A Fortune-telling Princess [Novel] Chapter 290

There were more than a few people who had worked there, failed to receive their wages, and been driven out.

The bigger problem was that Wood, the man in question, was absolutely not struggling the way he always claimed.

He had quite a lot of property. Not only the bakery, but several other shops as well, and the income from them was fairly large. In other words, he was in no situation where he could not pay the people working for him.

There had even been several reports made to the guard accusing him of sexually harassing female part-timers.

But because there was no physical evidence and no witnesses, he was usually released!

Rotten bastard.

In the end, only the part-timers were driven out, unpaid, while people pointed fingers at them for false accusations instead.

Wood, the bakery owner, even followed around the part-timers who tried to work elsewhere and harassed them.

He would say they were the sort of people who framed their boss as a sexual harasser to extort money, making it impossible for them to get jobs for a while.

He really does every damn thing.

Meari was no different. Apparently, more than half a year’s worth of wages had been delayed.

After confirming all that information, Camilla had gone to the bakery that day to bring Meari to her own café.

Then she had found Dorman about to head toward Meari, who was being harmed, and had brought her out of that shop instead.

“Half a year’s worth, huh.”

Camilla quietly muttered as she watched Meari diligently help Lila with work.

“Should I use that method again?”

“That method?”

Havel, the death god, gave her a puzzled look at the unclear words, but Camilla only smiled.

“When there’s money that needs to be collected, that method is the best.”

It seemed she would have to contact someone in the Gracia Empire for the first time in a while.

*****

Roll.

Sitting at her desk and checking documents, Camilla barely held back a laugh as she looked at the small ball rolling toward her feet.

King had been circling around her for a while, asking her to play. When she did not respond, he had gone off somewhere, bitten down on a ball, and kept sending it toward her.

“No. I’m busy.”

[Kyukyu!]

Look at him.

…Now he was even throwing a temper.

When she said she could not play with him, King started biting at a cushion nearby as if taking his anger out on it.

Camilla chuckled and eventually picked up the ball that had fallen at her feet.

“Just for a little while.”

[Kkyu!]

At those words, King came running over as if he had never been angry and sat primly in front of Camilla.

Camilla stroked King’s head for a moment, then threw the ball off to one side.

Dadadada!

King ran over in an instant, snatched up the ball, and came back.

They did that several times.

“This time, I’m throwing it farther.”

Camilla threw the ball toward the farthest corner of the room. This time, too, King shot out like an arrow.

But a moment later, King had no choice but to freeze in the middle of running.

“Hmm.”

Because someone had flown to the corner faster than King and swiftly snatched up the ball first.

[Kkyu! Kyukyu!]

King kept crying out, asking why his ball had been stolen.

[Grrrr…]

The person silently looked at King, who was growling quietly, for a moment, then tossed the ball in another direction.

As if he had been waiting, King ran after it again.

The person let out a small laugh while watching him, then finally approached Camilla.

“Our little sister must have been playing ball.”

“I told you to stop calling me little sister.”

The person who spoke to her while gracefully narrowing his eyes in a smile was Jayner, the head of the assassination organization Khan and the eldest son of the Duke of Esclara.

“What brings you here?”

“I came to report on the task you gave me.”

“Already?”

The place Camilla had commissioned to handle the matter of Wood, the bakery owner, was none other than Khan, the organization Jayner belonged to.

Just as they had once obtained compensation from a man named Dorald, who had harmed the café, she had asked them to do the same to Wood.

She had thought scaring him and making him hand over the money on his own was the best method.

“I thought it would take about fifteen days.”

“The commission failed.”

“What?”

Camilla’s eyes widened slightly. A completely unexpected answer had come out of Jayner’s mouth.

“Failed?”

She had not told him to kill anyone. Had he failed at something as simple as frightening someone into paying money?

“What happened?”

Is this man’s skill not that great? Camilla looked at Jayner with suspicious eyes. How could he fail at such a small job?

“It was already over before I handled it.”

Jayner let out a small laugh, having read everything she was thinking from her expression.

“What do you mean?”

