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Chapter : 67
Even Sophie, who normally couldn’t meet my eyes properly, was now staring at me as if questioning whether this was really okay.
Seeing that made me feel a bit guilty, to be honest…
‘But I’m a ruthless employer, so it’s fine… right?’
At my gesture to continue, Sophie fixed her trembling gaze back on the contract.
But her voice became shakier the more she spoke.
“You, you have to work the hours the lady requests, and you may end up working up to 120 hours a week…”
“I see.”
“If, if you agree, then you can sign…”
“Sign? I-I can’t write…”
At Marco’s words, Sophie glanced at me with a flicker of hope.
“Then just stamp your fingerprint.”
Once again, I crushed her fragile hope with a simple solution.
“Oh, I just need to put my finger here, right?”
“Th-that’s right, but… y-you really need to be cautious when stamping such a contract…”
Even as Sophie kept glancing at me nervously, she was desperately trying to stop the boy from stamping this unfair labor contract.
Because she was trying to be a decent adult, my conscience almost stirred… but I forced it down.
‘I’m giving him food and shelter. That makes me a great employer. Yep, that’s right.’
Luckily, Marco seemed to think the same.
“Thank you, my lady! I’ll devote myself and work hard!”
Why is he so happy? It makes me feel worse.
‘It’s fine. I just won’t make him work 120 hours. I’ll keep it to 40 hours a week.’
Yeah, that should be enough.
Just as I was absorbed in self-justification, a system message popped up unexpectedly.
[SYSTEM] You have signed an unfair, exploitative labor contract with an employee as a “Ruthless Employer”! Karma +5
Huh? Wait a second. Isn’t that okay since I have the “Ruthless Employer” title?
[SYSTEM] The effect of the “Ruthless Employer” title allows labor contracts to be signed regardless of fairness. However, karma is affected separately.
What the heck?
There wasn’t any warning when I made a contract with Randolph…
No, I got the title when I explained the terms to Randolph, and that’s when the karma increased.
‘Whatever, it’s fine.’
I sighed and turned my head toward Marco, who was looking at me with hopeful eyes.
“You’re part of the ‘Black Stray Dogs,’ right?”
“…What?”
Just a moment ago, Marco had been overflowing with gratitude and determination. Now his face changed instantly.
His wavering eyes told me he was stunned that I knew.
“I’m right, aren’t I? The Black Stray Dogs.”
“H-how did you know, my lady…?”
“Why so surprised? Were you planning to sell information on me?”
“What? No, never!”
Marco shook his head frantically.
“Sure, people usually pay for noble info, but… there’s no demand for info on the Ulmer Dukedom, so I wouldn’t even make any money. I never even considered it!”
Haha… so basically, nobody’s curious about a poor, powerless noble house like Ulmer, huh?
As I was having a mini existential crisis over how even this world is ruled by capitalism, Marco’s face turned even paler, maybe misunderstanding my expression.
“S-sorry, my lady! I only meant that I had no intention of selling your info!”
“I wasn’t trying to interrogate you. I want to be a customer of the Black Stray Dogs.”
“A c-customer?”
Marco looked confused, clearly not expecting that answer.
“What kind of information do you need? If you tell me, I can be your middleman.”
“I don’t want to get information. I want to spread it.”
“…What?!”
Whatever he was imagining, Marco began waving his hands in panic.
“If it’s something like trying to spread rumors that the Ulmer Dukedom is wealthy and powerful, that’ll get exposed right away! To make that believable would cost at least a million darlings…!”
Hmm. So he thought I wanted to spread fake news?
But I had no need for that. Whether this family was broke or not didn’t matter—I had money, and that was enough.
If I cared about this trash of a household, maybe I would’ve shared my wealth from the mana stones, but… why should I?
“Marco, I have no intention of wasting effort like that.”
“Then…?”
“I want to spread rumors about Vanessa Neselrod. That’s why I need your help.”
If my opponent was formidable, all I had to do was drag her down to my level.
People without power resort to backroom deals. That’s how it’s always been.
In that company I worked at, gossip and rumors ran rampant for the same reason.
People with nothing only had their mouths—and their fingers to type.
“What kind of rumor?”
“A bad one.”
I didn’t intend to go overboard.
Just something that matched her actual behavior. That would be enough.
“What do you think? Can you do it?”
“…Yes, my lady.”
Only then did I allow a smile to reach my lips.
[Lady A, known for her kind influence, secretly a blacklisted nightmare at Boutique B?!
“Designers faint from stress when she visits.”
“She slaps staff when her dress doesn’t fit due to weight gain.”
Multiple witnesses reveal the truth behind Lady A’s charming façade.
The social season queen? More like the queen of cruelty.]
[Double-digit number of young ladies hiding at home thanks to Lady A?!
“Any pretty girl becomes a target of Lady A and her posse.”
Exclusive: The wicked deeds of Lady A, who reigned over society relying solely on her noble house’s influence!]
The gossip tabloids were overflowing with bombshell stories for the first time in a while.
Normally, Vanessa would’ve been reading these juicy scandals with a smirk, savoring every moment.
Especially during this season, when the “Queen of Spring” was chosen, one had to be extra careful with one’s behavior, and gossip magazines were her guilty pleasure.
However…
However…
‘How did they know?’
If the star of all these articles was Vanessa Neselrod herself, things were different.
“No way…”
Abusing workers at a boutique in the city?
Sure, that did happen. But fashion designers were basically glorified slaves meant to create glamorous dresses for society’s elite.
A little mistreatment wasn’t such a big deal, right?
And the young ladies driven out of society?
Can’t blame her for their poor social skills.
Sure, she’d ignored some uppity girls, maybe hazed them a bit, and if they still strutted around, she might have used her family’s power to squash them…
“But it’s not like I’m the only one doing this!”
This was nothing new.
Her mother, grandmother, even her great-grandmother had done the same.
‘How can the world be fair to everyone?’
Vanessa truly believed that. So she couldn’t understand why the tabloids were making such a fuss over something so trivial.
This had to be someone’s doing.
With just a day left until the selection of the Queen of Spring, her suspicions only grew.
It had to be one of the girls she had crossed… but being holed up in the mansion like this made it impossible to investigate.
She wanted to find out herself, but the flood of gossip had forced her to withdraw completely from society in recent days.
As she fumed in helpless frustration—
Knock, knock.
A knock came from the tightly shut door.
