The Elder Sister Who Ran Away After Being Cheated by Her Fiancé and Younger Sister - Chapter 17

“Why don’t you think about it more?”

Estelle muttered vaguely while eating.

If it’s something that can be procured anywhere, there’s no way to compete with other merchant houses that have been handling it for years.

Even though contracts are periodically renewed, it’s not something that would cause trouble if replaced.

Moreover, for special items with no alternatives, contracts are sometimes renewed with the same merchant house.

For example, with potions and other life-related items, people want to maintain consistent quality and usability. They conduct thorough audits and maintain long-term transactions with the same merchant house. Of course, they also search for alternative houses in parallel.

So, if you’re going to do business anyway, items unique to the frontier offer better business opportunities.

“I see. For example?”

Fretes asked with interest.

True to being a Hollanders, he also enjoys business talk. His eyes were shining.

For example, Estelle thought.

There’s a good seasoning made from grass seeds harvested in the frontier.

She had been eyeing that for some time.

Just a small amount completely transforms the flavor.

In the frontier, children and elderly people gather them, and the women of each household make it. Each family has its own traditional production method, resulting in different tastes.

While that becomes each family’s signature flavor, if standardized with a common production method and sold in other regions, she thought it would sell reasonably well.

When Estelle went to other regions and it wasn’t available, she found the food lacking.

Upon investigation, she found the grass grows everywhere, but areas where it grows in clusters and can be harvested year-round seem limited to the frontier around Estelle’s hometown.

That would be light, not bulky, and easy to transport.

And the unit price is high.

While the quantity is small so it wouldn’t generate huge profits, in military settings where meals tend to become monotonous, being able to change the flavor with just a small amount might be quite valuable.

If people are satisfied with their food, they can endure most things.

Thinking that far, she glanced sideways at the excited Fretes and laughed inwardly, thinking she wouldn’t fall for his tricks.

“No way. I won’t tell a Hollanders merchant.”

“Oh my, that’s disappointing. Wait, I’m a soldier!”

“I know that ‘Hollanders’ is read as ‘merchant’ among the Hanzelka people.”

They laughed at the banter, making for an enjoyable lunch.

It felt like the poison Patrick had rubbed off on her was gradually dissolving.

◇

After that, things were peaceful for a while.

But one weekend night, a visitor came to Estelle at her dormitory.

It was her mother.

She was shocked.

She could avoid meeting her. She could have the dorm supervisor say she “wasn’t in.”

But if her mother decided to stake out the dormitory entrance, she’d be found out anyway.

She didn’t know what her mother wanted, but if there was a problem, postponing it wouldn’t help.

Though reluctant, Estelle decided to meet her.

She arranged to borrow a small guest room in the dormitory.

She didn’t want to let her into her own room for some reason.

It had been a long time since she’d seen her mother Teresa’s face. Since leaving home eight years? Nine years? She didn’t know if that was long or short. Would she have changed? What if she looked much older than in her memories?

Holding such tension and a bit of fear in her heart, she opened the door to the room, but the Teresa inside had grown to about twice the size of her memory.

Horizontally.

Huh?

Estelle froze in the doorway.

Who are you?!

“Estelle! My, my, my, you’ve become so beautiful!”

Her saggy throat was quivering.

Her skin complexion was good, which only made it more confusing—who are you??!

“Eh…”

So shocked she couldn’t recover, Estelle stood stiffly, but eventually sat down.

Calm down, me. Always stay calm. Observe the other person carefully.

Really, who is this…?

“M-Mom? …Wow, you look well.”

“How could I be well! Mom has been suffering constantly, it’s been hell ever since I married into that family! And that mother-in-law of mine! She’s so infuriating! On top of that, she just keeps living forever. And Simon, oh Simon, he never stands up for me and just does whatever his mother says, and on top of that he’s got a mistress outside! How much do they have to make me suffer before they’re satisfied! Estelle, have you met that woman’s son? He’s got a terrible personality, a nasty guy, right? He takes after his mother. That woman is shameless, vulgar, and doesn’t know her place.”

Estelle felt dizzy from her mother Teresa’s complaints that came like rapid-fire shots, but she let her talk until she was satisfied.

She should have brought some coffee.

Just as Estelle was regretting this, the elderly dorm supervisor quietly entered and placed cups of coffee before Estelle and her mother. Surprised, Estelle looked up and he nodded with a gentle gaze. Estelle expressed her thanks and gratitude. Meanwhile, Teresa kept talking nonstop.

She gulped down the coffee as if it were natural, moistened her throat, and started talking again.

Incredible stamina.

Or rather, she hadn’t known her mother was this talkative.

Still.

…I wonder if our family line is prone to weight gain.

Thanks to daily training, Estelle had no room for excess fat, but she thought she’d better not let her guard down.

Thinking about unrelated matters, she sorted through the information from her mother’s complaints.

From nearly two hours of nonstop complaining, the only information directed at Estelle was:

“Come home.”

That was it.

Request denied.

The rest was about the current state of the Heinny family, which was quite concerning.

Apparently, sometime after Clara married Theo, her father’s mistress and that half-brother Patrick had forced their way into the mansion.

While she’d accepted that Patrick would inherit the merchant house, she hadn’t heard about them living together. And the mistress was absolutely unacceptable. Her mother had resisted, but the woman brazenly settled in, and when they tried to throw her out she’d scream her head off about all sorts of made-up things, so they had no choice but to silently allow her to live there.

Patrick apparently acted the same way at home, and in a remarkably short time managed to make everyone in the Heinny family and Heinny Merchant House dislike him, leaving him isolated.

Even so, he was the only successor available. Her father was caught between the employees and Patrick.

When he returned home, the mistress and Teresa would engage in spiteful arguments, leaving him no peace.

When he sought comfort from dear Clara, she had already married Petrak.

After several years of this, her father became completely exhausted, and during that time Patrick began running the Heinny Merchant House as if he owned it, and things started going wrong.

When concerned employees voiced their worries, her father decided to wait and see, postponing the problem, until eventually employees who had given up on Heinny quit.

Patrick filled those vacancies with his own loyalists, but they weren’t very capable.

Even though her father and veteran employees did their best to compensate and help, the gears kept slipping out of place.

“I never should have made a mistress’s child the successor!”

It was too late for such complaints.

If only back then someone had told Estelle that Heinny would be passed to her.

Perhaps that alone would have given her the strength to persevere.

The wound in her heart that she thought had healed began to ache dully again.