WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Haruto

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◈ The Pushover Young Lord in a Romance Fantasy Won't Take It Anymore ◈

Chapter 34: Still, a Woman

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Bang!

The Patrian Merchant Guild head's office was decorated in an elegant old-fashioned style.

"Astin! That damn bastard...!"

Murderous intent filled Ethan's eyes.

He couldn't forget what had happened at the Founding Festival.

Lucia, his one true love and the star of high society.

The crown prince, the second son of the northern grand ducal house, even the deputy tower master, all had lined up to win Lucia's favor.

Then that notorious wastrel had barged in and overturned everything.

Lucia's smile, her gentle gaze, and the attention of countless socialites.

Astin had claimed all of it. How dare that damn wastrel, not even the crown prince, monopolize it all?

"My Lucia. My woman. How dare a nobody like you...!"

Crash!

Ethan swept the documents and ink bottle off his desk in a fit of rage.

Black ink stained the carpet, but his anger didn't cool.

He should have been the one holding Lucia's hand, moving in step with her as they danced and creating that dreamy atmosphere between them.

"Astin. That womanizing bastard must have threatened Lucia."

It was a conviction Ethan had held for some time.

Otherwise, why would Lucia ever choose Astin of her own will?

Astin had stained Lucia's flawless reputation.

Ethan hadn't simply sat back and taken it.

He immediately used his authority as merchant guild head to completely cut off the distribution network connected to Cardenos.

Patrian was the largest merchant guild in the Empire.

Even a grand ducal house would suffer a devastating blow from Patrian's retaliation.

Yet it was only a temporary setback.

Rival merchant guilds rushed in to sign contracts with Cardenos, taking advantage of the opening.

In the end, Patrian was the one left bearing the losses.

It was personal revenge carried out at the guild's expense.

Not only had the guild suffered tremendous damage, Ethan's own position as guild head had begun to waver.

He had broken his own bones just to take a pound of flesh from Astin. Even so, Ethan didn't regret his choice in the slightest.

"Lady Lucia, please wait for me. I will save you from Astin..."

For Lucia, he could abandon a merchant guild without hesitation.

By the same token, he could devote everything he had to destroying Astin.

How could he crush that arrogant face beneath his heel?

Ethan gnawed anxiously at his nails, sinking into thought.

What he truly wanted wasn't the fall of the Cardenos grand ducal house.

He wanted Astin, and Astin alone, to fall without end.

* * *

"That's what that bastard is probably thinking."

The Patrian Merchant Guild had the nerve to bite at Cardenos's heels.

When I first heard the news, it was less shocking than absurd.

This was obviously retaliation pushed through over the merchant guild head's personal grudge.

Ethan was a persistent snake.

As long as I stayed close to Lucia, he was bound to keep clinging to me.

But he'd done more than cross the line from the very start. He was practically jump-roping over it.

"This is a very good opportunity."

I happened to need a major merchant guild that could lay the foundation for the Ashen Forest Expedition.

One with continent-wide credit, along with the funds and distribution network to match.

Naturally, Patrian was my first choice.

If I could bring Ethan down and swallow Patrian whole, even better.

The guild's elders and close advisers had likely built up their own grievances by now. There would never be a better chance.

'Ethan was incompetent from the beginning. He has no right to be guild head.'

A useless leech who had inherited a merchant guild passed down for four generations, wearing the title of guild head in name alone.

In the romance fantasy, his role had been that of the male lead who made Lucia's intellect shine.

If Ethan was Nobita, Lucia was Doraemon.

When Ethan faced losing the merchant guild, he would cry and beg for help. Soft-hearted Lucia would have no choice but to help him.

Of course, she didn't help for free. She secured a share of the guild as well.

'In the original story, the villainess lost and Ethan won.'

I had someone else in mind for the position of merchant guild head.

She was the villainess who would have become enemies with Lucia, but...

At this point, they didn't even know each other.

I highly valued her abilities as a merchant.

If I placed her at the head of the guild and made her my business partner, our military funding would be secured.

Iron ore, dried rations, magical artifacts. The supplies needed for the expedition could be supplied indefinitely.

Above all, I needed her help to turn the cosmetics I would make into a sustainable source of income.

If that happened, Rosenthal's economic retaliation would become nothing.

I headed for House Cardenos's private workshop.

The plan to seize the merchant guild would begin with a single cosmetic.

Not just any cosmetic, but one that would rake in money from across the Empire.

Creak.

The moment I opened the iron door, the sharp scent of herbs hit me.

"Young Lord! You're here!"

A half-dead-looking man with dark circles beneath his eyes staggered over from the corner.

It was Kyle.

"You look terrible. I told you to take it easy."

His dark circles were deep, yet he somehow looked happy.

Kyle was the kind of workaholic who made everyone shake their heads.

For him, cutting down on sleep to immerse himself in brewing medicine was happiness.

He was destined to die from overwork, so I couldn't let him keep going like this.

"You are sleeping at least eight hours a day. If you don't, you're fired."

"Uh..."

"Answer me."

"Y-yes."

"I'm assigning an overseer too. No more short naps. Get proper sleep."

"Yes!"

"Good. How is the medicine production going?"

"Thanks to all the support you've provided, everything is progressing well. It is all thanks to your generosity, Young Lord."

The Ashen Forest was deadly due to demonic energy and lethal poisons.

Before the expedition, I had ordered Kyle to mass-produce antidotes.

I had assigned several specialists beneath him in addition to his apprentices, putting a considerable amount of manpower into the work.

Thud!

"Alchemist! My body still hasn't gone back to normal!"

The warehouse door suddenly flew open, and Jenkinson burst out. The moment I saw him, I frowned.

