ICSM 09

Chapter 09

While everyone was busy giving Halo advice as he beat Pedro, I approached Yoanna, who was trembling in fear because she could not understand what was happening.

She flinched when I stood close to her, but when I covered her body with the hood I was wearing, her expression became relieved.

“Hello.”

“Yes, um…”

“No, I guess not. You’re not doing very well, are you? I’ll explain the situation. I was engaged to that bastard four years ago. The person beating him like he’s going to kill him is my younger brother.”

“What? E-Engaged?”

Yoanna’s eyes widened as if she had never heard of it before. Apparently, she had not been told anything. Well, she had been the same way in my previous life…

Her eyes soon began to tremble as if she had finally understood everything, and tears streamed down her face. She had given her heart to him without knowing what kind of trash he was.

“I’m sorry. I should have come in more peacefully, but I was worried that bastard might try to deny everything, so I couldn’t help it.”

“Sniff…!”

“But I’ll compensate you. I know compensation won’t make you feel better, but I can give you a letter of recommendation or financial support so that you can leave for whatever city you want to settle in.”

“…Thank you.”

It wasn’t as if I had done the right thing, but to her, I seemed like a noblewoman, and she probably thought it was fortunate enough that I had not harmed the lowly commoner who had slept with my fiancé.

Only after beating Pedro, stomping on him until he passed out, did my brother seem to calm down a little.

“Isn’t this bastard seriously insane?”

“What the hell was he thinking, acting so arrogantly? He only got into the Knights because of your family.”

The knights laughed and mocked Pedro. His pride was second only to that of royalty, so if he had been conscious, he probably would have wanted to kill himself from humiliation.

I helped Yoanna get dressed and told her to gather her valuables. I planned to keep her with me until the annulment was safely completed, in case Pedro regained consciousness and tried to harm her to get rid of a witness.

I immediately went to the townhouse and, just like before, threw the trash outside. As an extra touch, I laid the unconscious Pedro on top of it.

After some time, Pedro regained consciousness and went wild when he saw that he had been thrown out with his belongings. But the moment he saw my brother rushing out of the townhouse, he ran away with his tail between his legs.

This time, he did not even manage to properly collect his belongings.

My engagement to Pedro was ended more easily and quickly than before.

There were thirty witnesses of unquestionable status, and although I felt sorry for Yoanna, her neighbors had also seen everything, including Pedro cheating on me and getting beaten up. As a result, the rumor spread throughout the Imperial Capital without me even having to do anything.

This time, I could not charge him with seducing someone under the false promise of marriage or fraud, but I still received a considerable amount of compensation for breaking the engagement. I gave half of it to Yoanna.

After all, I had practically used her to end my engagement.

She took the money and left, while Pedro was expelled from his family just as he had been before. However, this time, they did not send him to a monastery.

I no longer cared whether he lived or died. To me, because I had returned to the past, his betrayal was already more than ten years in the past, so it had no real effect on me.

I stopped by the government office inside the Imperial Palace to submit the engagement cancellation papers. As I passed through the corridor, I stopped.

I had hoped that I might meet that person, but perhaps because the date was different, or perhaps because I had not cried.

I could not see the person I had been waiting for.

After wandering around for a long time, I returned home.

“I’m never getting married.”

“Waaah, Lovey… I should have just killed that bastard back thennn… Waaaaah…!”

After breaking off my engagement with Pedro and declaring that I would remain single, my second older brother burst into tears. He seemed to think that I was acting this way because I had been deeply hurt. The other members of my family did not cry, but their expressions were also gloomy, as if they thought the same thing.

There was no way someone like Pedro, who had now become a person from my past, could hurt me anymore. But it was difficult to explain everything, so I decided to let them think that was the reason.

‘Now that I’ve ended the engagement… all that remains is the poisoning incident and the destruction?’

I knew the reason for the poisoning and how to solve it, so that would be fine. The real problem was the destruction.

I had no idea where it came from, what caused it, or how it happened.

‘It probably has something to do with the male lead and female lead…’

The problem was that I did not know who the male lead or female lead were at all.

I did not know their names or what they looked like. I only knew that the male lead was an Esper and that he was blind.

The gods had talked about how the male lead lost his eyesight because of some incident. So I thought I might be able to find him if I searched for a blind person among the Espers.

But there was an obstacle from the very beginning.

“You’re asking if there are any blind Espers? Why are you asking that, Lovey?”

I asked my second older brother, who was the easiest person in the family to approach and knew the Imperial Palace well, but he only asked me another question.

When I said I was simply curious, my brother looked troubled.

