold steady. On the surface, my status was higher. So let’s not be nervous.

It’s okay. What he’s dealing with isn’t Adelaide who has fallen as far as she can fall, but the precious only daughter of the Charmeuze Viscountcy.

When I extended my hand, Alain looked down at it thoughtfully, then smiled slightly. And as if treating a noblewoman, he politely pressed his lips to the back of my hand.

The particularly cool touch of his lips sent chills up my arm for a moment.

“I apologize for visiting so suddenly without notice.”

“My, didn’t Father teach that introductions come first in such situations?”

“Oh dear. The security guard must not have conveyed who I am.”

That’s enough joking around. I turned my hand over and extended my palm. Alain, understanding my intention, also smiled and obediently shook hands with me.

“Adelaide Valencienne de Charmeuze.”

“Pleased to meet you, Miss Charmeuze.”

As that infamous Alain Lemur maintained a consistently polite attitude toward me, Bastian was now on the verge of fainting while still seated.

I too would have liked to faint alongside him if I could. Rather than dismissing or looking down on me because I was young, he was actually finding that point suspicious.

Two twelve-year-old children who came without a guardian. Yet from one of them came a title that shouldn’t have come from such a mouth. It was beyond interesting—it was suspicious.

Yet the reason he hadn’t dissected me alive was that before being Father’s daughter, I still had information to be extracted—meaning I still had value worth keeping alive.

In other words, from now on I had to hide my information as much as possible while simultaneously putting that man in my debt.

…Would it be okay if I just cried and asked to be sent home right now? It wouldn’t work, would it?

“So… what business brings Miss Charmeuze to see me?”

What business, followed by a subtle pause. It was a brief pause that only I, who was concentrating on his words, would notice, but I could guess what he had started to say before stopping. Grateful for his consideration, I spoke directly.

“I might be able to cure your nephew’s illness.”

Urk. There was a choking sound from beside me. It was Bastian. However, neither I nor Alain even glanced at him.

But there was no change in Alain’s gaze toward me. It was appropriately polite, appropriately dismissive, and appropriately probing.

However, at the same time, the air in the drawing room changed. I endured the chill I felt on my shoulders that kept making my body want to shrink by biting the inside of my mouth hard.

“…The price?”

“None.”

“None?”

For the first time, something that could be called a change appeared in Alain’s expression.

“There’s a sick child, and I have a way to help that child, so I want to help.”

“You expect me to believe that now?”

“Then does it make sense for a twelve-year-old little noble lady to be sitting face to face with you having a conversation like this?”

I struggled to curl up one corner of my lips. Please let this smile look like a sneer.

It wasn’t wrong. If I were an ordinary twelve-year-old, I would have been kicked out by now. Even to endlessly provoke his interest, I had to become a strange existence unknown to both Bastian and Alain. That’s why I deliberately spoke down to him.

‘It’s okay. You’re doing well.’

At least I haven’t been kicked out yet, right?

Alain exhaled deeply, then gulped down the completely cold tea in one go. Seeing that, it seems there was no poison in it—maybe I should have just drunk it too?

“I feel as if I’m under some spell. I never particularly hid the fact that I have a nephew and that nephew is sick, but I never let it reach the ears of someone like Miss Charmeuze either.”

He completely threw off the gentleman’s mask he had maintained until just before and sat with his elbows on his knees.

Alain’s eyes glaring at me while supporting his chin with his interlocked hands were no different from a cobra with its head raised. Ah, so you’re going to show your true colors now? I actually welcomed it. Unlike Alain pretending to be a gentleman, I had experience dealing with the current Alain.

I know those eyes. Eyes that weigh the target before them and judge their value. In his eyes that gauge whether they’ll bring some benefit or become an obstacle that needs to be removed, I was no different from an unappraised stone.

When I met those sharp as an awl and keen as a razor blade eyes, memories of a future that hadn’t happened yet—and wouldn’t be allowed to happen—suddenly surfaced and choked my throat.

Unable to breathe, I turned my gaze away, pretending to look at a flower pot. Only then could I finally breathe.

“May I ask about your nephew’s symptoms?”

“It seems you weren’t able to find out that much?”

“It means you can be happy that there’s no need to suspect trusted colleagues.”

Naturally, no one was happy.

“Don’t make that face. Twelve-year-old little noble ladies have delicate nerves.”

Alain’s smile deepened.

“Let me change the question. By any chance, aren’t your nephew’s symptoms exactly like this? No appetite, no energy, no stamina. Trembling hands or dizziness… and a face as pale as marble.”

Instead of answering immediately, Alain chose silence. With information about each other being unilaterally advantageous to one side, it was the wisest and most cautious attitude he could take.

But at this point, silence was the same as affirmation.

“My mother showed the same symptoms. After taking medicine containing opium… that is.”

The moment I mentioned opium, I could see cracks forming in the mask Alain had been maintaining solidly.

I continued to question him.

“Have you ever heard of Hong-sam?”

“…The medicinal herb that Miss Charmeuze’s father recently imported from the Eastern Lands.”

“It seems you haven’t yet heard that it’s effective in alleviating opium side effects.”

Silence followed again.

Although there was Mother’s example and the paper published by the attending physician, research on Hong-sam had only just begun during those two years.

Even if he had heard the news, as long as Guillaume monopolized the Hong-sam trade, even Alain Lemur couldn’t easily get his hands on it.

So he would very, extremely, desperately need the Hong-sam I could give him. And earnestly. Just as I had in my previous life.

“I stake everything I have on it, and I guarantee its effectiveness. The very witness is my mother. I’ll give you that Hong-sam.”

With that, I had said everything I needed to say. What remained depended on whether he would accept kindness without a price.

When I glanced at Bastian, he was breathing with difficulty, his face completely pale.

Who are you really? Bastian’s eyes looking at me asked that. To him, whose eyes were full of wariness as if looking at a stranger, I couldn’t bring myself to answer.

…I should have given him a warning in advance if I knew this would happen. I felt a little sorry for Bastian.

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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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