I Only Raised Men for Revenge - Chapter 15

Fearful of being caught, she lashed out, but the Emperor remained firm.

“So, perhaps you should have been a little more careful, Elzer. If you hadn’t killed the Marquis so hastily, then I wouldn’t have had to investigate. And I wouldn’t have had to send you to the execution ground. You were a very foolish woman.”

“The execution ground? Are you saying you’re going to kill me?”

“Of course. But don’t worry. I’ll kill my brother, who was having an affair with you, along with you.”

“W-wait, are you really going to kill me?”

But words were useless. No matter how much Elzer denied it, the Emperor wouldn’t believe her. The more she raged, the more he seemed to find it amusing, laughing all the while.

“I will hold you accountable for poisoning your own kin, for implicating Sesenia and tarnishing my name as Emperor, and sentence you to death for all of it.”

That was the end. Elzer’s execution was carried out even faster than Sesenia’s. There was no chance to refute. The Emperor even cut off Elzer’s tongue before the execution, preventing her from even opening her mouth. She was killed along with Ian.

And when she opened her eyes again, she had returned to this time.

“I can start over.”

Elzer rejoiced, believing that God had finally given her a chance.

She could turn everything around now. As Elzer thought about what had gone wrong, only one thought came to mind. It was all because she hadn’t taken the Marquisate for herself from the beginning.

The Marquisate was hers from the start. So, if she simply took what was originally hers, everything would be resolved.

So, she bought up Hepria cotton, just as Sesenia had done in the past.

“I did, I did but why, why is Sesenia here too?”

Everything was perfect. God had finally given her a chance. A chance to create a perfect future again. But Sesenia was there too.

“No. This time I just need to kill her quickly. No, I don’t even need to kill her. I just need to do, I just need to do what she did and take everything. I’m smarter than Sesenia, and Father loves me more. So, there’s nothing to be anxious about.”

Elzer forced a smile, shaking off her anxiety.

“Everything will be fine. Everything… First, I need to find the things that were originally mine, one by one.”

Rising from her seat once more, Elzer wore an ominous expression and twisted up the corners of her lips.

“In the end, everyone will love me. Unlike you, Sesenia. I… I was born to be loved.”

Having regained her strength, she immediately went outside.

**

Time passed quickly.

Two weeks had passed since that day. The empire’s atmosphere was uneasy due to the sudden cold snap that had arrived a few days ago. Lizbeth draped a shawl over Sesenia’s shoulders as she looked out the window. The weather was so cold that her breath fogged up.

“It seems the time has come.”

“People will start looking for Hepria cotton now, right?”

“Yes. Perhaps Elzer will make a move before we even have to.”

“What kind of move?”

Crackle, crackle. Lizbeth, who had filled the fireplace with firewood due to the sudden cold weather, asked as she moved the logs around with a poker.

“She’ll heavily promote how good Hepria cotton is.”

In the past, Sesenia hadn’t done such a thing. Even without doing so, the number of people secretly seeking Hepria cotton had rapidly increased. There were more than enough customers without having to make such an effort.

But Elzer was already spreading rumors that Hepria cotton was necessary to prepare for the cold.

Since she held all the Hepria cotton that Sesenia couldn’t buy, it was obvious how much she wanted to spread the rumors.

With this, she intended to prosper the family as Sesenia had done in the past. She would then completely take over the Marquisate for herself. Her intentions were all too obvious.

Knowing this, Sesenia quietly stared out the window.

Frost was forming on the window.

Watching it, Sesenia sat quietly, waiting for other news to arrive. And as expected, Elzer began to spread stories about Hepria cotton throughout the empire.

Thanks to this, the demand for Hepria cotton skyrocketed. People frantically began buying up Hepria cotton, unable to purchase everything available on the market.

But with the supply blocked, further purchases were impossible.

And then, exactly one week later.

Elzer came to find Sesenia. With a face full of anger.

“You did this!!”

Sesenia, who was sitting at the table drinking tea, tilted her head and looked at her.

“Sister, what’s wrong? Why did you come running here so angry?”

“You did this, didn’t you!?”

“What are you talking about? Did something happen?”

“Look at you pretending not to know. You did it! You messed with my cotton!!”