“Your brother wants to tell our cute little Lovey anything she’s curious about… but I’m sorry. I can’t tell you this.”

“…Why?”

“It’s a top-secret matter. Espers are treated as strategic weapons, so we’re not allowed to mention them to other people.”

He said that because the Imperial Palace had ears everywhere, if anyone found out that he had told me about the Espers, not only would he get in trouble, but I would as well.

In the end, I had no choice but to give up on finding out.

But then I had a good idea.

‘I’ll make money… and use that money to support them.’

The Imperial Palace probably provided them with funding or salaries, but in any case, the more money I had, the more I could do.

It was better to have too much than too little. All I could do was hope that the money I gave them would be enough to prevent the destruction.

I immediately declared that I was going into business and recruited Bijella, who had been working hard for me.

“Would you like to walk the golden road with me?”

At my proposal, Bijella said that she had never heard such an exciting offer before and grabbed my hand with a dazed expression.

Since I had already walked this path once, I did not need to get lost this time.

“Gasals. One basket for one silver coin. I’ll buy them all. Forever.”

“Welcome!”

I also hired pharmacists, but this time, there was no need for experiments.

“This is seaweed that strengthens the liver and helps with detoxification. Dry it with hot air, grind it into powder, and make it into pills. We’ll sell it to women as a beauty supplement and to men as an energy booster.”

“Are you a genius?”

I created nutritional supplements much earlier than I had in the future I experienced and released them to the market.

At the same time as the launch, I held a free giveaway event under my family’s name. People who had tried them with mixed feelings began to see the effects, and word of mouth spread.

“I heard this is actually a rejuvenation medicine?”

“They say the roots of the viscount’s once completely white hair turned black…”

“…It’s not that powerful.”

I thought it was probably the placebo effect.

I sold them without making an excessively large profit, just as I had before, but perhaps because they were so popular, I quickly became rich.

And as soon as I had money, the first thing I did was—

“Sell me the mine and the land it stands on.”

“But this land has been passed down through my family for generations…”

When I suddenly showed up and demanded that the mine owner sell me his land, he looked troubled.

I opened the chest I had brought with me.

When he saw the amount of money inside—enough to buy two or three more mines like this one—he willingly sold the land his ancestors had passed down for generations.

“Blow it up.”

As soon as I bought the mine, I had it blown up.

Bijella looked as if she could not understand why I was throwing money into the ground, but I had no choice.

If I left it alone and someone entered the mine, whether intentionally or by accident, and discovered the disaster hidden inside and released it into the world, everything I had done so far would become meaningless.

It was better to collapse it like this so that no one could touch it.

‘Too many people died last time.’

The Empire had been relatively safe thanks to the nutritional supplements I had distributed in advance, but that did not mean there were no casualties at all.

If even the Empire had suffered, the other countries, which had made no preparations whatsoever, lost almost half of their populations.

As a result, even after solving the poisoning incident, it had been extremely difficult for the world to stabilize because there were not enough people.

“Is there only one thing left now?”

The destruction.

I immediately packed up my money and headed for the Imperial Palace.

“…So, what exactly is it that you want to do, Young Lady?”

“I want to use the money I earned for the Espers.”

When I told the Emperor that I wanted to become their sponsor, he slowly examined me.

His sharp eyes seemed to be trying to see through whatever scheme I might be hiding.

“Why? Why would you use money you worked so hard to earn for something like that?”

His voice was filled with suspicion, as if he thought I might be planning to use the Espers’ powers for something.

But I had no hidden motive.

I was simply doing this for the sake of peace.

“I have always respected those who work day and night for the peace and safety of the Empire.”

“Have you ever met an Esper?”

“No. I have never met one. But as someone born a noble of the Empire, I want to contribute to the Empire. Since the only thing I am good at is making money, I want to help them by supporting them financially.”

The Emperor still did not let go of his suspicions, but it seemed difficult for him to refuse when I said it was for the Empire.

He had nothing to lose by accepting, but if he refused, it could be interpreted as a political move showing that he did not favor House Estarotte.

House Estarotte was pro-Emperor.

There was no need to reject an ally and create unnecessary tension.

In any case, the only thing I could do was work hard, make money, and give it to them.

I did not care whether the male lead and female lead used that money to go out and have fun or buy snacks.

‘Please, just keep the world safe.’

I did not ask for much.

As long as the world remained safe, I did not mind giving them money until the day I died.

And so, one day, while I was working hard and contributing to world peace, that day finally came.

At the same time, panels filled with prophecies suddenly appeared in all directions with a rapid succession of flashes, completely filling my field of vision.