The Villainess is a Millionaire Solver - Chapter 100

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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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Chapter 100

“What? What’s going on?”

“Didn’t they say some wealthy supporter of press freedom acquired our newspaper company?”

I smiled brightly at the murmuring reporters.

“That’s me. The benefactor who invested a fortune for 【Justice Daily】. Press freedom is precious, after all.”

“Cheer up, everyone.”

Benjamin raised both fists enthusiastically from beside me.

“….”

The reporters were speechless, apparently dumbfounded. In the silence, someone’s sharp voice rang out.

“What was bound to come has finally arrived.”

From beyond the partition at a shabby desk, someone abruptly stood up.

It was a woman in her 50s with graying hair and a monocle. She had a gaunt frame and very fierce eyes.

The press badge hanging on her chest read:

‘Melissa Gregori, Editor-in-Chief’.

The true leader of 【Justice Daily】, who had tenaciously maintained this editorial department even as owners changed multiple times.

This person was that very protagonist.

To someone who had been through every hardship, a delinquent noble like me was probably just a mere novice.

Editor-in-Chief Gremory glared at me with blazing eyes as I occupied the president’s chair.

“Aristina Bianca Rosen. Since you couldn’t openly suppress us, you finally decided to use this method? It is quite unexpected that you appeared in person. How on earth did you find out we were investigating you?”

Investigation? Were they really investigating whether I had truly reformed?

Just as I was about to speak with that thought, suddenly there was a bang! and the editorial office door burst open.

“How dare these bastards ignore my warning and still run that as an article? Didn’t I clearly say? The day my name appears in an article, this newspaper will close down….”

A wealthy-looking noble man entered making a loud commotion. Then he spotted me and stopped in surprise.

“What?”

I glared at him menacingly and asked.

“I’m the owner here. Got a problem with that?”

“….”

“If there was false reporting, file a formal complaint.”

It was like coming to cause a ruckus only to lock eyes with a venomous cobra sitting in the owner’s chair.

“No, ma’am.”

The man quietly closed the door and disappeared. I couldn’t help but sneer.

“Who does he think he is to act so arrogantly? Even our father, Duke Rosen, nearly collapsed every time he saw articles criticizing me, but he never thought to touch the reporters. Right, Benjamin?”

“Of course. Of course.”

Benjamin chimed in agreement.

“Anyway, as you can see, you’ve all misunderstood something. Our guild leader didn’t come here to suppress you. Rather, she came to save you.”

Then he opened his bag and distributed documents to the reporters. These were things we had prepared beforehand.

“Here, please read these. The first is a copy of documents proving that our Black Rose Trading Company officially acquired this newspaper from the previous owner. Yes, yes. Do you see there? Both signatures? And the second is the newly updated employment contract.”

Promises to maintain the newspaper’s current editorial stance, punctual payment of reporting expenses, performance bonuses for scoops, and monthly ‘In-house Reporter Awards’… and so on.

The content guaranteed generous treatment befitting a mid-tier newspaper or better, stamped with the seal of 【Justice Daily】 owner Aristina Rosen.

I declared to the bewildered-looking reporters.

“Whether you sign the new contract or submit your resignation is up to you, but I want you to understand one thing. I came here to make a deal, not to threaten. And what I need right now isn’t some investigation results about me, but….”

How should I explain this? I was wondering when… I noticed the list of story leads the reporters had placed on the owner’s desk.

Most were stories I didn’t know well, but there was exactly one word that caught my eye.

“Honey lemon cupcakes?”

That sounds familiar. Ashley, one of the people among the maids I haven’t yet won over to my side.

Those are the cupcakes sold at Ashley’s family shop.

‘Why are those cupcakes mentioned?’

I stopped talking and read that first.

Recently, money-hungry building owners were starting to evict tenants and steal their business concepts.

Even the long-beloved ‘honey lemon cupcakes’ showed signs that the building owner was trying to take over the shop and open an identical store in its place.

It was shocking news.

“Trying to steal that? Where did they sell their conscience? I need to look into this in detail.”

I quickly copied the content into my notebook.

“Professional reporters really are different. This is exactly what I need. Investigation records of some past incident that you’ve researched with sharp insight and persistence.”

“That’s right, Editor-in-Chief Gremory.”

Benjamin added.

“As you know, our guild leader is participating in the succession competition within her family. The problem is that the decisive task of this competition is related to some secret incident from the past. Specifically, recovering the Founding Emperor’s sword that the first Empress lost.”

Then he looked around at the reporters.

“At the time, almost every newspaper kept quiet to avoid offending the Imperial Court, but only 【Justice Daily】 worked hard to investigate. I told our guild leader this because I used to sell newspapers and know well.”

