Please Support My Revenge - Chapter 40

Rohan, the self-made man, arrived at the hotel. Lobelia, upon hearing the news, set aside the book she was reading and looked bewildered.

“Our deal is done, so why has he come?” As she prepared to meet Rohan, she asked Joachim for his opinion.

“I’m not sure.”

But Joachim was equally clueless about the purpose of Rohan’s visit. Joachim, who had assisted Lobelia’s organization, had slipped out of the room before Rohan’s arrival.

“Good to see you again.”

Lobelia greeted Rohan as he entered the drawing room. He seemed uncomfortable wiping sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. The sight of him doing so seemed oddly endearing to Lobelia.

“Haha, it’s been a while, Lady Catherine.”

Rohan noticed Lobelia’s peculiar gaze and raised an eyebrow in response.

What on earth does he want to talk about?

However, even after Rohan took his seat, he rambled on about trivial matters like the weather and the outcome of a card game at Duchess Evelyne’s party, avoiding the main topic.

“Do you have business to discuss? Please get to the point?”

Finally, Lobelia asked straightforwardly. After much hesitation and lip-biting, Rohan pulled out an envelope containing a check from his pocket.

“Um, by any chance…”

Upon hearing Rohan’s intention, Lobelia couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

“You want to repurchase the mine?”

Rohan’s face turned a shade of red. The fact that Lobelia managed to suppress her laughter was a testament to her consideration for him.

“Mr. Rohan, the contract has ended, and I have no intention of selling the mine again.”

Lobelia put down her teacup and spoke firmly.

“But… please consider. It’s 2.5 billion mani. With this amount…”

“If we mine gold properly, we can reach that amount within six months. It’s quite regrettable that you thought I’d sell the mine for that price, considering me a fool.”

Rohan widened his eyes in disbelief. When she drafted the contract, Lobelia thought of herself as a rustic outsider who knew nothing about business and had come to Merdania. Yet now, she had surprised herself with such precise calculations.

“Please leave.”

Upon hearing Lobelia’s words, Rohan had no choice but to stand up.

****

“What? You failed?”

Marlon exclaimed in disbelief as Rohan returned with a check worth 2.5 billion manis.

“What kind of failure is this, that you can’t even succeed in sweet-talking?”

“It wasn’t sweet-talking!”

Rohan protested in frustration. His words made Marlon raise an eyebrow.

“What do you mean?”

“That woman knows precisely how to calculate the profits that can be gained from the mine. And her attitude… it’s completely different from when she drafted the contract. It’s like she’s a whole different person.”

Rohan recalled Catherine’s cool gaze in the drawing room, which had left him dumbfounded. It was definitely not the gaze of someone sweet-talking.

“If I had known… No, if I had known the value of the mine, going there myself wouldn’t have been useless.”

Marlon muttered with a serious expression. He nervously opened and closed the drawer of his desk, contemplating how he could reclaim the mine.

“Your Grace, how about just giving up on Mine No. 9? Since the deal is already completely finalized, unless the other party decides to resell, there’s no way to recover it.”

“Mine No. 2 has the highest yield after all! Moreover, the other party isn’t some Cochwell, but a woman from a declining middle-ranking family. Can you just give up so easily?”

Marlon’s irritated outburst caused Rohan’s shoulders to slump.

“But how are you planning to…”

“That’s what you’re pondering, right?”

Marlon made a frustrated sound. Squeak, squeak. For a while, the sound of Marlon opening and closing the drawer filled the office. Just as Rohan was about to say once again that he should give up, Marlon suddenly stood up from his seat.

“Yes, why didn’t I think of that?”

A smile appeared at the corner of Marlon’s mouth.

“The Hayard family, they’ve fallen, right?” He asked Rohan.

“Yes? Yes, that’s correct.”

“Having money but not an overwhelmingly large amount, and not having any particularly strong connections? Are you sure about the information you’ve gathered?”

“I sent someone to the main estate of House Hayard to verify, and it’s true. A widower lives in a very old mansion, and when asked about his daughter’s business, he seems uninterested. Other than the recent increase in expenses, there was nothing particularly noteworthy.”

In truth, neither Rohan nor Marlon knew that the real heir of House Hayard and the increase in his expenses were due to Lobelia paying him through brokers, not from Cochwell’s Treasury of the neighboring kingdom.

“Alright. That’s what you’re saying.”

A shadow fell over Marlon’s face.

“Get a few men together. Big ones.” Marlon instructed Rohan.

“What? Where are you going to use them?” Rohan asked in confusion, and Marlon’s eyes glittered dangerously in the shadow.

“Where to use them? Obviously to give a lesson to the ignorant country bumpkin.”

Rohan’s face turned pale.

****

Lobelia decided to stay a few more days to inspect Mine No. 9. She also needed to finalize the deal with Cochwell regarding the gold processing process. Besides, she couldn’t return immediately since she had these matters to attend to in the capital.

As Lobelia, disguised as Catherine, went in and out of Mine No. 9 a few times, rumors about her quickly spread. The people of Merdania were endlessly curious about who had won the biggest lottery since Mine No. 2, and as a result, the area around Mine No. 9 was always bustling with people.

