The Villainess Is Annoyed by the Male Leads Again Today - Chapter 1.9

For a moment, his expression subtly changed. As he was about to speak, we heard the coachman’s voice.

“Young master, my lady. We’ve arrived at the Epine Count’s residence.”

At the polite announcement, Limpe got out of the carriage. Then he held out his hand to me and suggested,

“Lady Epine, will you allow me to call you by your name?”

“Then may I call you Limpe as well?”

I took his hand and gladly accepted.

“Of course. I think we could become good friends.”

“Alright, Limpe. Let’s be friends. But not the flirting kind.”

He winked at me lightly after hearing my words.

“But others should think that I’m flirting with Lorazie. Please understand this much.”

“Okay. I’ll play along with that much, pretending to be flustered.”

I winked lightly at Limpe too.

“Ahahahaha-!”

He laughed so hard that tears formed in his eyes.

“Is my wink that funny?”

“Hahaha- No. Lorazie, thank you.”

“Then Limpe, you take care going home too.”

“Sure. See you again.”

I went into the Epine Count’s residence, and he stood there waving at me until I entered and the main gate closed.

“Limpe!”

Just before the door closed completely, I called out to him.

“See you again!”

And I waved both hands with a very large gesture.

He opened his eyes wide for a moment, then waved back with equally big movements.

The main gate of the Count’s residence closed, and our date ended like this.

***

The second meeting had to be spaced out a bit to consider reputation, so I had more than two weeks of time.

I instructed Irena, who was pouring tea beside me.

“Irena, tell Dawson I want to see him.”

“Administrator Dawson?”

“Yes. He’ll understand when you tell him.”

I wanted to play so much during these precious two weeks, but it would be troublesome if I missed the timing.

I needed Administrator Dawson’s help to buy goods to sell to the Asuka Empire at a low price in advance.

Irena quickly returned with an answer.

“Um, my lady. Administrator Dawson says it’s impossible today as his schedule is full. He also said tomorrow won’t work, nor the day after. He said he’ll talk when he has time later…”

“Exactly when?”

“Well, I asked that too, but he didn’t give an answer, so I had no choice but to come back.”

It was a clear rejection, though indirectly stated. Irena bowed her head as if ashamed.

Suddenly, one of Lorazie’s memories flashed by.

“Ah! That’s right.”

“Pardon?”

“Nothing, you did well. I guess it won’t work today.”

Dawson graduated top of his class from the capital’s prestigious academy, where most students were nobles, despite being a commoner. However, despite his excellent grades, he only became an administrator for the Epine Count family, and the reason lay in his personality.

He had an inflexible personality that adhered strictly to principles, literally as straight as an arrow.

Because he maintained his principles in any situation, he had many troubles with nobles even during his academy days.

So there were problems with Lorazie too.

Lorazie always wanted to receive more of the dignity maintenance allowance.

So she often went to the administration department, making a fuss about wanting more money.

Dawson, as the financial officer, had steadfastly ignored such misconduct from Lorazie.

Unlike Irena, it was natural for him to dislike me after directly experiencing Lorazie.

“Lorazie always doubles the work I have to do.”

It was obvious that just sending Irena to summon Dawson would only result in postponements.

I could threaten him by saying, “Are you going to disobey the Count’s orders?” but considering Dawson’s personality, that method would only backfire. I needed his proper cooperation.

Because…

“I need Dawson to cooperate properly so that I don’t have to work hard.”

I had to do business together until I left the house. As long as I couldn’t appear at the forefront, without his willing cooperation, future tasks would become very tiresome.

“I guess I’ll have to go see him myself.”

The next day, I called Irena, dressed in a modest appearance, and headed to the administration department.

As I opened the door and entered, the person sitting closest to the door, processing documents, stood up and approached me.

Others sent tense glances while pretending not to. Their expressions showed worry about what unreasonable demands Lorazie had come to make this time.

“My lady, what brings you here?”

He spoke to me without trembling, just with a face covered in fatigue.

“I came to see Administrator Dawson. Would you call him for me?”

“Hmm.”

He made a troubled face and hummed, then looked once at Dawson in the distance who wasn’t even looking at me, and sighed.

“Then, would you please wait a moment?”

Soon after, he returned with the news everyone had expected.

“My lady, Administrator Dawson says he has a lot of work and asks you to just go back today.”

“Is that so? Then tell him I’ll wait until he finishes his work.”

So I gave them news no one had expected.

“What? Yes. Understood.”

He went back in, puzzled by my calm agreement to wait, probably expecting me to throw a tantrum.

I didn’t think Dawson would come out right away. I settled in for a long wait. I had Irena bring tea, cookies, and a book to the administration department’s reception room.

“My lady, are you really going to wait here?”

Irena furrowed her brows, looking worried.

“Yes.”

“Mr. Dawson is too much. Making you wait like this!”

“It can’t be helped.”

Since it seemed like it would take a long time, I sent Irena back early and told her to come back around evening.

Crunch-crunch-

As I sat on the sofa enjoying tea time alone, I could feel the gazes of those coming in and out of the reception room.

“It’s uncomfortable. I should read a book.”

After focusing on reading for a while, I looked up to see the sunset outside the window.

The administrators were leaving one by one, but Dawson was nowhere to be seen.

Surely he hadn’t escaped through a window or back door.

With that thought, I carefully opened the administration room door again. Most seats were empty, and Dawson…

“I knew you’d do this even though you said you’d wait. My lady, you really have no patience.”

The other remaining administrators looked at him with bewildered expressions.

Along with accusing looks as if to say, why are you stirring up trouble?

He was certainly remarkable for provoking Lorazie.

“Hmm, I just came to check if you had run away. Sorry for the disturbance. Come out whenever you’re ready, just don’t run away.”

The other administrators were even more bewildered by my calm tone.

Dawson still didn’t even raise his head. I quietly closed the door and sat on the sofa. I blinked my eyes while looking at the darkening sky.

“My lady, wake up. Mr. Dawson has come out.”

I must have dozed off. Suddenly, I heard Irena’s voice waking me up.