TVMS 42

CHAPTER 42…..

The murmuring suddenly stopped.

“Why is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince here?”

Everyone, unable to even close their mouths after chattering away, stared wide-eyed at the Crown Prince.

And what was that statement just now? Did they really hear it correctly?

To the people wearing such expressions, Aldencis calmly spoke.

“I thought I had explained everything clearly through speeches and announcements, but unfortunately, it seems that was not the case. From now on, I want everyone to listen carefully.”

In the silence, he spoke clearly.

“The royal family business was never handed over to the Duke of Rosen’s family as a favor. On the contrary, we earnestly requested that the Lady of the Palace take it on. Despite this, the Lady refused until the very end…”

Aldencis looked around at the people.

“This was exactly why. We assured the Lady that no one on our side would add their own interpretations or speak with prejudice, yet now it seems the Lady’s words were correct?”

“……”

Not a single person among the crowd dared to breathe.

Aldencis’s blue eyes shone even more brightly as he looked at each person.

“After much persuasion, the Lady reluctantly accepted. If she were to retract for those reasons, my position would be very difficult. Therefore, from now on, anyone who spreads such nonsense will never be forgiven.”

The calm tone carried a chilling threat that sent shivers down everyone’s spines.

The Marchioness’s face turned completely pale as she bowed to me.

“I spoke carelessly without knowing anything. Please forgive my foolish mistake, Lady.”

“……!”

I, who had been dazed by Aldencis’s sudden appearance, finally came to my senses. I was just about to fan the flames and escalate the situation…

Still, the Crown Prince’s appearance was like a huge bomb dropping, and the goal was ultimately achieved. Even better than I had planned.

There’s no need to fan the flames anymore.

“Hmm…”

I crossed my arms and said with a haughty tone,

“It’s true I’ve actually messed up all the businesses so far. I can understand why Miss Lilibeth might have suspicions. If rumors and baseless guesses about the royal contract circulate, it’s natural to be influenced. People make mistakes, after all.”

The Marchioness, who had been so tense her lips turned blue, let out a heavy sigh.

“Thank you for your generous forgiveness.”

Then she looked up at Aldencis, who nodded in return.

“Since the Lady has forgiven, we will not mention it again.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

The Marchioness’s complexion finally returned to normal. Her face looked as if she’d just ridden a hellish rollercoaster in a short time.

“Then…”

She quickly spoke.

“We will suspend operations at the luxury goods department for a while, settle the debts, and take time to reorganize… But since we can’t turn the season’s collection entirely into stock, we will follow the Lady’s suggestion to pay commissions and entrust the department store with sales.”

What goes around comes around. Since she was lenient in front of the Crown Prince, she subtly showed gratitude.

I hid my delight and said,

“A good decision. I’ll sell them well.”

“Yes. If you tell us the address, we will do our best to display the items properly. Then, Your Highness and Lady, if you don’t mind, I shall take my leave.”

The Marchioness said this and turned to leave.

“Let’s go.”

The store manager flinched. He glanced toward the staff and muttered,

“I’ll tidy up here a bit…”

“Tidy up?”

The Marchioness’s eyebrows sharpened like blades.

“Why are you tidying up, uncle? You’re no longer related to this store at all.”

“But there are staff here, and if I suddenly fire them all…”

“Don’t worry. They’re my staff now.”

I cut off the former manager’s words.

“I plan to scout anyone who wants to work for the department store, so my staff will never have to face trash like you again.”

Then I smiled wickedly. A reminder to never forget who they were dealing with.

“Ah, no, I just…”

The former manager was dragged out without even grabbing his coat.

Trying to catch a prey way above his level, but when the mother appeared, he ran away like a hyena, leaving only his tail behind — a pitiful sight.

‘I rubbed the Marchioness the wrong way earlier by calling her a pushover or whatever, so she definitely won’t let this slip.’

While briefly savoring the refreshing feeling after clearing out the trash, a voice of admiration came from beside me.

“Amazing, Lady. You said you were only going to investigate, but you dragged in the Marchioness and quickly gathered all the merchandise?”

I turned my head and looked at Aldencis.

“Oh, yes. The collection is excellent, but the manager seemed unfaithful, so I looked into it and found the financial structure was a mess, even with personal debts. I thought cutting him out was necessary to deal with the Marchioness…”

“Ah.”

“By the way, you said you’d just come to report, so why did you come here? I thought you were busy?”

Aldencis smiled faintly at my question.

