Chapter 298: (Gossip) Pumilla’s Fiancé and His Store 7

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Pumilla speaking.

Several days have passed since that incident. Another letter has arrived.

Thanks and bye. Into the garbage can with you.

I think it’s a waste of paper, but since I don’t possess any kindness in me that I’d like to pass on to that guy, I’ll ignore him. I don’t want to look at the letter either. And that’s coming from me whose job it is to deal with correspondence.

However, it looks like the employees spotted Tommy frequently hanging around in front of the store and my home. And certainly, my home’s front door faces the store’s road, but I rarely ever use it. Usually I go back home through the exclusive hallway connecting our home with the back of the store. The same applies to our employees and their dormitory, too.

The housekeepers are all live-ins, entering and leaving my home through the back entrance.

As such, they might have been able to spot him from inside the store, but since I don’t go out on the main street, it’s got nothing to do with me.

＊

However…it looks like Baroque got in touch with my brother. I was told that he’d be coming back home soon, although he had left only a little while ago.

Personally, I think it’d be fine to just ignore him altogether, but…we might as well take a strong measure and throw him into jail for all I care.

Oops, not good. My stress at work is getting the better of me.

＊

Even so, his wife apparently got paralyzed by Ryoku and arrested by the guards. I wonder whether she’s okay? It’s a bit of a surprise for them to be back here since those who got arrested were never allowed to enter a second time, I think.

Still, as might be expected of shameless people; they cannot be measured by normal standards.

…When I told all of that to Baroque, she explained in a businesslike manner, “The woman, who was the one who got arrested, hasn’t shown up. It’s just the man.”

……Eh? What happened to his wife? Tommy was quite impudent as well, but I felt like his wife was even worse.

Seeing me pull a puzzled look, Baroque ridiculed them, “Didn’t he dump her? They played a good couple in front of you, but when I saw them in front of our store first, they were arguing quite a bit. Of course I hadn’t dreamed of that quarreling couple to be the rumored, heinous pair. However, as soon as they stood before you, they brazenly pretended to be on good terms. Heh, bad losers always act tough, I guess.”

Oof, Baroque’s resentment seems to run even deeper than mine.

“…Well, it’s an irrelevant story of strangers as far as I’m concerned… If they escalate things even further, won’t the husband get arrested as well? Shouldn’t we just leave him alone without paying him any undue attention?”

Baroque blinked her eyes in surprise.

“……You’re right. But, since it goes against the contract, I contacted Benjamin. After all, it’s a breach of trust and a violation of the agreement.”

“Now that you mention it, that makes sense,” I nodded at Baroque’s explanation.

But…seeing how they’ve already suffered damages to the extent that they’d be begging to cancel the agreement, is it actually possible for him to do anything of significance?

＊

My brother came back home.

――Oh my, Lady Indra and Sir Sword are with him.

Lady Indra looks very happy, my brother is expressionless and angry, and Sir Sword keeps sighing. The contrast between all three is truly amazing.

For some reason, Lady Indra is quite excited.

“I turned the grove over there into a vacant land! Let’s have our talk there! I mean, the store might get dirty, if we were to talk inside!”

“Why would it get dirty? Ah, wait. No need to tell me. I don’t wanna hear it ‘nyway.” Sir Sword blocked his ears.

………Err, I’m kind of worried.

I exchanged a look with Baroque and then decided to follow my brother. Noticing me, he turned around.

“Pumilla, it’s fine for you to stay inside.”

“No, this is something that concerns me as well. I think it’d be better for me to be present and clearly state my opinion if it develops into some sort of argument, don’t you think?”

“……Well, you got a point,” my brother nodded unwillingly, left through the store’s front door, and headed to Tommy.

Tommy got startled and flinched away, but spotting me, he broke into a grin as if feeling relieved.

What’s with that grin? I don’t remember having ever seen you ever grin at me like that.

＊

My brother apparently got pissed off even further by Tommy’s behavior. And because Tommy had been my brother’s friend for a long time, he apparently understood the reason for his anger right away. In response, he changed his expression into an awkward one as he looked at my brother.

However, he pulled himself together and spoke up, “…Benjamin, I’m happy to see you. We need to talk. Could I enter the store?”

As might be expected, even my brother probably hadn’t anticipated those words from him, seeing how he froze on the spot. Even Sir Sword opened his mouth, staring at Tommy while dumbfounded.

On the other hand, Lady Indra was an outlier as always.

“The store is out of the question. It’d be bad if it becomes dirty. If the store, which I built while pouring my soul into it, were sullied by the likes of you, I’d lose my temper and erase you from existence altogether!”

That was an incredible response. This time it was Tommy’s turn to freeze.

And, as might be expected of the hero, he used an eagle grip on Lady Indra’s face to silence her while saying, “Indra, how about you stay quiet for a while as an outsider?”

“…..Follow me to the open land over there,” my brother told Tommy with a voice of suppressed rage, and turned around.

＊

Just as Lady Indra said, there was an open patch of soil in a place where there should have been a small forest before.

On the way there, Tommy tried to approach and address me familiarly, but Baroque wedged herself between Tommy and I, glared at him

Furthermore, Indra bluntly questioned him, “Hmm? You’re the guy who tossed Pumilla aside to marry another woman, aren’t you? Why are you now acting so familiar with her? Besides, what happened to the woman you married? You’re surely not going to spout some low-life crap about you dumping that woman to switch back to Damsel Pumilla now, are you? Are you such scum? Really? Should I torture you?”

…What’s with those last words of hers? Tommy apparently wondered the same, and thus continued to walk in silence at last.

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