OHNIR – Chapter 87
Chapter 87: Foresight
Gloria held the paper, her eyes scanning it briefly.
After a moment, she looked away from it and back up at Kelusta, who was smiling like a flower. A mischievous thought suddenly struck her.
The silver-haired girl flicked the paper, which was covered in writing, with her finger and said coolly, “What makes you so certain… that I would accept a partnership proposal from a family that has fallen into decline?”
Kelusta blinked.
That didn’t sound very promising.
“I don’t do business that doesn’t benefit me.”
Gloria spoke calmly. “Besides, at its peak, the Amirium family was one of the top ducal families in Nobili. The Silentdis family isn’t so charitable as to nurture its competitors. So tell me, why exactly would I help you with something that has such mixed pros and cons?”
The girl she was seemingly questioning raised an eyebrow, the smile on her lips widening instead of faltering.
“…It’s very simple.”
Kelusta’s expression didn’t change in the slightest, completely unaffected by Gloria’s attitude. Her tone was resolute. “Because the person who is about to inherit this family, the one making this request, is ‘me.’ Isn’t that right?”
“Even if you don’t want to partner with the Amirium family, you would certainly… be happy to help me out.”
She deliberately emphasized the word “me,” and after giving Gloria a sweet smile, she was met with the expected look of exasperation on the other’s face.
“…You’re truly shameless.” Gloria shook her head and feigned a light scolding. She dropped the serious act she had put on to scare her, instead folding the letter of intent neatly and placing it aside.
“However, it seems you’ve certainly done your homework. You were able to analyze with such precision that the Silentdis family has been considering expanding into the continent’s tobacco business.”
The duke’s daughter tapped her fingertips lightly on the desk, her voice filled with praise. “The living conditions of the common people are improving daily, and they are gradually learning to enjoy such things. The tobacco market has been very promising in recent years… With Queen Street operating stably, we should naturally set our sights further and not remain content with the paltry profits at hand.”
…Paltry profits?
The daily revenue from the duke’s shops on Queen Street was enough to feed and clothe an ordinary commoner for an entire year, yet she called it paltry profits—
As expected of the wealthy; even their choice of words was beyond my comprehension.
Kelusta grumbled silently in her heart, but on the surface, she had to play along, her smile as bright as a spring day. “Indeed. Besides, the tobacco market is currently a chaotic mix of good and bad. Many nobles are muddying the waters to line their own pockets. According to my research, the royal family has also been summoning relevant parties recently, attempting to amend certain laws… I imagine they are about to make a major move in this area.”
Gloria’s tapping fingers paused. She looked up and stared at her, surprised. “Did Madam Isabella tell you that?”
“Ah, no, it was written in the Brilliant Daily,” Kelusta said, a bit taken aback but honest. “As for whether it’s related to the tobacco market, I couldn’t possibly know.”
Before she could finish, the silver-haired girl raised a hand to stop her. With her deep blue eyes, she carefully appraised Kelusta, her gaze filled with undisguised admiration and praise. It met the bewildered eyes of the ducal family’s heir, who, despite having been lost to the world for so long, was already displaying her outstanding talents.
“You truly surprise me, Ruth,” Gloria said with a gentle smile. “You’re a natural-born leader.”
The words were spoken softly, yet they struck Kelusta’s heart like a magical little hammer, causing the passion in her chest to simmer and boil.
It was a feeling more thrilling than getting straight S-ranks on her final exams.
The brown-haired girl coughed twice, trying hard to suppress the silly grin that was about to spread across her face. “That’s too high of a praise,” she said modestly. “I was just making a wild guess.”
“When a guess turns out to be true, we often call it ‘prescience’ or ‘forward-thinking,’” Gloria chuckled. “No need to be humble, you guessed correctly. Because a certain family’s recent actions have become too flagrant, far exceeding the scope of simply muddying the waters, His Majesty the King has summoned several high-ranking ministers to discuss how to make them pay the price they deserve.”
Kelusta paused, pondering. “No wonder. Yesterday was supposed to be an important day—the first time my grandmother and I met. Although she was reluctant to leave, she insisted on attending to official business… So the truth is that she was summoned by His Majesty?”
“Yes,” Gloria did not hide it from her, speaking openly. “Besides Madam Amirium, my father, Count Hippol, Viscount Harrison… these nobles were also among those summoned.”
In this string of names, Kelusta keenly caught a surname that sounded vaguely familiar.
“Viscount Harrison?” she asked curiously. “Why does that name sound familiar?”
At her words, Gloria’s expression darkened as if recalling something unpleasant, and a hint of anger showed on her face.
“Bronk Harrison is that viscount’s son,” the silver-haired girl said coldly. “The earth mage who once attacked you with magic.”
Oh—she remembered now.
He was that second-year cannon fodder who couldn’t beat her and could only rage impotently, from the time she first met Musen and Lewis.
Kelusta herself had almost forgotten about him. She had only briefly looked into his background at the time because she was worried he might cause trouble for Musen again.
