Chapter 30
Tanisha's confident stride, deliberately calling a distant employee to confirm that she was the owner here.
And even while offering a chair, her arrogant gaze whispered that this position wasn't earned by your own ability, but by Duke Johannes.
Rebecca meticulously reviewed Tanisha's actions from the moment she first saw her until now.
And quickly discerned her desires.
A silence, like the calm before a storm, fell between them for a moment.
Under Tanisha's persistent gaze, Rebecca abandoned her planned course of action. And began to execute a new plan.
"I will adhere to the position of a business partner. I'm not capable enough to take on the role of the head of the merchant guild. That position is solely yours. I trust Julian's judgment."
Rebecca didn't even wait for Tanisha's reply before plopping down on the guest chair across from her.
And just smiled at her.
'Solely yours...'
Tanisha felt strangely deflated and awkwardly pulled out a chair and sat down.
From the moment the Duke entrusted her with this place, Tanisha had anticipated a fierce battle to seize the position of head of the merchant guild.
So, after identifying Rebecca's identity, she devised a plan, considering all possible scenarios.
Since she was young, Tanisha had been intelligent and had taken on the Duke's troublesome aftercare.
The hot-tempered Duke caused accidents almost daily, and she lived a busy life.
But no matter how hard she worked, her salary remained the same, and even that usually ended up in her parents' hands.
'It's only natural for the Chenister family to serve the Johannes family. It's absurd to expect money! And we'll keep this money until you get married.'
'Lies.'
After the previous Duke died, her parents, who had lost their jobs, were dependent on Croa and Tanisha's income.
They were quite extravagant, so Tanisha knew that she would never get the money she entrusted to her parents back.
Croa was also providing money to his parents like Tanisha, but he didn't seem to have any complaints.
But Tanisha was different.
Tanisha begged her parents, who constantly demanded money for parties, to at least get a job, but she only received cold rejections.
'We are people who served the Johannes Dukedom. We can't deal with such insignificant nobles who don't match our level, can we?'
'Our family is just a Baron!'
Tanisha screamed inwardly, but she couldn't bring herself to say the words out loud. She also didn't want to hurt her proud parents.
So, Tanisha's long-held wish was independence.
Tanisha Merchant was the starting point of her dream.
She had already created a vault to collect funds for independence.
Once she had enough money, she planned to repay the Duke's initial investment and leave the Dukedom.
Therefore, Tanisha could never hand over this merchant guild to Rebecca.
From her investigation, Rebecca was just a frail noblewoman.
What could it mean that such a Rebecca wanted the merchant guild?
'She's clearly trying to raise money to divorce her cheating husband.'
And she was using the infamous Duke Johannes as a means to that end.
Tanisha concluded that, no matter how she had managed to win over the Duke, Rebecca was no ordinary person, contrary to the rumors.
That's why she worked even harder to prepare. She prepared thoroughly enough to negotiate all night long.
Fully prepared, Tanisha sent a letter to Rebecca. In her own way, it was a challenge.
Tanisha thought that Rebecca would be no different from her, if not more so.
She expected her to come adorned with expensive jewels to intimidate her, but unexpectedly, Rebecca appeared dressed no differently from the people in the market.
To make matters worse, she flatly stated that she didn't want the position of head of the merchant guild.
So, it was only natural that Tanisha couldn't organize her confused thoughts and barely managed to introduce herself in response to Rebecca's question.
"So, I'd like to know the name of our head of the merchant guild?"
Tanisha stammered in response to Rebecca's words.
Even to her own ears, it sounded foolish.
"T-Tanisha Chenister..."
Rebecca flinched at the word Chenister. Now that she thought about it, her overall features seemed vaguely similar to Croa's.
Croa had often told stories about his intelligent younger sister in her previous life, so Rebecca guessed that Tanisha was Croa's younger sister.
Rebecca thought it was fortunate that she had abandoned her original plan to become the head of the merchant guild.
She couldn't trample on the dreams of Croa's younger sister.
Rebecca glanced at the clock over Tanisha's shoulder, who seemed slightly dazed.
Time was tight if she wanted to stop by her next destination.
"Since we don't have much time, let's get straight to the point. All I want is money. Let's do a 6 to 4 split."
Tanisha finally snapped out of it when she heard the word money.
"Who gets 6?"
"You get 6. I'll just provide helpful information, and the head of the merchant guild will do all the hard work. If you really don't like it, I'm willing to raise it to 7."
It was thrilling. Tanisha had negotiated many times, but it had never gone straight into her own pocket.
Moreover, Julian had told her repeatedly that the income from this merchant guild was entirely Rebecca's.