“Right. That’s exactly why I came. Instead of struggling to investigate separately or negotiate, I wanted to comfortably receive only the essential information using owner’s authority.”

At my words, Editor-in-Chief Gremory shouted incredulously.

“You bought an entire newspaper company just for that?”

“It’s not ‘just’ that—it’s a matter of life and death for me.”

I replied while taking out the key I’d received from the previous owner.

When I opened the desk drawer with it, I saw seals, business cards, and various miscellaneous items.

Benjamin quickly picked up a key with a red tag among them.

“This looks like it. 【Justice Daily】 has a corner called ‘Red Cabinet’ that deals with unsolved cases, and I heard the corner’s title came from an actual cabinet in the editorial office.”

“Really? Oh, there really is a red cabinet back there?”

They couldn’t stop the owner from looking, but the reporters didn’t cooperate either.

But we didn’t need that anyway.

Benjamin and I handled everything efficiently ourselves. Using the key to open the cabinet door, taking out the box from 11 years ago among the yearly organized material boxes, and finding the file labeled ‘Founding Emperor’s Sword Loss Incident’. Even a child could do it.

“….”

The reporters seemed both exasperated and somewhat interested in what we were doing.

“Let’s see. This is very well organized.”

Benjamin and I put our heads together and began chattering as we read the materials.

“The incident occurred during the grand ball in spring 11 years ago. Initially, the fact that the Founding Emperor’s sword had disappeared wasn’t known, but rumors soon began to spread?”

“I was too busy selling newspapers to read in detail, but it was a strange incident. At the ball, people requested to see the sword, so Her Majesty the Empress went to get it briefly but lost consciousness….”

“When she came to, the sword that had been before her eyes was gone. There were several attendants and maids outside, but no one witnessed anyone entering or leaving. Only the sword had mysteriously vanished. It really is strange.”

“Indeed, guild leader. It’s recorded that magic couldn’t be used in that area, so how could someone secretly steal it and take it out?”

“To uncover the truth, we must suspect everything. Here we should ask this question: ‘Was it really stolen and taken away by someone?'”

“Pardon? What do you mean by that?”

“Exactly what I said. If you fainted and woke up to find the sword gone, you’d naturally think someone stole it. But in such cases, you should first suspect whether it might be the person’s own staged act.”

“You mean Her Majesty the Empress staged this incident? Good heavens!”

“Wait, that’s just theoretical. I absolutely didn’t mean to insult the late Empress. Look here. It’s full of testimonies that Her Majesty suffered from guilt over losing the precious Windfearer until her death.”

“Then it wasn’t staged.”

“I think that’s highly likely too. But there are still other cunning methods.”

“For example?”

“The culprit disguises as a maid or attendant and hides in the room beforehand, then knocks out the Empress, steals the sword, and hides in the room again. Later, when commotion breaks out, they naturally slip away mixed in with the crowd.”

“Ooh…. If that happened, no one would have noticed!”

“Or there’s this method. I read about it in a book—do you know ‘The Purloined Letter’?”

“No. I’m hearing it for the first time. What is it?”

“The answer is surprisingly close by. Listen. A minister stole the queen’s secret letter and hid it, but no matter how thoroughly the police searched his house, they couldn’t find the letter.”

“Maybe he ate it?”

“No. He stole it to show the king, so what would be the point of eating it? Later a master detective figured it out—there was a reason the police couldn’t find it.”

“What was it?”

“It turned out the minister didn’t hide the letter carefully, but crumpled and tore it up and left it lying around carelessly. Everyone thought it was trash and didn’t look closely. How about it, Benjamin? Maybe the culprit hid the Founding Emperor’s sword the same way?”

“Oh! That could have been it! Like cleverly sticking it behind some withered tree in a flowerpot that no one paid attention to…. My goodness! I just got goosebumps! Guild leader, you really are a genius!”

The reporters were staring at us with incredulous faces.

“…!”

A vein bulged on Editor-in-Chief Gremory’s forehead.

They’re having fun.

That’s the expression they have.

‘As expected.’

I smiled triumphantly to myself.

I had finally succeeded in provoking that blunt and uncooperative editor-in-chief.

A rookie reading a few mystery novels and acting like they know everything – there’s no way he can let that slide.

He must be itching to put me in my place.

That’s exactly what I was aiming for.

When would I ever have time to read and analyze all this material? It’s best when someone picks out the key points and spoon-feeds them to you.

So I deliberately acted a bit smugly and showed off.

‘He’ll start spoon-feeding me soon, right?’

And as expected, my prediction wasn’t wrong.

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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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