Chapter 86: I took away Yeju's first love.
I took a seat at a cafe where I could see Giovanni's building clearly. Lily, sitting opposite me, took a sip of her espresso and winced.
"You'll find it hard to drink it like that. You need to add sugar."
As I said this, I added a lot of sugar and stirred it with a spoon. Then I poured it into my mouth in one go. The sweetness, which was so intense that it made my head tingle, stimulated my tongue behind the bitter taste.
'Ugh, it's still bitter.'
I really can't drink this kind of thing. I couldn't help but wrinkle my nose. Lily looked at me with a suspicious face, but I pretended not to notice.
Sitting on the balcony of the cafe, I looked outside and realized that the moment I had been waiting for had finally arrived.
"What's going on here, suddenly cutting the transportation fee in half!"
"This, this is not a broken promise!"
In front of Giovanni Transport, the carriage drivers had gathered. They were all shouting angrily. The door, which had been tightly closed, opened, and a middle-aged man with a nervous expression came out.
He shouted, pushing aside the protesting drivers.
"We have to live too. If you don't want to take the job, just leave!"
It was probably Giovanni.
"Accept these terms or just leave! Do you think anyone is in business because they have too much money?"
He turned and went back into the building. One of the drivers behind him shouted.
"You, you shameless bastard!"
"Hmph, who were the ones praising that shameless guy until recently? If you're disappointed, go to that fake nice guy Mario."
Giovanni chuckled and closed the door.
The drivers' gazes turned to the building behind them. The brick building that Lily and I had visited a few days ago had a sign hanging down.
Mario would withdraw from the business to reveal Giovanni's true nature to the people. Of course, it was only a pretend withdrawal, and Mario's family had moved to the capital to learn how to run a different business that I had introduced them to. Lily and I decided to stay here to monitor the situation. No one would pay attention to us, as we would be seen as noble ladies on a countryside trip.
"Apparently, they didn't even give jobs to the people who protested yesterday."
It was the end of a monopoly. With one company controlling all the transportation in the area, it was obvious that wages would be lowered. We planned to sit here and watch how things unfolded.
"Miss, isn't that Mr. Wilkins?"
Lily called out to me urgently while I was reading the newspaper. I looked up to see Juliette, with her hat pulled down, entering the Giovanni Transport building. Lily narrowed her eyes and glared out the window.
"Could the Wilkins family be behind this?"
Saben was only a bit popular as a tourist destination and not a place where business was highly developed. Moreover, the Wilkins family mainly operated in the east, so there was no reason for them to come here. Still, we decided to investigate just in case.
"I need to find out what the Wilkins family is doing here."
"Before Mario left, he told us about a good information guild. I'll find out quickly."
It shouldn't be difficult to find out as long as they weren't doing anything illegal. As the morning passed and lunchtime approached, Juliette came out. Her face was flushed, and she seemed very angry. Not long after she left, people in fancy clothes came to see Giovanni. They all entered the building with excited faces and came out with red faces. They gathered in groups and entered the cafe, where they immediately started complaining.
"What a despicable person!"
"They say that a person's mind changes when they go to the bathroom, but it seems to be about Giovanni."
Compared to their pretentious entry, their language was now coarse. The cafe, which had few customers, was filled with people cursing Giovanni.
'From the conversation, they seem to be the people who entrusted their transportation to him.'
I had underestimated Giovanni. I didn't think he would raise prices even for those who were bringing in goods. With only one company, they would have no choice but to pay the price, even if it meant crying and gnashing their teeth.
'There are people who run businesses without thinking about the future.'
Who could be backing him to act like this? I couldn't shake off my suspicion about the ducal family.
That afternoon, Lily told me the information she had obtained from the guild.
"It seems they are importing goods from the continent across the sea through Larense."
"From the continent? What kind of goods?"
"Just antiques, apparently. It seems to be a hobby."
It was unlikely that he came all the way here just because the import of antiques was delayed.
"Ask the butler to find out more details."
Lily hurried out to send a telegram before sunset. Something strange was definitely happening.
Juliette returned to the hotel, fuming.
She had switched to Giovanni's transportation company because he offered a lower price than the existing one. But she never imagined that she would be betrayed like this after just a few months.
"Even if it's bad, raising the price three times is too much."
When she tried to go back to the original company, she found out it had already gone bankrupt, leaving her with no other choice. Setting up a new transportation company here would be difficult to manage, and there was no guarantee that something like this wouldn't happen again.
'What excuse can I give to His Excellency the Duke?'
Importing antiques was not a profitable business from the start. But it was a business she had started at the Duke's special request.
"To gain trust, I must succeed."
For her, a member of the Winkins family, which supported the Emperor, this was a necessary task.
'But if this continues, the funds will soon run out.'
The amount was too large for Juliette to handle alone, especially since she had no other special income. Moreover, she couldn't ask for help because she had started the business without her parents' knowledge.
Biting her lip, she pondered when she noticed Karina entering the lobby.
Juliette had heard about Karina's business. Her spa, which was hard to book even among the nobility, and the high-quality perfumes and lotions she received as gifts, which she also used, made her envious and jealous.
She thought they were not much different when they were at the academy. When she first heard the rumor that Karina was starting a business, she laughed.
Let her taste the heat of society.
She thought that a girl who had grown up like a flower in a greenhouse would never succeed in business. However...
'I heard that her personality has gotten worse compared to before.'
Even to someone like her, who was distant from the social scene, rumors of conflicts between Karina and the Duchess occasionally reached her. She was completely different from the girl who always bowed her head at the academy.
'Could she be the one pulling the strings behind the scenes?'
She couldn't understand it.
If not, there was no reason for her to suddenly appear and cause trouble.
Juliette was convinced that Karina was behind everything that had happened so far. Her narrow-minded thinking, fueled by her hatred, led her to no other conclusion.
Juliette narrowed her eyes and glared at Karina as she got into the elevator.
For the past few days, Juliette had been openly watching me, making me feel uncomfortable and uneasy.
'Could she think I'm behind this?'
Juliette knew my true identity. Following Lily's advice that strange rumors might spread, I decided to meet her separately.
'Maybe the reason our relationship has deteriorated uncontrollably is because of Tatiana.'
If the misunderstanding could be cleared up, things might improve, right?
I sent her a letter, inviting her to the lounge on the top floor of the hotel. She finally appeared a little after the agreed time.
Her face was quite sullen, probably due to the stress of the past few days. I thought it was just a hobby, but it seemed to be a business involving money.
She sat opposite me, clearly uncomfortable. She ordered tea from the waiter and crossed her arms, remaining silent.
"The reason I called you today is about the logistics transportation. I heard you're having quite a headache with it."
Her expression changed slightly, as if she hadn't expected me to be a victim in this situation.
"I'm also a victim, so I wanted to discuss a solution with you."
"You're a victim? I find that hard to believe."
Her sharp tone made me shrug.
"I was receiving goods through Mario Transport. Of course, I'm a victim."
As I explained step by step, her expression softened. She seemed slightly relieved when I mentioned that I would call Mario back once the issue was resolved.
"But you, didn't you swear allegiance to Raymond? It's hard to believe everything."
"What does Raymond have to do with this?"
I was confused by the sudden mention of Raymond's name. Seeing my reaction, she opened her mouth, as if she had no choice.
"It seems the Cassel family is involved."
"Cassel, as in Raymond's family?"