A fluorescent glow was pouring from Jenkinson's body. The workshop lighting was dim, making it even more blinding.

"Young Lord! You're here!"

Jenkinson spotted me and bent sharply at the waist. He looked like a human lamp.

"Is that a side effect?"

"Yes. It shouldn't threaten his life."

"Are you sure?"

"Actually, I'm not."

"!?"

I had heard that having Jenkinson as a test subject was making things progress smoothly.

If he had been uncooperative, I was going to teach him a lesson, but fortunately, he listened well.

'How many rings would someone have to link to shine that brightly?'

He looked brighter than I had when I linked eight rings in my previous life.

"Hey. Get outside. You're blinding me."

"Yes!"

Jenkinson immediately headed outside.

Kyle would take care of the side effects. I decided not to worry about it.

"The antidotes and special mana recovery potions you ordered are being mass-produced without issue."

Kyle continued, looking over a notebook.

"We broke down the brewing process into separate stages, from preparing ingredients to bottling, and production has picked up considerably. Total daily output is between three hundred and five hundred doses. We will definitely meet the required quantity before the expedition."

"Good. That should be enough."

It wasn't a factory, but it was a satisfying result.

He really was a prodigy from the start.

Our essential supplies were progressing far faster than I had expected.

'My fortune has been cut in half because of it, though.'

Money could be made quickly.

The reason I had come here today was to make a fortune.

"Keep producing the antidotes as you have been. You and I will make one prototype separately."

"A prototype? Do we need something new for the expedition?"

"No. Cosmetics."

"C-cosmetics?"

Kyle's eyes widened as though they might pop out.

We were about to leave on a large-scale expedition, and I was suggesting we make cosmetics. Anyone would be surprised.

That reaction only came from not knowing this world.

"Why are you so surprised? Alchemists handle cosmetics too."

"That is true, but..."

This was a romance fantasy world.

The money noble ladies poured into dresses, beauty care, and social trends was astronomical.

Rather than selling a few potions, monopolizing a one-of-a-kind cosmetic product could make dozens of times more money.

Rosenthal and Patrian wanted to control the distribution network? Let them do as they pleased.

"Search through the raw-material warehouse. Bring me pearl powder, low-grade slime mucus extract, and Silverleaf Tree sap."

I sat before the workbench and rolled up my sleeves.

Kyle brought the ingredients over, still looking doubtful.

The doubt in his eyes only made me more determined.

"Watch carefully and learn. If I keep teaching you, we'll only waste more materials."

Developing Mermaid’s Tears, a pearl cream.

Originally, Kyle would invent it by chance and turn the Empire's social scene upside down.

When this cosmetic first appeared, even the haughtiest empress in the Empire showed great interest.

After Lucia used it, it spread beyond the Empire and across the continent.

As a joke, people said they even used it in the Demon Realm.

'Sorry, but I need to make use of it first.'

The original inventor was right next to me, but I would compensate him generously.

The reason I remembered the formula for this cosmetic was Selena and Celine.

When I was getting ready to return several years after leaving my family, I didn't have the nerve to face them empty-handed, so I prepared gifts for each of them.

For the two of them, I planned to give cosmetics I had made myself.

I thought the cosmetics sold on the market lacked sincerity, so I made them myself.

Celine was a noble lady at an age when she would care about her appearance, and she valued thoughtfulness more than price.

Selena, too, took an interest in cosmetics, though she never showed it.

I had hoped that if I gave them effective cosmetics I made myself, I could grow closer to them.

"...Young Lord?"

"Ah, right. Let's begin."

I forced those thoughts aside and faced reality.

* * *

After finishing her private audience with the family head, Selena returned to her room.

Her room, which she hadn't seen in several months.

A bed, desk, and wardrobe. It contained only what was necessary and nothing more.

The interior was far too sparse and plain for a grand ducal daughter's private room.

To Selena, a sense of beauty was nothing but a useless luxury.

Rustle.

Selena began unpacking the remaining luggage from the clothes rack.

She had only returned from the north today.

She had no major injuries, but both her hands were in a terrible state.

Whenever she moved them, cuts across her chapped, split skin reopened, and droplets of blood formed.

Though they hurt and stung, she continued unpacking and sorting her belongings without expression.

She could have had servants do it, but this came from Selena's near-pathological compulsion.

She could never stand to see anyone touch her belongings, especially her weapons.

Unlike someone who could accomplish nothing alone without the family name, Selena had achieved many things by herself.

"Thank you for coming back alive!"

Crunch.

At the unpleasant memory, she clenched her teeth.

A remark that grated on her nerves, as though mocking her.

Had he hoped she would die there? Of course he had.

To him, she must have been a rival closing in from right behind.

"...I will be the head of this house."

The words slipped out before she realized it.

Having finished organizing her things, Selena sat on the edge of her bed to catch her breath.

Her face was reflected in the vanity mirror across the room.

Selena looked terribly haggard.

Her lips were red and chapped, while her skin was cracked and dry.

It was the result of facing biting winds head-on and pushing herself day and night.

Swipe.

She carefully stroked her cheek with her fingertips.

The rough texture came through clearly. It stung as well.

"..."

She turned her eyes away from the mirror.

Damaged skin did not dull a sword.

Taking care of one's appearance and dressing beautifully was something sheltered young ladies of high society did.

She would raise her own martial prowess and be recognized as the heir.

That was Selena's sole purpose and value as the eldest concubine-born daughter.

"...Ha."

But was she still a woman after all?

She considered the calluses on her hands from gripping a sword to be medals, but she couldn't help worrying about her damaged face.

For a long time, Selena couldn't take her eyes off the mirror.

Author's Note

There will be another chapter at noon today.

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