“The royal duties ended earlier than expected. The department store building is in good condition, so there’s no need for separate construction.”

“So that’s why you came here?”

“Yes. I thought the Lady would probably clash with people from high society again and cause conflicts. Sure enough, I found this commotion when I arrived.”

He shook his head slightly.

“If I hadn’t come in time, the Lady would have been in quite a difficult situation, wouldn’t she?”

He seemed a little smug.

But then, from behind, there was a sudden thud as something fell.

Aldencis was startled. I also turned around in surprise.

“Iris!”

Beyond the clerks’ shouts, I saw my maid’s older sister collapsed. The clerks rushed to her.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem to be a faint, just her tension breaking loose.

“It’s okay. You’re okay now.”

The coworkers helped Iris up and comforted her.

Aldencis looked puzzled at the scene.

“Why are they like that?”

“Oh, Your Royal Highness.”

Iris bowed respectfully and then spoke to me.

“You probably don’t know how fortunate it is that he was fired. Actually, that 100 million is a compensation I owe this luxury department, but he pretended to have lent it to me. Now that the creditor is you, from now on, I’ll send the interest to you.”

“Lady, what on earth is this about?”

“Oh, something like that happened. A customer fell here and broke a bracelet, and this young lady took the blame… Oh, wait! I just thought of something good.”

“Something good?”

Here we go again.

Actually, I’m the one who’ll pay off this debt in a snap, but if I just do it outright, my goodwill might be doubted. So I needed a decent excuse so the Sophie sisters wouldn’t be shocked.

For example, like this.

“I read in an economic magazine that large shipping companies started ‘damage compensation insurance.’ You pay a certain amount monthly, and if a big accident happens, they pay the compensation for you. So I was thinking, why not create a similar damage compensation insurance for commoners in our guild? The name could be… Ah, right.”

I pointed at the iris flower in the table vase.

“Iris Insurance.”

Iris and the clerks looked at each other. One clerk said,

“This sister’s name is Iris…”

“Really? That’s a coincidence. Honestly, 100 million isn’t a huge amount for our guild’s finances, but the publicity would be worth several times more. Miss, you’ll be the first subscriber to our damage compensation insurance. I want to advertise it like this: ‘Only paid the insurance premium of a loaf of bread every month, but prevented a 100 million loss.’”

“Excuse me?”

Iris was surprised.

“A loaf of bread costs about 1,000 페를 at most. Are you saying that if I pay that much monthly from now on, I don’t have to repay that 100 million? The guild will cover it through insurance? How, how is that possible…”

“Are you refusing now? I’m saying I won’t take the 100 million, but I’ll gain several times that in publicity benefits. You don’t like that?”

“Oh, no. It’s not that… I just…”

Iris choked up.

“I can’t believe it… Before you came in, all I could think about was wanting to die… How could such a miracle happen all of a sudden…”

Her eyes filled with tears.

When the former manager was pestering her earlier, she bit her lip tightly, not shedding a single tear.

Seeing teary-eyed Iris and the clerks, I almost felt choked up.

‘Truly, lowborn capitalism is the best. I unleashed chaos like a wild dog with my hair down.’

Thinking that, I looked around at them.

“Is there anyone here who can be dispatched to work at the department store during the luxury goods department’s closure?”

“We’ll work hard!”

Surprisingly, all the staff, including Iris, volunteered.

“Good. Then, following the Marchioness’s instructions, let’s start displaying immediately and leave early today.”

“Yes, Lady.”

Everyone packed up with relieved faces and left.

It’s a relief that it’s all settled. I should go home quickly and proceed to the next step.

‘But first, I’ll say goodbye to Aldencis.’

When I looked to say I was leaving, he was murmuring with a strange expression.

“A damage compensation insurance for commoners that prevents sincere workers from suddenly falling into unjust debt. That’s an idea that could only come from someone who truly cares about people’s livelihoods…”

“That’s not true. I only think about myself. But they say the most selfish thing can be the most altruistic.”

“Lies.”

Aldencis narrowed his eyes.

“Even if I concede a hundred times that you didn’t think about the commoners, at least it seems you tried to help that staff member, right?”

“No, why are you making such accusations?”

I lowered my voice, worried the staff might hear.

“If you wanted to help, you’d just help. Why bring up insurance and make it so sinister? Don’t make things weird.”

“Hm?”

Aldencis looked at me and suddenly said,

“Aha, I get it.”

“Get what?”

“You’re worried the staff would feel burdened, right?”