The Villainess is a Millionaire Solver - Chapter 43

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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 43

The murmuring sounds abruptly stopped.

‘Why is His Highness the Crown Prince here?’

Everyone who had been chattering away couldn’t even close their mouths, staring at the Crown Prince with wide, startled eyes.

And what was that statement just now?

Did they hear it correctly?

Facing the people who wore such expressions, Aldensis calmly opened his mouth.

“I thought I had said enough through speeches and announcements, but regrettably, it seems that wasn’t the case. From now on, I hope you all listen carefully.”

In the silence, he spoke clearly and distinctly.

“The Imperial business was never thrown to House of Rosen as some kind of favor. Rather, it was the opposite – we earnestly requested the Young Lady to take it on. The Young Lady refused until the very end…”

Aldensis looked around at the people.

“For precisely this reason. Because people would add their own interpretations and make prejudiced remarks. We assured the Young Lady that such things wouldn’t happen, but now I see the Young Lady was right, wasn’t she?”

“…”

Not one of those many people could make even a sound.

Aldensis made his blue eyes shine even more brilliantly as he looked at each person one by one.

“After much persuasion, the Young Lady reluctantly agreed to take it on, but if she were to reconsider for such reasons, my position would be very difficult. Therefore, I will never forgive anyone who spreads such groundless rumors in the future.”

The menace hidden in his gentle tone. It was enough to make people’s spines shiver.

The Marquis’s daughter’s face turned completely pale as she bowed her head toward me.

“I spoke carelessly without knowing anything. I beg that the Young Lady please forgive my foolish mistake.”

“…!”

I, who had been dazed by Aldensis’s appearance, finally came to my senses.

I had been busy fanning the flames and escalating the situation. But with the Crown Prince’s appearance – such a major bombshell – my goal was ultimately achieved, wasn’t it? And far more splendidly than I had planned.

There’s no need to fan any more flames.

“Hmm…”

I crossed my arms and spoke primly.

“It’s true that I’ve actually ruined every business venture so far. I can understand why Lillibes might harbor such suspicions. If people around her are spreading speculation about the Imperial contract, she couldn’t help but be influenced. People can make mistakes, after all.”

The Marquis’s daughter, who had been tense with pale lips, let her shoulders drop with relief.

“Thank you for your generous forgiveness.”

Then she looked up at Aldensis. He also nodded.

“Since the Young Lady has forgiven you, I won’t mention it further.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

The Marquis’s daughter’s complexion finally returned to normal. It was the face of someone who had ridden a hellish roller coaster in a short time.

“Then…”

She spoke quickly.

“I’ll need to temporarily suspend the luxury store’s operations and take time to reorganize while settling debt matters… Since I can’t turn all the collections prepared for the season into dead stock, I’ll follow the Young Lady’s suggestion and pay a commission to the department store to handle the sales.”

Where there’s give, there’s take.

Since I generously let it slide in front of the Crown Prince, she’s subtly showing her gratitude.

I hid my pleased expression and said.

“That’s a good decision. I’ll sell them well for you.”

“Yes. If you give me the address, I’ll do my best to display everything nicely there. Then, Your Highness, and Young Lady. I’ll take my leave now.”

The Marquis’s daughter said this and turned around.

“Let’s go.”

The store manager flinched. He glanced at the employees and mumbled hesitantly.

“I need to clean up here a bit…”

“Clean up?”

The Marquis’s daughter’s eyebrows shot up like blades.

“Why would you clean up, Uncle? You have nothing to do with this store anymore.”

“But there are employees here, and if I suddenly fire them like this…”

“Don’t worry about it. They’re my employees now.”

I cut off the former store manager’s words.

“I’m planning to scout anyone who wants to come to the department store. So that my employees never have to face trash like you again.”

And I gave him a cold smile. Meaning he should never forget who he was dealing with.

“Ah, no, I was just…”

The former store manager was dragged away without even grabbing his coat. Like a hyena that had targeted prey beyond its league, only to tuck its tail and run when the mother appeared.

What a pathetic sight, being chased away like that.

‘Since I thoroughly got under the Marquis’s daughter’s skin earlier by calling her a pushover and such, she definitely won’t let this incident slide.’

As I was briefly savoring the refreshing feeling after disposing of trash, I heard an admiring voice beside me.

“Impressive, Young Lady. You said you were just investigating, but you drew in the Marquis’s daughter and secured all the merchandise in an instant?”

I turned my head to look at Aldensis.

“Ah, yes. The collection was excellent, but the manager seemed unreliable, so I looked into it and found the financial structure was a mess and he even had personal debts. I thought we could only deal with the Marquis’s daughter if we got rid of him…”

“I see.”

“But why did you come when I said I’d report back? You said you were busy.”

At my question, Aldensis smiled slightly.

“The Imperial duties finished earlier than expected. The department store building is also in good condition, so there’s nowhere that needs construction.”

“So you came here?”

