The Villainess Builds a Department Store - Chapter 68

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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 68

Having safely found a painting that met the conditions, I looked at it once more under bright light and was moved to tears.

Who would have thought I’d see this painting here…

“Well then, Guillaume, I’ll leave the remaining work to you.”

Guillaume nodded with a serious expression. Bastian still looked completely lost. I felt terribly sorry for unintentionally leaving him out of this situation.

“Is your nose okay?”

“Mm.”

“Take medicine as soon as we get back. Just in case.”

“Yeah.”

His strangely short responses suggested he was quite upset.

“Well then. Young Bastian, did you look around as much as you wanted?”

“Thanks to you, I learned many things. Indeed, reading a hundred books can’t compare to seeing the real thing once.”

“Then that’s fortunate. If you’re ever dissatisfied with the salary or conditions that ‘House of Dreams’ offers, feel free to come find me anytime. Bernard praised you so highly.”

“…The manager did?”

Bastian looked surprised at the unexpected name. Guillaume laughed heartily and bid us farewell by patting Bastian’s back vigorously, just as he had done initially.

Bastian remained silent throughout the carriage ride back to the shop. Since he was hurt and upset because of me, it seemed inappropriate to keep trying to talk to him, so I kept my mouth shut as well.

Because we sat facing each other, my gaze kept drifting toward Bastian. My eyes would turn away from the window on their own, moving to his lightly closed eyelids, his slightly swollen nose bridge and tightly pressed lips, his gradually maturing jawline, and the knuckles of his crossed arms.

As my eyes were about to move further down to his outstretched legs, I forcibly turned my head to glare out the window.

The seasons had turned full circle and it was spring again. The construction workers at Nanterre Station no longer warmed themselves from the cold in huts. Antoine would leave again for written exams as soon as he returned from the Academy, and during that time I had to end this tiresome fraud…

* * *

When drowsy breathing filled the carriage, Bastian could finally watch Adelaide without worry.

Having kept his eyes tightly shut the entire time, afraid their gazes might meet and unable even to steal glances, Bastian took in every detail of sleeping Adelaide’s appearance.

Her hair soft as foreign silk, her still youthfully plump cheeks, the shadows of long delicate eyelashes flickering above them, and her outstretched legs revealed beneath her carelessly disheveled skirt hem. Even down to her feet wrapped in small shoes.

Among all these, Bastian’s gaze lingered longest on Adelaide’s fingers.

Unlike his own hands where calluses had firmly settled, when her warm, soft palm touched his leg, he could only lie there rigid as a corpse in a coffin.

The body heat he felt so clearly through the thin fabric—why had it been so burning hot in that moment? If he rolled up his pant leg, there would surely be a burn mark in the exact shape of her palm.

‘What a strange girl…’

Adelaide remained an incomprehensible existence to him.

But lately, something kept trying to add itself to Adelaide’s incomprehensible elements.

For example, the reason his stomach kept churning whenever he saw Adelaide.

“Adele. Adelaide. We’ve arrived.”

Just as he was about to grab her shoulder and shake her, the door opened. Bastian startled as if caught trying to do something shameful in secret and acted as if nothing had happened.

The coachman glanced at Bastian once, then woke Adelaide with a clearing of his throat.

Watching this, Bastian just repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fists for no reason.

Another incomprehensible thing had just been added.

She was someone who had never been his and never would be—a precious young lady from a noble house—so why did he keep trying to treat her carelessly as if she were truly a friend of equal status?

‘If I became a more excellent person than I am now…’

The owner of Hedebeau Company, Guillaume Hedebeau, was someone with such tremendous power and wealth that even decent nobles wouldn’t dare treat him condescendingly.

If he became such a person too, would he then be able to grab Adelaide’s shoulder and shake her awake?

* * *

Finally, Camille and Antoine had returned!

“Older Sister!”

“Antoine!”

When I ran over and lifted Antoine up in my arms, tears immediately flowed at the unfamiliar weight that was much heavier than I last remembered.

“How was the Academy?”

“It was fun! You know what, I don’t need boarding school! I want to go to the Academy!”

The Academy seemed to have given Antoine not only motivation but also new options.

Antoine attending the Academy, unlike in the original story. That wouldn’t be bad either. Anyway, this older sister just hopes you’ll complete your studies to the end without dropping out midway.

“This is a souvenir for Older Sister!”

“You bought one for me too?”

Antoine proudly handed me a souvenir. Looking at it, it was actually an Academy mascot doll.

‘This kind of thing is the Academy’s mascot…?’

Looking at its strangely wide forehead and two pitch-black eyes without any light, I felt like my head was getting stupid—was it really okay to make this the Academy’s symbol?

Or maybe it depicted students from a professor’s perspective?

After finishing his joyful reunion with me, Antoine immediately went off to show Mother the souvenirs he bought at the Academy.

And I asked Camille in a trembling voice.

“How did it… go?”

“This is Emily’s letter.”

Instead of answering my question directly, Camille held out a thick letter envelope. Whatever she had so much to say, the thickness was so substantial that it was remarkable the envelope hadn’t burst on the way here, and I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh, forgetting the situation.

I wanted to read it immediately, but before that, one of the stories I’d been wanting to hear came from Camille’s mouth.

“Fortunately, Miss Emily is doing well. She’s successfully adapted, and she’s even made relationships she could call friendships.”

“Really?”

“Yes. According to her friend, at first she was flustered and didn’t know what to do even with small compliments or joking criticisms, but recently she’s become excessively arrogant.”

Camille paused for a moment, then raised the corners of his mouth and asked me.

“Can you imagine Miss Emily’s reaction?”

I shook my head.

“She snorted and said since when was stating facts considered praise, telling them to praise her more actively and with feeling.”

…That might not actually be Emily. Wasn’t she switched with someone else? She didn’t receive some strange surgery at the Academy, did she? Gasp. Could Emily have been possessed too?

Still… I’m glad she’s doing well.

“Ahem. Anyway… seeing that, I thought there might be another bold innovation in the scientific world soon.”

I nodded in agreement. I had worried about what would happen if there were immature seniors who tried to just put their names on group projects taking advantage of Emily’s timid personality, or professors who would steal Emily’s research results and claim them as their own.

“So, how did it really go?”

That was enough buildup. I looked only at Camille’s lips with an earnest heart.

Camille handed me another envelope. Unlike before, it was much thinner in thickness, but made of thick, luxurious paper as if sent by the Royal Palace.

When I hurriedly opened it, four words caught my eye among the lengthy greetings.

[Completely Baseless]

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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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