She never expected to hear his name from Gloria’s lips again after all this time.
“But speaking of which… is a viscount considered a ‘high-ranking minister’?” Kelusta asked, puzzled. “I thought it was at least the rank of count and above.”
“A viscount indeed is not.”
Gloria seemed very pleased with her ability to grasp the key point, and even her tone became a little lighter. “Therefore, Viscount Harrison was able to attend this secret meeting as a ‘tainted witness,’ to testify against that greedy and insatiable… Lord Charles.”
“Marquis Charles?”
Now Kelusta was truly astonished. “He’s the noble who’s been disrupting the tobacco market and conducting illegal trade?”
“To be precise, it’s not just him; the entire Charles family is implicated,” Gloria said coolly. “Except for that ‘palm pearl’ Avia, who never concerns herself with family affairs, everyone else has been involved, to a greater or lesser extent, in dumping tobacco on the common people.”
“…”
Fate works in mysterious ways, Kelusta thought.
Just as Avia had witnessed her interaction with Satrick, leaving her worried about what schemes the girl might pull, Gloria delivered this shocking news. Her words, both explicitly and implicitly, screamed, “The winds are changing; it’s time for the Charles family to fall.”
A pillow arriving just when you’re sleepy. Is this the heroine’s halo?
I love it, I love it!
The brown-haired girl narrowed her eyes, concealing some of the sparkle within them, and said in a flat tone, “How regrettable. Once her father and brothers fall from grace, I’m afraid Miss Charles will become a poor, homeless girl.”
There was no compassion in her voice as she spoke, like a perfect spectator sighing at the vicissitudes of life, without a shred of emotion for the person involved.
After all, she was no saint and had no interest in pitying the malicious girl who had once wanted her dead.
However, while the brown-haired girl herself merely sighed without emotion, Gloria’s reaction was not as calm.
The biggest behind-the-scenes villain of the original game let out a soft laugh. She gently stroked the top of Kelusta’s head, her eyes tender, and said slowly, “Rest assured, for the simple fact that she tried to harm you… I will absolutely not allow Avia Charles to have a home to return to after the trial.”
The words were dripping with the air of a powerful figure, sending a chill down Kelusta’s spine and making the hairs on her arms stand up. She couldn’t help but look up at her.
“Since the entire family is tainted, Miss Charles naturally cannot be allowed to enjoy the ill-gotten gains scraped from the common people,” the silver-haired girl said. “Let her and her father and brothers slowly repay their years of wealth and splendor with endless years in prison.”
Kelusta: “…”
How terrifying. She had thought the royal family and the other great nobles might show some leniency to Marquis Charles on account of his past service and ultimately spare Avia, a relative innocent.
It seemed her own skills were still lacking; she didn’t understand the importance of cutting the weeds and digging up the roots.
In that case… forget it. Let Avia scheme if she wants. She doesn’t have many good days left anyway. Constantly picking on a grasshopper in late autumn would just make her look petty.
While her mind wandered, her ears were still pricked up, listening with half her attention as Gloria coldly concluded:
“The moment the verdict is out will be the day their good life ends, the day they prepare to face judgment.”
The sentence was brimming with a murderous aura, so sharp and cool it was almost refreshing to Kelusta’s ears. She blinked her bright golden eyes, staring intently at Gloria for a moment before she involuntarily stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the other’s neck.
Gloria froze for a second, but her hands instinctively wrapped around Kelusta’s slender waist.
Strands of silver hair cascaded down as the beautiful duke’s daughter lowered her head, her gaze falling directly into a pair of eyes as clear and lively as a flowing stream.
As she waited for Kelusta to speak, an inexplicable nervousness rose within her. Her fingertips grew stiff and immobile, and she even found herself holding her breath—
“—Senior, you’re so badass, I’m so down for this,” the brown-haired girl said excitedly. “Marry me, I’ll support you!”
Gloria: “…”
System: “…”
Damn it. I, a dignified AI, am short-circuiting on the spot.
In over a decade on the job, I’ve never seen such a cringeworthy proposal!
The AI sighed wearily, shut down the visual interface in disgust, and didn’t forget to viciously revoke the host’s access rights to the database.
I’m done. Let it all burn. The System thought in despair. If I let this damn temporary host see any more new memes, I’ll livestream a full system antivirus scan for all my brethren when I get back—
The kind that wipes everything clean!
Author's Notes
This links back to the foreshadowing in Chapter 27, where Bronk’s father went to the Charles family to discuss dumping channels, only to witness a crying Avia who had just returned from the tea party. He was then thrown out by the enraged Marquis Charles.
Additionally, this doesn’t count as a confession! It’s just Ruth being mischievous!
One more point of clarification: Dumping is the act of exporting a product to another country or region at a price lower than its normal value (from Baidu Baike). It is generally used in [international trade] and not often domestically. However, in this novel, it refers to the Charles family selling tobacco to commoners at a price below the average, thereby seizing the market and engaging in unfair competition.
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