Please Support My Revenge - Chapter 41

“Protect the lady!”

The miners wasted no time and swiftly approached the intruders. They easily subdued them, their muscles honed from years of working in the mines, pickaxes in hand.

The intruders, though young and robust, stood no chance against the miners, who had come empty-handed with only the intention of confronting Loberia.

Among them, the fiercest was undoubtedly Silveston. He ruthlessly overpowered the intruders with his bare hands.

“Miss Catherine!”

Right on cue, Joachim appeared. He drew his sword but lowered it when he saw that Silveston had already taken control of the situation.

“Are you alright, Miss?”

As Silveston forced the intruders to kneel in a row, a young miner approached and inquired. Lobelia nodded and pointed to Joel in her arms.

“I’m fine. But Joel…”

“Joel? Joel! Wake up!”

The young miner took Joel to Lobelia. Joel, who had seemed disoriented in the miner’s grasp, groaned in pain and opened his eyes.

“Stop shaking me, please…”

Joel pushed the young miner away and slumped to the ground, retching.

“He doesn’t seem to be seriously hurt, but he’s not in great shape. Thankfully.”

Watching Joel retch, the young miner spoke while observing him. Hearing that, Lobelia also felt relieved and got up from her seat. However, standing up wasn’t easy. Lobelia looked down at her trembling body with confusion.

“Why is this happening?”

At that moment, Joachim gently supported Lobelia with a reassuring touch.

“It’s due to the shock. It’s just a temporary symptom, so don’t worry.”

Lobelia was shocked to realize that she had been affected by the shock.

“They were nothing.”

Lobelia clenched her fist.

“Please, walk slowly.”

Lobelia regained her composure with Joachim’s support. Once her mind was calm, she could walk properly.

As soon as she could walk without any issues, Lobelia approached the intruders, who were now kneeling on the ground, and Silveston.

“Miss!”

Silveston knelt before Loberia, his expression filled with remorse as he looked at her, covered in dirt.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t arrive earlier.”

“No, Silveston. You appeared at the perfect moment.”

Lobelia comforted him. Silveston, now relieved that she was unharmed, relaxed his expression a little.

“What should we do with these fellows?”

Silveston, who had regained his strength, kicked one of the intruders, making him groan and collapse forward. The intruder, who had been kneeling helplessly.

“It’s pitiful to see them prostrate like this after just a few hits. If we interrogate them further, we might uncover their mastermind.”

The faces of the intruders turned pale at Silveston’s words.

The miners showed no mercy. These intruders had come thinking they could easily intimidate a young woman, and they were now at the mercy of the furious miners.

“P-please, show some mercy…”

The terrified intruders, belatedly realizing their predicament, begged Silveston. But Silveston didn’t even look at them. His gaze was fixed solely on Lobelia.

“What should we do, Miss?”

The intruders turned their trembling bodies towards Lobelia.

“We were just following orders! Please spare us! We can reveal the mastermind!”

Lobelia gazed down at the intruders with cold eyes.

“As long as you tell us everything you know, there won’t be any need for further interrogation.”

A brave intruder among them dared to negotiate.

Lobelia smiled. In an instant, the perception of her in their eyes changed. She had gone from being a cheerful woman with freckles on her reddish-brown hair to someone completely different with just a smile, as if a poisonous flower had bloomed before their eyes.

“You don’t need to be interrogated. I can guess who sent you.”

Silveston’s eyebrows twitched, indicating that he also had a suspicion about the identity of the person who sent the intruders deep down in his heart.

“So then…”

“Yes, so you don’t need to bother. Just handle them appropriately and lock them up somewhere.”

“Understood, Miss.”

With Silveston’s response, Lobelia turned away without any hesitation. She heard the voices of the intruders pleading for mercy behind her, but she paid no attention.

“Catherine, Miss.”

Joachim approached Lobelia once more and escorted her.

“The cleanup is in the hands of the miners. For now, let’s return to the hotel and rest.”

Lobelia nodded. She had already dealt with the intruders, and there was nothing more for her to do here.

“I just wanted to quietly manage the mine and leave, but it had to turn out like this.”

Lobelia muttered under her breath as she held Yohaim’s hand and exited the chaotic office.

Her expression darkened.

“This scheme is too elaborate to ignore.”

“What do you plan to do?”

Joachim asked, and Lobelia tilted her head slightly as if pondering something deeply.

As they received an escort and reached the carriage, Loberia, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.

“They need to pay for this.”

Lobelia’s eyes gleamed coldly.

“An eye for an eye.”

She gently brushed off the dirt from her dress and climbed into the carriage.

Through this incident, Lobelia had come to realize that she couldn’t protect substantial assets like Mine 9 with her fake identity as a Hydra.

“It was the Marquis of Evelentia who sent the intruders.”

