RBAR 12

Chapter 12

The next day.

“Extra! Extra!”

While I was taking a quiet morning walk alone around the Evan residence, a delivery boy approached me and handed me a newspaper.

After receiving it, I went back inside and, as usual, had my coffee. I unfolded the paper and quickly skimmed from the front page.

[Duke Richard Edmon to Hold Engagement Ceremony This Week with Lady Adelheid]

The article reported that my former fiancé and Elisa were getting engaged.

‘Elisa and Richard are getting engaged.’

This was a development that hadn’t existed in the original story.

It was the same as the original that Duke Adelheid had pushed for their engagement. However, Richard had ultimately refused back then, and the engagement never happened.

‘Looks like he was quite provoked by what I said yesterday.’

It seemed that I—who had shamelessly walked around without even a hint of remorse despite being treated like a criminal—had thoroughly twisted the original storyline.

Just like this.

‘Fine. Live happily together forever, fighting and making up all you want.’

I roughly set down my coffee cup, grabbed the newspaper, and headed into the office.

Henry, the gardener—who would normally be watering the garden at this hour—was inside.

“What’s going on?”

His face was oddly flushed.

“Master, finally!”

Daisy didn’t look much different. They were holding a sheet of paper.

“We’ve reached a net profit of exactly 2,138 gold!”

Daisy shouted in excitement.

“We did it! We met the condition, miss!”

Even I hadn’t expected to reach it this quickly, so I stared blankly at the sales report Henry handed me.

“It’s real…?”

My eyes widened at the astonishing numbers. It might not be much to Killian, but to me, it was a huge sum.

“Congratulations!”

“Congratulations!”

Daisy and Henry smiled brightly as they congratulated me.

“On a day like this, we can’t just sit still, right? We should celebrate!”

“Exactly!”

At Henry’s suggestion, Daisy eagerly agreed. The lively atmosphere made my heart flutter.

This was the first business I had ever run myself.

I never imagined it would do this well.

With light steps, I headed toward the Gold Coffee House.

“Congratulations. It seems you’ve safely achieved the net profit.”

As always, Killian was in the VIP room, drinking coffee.

“If you send the sales report to the Grand Duchy, I’ll have the contract sent over.”

Unlike me, who had struggled desperately to increase revenue, he seemed completely relaxed, which gave me a strange sense of deprivation. But his next words made me freeze.

“Oh, and do you happen to know anything about the rumors about me?”

“Pardon?”

“There’s a rumor going around that I like greedy people. Lately, people keep showing up in front of me bragging about their vanity.”

“…I wouldn’t know.”

I had a guess, but I denied it quickly. Killian stared at me for a moment before speaking indifferently.

“If you don’t know, then fine. But if I find the one who spread that rumor…”

“…If you find them?”

“I’ll make sure they pay for it properly.”

I almost asked what he meant by “pay,” but stopped. I didn’t want to know.

‘Damn it. Why did I say that back then?’

I should have just kept my mouth shut about Killian. Regret over my past actions started flooding in.

‘At this point, I absolutely must not get caught.’

Still, I had passed the most dangerous hurdle. If I hadn’t reached the sales target he mentioned—

‘I tend to take ruthless revenge on those who give me reason to regret.’

Just imagining it was terrifying. Fortunately, nothing like that happened, and the Buchanan coffee purchase rights were now fully in my hands.

‘Good. Let’s keep going like this.’

I had just taken my first step toward my future.

When I returned home, letters from investors interested in the Gold Coffee House were piled up.

‘What should I do with these?’

If I continued to keep my identity as the operator hidden, accepting investments wouldn’t be a bad idea.

‘I could expand quickly too.’

However, there was always the risk that Duke Adelheid might drop a bomb at any moment. Opening new branches in that situation would be dangerous. Perhaps it would be better if I—

The communication magic device in the office began to glow.

“Miss! A call from Gold!”

“From the coffee house?”

Since my identity had to remain secret, I had instructed them to avoid contacting us unless absolutely necessary.

Feeling uneasy, I infused mana into the device.

—Boss! Something terrible has happened!

It was the manager’s voice.

—Other houses are using our cold brew method and our coffee-and-wine pairing technique!

What?

A hollow laugh escaped me.

Henry asked the manager to explain in more detail.

Apparently, a temporary employee we had hired as the business expanded had stolen our internal techniques and sold them to rival coffee houses.