Therefore, Tanisha had planned to negotiate a commission with Rebecca behind Julian's back.
In a way, it was deceiving the Duke, but Tanisha knew that Julian would turn a blind eye to this level of embezzlement, considering her past contributions.
For a moment, the desire to raise it to 7 arose, but Tanisha stopped herself.
Even if Rebecca had allowed it, she was afraid of the consequences if Julian found out about this later if she was too greedy.
"Okay. By the way, I'm curious about what kind of high-quality information it is."
Rebecca smiled faintly at Tanisha's acceptance. Then, she picked up a stack of paper piled on one side of the desk and began to write something on it with a quill pen.
As the scratching sound filled the room, Rebecca stopped writing.
"It's a list of products whose prices will skyrocket in the future. Since you've even figured out my identity, I believe you'll be able to make a lot of money without difficulty."
Tanisha accepted the list that Rebecca handed her with a suspicious look.
Blue tea sets from the Kingdom of Uria, pepper from the Kingdom of Caribana, Bongani coffee beans, Tamara Ladybugs...
All of them were products that currently had little value.
"Do you have precognition...? Otherwise, how would you know that the prices of these products will rise?"
Could it be called precognition? In fact, she had simply written down the luxury goods that were popular around this time in her previous life.
Most of the products that were popular in the world were brought into the Devonshire Earl's family faster than anyone else. Therefore, Rebecca accurately remembered the trends.
But there wasn't enough time to explain such details.
Rebecca anxiously checked the clock and said,
"I don't have time to go into detail, but trust me and give it a try. Oh, and you must monopolize the Tamara Ladybugs. Make it so that they can only be bought through this place. There will soon be people who will pay a premium to buy them. Raise a lot of them until then."
It was a dirty trick, but she couldn't help it. Although the salon Danae was in charge of guaranteed a huge income, it would take a long time to open.
She had no intention of being tied to Zeppelin for that long.
Therefore, in order to repay the Obelia family's debt to Zeppelin as quickly as possible, she had no choice but to use her memories from her previous life.
Rebecca poured out her memories to Tanisha like a storm.
"And there's high-quality iron buried in this mine. There will be a civil war in the Kingdom of Caribana soon. The Kingdom of Caribana is a place where iron is scarce, so they will try to import large quantities. So, if you secure the mine, you'll be able to generate high profits. And buy the coffee beans from a merchant named Adolf..."
Tanisha began to write down Rebecca's words quickly, lest she miss any of them.
How much had she said?
Rebecca, who had finally exhausted her memories, gulped down cold water.
"Haa. That's the end. Can you do it?"
"I have to. No, I will definitely do it."
Tanisha's eyes sparkled.
It was clear that Rebecca was a Saintess who had received the will of the Dephria Goddess.
Otherwise, how could she reel off future events as if she had seen them?
An ordinary person might have thought it was absurd nonsense, but Rebecca was someone guaranteed by Julian.
Even Tanisha, who didn't like Julian very much, acknowledged his ability to recognize people.
Anyone Julian said had a shady side definitely had a knife hidden.
Anyone he said would be beneficial definitely brought great benefits.
Therefore, Tanisha erased even a hint of doubt and carefully held the notebook in which she had written down Rebecca's words.
"Won't you have some more tea before you go...?"
Before she knew it, Tanisha had removed all her hostile gaze towards Rebecca and grabbed Rebecca, who was leaving through the door, as if she was reluctant to let her go.
Rebecca found her so cute that she smiled without realizing it.
"Next time, when I'm free, let's take some time to get to know each other better."
"Free...?"
Rebecca realized she had slipped up for a moment, but Tanisha seemed to have already understood the meaning of those words and didn't hold her back any further.
Rebecca added one last thing.
"A woman named Danae Obelia will come to visit. Please share the income with her then. She's a wise person, so I think it would be good to discuss any difficulties you have with her."
"I understand. Then how should I report?"
"Report to Julian. Then I can know everything too."
She said this thinking of Leo, who had recently been acting as a messenger cat between the two of them.
But Tanisha seemed to have taken it in a slightly different sense, as her face turned slightly red and she nodded.
'It seems like there's something between the two of them, more than I thought?'
Rebecca gave her a friendly smile and moved on to her next destination.
It was a place where the smell of freshly baked bread was tempting.
* * *
"It's surprising that you've come to visit me like this."
Emperor Zahida, who was about to enjoy tea time with some free time after a long time, was startled when he heard that Julian had come to see him.
It was always him who summoned Julian, and it was the first time Julian had requested an audience.
"Have you been well?"
Zahida was momentarily speechless at his strangely polite attitude and stared blankly at Julian.