Joachim nodded as if he had expected this. Lobelia spoke after arriving at the hotel, changing into clean clothes, and washing off the dirt from her body.

“It started with relatively insignificant intruders, but they’ll resort to more ruthless and brutal means as it goes on.”

They could buy some time in the hotel by pretending to be intimidated by the intruders.

But what would happen after that? If she didn’t hand over the mine, Marquis would use even more threatening methods to pressure Loberia.

“What if we publicly announce that the Marquis of Evelentia sent the intruders to threaten Loberia?”

Joachim cautiously suggested it, but Lobelia was skeptical.

“Who would take that seriously? Besides, in my opinion, those intruders…”

A knock on the door interrupted her. When the door opened, Joel stood there.

“I’ve come to report on behalf of Father.”

Perhaps he felt embarrassed about his earlier display of retching and stumbling. Joel scratched the back of his head awkwardly as he stood before Loberia.

“They are just wandering criminals with no connection to Merdanion.”

Joel reported what he had learned through his investigation.

“Furthermore, they had no idea that the Marquis of Evenlentia was behind this. They firmly believed that Viscount Rohan, a local noble, arranged the whole thing and received the money from him.”

“Did you hear that?”

After Joel finished his report, Lobelia turned to Yohaim.

“If it’s Marquis of Evelentia, as soon as we raise suspicions, he’ll cut ties immediately. So, unless we can prove Marquis of Evelentia’s guilt, capturing only Lord Rohan won’t help.”

Her words left Joachim and Joel with serious expressions.

“Even capturing Lord Rohan won’t be of much use. If it’s the Marquis of Evelentia, he’ll use someone else to carry out even more sinister deeds.”

“Would Marquis of Evelentia really go to such lengths? He’s a person, too. I don’t think he would just discard Lord Rohan, who has been working in the Merdanion branch for so long, for his own purposes.”

“No.”

Joel asked, and Lobelia shook her head.

“The Marquis of Evelentia is capable of anything to achieve his goals.”

Didn’t he deny his own blood kin and even kill the wife that his younger brother loved so much?

Lobelia realized anew how well Marquis had managed his image compared to his true self.

“He’s a human, so he wouldn’t discard loyal subordinates for his own benefit.”

Of course, the currently known image of Marquis was not particularly good, but compared to his true self, it was still quite a whitewashed image.

“Come to think of it, when I was young, he didn’t kill me because he cared about his public image.”

Suddenly, a good idea popped into Loberia’s head.

As she continued to refine her plan in her mind, she opened her mouth to Joachim and Joel.

“Moreover, their social status is also a problem.”

“Their social status?”

Joachim asked, and Lobelia shrugged her shoulders.

“Wanderers, criminals, and thugs who have been violent from the beginning. Even if we put them on the witness stand, very few people will believe them.”

In fact, it would be more than just a few; it would be almost no one.

So, using the intruders as witnesses to attack Marquis was impossible. But if they did nothing and waited quietly, they would face even bigger problems.

Lobelia sighed lightly.

“Catherine Hayard has to give up the mine.”

There was no other way.

Joel and Joachim were visibly frustrated. Joel paced around the room, unable to contain his agitation, while Joachim stood like a statue in his place.

“But that doesn’t mean we have to sell the mine back to Evelentia, right?”

“Of course not.”

“Then to Cogwell?”

“No. Mine 9 is like an endless treasure chest pouring out its wealth. How could I hand it over to someone else?”

Joel looked at Lobelia with a puzzled expression. He couldn’t fathom her intentions at all.

“But earlier, Miss Catherine said that she had to give up the mine.”

This time, Joachim posed.

“What do you plan to do?”

At Joachim’s question, Lobelia smiled. Her smile left both men in surprise as they stared at her with wide eyes.

“But if it’s someone who sailed with me on the same ship, I could entrust it to them for a while,” Lobelia said.

She got up from her seat and walked over to the desk against the wall. From one of the drawers, she retrieved paper and a pen.

“I need to send a letter to the capital.”

Lobelia sat at the desk and began writing on the paper.

“And ask for some help from the ‘real’ Merdanion people.”

Once she finished writing the letter, Lobelia put it in an envelope and handed it to Joel. Then, she took the fastest train to the capital and asked him to deliver the letter to the recipient.

She considered asking Joachim, but sending her maximum force to the capital when they were unsure of how Marquis would react was too risky.

Since Joel expressed a desire to go to the capital, Lobelia decided to entrust him with the task.

“You can do this, Joel. Trust me,” Lobelia said as she handed him the letter and briefly explained her plan.

Having heard the entire story, Joel became tense, and his body stiffened.

“I will definitely deliver Miss Catherine’s letter. And I will return with ‘that person.'”

Joel left with the letter in hand.

“Now, shall we get to work?” Lobelia turned to Joachim.

To make the plan succeed, they had to start moving quickly.