Uncover the Death of the Villainess - Chapter 7

When I opened the envelope, two sheets of paper came out again. A crisp new paper and an old, worn diary.

I checked the contents of the new paper first.

— Hello, Charlotte. You must have been to my funeral today? How was my final appearance? I had hoped to always remain bright and beautiful in your memory. Perhaps my appearance after falling from the top was such a mess that they held the funeral with the coffin lid closed.

What is this? It’s too accurate a prediction for a letter written before death. Then does this mean it wasn’t murder?

— Michael probably approached you first at the funeral. Actually, a long time ago at Mrs. Roland’s party, the person he wanted to contact wasn’t me.
I don’t know what misunderstanding there was in between. Michael mistook me for you. We nurtured our love by exchanging letters. You don’t know how happy I was when I received a letter from him saying he wanted to get engaged after graduating from the military academy. And later, how disappointed he was when he actually met me. I’ll show you the diary I wrote then today.
I’ll say it again, Charlotte, don’t get close to Michael. He’s not a good man to keep by your side.

After reading the crisp paper, I handed it to Cedric.

What on earth happened between them that my friend wrote such a letter warning me before she died? Instead of writing this kind of letter, couldn’t she have found even a little courage to live?

After tapping my fingers on the hard desk a few times, I steeled myself and read Laura’s diary.

— January 25, 1853.
I finally met Michael, with whom I had only exchanged hearts through letters, for the first time. My pounding heart was instantly torn apart by that man’s words.

He says there was a mistake. Perhaps that day he fell for Charlotte, not me.

He apologized to me and asked if I knew any noble who looked like me. At that moment, I felt suffocated like a mouse that had fallen into the water after standing on thin ice in the middle of winter.

It seems the conversations and emotions we exchanged through letters remained solely my burden.

Not long ago, my father sent a warning letter. He said if I couldn’t catch a good man in the capital, I should come back home. If I go home like this without any achievements, I’ll probably be sold off to an old man.

I begged Michael, grabbing his knees. I asked him to maintain the engagement for just 2 or 3 more years. Because then I could escape from my father’s shadow. He coldly refused. Saying he had no reason to consider such trivial circumstances of mine.

I had no choice but to blackmail him. I told him I heard from ‘Gabi’. That I already knew the purpose of the iron-doored room hidden in the basement of the Paine mansion, the dirty truth entangled with that room. Fortunately, my blackmail was effective.

That’s how I was able to get engaged to him. Even though it’s an engagement life that will end with a set period, I intend to do my best to try to receive his love, to survive in the capital even for a little while.

Blackmail, an engagement with a set period.

These two words particularly bothered me.

‘So the rumors about them not getting along were true.’

An engagement where one side clings on like this doesn’t last long. If her father at home was the problem, couldn’t she have asked me instead of Michael? If it was about money, I could have… Ah, back then I was just starting my business and didn’t have money.

Cedric now came right next to me and openly read the diary with me. I asked him,

“What do you think?”

“Can I speak honestly without being scolded?”

“I won’t scold or get upset, so tell me your thoughts.”

He put his hand on his cravat, loosening it slightly, and lowered his voice.

“You were friends with Laura Swilton for only 5 years, Boss. And for the past 3 years, you maintained a negligent state. So we can consider that the friendship lasted for about 2 years. In my opinion, are these letters and this diary worth trusting?”

Cedric sharply pointed out something I hadn’t even thought of. I habitually took my friend’s side.

“But Laura saved my life.”

Those 2 years. It might be a short period, but we saw each other’s faces and talked every day. I really liked her sociability. Although I tended to be somewhat isolated in social circles because I disliked gossip, when Laura was by my side, even the tea parties and banquets I had to attend out of obligation were enjoyable.

“That carriage accident… honestly, it could have been an accident she created to get close to you, Boss. Somehow, if Laura were alive, I think she and I would have gotten along very well. I smell a similar kind. Seeing how she arranged for these letters to be sent even after her death, I’m sorry to the deceased, but I suspect she was a very cunning person.”

