TNMN 08

Chapter 08

Alosha raised the hand with the Phoenix Ring on her middle finger toward that handsome, infuriating man who stood there with an easy shrug.

“Does this help you understand what I’m talking about?”

“That is—”

Emil Laos let out a scoff, but the moment he recognized the ring on her finger, his eyes widened.

Got him.

Alosha slowly lowered her raised hand and looked down at the ring on her finger with satisfaction.

“Ahem. Since you said you’re tired, I’ll keep this brief. Starting now, I’m going to visit every major merchant guild in the Empire—starting with the Auclair Trading Company, the one you hate—and find someone willing to buy this ring.”

“…Do you really think anyone would buy such a shabby antique?”

“Don’t bother pretending. I know you’ve been searching for this ring for a long time.”

“Me? Who told you that?”

She bit her lip.

She couldn’t exactly say, Because that’s what my friend’s novel said.

“Am I wrong?”

“Well… do I really look like someone who wants the ring you’re talking about?”

The man before her merely shrugged with an infuriatingly relaxed smile.

He looked calm on the surface, but Alosha was certain his mind was racing, trying to figure out what she knew and what she was planning.

Don’t let him drag you into his pace. Stay calm.

“I don’t like beating around the bush. I know this ring belonged to your parents—and that it’s the proof needed to cross the desert.”

“…I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Even after she’d laid everything out, Emil still refused to admit anything.

Alosha frowned.

“So you’re saying you don’t care if this ring ends up in another merchant guild?”

Emil simply answered with a gentle smile.

“Maybe you should think it over. I don’t make empty threats. If I say I’ll do something, I do it. I’ll really sell it to another guild. I mean it.”

She had intended to stay composed, but when he refused to give her the reaction she wanted, she was the one growing anxious.

This is your parents’ keepsake. Wouldn’t it be a problem if someone else got it? Please… just ask me what I want already.

But contrary to her desperate inner plea, Emil merely curled one corner of his lips into a faint smile.

“Lady, did you come here to threaten the Laos Trading Company?”

“That wasn’t my intention.”

“If you were going to threaten someone, you should have chosen something they actually cared about. Making all this fuss over a single ring… frankly, I’m rather puzzled.”

A single ring?

At those words, Alosha clenched her fists.

If the guild master wanted to be this stubborn, then so could she.

After all, when she used to write novels, if one of her characters refused to follow the planned story, she believed it was only fair that the character suffered the consequences.

“In that case, I have nothing more to say. I apologize for causing such a disturbance.”

After offering a polite bow, she turned around.

The employee standing nearby looked at her with obvious pity.

How embarrassing! I spent money bribing an employee, came in here acting all cool and confident… only to be thrown out this openly.

Seriously? When the heroine acts boldly in novels, the male lead always says, “I’ve never met a woman like you before,” and becomes interested. So why doesn’t it work when I do it? Is it because this isn’t a romance? If that’s the reason, I’m in serious trouble.

“Piz, escort the young lady safely back home.”

Emil’s voice came from behind her.

Swallowing her wounded pride, Alosha forced a smile.

“No, thank you. I appreciate the thought.”

She’d rather walk home than ride in one of his carriages.

“It’ll be difficult to find a carriage around here, Lady.”

“I have several other merchant guilds to visit. Besides, it would feel awkward riding in a Laos carriage when I’m visiting your competitors. I’ll simply ride home in whichever guild lends me a carriage later.”

“…Very well. Safe travels.”

He’s really letting me go.

Even as the employee escorted her outside, she’d expected someone to call out, Wait!

Instead—

Bang!

The doors shut firmly behind her.

Maybe he’s watching to see what I’ll do next… right? There’s no way he’d really just send me away.

Surely the loud slam had only been caused by the wind.

Thinking that, Alosha turned with quiet dignity and looked up at the second-floor window.

The curtains were tightly closed.

“What the—!”

Staring up at the window, she mentally hurled every curse and insult she could think of before proudly raising her middle finger.

No wonder you’ll spend your whole life as the second male lead—you can’t even seize the right timing!

While she stomped angrily down the street, the curtain on the second floor shifted open ever so slightly.

Emil watched her retreating figure.

Looking at Alosha’s back, as wild and fleeting as a spring gust, he had to suppress the laughter threatening to escape.

