Chapter 96
Chapter 96. The Rose's Invitation (3)
The West Wing, built separately from the main house, was a space originally prepared to receive distinguished guests.
Its scale was proportionally vast, befitting a mansion that rivalled a fortress.
Penelope had never once seen the West Wing's guest rooms fill to capacity, not even during family gatherings or grand banquets.
What she had once thought of as nothing but waste and extravagance now felt like a great stroke of fortune.
After seeing Jurgen to his room.
Penelope strode briskly to one of the empty guest rooms, flung the door open, and made straight for the washbasin, burying her face in it.
"Uggh...... uuuuugh......"
Her gums near the molars ached.
The sensation of something pressing down on her solar plexus was agonising.
She wanted to heave her insides out.
If that would make this suffocating tightness go away, she would.
"Haa...... haa......"
But even through the miserable dry retching, all that came was slippery saliva and bitter acid.
Come to think of it, there was nothing to bring up.
She hadn't eaten a single meal since the night before.
"......Wretched old fossil......"
Since leaving the family and building Y&P Trading Company together with Jurgen, Penelope's life had changed.
She had made changes through effort, and each tomorrow was better than the day before.
And so she had forgotten.
The open contempt that had settled over the entire household like a thin oil slick that suffocates fish.
"Pffhh......"
Penelope steadied herself with a splash of cold water on her face, looked in the mirror, and murmured.
"Don't be weak. Penelope."
Of all people, she had shown her pathetic side in front of Jurgen, the very person she least wanted to see it......
There was no need to waver.
She had simply forgotten — it wasn't as though she were experiencing this for the first time.
More than anything......
Penelope now knew.
She had merely been fortunate enough to be born into the Rosemore Count Family.
Look at Serena, who had strained every nerve trying to obtain a Viscountcy.
Look at Brigitte, who had even taken out a Loan Shark debt just to enter the competition, despite possessing skill that surpassed Jurgen's.
This humiliation and contempt was Penelope's Original Sin.
A fitting punishment bestowed upon someone who had been born clutching the luck that all others envied, yet had failed to shine due to her own shortcomings.
But from here on, everything would be different.
This visit to the main house had come about through her sister's invitation.
Looking at objective indicators alone, Y&P Trading Company's success spanning Cola and the Royal Warrant had proven the worth of a flower once called useless.
Very soon, Penelope would transform into someone Y&P Trading Company could not do without.
Without fail.
***
After Penelope left, Jurgen sat alone in his guest room, lost in thought.
"......"
Having spent long years alongside Penelope by now, he had believed he understood her circumstances.
Things like — not having received the family's recognition, being treated coldly in Social Circles because of it, living separately at the hotel for over a year now because the main house was too uncomfortable — these were things he had heard from her own lips.
Penelope had always spoken of these things as though they were nothing, and Jurgen had not pressed deeper for her sake.
But the encounter with Hector Rosemore a short while ago had exceeded Jurgen's expectations in a number of ways.
He hadn't thought it would be this bad.
That wounds of this magnitude had been hidden behind all the bravado Penelope had put up until now.
Before Hector, who had poured out contempt amounting to emotional abuse, Penelope had bitten her lip with an expression of wretchedness he had never once seen from her.
For someone with her fierce pride, it was likely not simply the treatment itself that had wounded her, but the fact that Jurgen had witnessed that scene.
Something churned inside him.
Penelope was a colleague.
A young lady who sulked easily over small things, whose nose was so high in the air she could be intolerably arrogant, who loved to assert her authority in front of others.
And yet she was warmhearted, capable of giving up her own interests for others at times, and above all — a colleague who had built the Culinary Revolution from the ground up alongside him.
Hector had humiliated Jurgen's colleague to her face.
The urge to overturn everything rose in him, again and again.
In the old days, he would have already done exactly that.
But the time he had spent in this world had been more than enough to turn his half-formed recklessness into something resembling judgement.
"It isn't something I can interfere with......"
Not because he had to conceal his identity.
This was a family matter.
Neither Minister of Internal Affairs Hanbin, whom Penelope respected, nor co-representative Jurgen could answer on her behalf.
The blind desire to prove herself to her family, and the attachment to that family.
And the path forward that would have to encompass both.
These were things only Penelope Rosemore herself could tie off.