“That man named Wood had already paid all the overdue wages before I arrived. Not only to the woman named Meari, but to the others too.”

“What?”

Camilla’s expression went slightly blank. In contrast, Jayner’s smile deepened as he recalled the scene he had seen.

*****

…What is going on here?

Jayner had received Camilla’s commission three days ago. Setting aside other urgent matters, he had moved personally in order to handle her request first.

But when Jayner went to find the man named Wood in order to begin the commission, he could do nothing.

Because someone had met the man before him.

That woman…

It was Meari, the person who could be called the center of this commission.

When he accepted any commission, the first priority was understanding all related information.

So Jayner had already finished investigating her thoroughly. Naturally, recognizing the woman in front of him was not difficult.

There was nothing strange about Meari coming to find Owner Wood, who had not paid her wages. However…

This is unexpected.

Jayner watched the situation with great interest. And with good reason. Owner Wood was being beaten up.

By whom? By Meari herself.

“You said it wasn’t because you had no money.”

“I-I don’t know what you heard! But that’s absolutely not true! If I’d had money, I would’ve paid you right aw—!”

Whoosh!

Pow!

“Keuk!”

It was a very splendid kick. Her skill in lightly turning around and accurately kicking Wood in the head was excellent. That was not the skill of someone who had only done this once or twice.

Oh.

There had been nothing like this in the investigation materials.

“Do you know why I endured it all this time? Because I thought you really didn’t have money. Ha… Like an idiot, I thought you would pay me someday.”

“I… I really didn’t have any…”

Squeeze!

“I already heard everything from Lady Camilla. That you have plenty of money.”

“Krr… gh.”

“Money was one thing, but I endured it because I thought that if I quit here, I might not be able to get hired anywhere else either.”

Meari had also heard rumors. She had heard that people who left after working here were unable to find proper jobs for some time. The reason was supposedly that the owner interfered.

That’s why I held it in all this time.

But now she no longer needed to worry about that, did she? She had already found a good workplace.

“In other words, I have no reason to endure this situation anymore.”

Unlike the way she spoke calmly and methodically, there was no mercy at all in her hands.

Perhaps because so much had accumulated inside her, Owner Wood had to keep getting beaten by her for quite some time afterward.

Only after Owner Wood brought out the money he had hidden in one corner of the shop and handed over all the overdue wages was he finally released from Meari’s hands.

“Pay the overdue wages to the others immediately too. I’ll check everything later.”

“Th-that’s…”

“Why? Do you want to see me again?”

Shake, shake!

At the warning that she would come again if he did not settle all the overdue wages owed to the others who had quit, Owner Wood shook his head fiercely.

“You aren’t going to go around talking about what happened today, are you? It’s not exactly something to be proud of, getting beaten up by someone as young as me.”

“Krr… gh.”

“Are you not going to answer?”

Nod, nod!

When Meari’s eyes turned chilly again, Owner Wood nodded so hard it seemed his head might fall off.

Ha.

After watching the whole thing, Jayner barely held back the laughter trying to escape him and quietly left the place.

*****

“He wasn’t the kind of guy who’d hand over money easily.”

“Well, he handed it over very easily.”

“Really?”

Had he eaten something wrong?

He had been screaming that he absolutely would not pay, and that he would make sure she could never get hired elsewhere. Yet he had simply paid the overdue wages? Even to the others?

“…….”

Jayner gave a faint smile as he watched Camilla tilt her head again and again.

There seemed to be no need to tell her everything the woman named Meari had done.

It was not something that would harm Camilla in particular. And Meari herself did not seem to want it revealed.

“It seems only interesting people gather around you.”

“What are you suddenly talking about?”

“I just mean that.”

“……?”

Camilla’s eyes narrowed slightly. He seemed to be hiding something, but what? Since this man was so naturally sly, it was terribly hard to figure him out.

“Dive is doing well, right?”

“Of course.”

She had spoken with him through a communication stone a few days ago, but Camilla habitually asked Jayner how Dive was doing.

“He said he’s performing in a concert being held at the academy this time.”

“A concert?”