Chapter 24
‘Whoa. Looks like my first customer at this year’s Foundation Festival is gonna be a jackpot.’
The gemstone was clearly top-tier, judging by its exquisite cut. It was the kind of item that made your heart pound, but Wolfgang acted like he’d handled such treasures dozens of times before.
“Looks like you need quick cash on the first day of the Foundation Festival, huh? Young lady, are you here to pawn this, or to sell it?”
She probably sneaked out with her parents’ treasure just for a little adventure.
“I want to sell it. How much can you offer?”
“Let’s see… hmm. The carat size is good, but the craftsmanship is a bit lacking. Tsk, pieces like this are a dime a dozen. At best, maybe 20 Atasha each?”
He quoted a price slashed to less than 1/100th of its worth, clicking his tongue as if he were being generous.
“How about 70 Atasha? Since you’re a young lady, I’ll give you a generous deal.”
Then, the gem vanished from his hand in an instant.
“Eh?”
The customer had snatched it back with lightning speed, like a pickpocket.
“What sort of manners are these? How dare you snatch it back during an appraisal!”
“Shut your mouth, you shameless crook.”
The woman silenced him with a cold voice.
‘Damn, I underestimated her just because she looked young.’
Clicking his tongue, Wolfgang finally called out a more reasonable price.
“Fine, 800 Atasha. How’s that?”
“……”
“Okay, 900? I mean, 1000 would be too much, wouldn’t it?”
“10,000 Atasha.”
At that absurd number, Wolfgang yelped.
“10,000?! Be realistic, will you?!”
“Wolfgang, I see you really don’t have what it takes to run a pawnshop. Can’t even recognize the work of the Imperial Court Jeweler?”
Imperial Court Jeweler? Wolfgang’s face turned pale at the words. That was a piece a pawnshop owner might only dream of handling once in a lifetime.
Even just laying hands on such an item would raise the shop’s prestige.
“Seems like you’re more suited to being a fixer than a pawnbroker, Wolfgang. Or should I call you… Goetz?”
Goetz. A name never to be spoken again—now falling from the woman’s lips. Wolfgang’s face turned to stone. He reached beneath the counter and pulled out a gun, aiming it at Odette.
“How do you know that name? Who sent you?!”
Even with a loaded gun pointed at her head, Odette simply smiled and took off the hood of her cloak.
She looked completely unbothered by the harsh atmosphere, as if her past dealings with the underworld didn’t faze her at all.
And beneath the hood was the most beautiful face in the Empire. The young lady of House Albrecht. Recognizing her, Wolfgang gulped.
“Lady Albrecht…”
“Nice to meet you, Goetz.”
Her demeanor was the complete opposite of the rumors—refined even in the face of a gun, not a hint of vulgarity or tantrums.
Which noble, raised like a greenhouse flower, could withstand the pressure of a thug’s threats this well?
But the fear Wolfgang felt wasn’t just because of her boldness.
“Don’t tell me… has Ulrich found me?”
Ulrich was the name of Count Albrecht—Goetz’s former master, to whom he had once sworn loyalty.
Goetz had been the fixer who handled all the dirty work for the Albrecht family for generations.
But fifteen years ago, disgusted by Ulrich’s depravity, Goetz faked his death and disappeared from the count’s service.
Since then, he’d been living under a new identity: Wolfgang, the pawnbroker.
“I’m sorry if I scared you. My father, Ulrich, doesn’t even know you’re alive. And I swear, he never will.”
Goetz didn’t remember, but in her past life, he had been the one to seek Odette out first.
He didn’t want to be dragged back into the family’s affairs—but he had offered to help change her identity.
‘Thanks to him, I managed to stay ahead of the transcenders for two whole years.’
It wasn’t because Goetz’s intel network was better than Zion’s.
It was because he had incredible instincts and skills—yet had been declared dead. He knew how to handle information without being caught by any network.
“Fixer Goetz is already dead. I want nothing to do with that bastard Ulrich again! If you don’t want a bullet in your skull, get out right now!”
Goetz ground his teeth in fury.
“Goetz, that’s exactly why I came to see you.”
“What?”
“You hate Ulrich, not the entire Albrecht family, right?”
“I hate Ulrich, not the Albrechts as a whole. I can’t just sit back and watch you die.”
Repeating the same words Wolfgang had once said in her past life, Odette calmly took the gun from his hand.
“It’s a little rough around the edges, but practical. Very you.”
Wolfgang blinked in shock. The Wolfgang she met in her previous life had shown signs of still missing the Albrecht family.
Fixers working in the shadows don’t even get the status of a retainer. Without pride and loyalty to their master’s family, the job is unbearable.
And Goetz had been an exceptional fixer—almost as if born for it. He grew up watching his father, the previous fixer of House Albrecht.
How could he not feel nostalgic for those days?
Some people see rolling in the mud to uphold their master’s honor as the ultimate romance.
“Can you get me a handsome dealer? I plan to wreck my father’s Ulrich Casino downtown.”
“You show up out of nowhere, talking nonsense. Why would I trust you—”
“Not just moderately good-looking. I want someone truly handsome.”
“Are you even listening to me, lady?”
“Oh, and that 10,000 Atasha? It’s yours. A down payment. I, unlike my father, buy a fixer’s loyalty with money.”
She locked the gun’s safety with skilled hands and gave him a soft smile.
Goetz let out a breathless laugh and stared at her like he’d been struck speechless.
“You really are shameless, lady.”
But despite his tone, his eyes wavered just slightly.
Odette noticed it right away—that flicker was longing.
Which meant she could be sure of one thing:
That she’d soon earn his loyalty.
The Foundation Festival’s wild energy made it hard to even get a carriage—she had to pay four times the usual fare.
Inside the rickety ride, Odette stared out at the noisy streets, lost in thought.
After hearing her plan, Goetz had begrudgingly agreed to find her a dealer.
“Don’t think this means I accepted your proposal! I just want to see that godforsaken casino go down!”
He’d shouted that he had no intention of becoming her fixer and told her to take her money back.
But she still made sure to shove the 10,000 Atasha into his hands.
Goetz always complained when he was about to help.
‘With Goetz on board, my revenge is going well.’
The problem was lowering the male lead’s hatred—it was turning out to be harder than expected.
‘Just look at Johann’s hatred level.’
Johann, the one currently most favorable to her, still had a hatred level of 70. If she hadn’t stopped the Crown Prince Rampage Incident, it would’ve already hit 100.
‘Even if I have 20,000 hatred points left, the moment Charlotte shows up, they’ll all shoot straight to 100.’
So she couldn’t just focus on reducing hatred.
‘I need to prepare in case things go south. I need a Plan B.’
She had to be ready to run from the male leads again—this time, even better than in her last life.
Her mood sank, but outside the carriage, the city was lit up with drink and music.
The Miracle Generation.
The people, drunk and rowdy, shouted the names of S-Class Transcenders like they were heroes.
Thanks to them, the capital was safe—and that’s why this festival was even happening.
‘Ugh. This is already too rowdy—and I’m still in the city center.’
If the usually neat and quiet plaza was this chaotic, what would the rest of the city be like?
Unfortunately, her destination was the worst slum of them all. A place full of violence, even without the festival excitement.
Add liquor and noise to that mix, and trouble was guaranteed.
The carriage reached its destination.
Just as expected, drunkards were already brawling at the entrance of the slum.
Odette pressed her fingers to her temple, annoyed.
“If I’m unlucky, I might run into the king of the underworld…”
She had no desire to get tangled up with any male lead.
Especially not Victor Koenig—the slum’s administrator.