“Yes. I thought the Young Lady would surely clash with people from high society and create conflicts. Sure enough, when I arrived, this commotion was happening.”

He shook his head slightly as he spoke.

“If I hadn’t arrived in time, wouldn’t the Young Lady have been in quite a predicament?”

He seemed slightly proud of himself.

But then.

There was a sound of something collapsing from behind.

Aldensis was startled. I was also surprised and turned around.

“Iris!”

Beyond the store clerks’ shouts, I could see my maid’s sister collapsed.

The store clerks ran over in alarm. Fortunately, it wasn’t fainting but just seemed like she had collapsed from relief.

“It’s okay. It’s okay now.”

Her colleagues helped Iris up while comforting her. Aldensis tilted his head as he watched this scene.

“Why are they like that?”

“Ah, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

Iris respectfully paid her respects, then spoke to me.

“You don’t know how fortunate it is that he was fired, Young Lady. Actually, that 100 million was compensation I was supposed to pay to this luxury store, but he acted like he had lent it to me. Now that the creditor has changed to you, Young Lady, I’ll send the interest to you from now on.”

“Young Lady, what is this all about?”

“Ah, well, something like that happened. A customer fell down by herself here and broke a bracelet, but this young lady got stuck with the blame… Ah, wait! I just had a good idea.”

“A good idea?”

Time for another show.

Actually, I’m going to pay off this debt easily, but my goodwill would only invite suspicion. I needed a suitable excuse so the Sophie sisters wouldn’t be surprised. For example, like this.

“I saw in an economic magazine recently that there’s something called ‘damage compensation insurance’ for Guild Masters’ large ships. If you pay a certain amount monthly, they’ll pay the compensation for you when something big happens? How about we create damage compensation insurance for commoners in our guild too? The name would be… ah, that’s right.”

I pointed to the iris flowers in the table vase and said.

“Iris Insurance.”

Iris and the store clerks looked at each other. One of the clerks said.

“This sister’s name is Iris…”

“Really? That’s fate too. Honestly, 100 million isn’t an amount that would greatly help my guild’s finances. Using it as advertising money would be several times more profitable. You can be the first subscriber to our damage compensation insurance. I want to advertise: ‘Just by paying monthly insurance fees worth a loaf of bread, she avoided 100 million in damage compensation.'”

“What?”

Iris was shocked.

“A loaf of bread would be only about 1,000 pe. Are you saying that if I just pay that much in monthly insurance fees, I don’t have to repay that 100 million? The guild will pay it all through insurance? How could that be possible…”

“Are you saying you don’t want it? I’m saying I won’t take the 100 million and instead gain several times more profitable advertising effects. Does that not sit well with you?”

“N-no. That’s not it, I just…”

Iris’s voice choked up.

“I can’t believe it… Until you came in earlier, Young Lady, I was only thinking about wanting to die… How could such a miracle suddenly happen…”

Her eyes became teary.

When the former store manager was harassing her earlier, she bit her lips tightly and stood firm without showing even a single tear.

Seeing Iris and her fellow store clerks tearing up, even I felt my nose tingling with emotion.

‘As expected, vulgar capitalism at its finest. I did well to let loose and go wild like a dog.’

With such thoughts, I looked around at them.

“Is there anyone among you who would like to be dispatched to work at the department store during the luxury goods store’s closure period?”

“We’ll work hard!”

Surprisingly, all the employees including Iris volunteered.

“Good. Then we’ll start displaying items right away according to Lillibes’ instructions, but for today, you can all go home early.”

“Yes, Young Lady.”

Everyone packed their things and left with relieved faces.

I’m glad it worked out well.

I should hurry home and proceed with the next step, right?

‘But first, I should say goodbye to Aldensis.’

When I looked to the side to tell him I was leaving, he was muttering with a strange expression.

“Damage compensation insurance for common people that prevents honest workers from being unfairly burdened with debt in an instant. This seems like an idea that could only come from thinking about people’s livelihoods…”

“That can’t be right. I only think about myself. But they say the most selfish thing can also be the most altruistic.”

“That’s a lie.”

Aldensis narrowed his eyes.

“Even if I concede a hundred times that you weren’t thinking about common people, at the very least it seems you were trying to help that employee, right?”

“No, why are you making such false accusations?”

I lowered my voice to argue back, worried the employees might hear.

“If I was going to help, I would just help directly. Why would I drag insurance into it and help in such a devious way? Don’t make me out to be weird.”

“Hmm?”

Aldensis looked at me and suddenly said.

“Ah. I understand now.”

“What?”

“You did it that way because you were worried the employee would feel burdened, right?”

His blue eyes looked straight at me.

“That day when the new contractor was decided. I realized that thinking I knew the Young Lady was a mistake. For some reason, you’ve completely changed.”

Then Aldensis smiled brightly.

“In a very good way.”

It was somehow a smile that felt a little different from usual.

Dazzling, you could say.

I stared at him in a daze for a moment.

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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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