The Villainess is a Millionaire Solver - Chapter 51

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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 51

When we came outside the department store, everyone was pointing in one direction.

“Look over there!”

In the outdoor garden of this department store that used to be an art museum, there was a massive artwork. The Ice Crown was placed on top of a statue of a child holding a large golden pig.

Right on top of the pig’s head.

“Why is that there?”

Everyone rushed over there.

Up close, the statue was even more massive. We had to crane our necks back to look up at it.

“I’ll get it.”

Zikren leaped up faster than anyone else.

He jumped up from the child’s palm to the shoulder, then reached out to the pig’s head and snatched the crown.

“What’s this? Why did they steal it only to put it on top of a pig’s head?”

Zikren, who had come down, said while turning the Ice Crown over. A piece of paper rolled up and tied with string fell out from inside.

A paper with ‘To Princess Aristina’ written on the outside.

It was definitely the authentic paper that the thief uses when writing crime notices.

“What is it?”

I unfolded the paper. It read as follows:

“…”

I was at a loss for words.

“What? What is it?”

Zikren looked over from the side and burst out with “Ha!” in frustration.

“What kind of nonsense is this?”

Somehow, he seemed more annoyed by this than the fact that the thief had secretly appeared and disappeared, slipping through their surveillance?

“Why? What does it say?”

Everyone crowded around to see the note’s contents, and chaos erupted. Some people were laughing with amusement, while others were shouting that it was cool.

In any case, it was certain that the thief had once again stimulated interest in a fresh way.

‘So they won’t be satisfied unless they grab attention this way.’

I folded the note in half and snorted dismissively.

“Hair, what hair! They may have managed to steal the Ice Crown somehow, but they became afraid of our House of Rosen’s retaliation. To voluntarily return it like this! Do they think I’ll be scared just because they left a note so boldly?”

“This is not something to take lightly, Princess.”

Aldensis said with a serious expression.

“I don’t understand what happened at all. Even if we couldn’t help that my brother and I fell asleep due to their tricks, none of the traps activated either. Unless a real ghost came and went…”

“See?”

Zikren said.

“He’s definitely not ordinary. I didn’t let him escape for nothing.”

“What kind of method did he use? To make us fall asleep and threaten us…”

Aldensis looked at me with a stern face.

“Just before falling victim to his strange tricks, I saw some kind of hallucination. A scene where the thief held the Princess hostage and threatened my brother and me.”

“Me?”

“That’s right. Seeing that he left a note mentioning hair makes me even more suspicious. Could it be that he found out about the contract we made with the Princess?”

“Oh, surely not.”

“It’s not ‘surely not.’ If he tries to use that fact? Then we might be helplessly defeated by him instead.”

Aldensis said this while approaching as if he might grab my arm.

“We must strengthen our defenses so that he doesn’t approach to use the Princess.”

“Right, right. We need to make a plan.”

Zikren nodded from the side.

“…”

Well.

Although I used the ‘Truth Interrogation’ ability this time and learned that these two are quite far from being suspects.

‘Still, considering future survival probability, I really don’t want to get involved with transcendents more than necessary? Just maintaining a moderately friendly relationship would be enough.’

I subtly stepped back while smiling at them.

“Ahaha. That won’t happen.”

Then I quickly snatched the Ice Crown from Zikren’s hands and held it up high toward the reporters.

“Anyway, I don’t have to shave my head now, right?”

“Congratulations!”

If this were a world with cameras, it would have been a scene showered with camera flashes.

The incident ended like that.

The first treasure that the thief definitely stole but somehow couldn’t take away. That incident spread instantly through people’s mouths.

Our family’s Ice Crown, which was already famous, became the Empire’s biggest topic of conversation.

Since I had already achieved my intended purpose anyway, I wasn’t particularly interested either way.

“This is a report from the guild.”

I was shocked when I opened the documents sent by Benjamin’s messenger.

【New Department Store Business Sales Report】.

Under that title was written an incredible number.

I had just opened it without thinking since everything was ready, like sleeping while lying down…

It was a huge hit, no, a mega hit. Even considering sharing with the Imperial Court, it was an enormous amount.

When I found out later, it made sense.

“Is this the entrance waiting line?”

“No. This is the waiting line to get in the entrance waiting line.”

Outside the department store, people were lined up in circles around the building.

“Hello, customer. This is 【Imperial Department Store】. If you see anything you want while looking around, please let us know anytime.”

The employees, freed from the evil store manager’s hands, responded to customers with genuinely happy faces and kindness. And…

“Why is the layout so complicated? Who arranged the stores?”

“Where on earth is the exhibition hall?”

Watching people wander around confused, I quietly covered my face with a fan.

The twisted traffic flow was, of course, my doing. That way, visitors would be exposed to as many stores as possible.

‘I used to curse their commercial tactics so much when I worked part-time jobs.’

But when I actually got to arrange the stores, I unconsciously imitated them following my money-grubbing desires.

Thanks to this, the crowds who came to see the Ice Crown were directly reflected in the department store’s sales… As a result, such incredible numbers came out.

‘Good. I needed a good excuse anyway.’

I called together maid Sophie, Ellen, Mia, and Perdel, who had contributed to this incident.

“Thanks to you following my orders and demonstrating your skills to draw excellent pictures, the publicity went very well. Thanks to that, our department store achieved great success. For the time being, the guild can operate very stably without risk of bankruptcy.”