Worse, they were marketing them as higher-end than Gold House and selling them at even higher prices.

Daisy and Henry flushed with anger.

“How can they do that just for money?!”

“That bastard! We need to find him and sue him immediately!”

Something about it didn’t sit right with me.

It wasn’t unusual for competitors to steal ideas when a business was doing well—but the timing was too early.

The fact that it happened just as rumors had died down and sales were recovering was far too coincidental.

“Which coffee houses are using our methods?”

“Millen and Rowen House.”

Those names sounded familiar.

“Aren’t those places that mainly sell desserts…?”

I sensed something was off.

They were also suppliers of desserts to Rohart Coffee House, which was run by Duke Adelheid.

“Who runs those shops?”

“Baron Lopin and Viscount Hilstein.”

Henry listed the names.

No wonder they sounded familiar.

‘No way…’

I quickly searched my memory.

As the hazy recollections cleared, the hidden mastermind became obvious.

‘Duke Adelheid.’

They were all his vassals.

More precisely, subordinates of his vassals.

If you traced it back, the one at the top was ultimately Duke Adelheid.

The will of the vassals was the will of the lord.

Then why would he go this far to try to destroy our coffee house?

‘Did my identity leak?’

I quickly dismissed that thought.

‘No way.’

If that were the case, he would have publicly exposed me and destroyed the coffee house outright.

This kind of underhanded tactic only made sense if he didn’t know my identity.

In my previous life, I would have filed for patents on the ideas.

But this world had no such concept.

Power and authority were everything.

In that case, I had no choice but to respond in the same way.

“…What should we do?”

“What else? We give it back to them the same way.”

I recalled how Caleb had threatened me two months ago.

‘I didn’t think they’d stoop this low… but it can’t be helped.’

I couldn’t hide my identity forever anyway.

It was better to reveal it myself than to be caught off guard by Duke Adelheid.

If they were going to play dirty, then I would follow the rules of this world too.

‘I wanted to delay a direct confrontation as much as possible.’

Standing up, I called Daisy.

“We’re heading to the Grand Duchy of Orpheo immediately. Get ready.”

* * *

Upon arriving at the Grand Duchy of Orpheo, Russ Marty greeted me first.

“His Highness is in the garden right now.”

At first, I tried to refuse his offer to guide me personally, but I quickly changed my mind. Just looking at the vast garden made me feel slightly dizzy.

Soon, I realized why he had insisted on guiding me.

As I entered the garden, I was stunned.

‘Why is this garden so huge?’

The garden of Orpheo Castle was enormous.

“Vast” wasn’t even enough to describe it—it stretched endlessly. If you walked straight across, it felt like it would be 100,000 feet (about 30 km).

‘It’s like nature itself.’

It was so beautiful and mesmerizing it felt like a paradise on earth.

And yet, why was I suddenly reminded of a creepy story about someone who got lost in a vast cornfield and starved to death…?

After walking for quite a while, Russ Marty spotted Killian first and brightened.

“There he is!”

Then he muttered,

“Phew. Good thing my guess was right…”

Excuse me—if your guess was wrong, were we just going to get lost in the garden together?

That sounded ominous.

‘…Why is he even in the garden at this hour?’

Was he enjoying tea alone? Or was there another guest?

‘It’ll be troublesome if there’s another guest.’

Maybe I should have made an appointment first.

But as I followed Russ Marty’s gaze and found Killian, I realized I had been completely wrong.

“…Is that really the Grand Duke?”

Instead of elegantly drinking tea, he was wearing work clothes and holding garden shears.

When I asked Russ Marty beside me, he nodded as if he understood my confusion.

“He usually tends the garden at this hour. He doesn’t like others touching it.”

“So he manages… all of this alone?”

“Yes.”

Rather than being impressed, I felt slightly bewildered.

‘Isn’t this bordering on obsession…?’

It was a scale that would take half a day just to manage.

Even his aide, Russ Marty, smiled awkwardly as if he found it strange too.

‘No matter how often he sees it, it still seems odd.’

At the same time, I became curious why Killian liked flowers so much. Even in the original story, that reason was never revealed.

Without turning around, Killian spoke while trimming the garden.

“What brings you here?”

His tone was rather cold.

Still, I should be grateful he allowed me in without notice, so I spoke without hesitation.

“I’ve come to return the Buchanan purchase rights.”