The Villainess turns the Hourglass
chapter-155

Editor Group: Liber Reverie

However, the Count did not take any action to correct it otherwise. Even She had contributed much to the warehouse business, but the Count had not even mentioned what was going on with the business, let alone recognize herself.

“I see. I thought you forgot because you didn’t mention anything. That’s why I moved independently.”

Aria replied with a smile mixed with laughter. She didn’t have to be wary anymore, so she blamed him for his faults. So the Count felt a prick of conscience and cleared his throat, and turned the sensitive topic as if he had done nothing wrong in the past.

“Yes, yes. Now I know it. From now on, I think you should go outside with Cain. I’ve got a lot of work to do!”

He proudly demanded that she should help his business in the future. It was a natural tone for Aria to help him. No, it was a tone that he would make that way.

“No, you know, I’m busy. There are young people who would come here like this, so I should welcome them. I can’t leave my place because letters are coming from other countries.”

However, the Count’s mouth closed as if it had been stitched up by her firm refusal. Certainly, it was because she seemed to look busy for anyone. Perhaps he realized that he had already missed the opportunity, and the Count’s eyes wandered through the air.

“… You’ve known the Crown Prince before, haven’t you?”

Cain, who managed to find a gap, asked. His expression was quite serious. The Countess also waited with her eyes glistening for an answer, for she seemed curious.

“It’s been two years since I was fourteen.”

It was a remarkable period even when she said so. It had been two years since that bad relationship. The Crown Prince, who was a boy, would become an adult at the age of twenty, starting with this year’s birthday. Starting with the coming-of-age ceremony, he would have an official appearance, and unlike in the past, he would exalt himself in the world.

‘Can I be myself that would sit next to him?’ She smiled with an uncanny smile of anticipation and anxiety, but Cain accepted it strange and furrowed his forehead to the fullest extent. The Countess made a fuss, saying, “Why did you hide it all this time?”

“I met him without knowing who he was. I only recently knew that he was the Crown Prince.”

“Oh, my god…! It’s like a story in a novel! You’ve fallen in love without knowing each other! How could it be romantic?”

She was like a girl in admiration. She seemed happy since her daughter had achieved a dream she had never dreamed of.

“Don’t tell me, is that the man you met before in court, the Crown Prince… not Mr. Pinonua?”

“Oh, come to think of it, you’ve met him. That’s right. Pinonua is… he said it’s a name he borrowed for a while.”

“Oh, did he come to court as he was worried about you, even if he was busy?”

“He said yes. Is this the end of the question? I think it’s better to hear more about it when Mr. Asher comes. If I tell you all, the conversation between us will disappear.”

Aria said that and returned to her room. In the warm sunlit garden, only three people left with different thoughts and hearts.

* * *

It took less than two days that the rumors that she had served meals to the young men who had visited her covered the capital.

The wicked woman of the rumor, no, Aria, now a beautiful investor of the rumors who had tried to raise her social status and understand the common people, smiled as she watched the young people gathered at the gate of the mansion today.

“Miss! I told them to come on a set date and time every week as you ordered!” Jessie said with a bright face.

‘I am an investor who talks to young entrepreneurs every week. What a beautiful thing it is!’

“Good job.”

“And I brought a newspaper, a little early. Hans brought it to the mansion himself.”

“Really?”

Jessie’s expression of taking out the newspaper was very bright. Aria sensed that her story was in the newspaper.

‘What kind of praise are they giving me?’ She opened the newspaper with anticipation, and Jessie added,

“It looks like Hans has entered the academy you invested in! I heard that he got a scholarship! So I thought he was running out of time, so I said he’d bring newspapers to the mansion as he had a free time.”

“… Really?”

She felt strange when she heard a story she had never thought of because in the past he had faced a terrible end, but he found his own happiness now. And she expected that she would be able to face such a future like that, by getting rid of the real wicked woman.

[The wicked woman of the rumors was a saint!]

– The identity of the Investor A, who saved countless businessmen regardless of their status, turned out to be Lady Aria of the Roscent family. In addition, recently, after the completion of the academy, the rumors of Roscent Aria, which had been in the full glare of publicity, turned out to be mischievous. And the source of the rumor is shocking as well. Some suspect that it came from her sister, Roscent Mielle, who was jealous of her beauty. If it’s true, can there be more terrible things than this?-

The article seemed to represent her heart, and Aria’s mouth went up high in the sky. Jessie had a bright face as if she read it before handing it out.

After it had turned out that she was the Investor A of rumors, she had not won popularity. It was thanks to the two years of changing the very little things step by step. A group of young people who she had met at a meeting with Sarah, and the servants and maids of the mansion, or a group of people with her support for business were the examples.

It was also thanks to the fact that she had sometimes attended the official meeting and revealed that she had a brilliant and beautiful appearance and elegant demeanor that was completely different from what was rumored. And playing the victim extensively in Emma’s case had also played a part. All those little efforts that she’d made so far shone through this opportunity.

‘I never thought I’d be so successful in business at first.’

The reason she had talked about business for the first time was to somehow win the Count’s heart in revenge against Mielle. But then she had realized it was wrong and jumped on her own business to create her own power to survive Mielle and the princess; however, she had not even expected to be so successful like this.

She hadn’t even imagined it would make her happy to have such a relationship with someone. Compared to then and now, she felt as if she were someone else.

“It’s finally going to turn out that the rumors about you have been malicious!”

Jessie didn’t even remember what she had when Aria had first come into the mansion, but Jessie erased a hint of anxiety about her master and revealed her pure trust.

‘If I could go back, I would like to go back to the time when I just came into the mansion.’

Then, she wouldn’t have needed these annoying series of actions. She wouldn’t have been mean to Jessie either. However, she had returned to the vague time when she had done something bad to Jessie, and she had repaid it back. Aria soon shook her head and took her regrets out of her mind, because she didn’t even have enough time to maintain what she got.

Aria turned to the newspaper again. No matter how cheap the newspaper the common people read was, the story would be delivered to the Count, Cain, and Mielle.

Whether it was the case or not, the Count and Cain had silently committed to their work for some time, and they had returned home late and it was hard to see their faces. Still, Aria asked Jessie, suspecting that there must be another because he was a merchant who didn’t miss what was in his interest.

“What about Mielle?

“Ah… she went out early.”

And for some purpose, Mielle had been busy going out lately, too. So, Aria narrowed her eyes.

‘I wouldn’t be able to carry my face if it were me. She is a brazen-faced girl.’

Although her reputation had been declining day by day, Mielle got up again and forced her to go out. The destination was… probably the mansion of the Duke, to meet the princess who had connected her with Oscar.