After saying that, I looked around at the maids.

This was a very important moment.

“You all did excellently. As I said, make sure to keep the secret…”

“Of course. We all swore to take it to our graves.”

The maids answered in unison.

“Good. Then I’ll pay the ‘drawing fee’ as promised.”

I opened the drawer and took out four thick bundles of money I had prepared in advance.

“It’s fair compensation, so go ahead and take it. Sophie, you had to tighten your belt with your sister to pay off debts, right? Ellen’s mother has been sick for a long time, and you’ve been struggling to pay for medicine. Mia’s house burned down a few years ago and your whole family scattered, and Perdel wants to study but has no money.”

Everyone’s expressions changed.

Scary, isn’t it? That I know your circumstances so well? You can never escape from my grasp.

Thinking this, I smiled wickedly. It was a triumphant smile like a hawk that had caught a chick.

“You all have quite useful talents. So I’m planning to go through the process of formally hiring you like father’s advisors soon. We’ll renegotiate salaries too.”

So please don’t think things like wishing I would die quickly, or wanting to kill me… Let’s forget the past and all live well together for a long time.

I sent that mental message.

“…”

Sophie, Ellen, Mia, and Perdel looked at each other. Their faces seemed somewhat bewildered, but they didn’t look particularly unhappy.

“Please entrust us with anything. We can do whatever helps the guild.”

Sophie said resolutely.

Her face has definitely blossomed over the past few days, which is rather cute.

I had a hard time keeping my lips from curling up at that thought.

“Well then, hurry up and take your money and go.”

“Yes, Young Lady! Thank you! Thank you so much!”

They bowed several times before heading outside.

“What? What’s going on?”

The other maids who had been watching from the corridor immediately surrounded them. Even though they didn’t know what had happened, they looked envious of the reward.

‘If you’re envious, then hurry up and come into my grasp too.’

I was extending both hands toward them and sending out mental messages when I suddenly felt someone’s gaze on my profile.

…?

I turned my head and made direct eye contact with someone standing hesitantly in the corner.

It was Perdel. I thought everyone had left, but she had stayed behind alone.

Oh.

I panicked and quickly pretended to be doing exercises.

“Why haven’t you left yet?”

“Ah, I’m sorry. Actually… I have something to tell you, Young Lady…”

Perdel stammered as she began to speak.

“Sophie, Mia, and Ellen did excellent work this time. But I didn’t do anything, yet you gave me the same share of the reward…”

“You helped those girls a lot too, didn’t you? More importantly, the other girls specifically asked me to do that.”

“Yes. But I was thinking if there was anything I could do to help with your work, Young Lady, and I remembered something. When I told Sophie, Mia, and Ellen about it, they said it would be better to tell you quietly and separately…”

“What is it? Don’t be nervous and tell me.”

Something felt strange, so I offered Perdel a chair. I also gave her a cushion to hold.

“As you know, Young Lady, I’m in charge of mail.”

Perdel said while hugging the cushion tightly.

“There’s a regulation that all correspondence leaving our Duke’s Mansion must have the ducal seal stamped on the outer envelope, so we first put them in the mailbox in the Chamberlain’s Office, right? But it seems like someone is tampering with it.”

“What did you say?”

“How I found out was… didn’t you order me to spray plenty of perfume on the New Year’s cards you send to His Highness the Crown Prince? But just once, really just once…”

She realized she had forgotten to spray the perfume and went right back to look for it, but the letter had disappeared in that short time.

That’s the story Perdel told.

She was terrified, but just in case, she went back to check, and the letter that she couldn’t find anywhere was now sitting quietly in the mailbox.

It was strange, so she observed carefully and felt warmth from the seal. As if it had just been stamped.

“I thought maybe I was going crazy and imagining things, so I touched all the letters in there. Then I found three more letters with fresh seals. They were all correspondence you had sent, Young Lady.”

“So someone is specifically selecting my letters from the mailbox, opening them, and resealing them?”

“I don’t know. I’m just telling you what I saw and felt. I was scared, so after that I just put the letters in and left immediately.”

…How surprising.

It’s unthinkable for an employee to open letters sealed by a duke’s daughter.

And to have my personal seal and completely reseal them themselves.

‘If it’s someone who would do such a thing…’

It’s probably our head aide, Eunice, right?

Since she disrespects me enough to personally tail me, opening letters and stamping new seals wouldn’t be difficult either.

But this is only circumstantial evidence.

‘Good. Let’s find out if it really is Eunice’s doing.’

My gaze turned to the 【New Business Revenue Report】 on my desk.

That would be perfect to use.

I took out paper and wrote a letter right there. It was correspondence requesting someone to do something.

…I want to manipulate the amounts written in the deposit records of our guild’s revenue…

After I finished writing the letter, I put it in an envelope and handed it to Perdel.

“Put it in the Chamberlain’s Office mailbox as usual. Just drop it in like you normally do.”

“Yes, Young Lady.”

“You did very well in telling me. Thank you so much.”

“Not at all.”

Perdel left with the envelope.

And three days later, the Head Butler came to me and said:

“The Duke would like to see you, Young Lady. He wants to hear a report about this business as well.”

The moment I had been waiting for had come.

“Good.”

I jumped up from my seat.

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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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