If the reason Clarisse had summoned Penelope was because she recognised her efforts, then the matter would not be so complicated.
According to Penelope, Clarisse was currently the second in command of the family.
Her recognition would amount to the family's recognition.
And the relationship that had grown distant due to Penelope's poor track record would be restored as well.
But......
Jurgen looked out the window.
The vast plains spreading beyond the manor windows were ablaze in the last light of the setting sun.
Dinner time had passed.
The butler, who had said he would show them in as soon as Clarisse arrived, had not been heard from.
9 o'clock.
10 o'clock.
11 o'clock.
Even at midnight, no dinner invitation came.
He had taken an expensive-looking bottle from the shelf, settled into an expensive-looking couch sofa, and was pouring a rare solo drink for himself after some time, when the guest room door slid open with a quiet shhhk.
"Penelope? Is that you?"
Jurgen immediately corrected himself.
Not Penelope.
Female, similar in weight — but the rhythm was subtly different.
Like a white tropical fish gliding through moonlight, a young woman revealed herself.
Long platinum-blonde hair swept up and rolled into a classical Chignon above the nape of her neck.
An unruffled dignity that held even beneath a feather-light night gown worn over a white slip.
"It seems Penelope comes and goes from your room even at this hour."
Red eyes that mirrored Penelope's fixed a sharp gaze on Jurgen.
Jurgen sensed two things at once.
This young woman was Clarisse Rosemore.
And her invitation had likely been arranged for this very moment.
***
The two sat facing each other at the table placed in the centre of the guest room.
A red wine was set before Clarisse; a high-proof whiskey before Jurgen.
"Jurgen of Y&P Trading Company."
"Clarisse Rosemore."
So completely was any trace of the faint displeasure felt in her first words now absent that it seemed as though it had been an illusion — Clarisse introduced herself in a tone stripped of all outward emotion.
Jurgen too had heard plenty about her.
Not from Penelope.
During his time with the royal household, word of the prodigy born of the Rosemore Count Family had reached him more than once.
It made sense.
The heavens had been unfair, and had given Clarisse everything.
She had risen to 6th Rank Alchemist at the mere age of 14.
Before she had even undergone her coming-of-age ceremony, she had taken hold of the family's real power and, supporting her elder brother the Heir, had led Rosemore into its Golden Age once more.
Ability, authority, and wealth — all backed by the bloodline to support it — how many among the royal household's high officials and great nobles would think lightly of her?
"......"
"......"
The two remained silent, sizing each other up, each taking small sips from their respective glasses.
Jurgen's impression of Clarisse was......
'Beyond the rumours.'
Hair loosely pinned up, a simple manner of dress as though she were on the verge of retiring for the night.
And yet — the sense of pressure she exuded.
Clarisse was already a formidable player, and at the same time she knew how to amplify her own presence.
Small movements of the hand, the position of her gaze, the timing with which she raised her glass and wet her lips.
Each movement was a calculated action, designed to press down upon and dominate the other person.
This was what happened when one born to reign over others wielded that degree of craft.
Even knowing the movements were trained, one's mind would go ahead and conjure the illusion on its own.
"So it was you. The one egging my younger sister on to make a nuisance of herself."
It was Clarisse who spoke first.
"I found it strange. That a child who couldn't even tie her own shoelaces properly was pulling off one business success after another."
"You underestimate your younger sister. And you're cold-hearted on top of it."
Clarisse countered with a question.
"Cold-hearted?"
"She'll be waiting, even now, for her sister to call for her. Knowing that, and leaving her to it — that is cold-hearted."
"However I choose to treat my younger sister is a matter for Rosemore. An outsider putting their mouth to family affairs is...... quite an impertinent thing to do, wouldn't you say?"
"I have no intention of weighing in on that. Everyone has hardships that come with their position."
"That's right. I'm not idle enough to waste time trading words with you."
After pausing for a moment, Clarisse threw out her proposition in a matter-of-fact tone.
"I'll be brief. Sell me your stake in Y&P Trading Company. I'll estimate its potential value and give you five times that."
"......"
Jurgen sighed inwardly.
The instinct he had felt the moment Clarisse walked in was growing clearer by the second.
Penelope had been wrong.
No matter how he looked at it, Clarisse did not appear to be 'an elder sister who reluctantly turned away from her lacking younger sister in order to protect the family.'