Unlike Joachim, who was anxious due to not being able to closely protect her because of the crowd, Lobelia paid little attention to the fervent attention directed towards her.

“When famous people visited our village when I lived in the countryside, we used to go out and watch them.”

Lobelia said this to Joachim, who was visibly nervous, and then she immersed herself in paperwork with Joel.

That day, Lobelia had a lot of work to handle, and she ended up staying late at the office. Joel was the first to notice that something was off.

“Doesn’t something feel different from usual?”

Joel looked out of the slightly opened window with an uneasy expression.

“Even though people have gathered, the atmosphere seems somewhat different. There are faces I haven’t seen before.”

Joel was practically a native of Merdania, and unless they were noble visitors for business purposes, he would rarely not recognize a face.

After a while, Lobelia also sensed that something was amiss.

“Let’s go outside.”

Joel got up and opened the office door. Lobelia, thinking that he was calling Joachim, who was waiting near the mine, stood up to follow him. However, the strangers were quick. As soon as the office door opened, they surrounded Joel and Lobelia, pressing in on them.

The gathered individuals were all robust men. Although they seemed generally young, their expressions and body language emitted an air of trouble.

“Who are you people? And what is this all about?” Joel yelled. His face flushed with anger. The thugs looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders, and started chuckling.

Sensing the tense atmosphere, Joel stepped in front of Lobelia.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but you should leave. If you don’t clear the way…”

“What if we don’t?” One of the men moved forward tauntingly. Joel tensed up.

“If you don’t, you’ll be in big trouble!”

At Joel’s words, the thugs burst into raucous laughter.

“Did you hear that? Did you just hear that?”

“Ridiculous nonsense! Get lost!”

A man shoved Joel. He resisted with all his might, but lost his balance and stumbled.

As Lobelia quickly crouched down to check on Joel, the thugs approached her.

“It looks like I have some business with you.”

Lobelia asked in a calm voice, looking at Joel with a pained expression.

Despite the chaos, the thugs were taken aback by Lobelia’s calm demeanor. However, they quickly regained their audacity and shouted.

“Whether you have a business or not.”

“What kind of business is it?”

In response to Lobelia’s question, the man who seemed to be their leader raised his thumb and pointed toward the entrance of the mine.

“This mine, you see, belongs to the people of Merdania. It’s not a place for outsiders like you to claim.”

“And?”

“You should give up the mine and step back.”

Lobelia narrowed her eyes. A Merdanian suddenly appeared out of nowhere and demanded the mine? It was ridiculous.

Originally, mines were an export item that brought foreign money to the people of Merdania. Among the Merdanians, there was no one who showed attachment to the mines and drove away investors.

“You two aren’t even Merdanians, aren’t you? Joel said he’d never seen your faces.”

As Lobelia calmly pointed out their flaw, the thugs looked flustered and muttered in annoyance.

“What’s the big deal? You’re just a regular woman, after all.”

“She said you would be scared and run away just from showing your face.”

“Seriously, why are you so calm?”

While the men behind were exchanging words, the representative among them shouted.

“Why does that matter? What matters is that you don’t have the right to possess this mine!”

He approached Lobelia aggressively.

“If you don’t listen when I speak, I’ll have to teach you myself!”

The man reached out to Lobelia.

Well, it might be inevitable.

It was the moment when Lobelia was about to give up and brace herself for pain.

The man collapsed with a thud, emitting a groan of agony.

“…?”

“Thud! Ugh!”

The man writhed in pain.

Raising her gaze, Lobelia spotted Silveston relentlessly stepping on the man with a merciless expression.

It was the first time in her life that Lobelia had seen someone so infuriated.

Silveston’s blue eyes were burning with anger hotter than flames. His expression was contorted like a demon, and there was no mercy in the foot that crushed the man.

The heat he emanated was almost palpable.

“How dare… how dare…”

Silveston was so enraged that he could hardly form proper words, his voice shaking with fury. He lifted his foot and struck the man’s back.

“Oof!”

There was a cracking sound, and simultaneously, the man screamed and twisted his body. He couldn’t resist any longer and collapsed in a heap.

From the way he was breathing, it seemed like he hadn’t died, but his broken bones made any movement impossible.

“What’s going on?”

With their representative knocked down, the thugs who had gathered momentarily froze in confusion.

“Anyway, that old man is alone! Let’s rush him together!”

But soon, they regained their senses and prepared to attack.

Silveston didn’t show a hint of fear, even as he saw the thugs charging at him. No, it wasn’t just that he wasn’t afraid. He was far from it. He clenched his fist, ready to knock down the men rushing toward him.

Nothing seemed visible in his eyes, fueled by his rage that someone had dared to harm Lobelia.

But even so, I can’t handle them all by myself!

Taking advantage of the moment, Lobelia tried to rise and call Joachim. She didn’t want Silveston to fight these men alone and get hurt.

Then it happened.

“Miss!”

“We’ve arrived!”

“Are you alright?”

Burly miners, covered in dirt and armed with sharp pickaxes, poured out of the entrance of the mine.