At those words, Sesenia shrugged her shoulders with a truly clueless expression.

“Messed with it? I didn’t do anything? Did something happen? Ah, did it get moldy or something?”

“See? You did do it. That’s why you know!!”

Sesenia clicked her tongue as she watched Elzer, who was shouting so loudly that her ears hurt.

“That’s not why I know. It’s within the realm of what anyone who knows a little about Hepria cotton could expect.”

“What?”

“You’re really foolish. That’s why simply copying me is useless. You should have at least known what it was. You foolishly focused only on buying it up, just copying what I did, and this is the result.”

Elzer’s face flushed red. From the day she heard that Elzer had bought Hepria cotton, no, from the day she knew that Elzer had returned in time like her and was trying to make what Sesenia had done in the past her own, Sesenia had already expected it.

She knew that something like this would happen. That she would be too busy copying her to properly investigate.

That she would definitely focus on buying it up. The Elzer she had seen had always been like that. She had a good reputation because the people around her helped her, but in reality, she was a fool. It was the same now.

‘As expected, she neglected it.’

Hepria cotton was a little special. The work that Teddy did, beating the cotton from time to time, was necessary to create space between the cotton fibers and prevent mold from growing. If it wasn’t kept in a warm place or properly cared for, it would eventually become unusable.

Even after mold had taken over, it would absorb a lot of moisture, making it heavy and truly difficult to dispose of.

And everything was as Sesenia had predicted.

Lizbeth, who was standing behind Elzer, smiled slightly with a somewhat gleeful expression.

On that day when Lizbeth was particularly worried about Sesenia, she had told Lizbeth this fact. That if it was Elzer, if it was Elzer who was only busy copying what she did, she wouldn’t be able to properly care for the cotton and it would get moldy. So, there was nothing to worry about.

“Oh dear. You won’t be able to use it. It won’t have any commercial value. That’s too bad.”

“You should have told me!!”

“Why would I? I thought you knew all that since you were copying everything I did. Who knew you would only copy what you could see?”

“Hey!”

“Why? You should have been moderate. You were acting like you were going to win everything. What should I do? You must have lost a lot of money.”

Sesenia picked up the teacup next to her and drank the tea, making exaggerated slurping sounds. Watching her, Elzer trembled. Drinking tea while making noise was a sign of disrespect, a complete violation of etiquette.

But Elzer wasn’t in a situation to point that out.

“You really… really…!”

“It’s going to be hard to fix. You were going to take over the Marquisate, but how can you do that like this? The family is already declining. What are you going to do with such a big loss?”

“…….”

“Did you buy some firewood? If the cotton is ruined, you should have at least bought firewood.”

“Th-that’s…….”

“Why? Did you hear that I bought firewood and deliberately try to release the cotton first to show off, so you didn’t buy firewood or something?”

Her complexion turned white again. How could Elzer move exactly within Sesenia’s expectations?

‘She’s foolish and amusing.’

Last time, after learning that Elzer had returned in time, Sesenia had visited the Marquis. She asked for more support. And then she bought additional firewood. While doing so, she asked the Marquis to be sure to tell Elzer that she had bought firewood.

Then Elzer would use her brain in her own way. The longer she held onto the Hepria cotton, the higher the price of firewood would rise. Conversely, if she released the cotton early, the price of firewood would fall.

[Sesenia, who bought a large amount of firewood like in the past, will hold onto the cotton. Then the profits from the firewood will rise, and Sesenia’s cotton will also rise several times over.]

Having established this assumption, Elzer decided to do things differently from the past.

If she released the cotton at a reasonable price quickly, the price of the firewood that Sesenia had bought by asking her father would fall sharply below the original price.

The price of firewood is highest before winter comes. So, she would release the cotton quickly to dominate the market before Sesenia, and lower the price of firewood to increase Sesenia’s losses.

Knowing that, Sesenia had told her father to be sure to mention the fact that she had bought firewood. Because she was sure that she would use that obvious trick.

And as expected, she moved as Sesenia had predicted.

“……How…… How could you do this?!”

“That’s why you have to use your brain. Not just copy what others do. You didn’t use your brain and only thought about copying what others did, and only thought about ruining me somehow, so you ruined yourself like this.”

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