If anything, she was far closer to 'a cold-blooded woman who would cut down even her own kin for the sake of the family.'
"It doesn't matter to me where you came from. Whether you're playing games with Penelope, whether you're sharing her bed...... that doesn't concern me either. But if you think you can sweet-talk my foolish younger sister into leeching off Rosemore, let me say it now. Give it up."
It was a misapprehension of the same flavour as Belheim's.
The misapprehension that he was trying to exploit Penelope — a Direct Line member — to bleed Rosemore dry.
"That is not my intention. Nor is that the nature of our relationship."
Without a word in reply, Clarisse tossed down a photograph.
A beautiful woman, rendered through black and white film, was seated demurely.
"This is my cousin, Elinor Rosemore."
"And what of it?"
"She is a girl raised to become the bride of a distinguished family. Pure, obedient, and above all, beautiful. Hand over the stake, and I'll advance a marriage arrangement."
"That's rather a great deal to offer in exchange for a stake."
"I hold your abilities in high regard. If you can be put to use, there's no need to leave you as an enemy."
It was a startling proposition.
Was this not an offer to enter the Rosemore branch family — extended to a commoner of uncertain origins?
For someone who had approached using Penelope, as Clarisse had assumed, this would be an irresistible temptation.
A choice far safer than gambling on a dangerous wager, with far more certain returns.
And for that very reason, it was plainly unnatural.
Y&P Trading Company's growth trajectory was steep.
But even so, it was not yet of a scale that would send Rosemore into a frenzy of desire.
On top of that, she was playing the 'marriage' card not even for a full acquisition — only for half the stake.
"......"
Jurgen closed his eyes.
Previously, Isolde — who had cleansed Penelope's Magic Circuits — had told him.
Penelope's Magic Circuits had been clogged with an unnatural residue, and while it was not certain, someone may have deliberately interfered with Penelope's circuits.
Because it was an unconfirmed fact, he had not passed it on to Penelope.
But Clarisse's proposition just now had made it certain.
Penelope's string of failures had not stemmed purely from her own shortcomings.
The sister she wished to reconcile with was the one who desired Penelope's ruin more than anyone.
In that case — should Jurgen hand over his stake and become a son-in-law of the Rosemore branch family, what would follow was as clear as day.
Clarisse would not operate Y&P Trading Company faithfully.
She would use the stake split exactly in half to exercise veto rights on every matter.
Once management fell into deadlock, Y&P Trading Company's growth would end there.
Penelope, who had nothing outside of Y&P, would once again become a useless flower.
A bird that had been about to take flight, wings broken, cast back into a cage.
Jurgen opened his eyes.
His cool gaze gleamed with a cold, sharp light.
"......Why go this far?"
He could not understand it.
He had never been able to understand it.
The pinnacle of cultivated bearing, power, and the desire that drove one toward it.
The history of a family, the pretext of striving for an even greater family, and the sacrifices accumulating beneath it all.
The motive for attempting to strangle one's own flesh and blood with such composure, and the logic used to justify it.
From beginning to end, he could not understand it.
And so he wanted to ask.
"You already have so much. Y&P Trading Company is less than dust compared to Rosemore. You know that Penelope has no intention of getting involved in the succession — so why go out of your way to torment her like this?"
At that question, Clarisse's eyes widened as though caught off guard.
And then she raised a hand to her lips as though watching a jester's performance and let out a refined, musical laugh.
After laughing for some time, Clarisse rose from her seat as though her business here was concluded, and said:
"There's been a misunderstanding. I'm not tormenting her. I'm managing risk."
"Risk?"
"Penelope is a Direct Line member, regardless of anything else. There's always the possibility that she could, at any time, align herself with a third faction and insert herself into the succession struggle. She is a detonator that could trigger the family's division."
A pale hand drew close and caressed Jurgen's cheek.
"I thought you were that kind of third party too, but...... you're unexpectedly a good match. A powerless noble young lady and a commoner blinded by love."
The faint rose fragrance drifting from somewhere near her wrist was so similar to Penelope's that it made the whole thing feel all the worse.
"Let's pretend my earlier proposition never happened. Do continue to take good care of my foolish younger sister."
As though every purpose that had brought her here had been fulfilled, Clarisse left with a satisfied smile.