“So I was given bad information. They said she was a quiet, well-mannered young lady.”

Ever since becoming the head of the Laos Trading Company, he’d received regular reports on the Empire’s noble families.

As far as the Count Nocturne household was concerned, Alosha’s evaluation had been utterly ordinary.

“Quiet, gentle, an exemplary noble lady.”

Scoffing at that one-line report, Emil decided he’d have someone investigate her all over again.

“I’m back.”

Hearing Piz return, Emil turned away from the window.

“Piz. How did that young lady learn that I’m searching for the Phoenix Ring?”

“Who knows?”

Piz cautiously studied Emil’s smiling face, which somehow looked anything but pleased.

“So… where did the information leak from…?”

Among the living, the only person besides Piz who knew Emil was the sole surviving heir of the Phoenix Trading Company was… Piz himself.

Emil slowly turned and stared directly at him.

Understanding exactly what that look meant, Piz frantically waved both hands.

“It wasn’t me!”

“…”

“I swear! I’m innocent!”

“I didn’t say anything.”

Piz felt utterly wronged.

After suspecting him with a single look, Emil now acted as though he’d done nothing.

How am I working for a boss like this? If he didn’t pay so well, I’d have transferred to another guild ages ago.

“By the way… was that really the Phoenix Ring the young lady had?”

“…It was genuine.”

“What? Then why did you send her away?”

Ignoring the question, Emil returned to his desk piled high with paperwork and picked up his pen.

“I don’t like making deals where I’m the one at a disadvantage. I dislike being led around by someone else even more. She left here furious, but she’ll probably come back tomorrow or the day after to negotiate with me again. We can make the deal then.”

“Huh? Didn’t you hear her? She said she was taking it to another guild!”

“You fool. Don’t you remember what she said? She knew the ring belonged to my parents. If she knows something that isn’t publicly known, then she must have a reason she absolutely has to deal with me. Otherwise, she’d have leaked only the information and waited for me to seek her out.”

Emil let out a quiet scoff.

Only then did Piz finally understand.

“Ah… I see.”

“Find out what she wants in exchange for the ring.”

“Yes, sir…”

Having gained nothing from the Laos Trading Company, Alosha marched straight to the Auclair Trading Company, Laos’s greatest rival.

“Welcome to the Auclair Trading Company! How may we help you today?”

“I’d like to meet the guild master.”

“Do you have an appointment?”

“No. But could you tell him I know a way to deal a crushing blow to the Laos Trading Company?”

Just as she’d done before, Alosha slipped a banknote into the hesitant employee’s hand.

Unlike the fiercely loyal employee at Laos, the Auclair staff possessed an admirable amount of flexibility.

For 1,000 krona, the employee became more than willing to understand her situation.

Moments after the employee hurried upstairs, loud footsteps thundered down.

A short, balding, middle-aged man came rushing down the stairs, panting.

“Huff… huff… I heard you have something to say about the Laos Trading Company?”

A guild master getting this excited over something a complete stranger says…

Remembering how calmly Emil had assessed her, Alosha shook her head.

How is someone like that supposed to beat the Laos guild master?

She’d managed to get this far somehow, but she had no intention of actually selling the ring to another guild.

Her only real plan was for word to reach Emil that she’d visited the Auclair Trading Company.

Surely he’d make a move after that.

“Rather than talking here, let’s head upstairs to our VIP room.”

Following the guild master, who bowed so deeply he looked ready to fold himself in half, Alosha entered the luxurious VIP room on the second floor.

A fine carpet covered the floor.

A magnificent chandelier hung overhead.

Oil paintings decorated every wall.

Expensive porcelain sat proudly atop the table.

The room had absolutely no sense of balance or elegance.

It looked like a document with no spaces that had somehow been center-aligned.

It takes talent to spend this much money and still make a room look this tacky…

Seated on the sofa, Alosha quietly studied the guild master as he sipped his tea.

She couldn’t tell whether his tiny eyes, nose, and mouth were naturally that small or simply buried beneath his generous layers of fat.

Although he wore a constant smile, he couldn’t hide the greed written all over his face.

People like this always stab you in the back at the most important moment.

A firm believer in the saying “Physiognomy is science,” Alosha suppressed her unease and smiled politely.