The Villainess Builds a Department Store - Chapter 74

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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 74

What did I just hear?

The shock was so great that my mind became strangely quiet. My heart was beating peacefully, as if I were submerged in deep water.

But that was only momentary. Soon, as I began to understand my situation piece by piece, I became short of breath and my heart began to race.

Philippe, and the appraiser Philippe had introduced, were fraudsters. My only younger sibling had committed fraud with the intention of stabbing his older brother in the back.

Without knowing this, I had rejoiced that my younger sibling had finally come to his senses. I had gladly agreed to his proposal. As a result, he had thoroughly lost the trust, reputation, and wealth he had built up overnight. No, he had almost lost them.

As I grasped the situation, a twisted groan naturally rose from deep in my stomach.

Charles barely managed to lift his head and look at the stage. Guillaume was looking at him.

Guillaume Hedebeau. My friend. My companion.

Guillaume was a friend who would roll up his sleeves and help as if it were his own problem whenever I faced difficulties.

He was the one who had lifted me up when I had become a coward, frustrated by my first taste of failure, and he was also the one who had tried to dissuade me until the very end.

So surely this time too…

‘What shamelessness?’

Tears welled up in my eyes, which had dried up from being wide open for too long.

Guillaume had certainly warned me. That I shouldn’t trust Philippe, that this investment was too dangerous.

Yet it was none other than myself who had chosen to side with blood over friend. And now, after all that, what shamelessness!

Charles lamented his own foolishness. His grip on the railing naturally tightened, making his knuckles bulge white.

Instead of turning away from his pathetic friend or mocking him with “I told you so, wasn’t I right?”, Guillaume was simply gazing at him silently.

As if he believed in the actions I would take next. And as if he was cheering for that choice.

Charles took a deep breath. Then he breathed deeply. Since he had made the decision himself, it was only right that he take responsibility for it himself.

“Brother! There are journalists swarming outside! Damn… what, what do we do?”

Philippe’s words, complaining and questioning me irritably, snapped me back to attention.

Even at this moment, Philippe was whining to his older brother about what to do.

That pathetic behavior made me sigh involuntarily.

Even if the responsibility for the decision was mine, I wanted to hear what my younger sibling, who had made things this bad, was thinking.

“That’s what I should be saying, Philippe. How do you plan to take responsibility for this?”

“Brother?”

“I decided to invest, Philippe, believing not in you as a person, but in your words about high-ranking nobles and even royalty participating. But the result was a fraud! Thanks to that, not only I but those people have also become the laughingstock of society! How exactly do you plan to take responsibility for pulling such an absurd stunt!”

“What are you talking about… Why is that my responsibility? It’s clearly stated in the contract that the responsibility for investment failure lies with the individual the moment they sign.”

When I mentioned high-ranking nobles and royalty, Philippe’s face turned ashen.

However, Philippe brazenly got angry as if he were the wronged party.

“You should know that the ‘responsibility’ I’m talking about isn’t a concept limited to contracts. Or are you pretending not to know while knowing?”

Charles’s head throbbed even more at a reaction that was no different from proof of thoughtlessness.

“…Do you think I wanted things to turn out this way? Unlike you, brother, who received everything Father passed down, I…”

Charles shook his head and cut off Philippe’s words.

“You’re always like that. Narrow-minded, and even narrower in vision! As you say, it’s been more than 10 years since Father passed the family and wealth to me. What have you done during that time? You couldn’t do anything because you had nothing? For that excuse, there were quite a few cases where I supported and invested in you. I fulfilled my duties and responsibilities as the eldest son and your older brother. But what exactly are you? Instead of finding a way to make a living as the second son and younger sibling who inherited nothing, you kept failing and now you’re even committing fraud?”

And you failed at that too. This is really tiresome. Charles pressed hard on his throbbing temples. Philippe was the same younger sibling who had grown up unchanged from childhood.

How can a person be so consistent… Charles sighed quietly.

Before his eyes was a younger sibling who had grown into a proper adult, but the soul dwelling in that body was still a child who coveted others’ things and hoped to be spoon-fed instead of making his own efforts.

Who should he blame? This too was his own fault for not cutting ties with him long ago. Because he had been particularly affectionate only toward family due to his sailing, because he couldn’t completely cut off his only sibling.

‘Family…’

Charles bit the inside of his mouth. He had family he truly needed to be responsible for. His frail wife, his still young children.

Especially thinking of his exceptionally bright daughter, his heart turned cold at the thought that he had almost blocked that child’s future.

Philippe wasn’t his only family, so why was he only realizing this fact now?

Since royalty and high-ranking nobles were involved, he needed to withdraw as quickly as possible. Having reached his conclusion, Charles got up and headed for the door.

“Philippe.”

Just before leaving through the door, Charles declared in an utterly low and cold voice.

“From the moment I walk out this door, you are no longer my younger sibling.”

* * *

When the door opened, journalists who had been waiting in formation for either Charles or Philippe to come out rushed toward him.

Amid the chaos of them pushing and pulling each other, he saw a familiar face.

“Guillaume…?”

“You finally came out! You haven’t forgotten, have you? I’m still your full representative.”

“But that was definitely supposed to be one-time…”

Guillaume winked at Charles, who was muttering with a dazed expression.

It was the face of that very young man who had once lifted him up when he was sitting dejected in failure and frustration.

“Damn, fire! Fire! There’s a fire!”

Guillaume screamed and jumped up as if he were really on fire. The surrounding journalists flinched and stepped back.

Guillaume, who had made the journalists retreat with a single word when they wouldn’t even pretend to listen to the auction house security guards, cleared his throat as the journalists’ attention focused on him.

At his naturally flowing actions, Charles couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Guillaume distributed his business cards to the surrounding journalists.

“If you have stories you want to hear from Marquis de Charmeuze, make a formal interview appointment with our company’s legal team.”

“With Hedebeau Company? Marquis de Charmeuze! What is your relationship with Guillaume Hedebeau!”

“He’s my full representative.”

Charles answered in a somewhat tired voice. Just the fact that he had someone to rely on made tension and fatigue rush over him.

“You’ll get the detailed story faster from the marquis’s younger sibling. The marquis also came here at his younger sibling’s recommendation.”

Really, being too kind is his problem. Not forgetting to add a word, Guillaume supported Charles and left the auction house.

The journalists were already running toward the box seats after their new prey.

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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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