His expression was too serious, so I habitually made a joke.

“Are you confessing that you’re cunning too, Cedric? And in front of your boss, no less.”

“Did you think I was as white and pure as a blank sheet of paper, having succeeded this much in such a short time? If so, Boss, you’ve been deceived by my good looks.”

He swept back his black hair and lifted his chin.

How nice, to be so confident in one’s appearance.

I chuckled and gestured for him to leave. As he grabbed the doorknob of the office, he added these words:

“Still, for now, I’ll take Laura’s side. I hope you’ll be wary of Marquis Paine, Boss.”

Cedric left me with truly incomprehensible words. He’s making people hope for no reason.

‘If you’re not going to sleep with me, could you not concern yourself with my private life?’

What a bad guy.

***

The efficient Cedric brought me a list of promotion candidates the very next day.

The list he brought contained detailed names and careers of employees suitable for promotion. It was a thorough list noting their current departments, how much performance they’ve achieved since joining, attendance records, and so on.

‘Wow, have you been monitoring the employees this closely?’

I felt fortunate to be his superior. If I were Cedric’s junior, he would undoubtedly have hated me.

There were five candidates in total. I plan to carefully observe and evaluate these people from now on.

However, as I scanned the list, I noticed something odd.

“Why are there only women’s names here? Were there no suitable male employees to promote?”

“As you know, when Liv Department Store first opened, men were quite resistant, weren’t they?”

“That’s true.”

People first took issue with me being the boss. Even newspapers criticized me, saying I was unnecessarily encouraging women’s vanity. Moreover, some male employees didn’t want to take orders from a young woman. If I nagged even a little, they would often quit the department store, unable to control their temper. Thanks to that, in the early days, I had to run the department store with only Cedric and female employees.

Cedric continued his explanation.

“Most of the male employees here started working later than the female employees. Besides, it’s hard to find a reason to promote juniors before their seniors. There were no male employees with better performance than those on this list either.”

If that’s the case, it can’t be helped. Cedric has taken the position of my right hand, so giving the left-hand position to a female employee would be balanced and look good. Perhaps my secretary had considered all of this when creating the list.

“When time passes and the department store grows even larger than now, I’m thinking of setting up a separate secretarial office dedicated to you, Boss. If you allow it then, I’ll promote qualified employees. Of course, I plan to include male employees at that time.”

“I wonder if that day will come. You evaluate male employees particularly strictly.”

I met his gaze with sparkling eyes.

‘It’s okay, Cedric. I’m not as conservative as you think. I can understand if you have different inclinations from others. You’re my capable employee, after all.’

In all this time, I had never seen Cedric with a lover.

He doesn’t even have a fiancée at such a vigorous age. Perhaps he’s much more picky about lovers than I expected.

Besides, a rumor I heard about him recently was quite plausible and suspicious.

Actually, there’s a secret in the Liv Department Store building that only I know about.

Besides the central staircase, there’s another emergency staircase in a corner connecting the 3rd and 4th floors. It was a place people didn’t use because it was dark with no windows, and since it was made for emergency purposes, the door was usually closed. Right next to that staircase was a small employee break room. Whether it was a design issue or a mistake by the workers, the wall surrounding the staircase was unusually thin.

Thanks to this, when you enter the staircase, you can clearly hear the voices chattering in the break room.

‘Whenever a handsome male employee comes in, Mr. Cedric always comes down to the sales floor and watches for a while before leaving.’

‘Why? Could it be that Mr. Cedric likes men?’

‘That’s what I suspect. This is a secret, just between us. I heard Elisha confessed to Mr. Cedric recently but was rejected.’

‘Elisha? You mean that blonde with the slim waist and ample chest?’

‘Yeah. For a while, people were going crazy saying she was the prettiest among our department store sales staff.’

‘I don’t think she’s that pretty.’