I Became the Master of the Villain - Chapter 17

The door of the old warehouse opened with a harsh sound, irritating to angry and defensive ears. The first thing I spotted was workers armed with tools.

Then I saw Uncle James, tied up with a rope.

His clothes were dirty, and his hair was messy, but it looked like he wasn’t hit or injured.

It seems that the workers treated my uncle quite gentlemanly.

“Olivia! Save me right now!”

Especially, seeing that he had enough energy left to shout like that only confirmed my suspicion that he was treated better than he deserved.

I ignored my uncle’s cry of SOS and spoke to the workers at the Ashford factory.

“I’m Olivia Ashford. I’m here to negotiate with you all……… Who should I talk to?”

The sunshine-kissed looking woman came forward.

Did she look to be around 20 years old?

She introduced herself.

“I’m Anna Walker, the labor representative. Why don’t you talk to me?”

I almost gasped. Is she really, Anna?

I calmed down my astonishment and watched her face.

Firm-looking black eyes looked back at me. She also had ebony hair. A steady expression that seems unlikely to succumb easily to any hardships.

She had the same face that described the female lead I had read about in the novel. She was the only woman Kian loved in the original timeline.

Anna Walker.

And here she was, materialized right before my very eyes.

***

The negotiations began, and Anna and I sat face to face with a simple table between us.

Anna spoke calmly and unobstructedly, with no sign of trepidation.

Listening to her, I gathered that the workers wanted three main things:

Wage increases, shorter working hours, and a ban on exploitation of child labor.

I thought the request was reasonable, but my uncle disagreed.

“Olivia! Never listen to them!”

He went on a rampage, declaring he would never compromise and negotiate with them even if the world collapsed.

Then, the two individuals, who were guarding my uncle, looked at Anna. It was like a group of people asking their boss, ‘What should I do?’

Reluctantly, Anna rose from her seat as if she had no choice.

“He seems to have misunderstood the situation he is in.”

Perhaps due to sympathy, my uncle seemed to have forgotten that he was held hostage for a moment.

As Anna approached him, my uncle was terrified and stepped back.

“Sir James. If you accept our request, we will stop the strike and return to the factory. But in the opposite case—”

she picked up the hammer handed over from one of the workers

and said, threatening my uncle with a slap on the head.

“Don’t think you can get out of here safely.”

She looked as if she would easily smash Jame’s head like an egg.

“Oh, Olivia··… let me get rid of this right now! Come on!”

Even I, who saw it, got some goosebumps, but could Uncle James, the person concerned, be so foolish?

He was almost on the verge of fainting.

I could understand with an open heart why he had a good reason if he fell down –KOed.

By the way… Anna Walker.

Indeed, she was a worthy woman to fall in love with; Kian had good taste (TN that’s what I’m saying *swoon* what a revolutionary *_*)

Even in the original timeline, she was fearless, with a brave and righteous disposition.

So, you risked your life to save Kian.

After thinking about the novel’s contents for a while, I decided to pull myself out of my rumination and focus on the problems in front of me—in reality again.

With Anna’s gruesome threats of bloodlust, the workers were all looking nervously about how the situation would turn out.

Because if I did not accept their offer, the predicament was likely to turn catastrophic. But, from the start, I didn’t come here to fight with them.

I opened my mouth immediately:

“Okay, I’ll agree with all your requests.”

At that remark, the tense air, like a tightly pulled rubberband, softened.

A sigh of relief came from here and there.

I handed the document to Anna, who has returned to the negotiating table.

Her eyes widened as she read the document. She asked in disbelief:

“Are you sure you want to agree on this condition?”

I nodded.

It was an agreement I had drawn up in advance before I left for Lancaster, and of course, the Duke’s seal was stamped on it in advance.

I said, pointing to the blanks at the bottom.

“All I need is your signature, Ms. Anna.”

Wages are doubled, and working hours are cut in half.

There was no reason to complain about the conditions and the forms that were gathered here.

Except for one man, Uncle James was dissatisfied.

“Who’s willing to do that!”

***

He went wild, ready to overturn the negotiating table if he hadn’t been tied to a rope.

“I have the management rights of the spinning plant. You don’t have the authority to interfere in factory management! This agreement is all void!”

Anna looked at me, wondering if that was true. But I smiled instead of answering. Because I was sure my uncle didn’t know the essential facts.

“According to Article 9 of the company’s regulations, if the representative director who is the approving authority is vacant or absent, the head of the family shall have the right to approve.”

“…W-what?”

Uncle James asked back in a daze.

The uncle looked like he had no idea there was such a rule.

I explained in a friendly tone. “When you have a problem, it means I have the right to approve.”

James, the head director of Ashford’s spinning plant, is Uncle. But what if he’s out of the office for a long time due to circumstances?

According to regulations, a person in a position higher than Uncle James has the right to approve. And that’s me, Olivia Ashford, the Duchess.

Only then did the uncle’s expression, which understood the situation, quickly turn muddy.

Instead of blaming his carelessness for not reading the manual carefully at ordinary times, he turned an arrow of anger at me.

He gritted his teeth and said,

Olivia… If you make your own agreement unilaterally—that’s it—I won’t abide by it! When I get out of here—you just watch!”

“Indeed, it’s good to get out of here. But don’t they have to release Uncle first?”

As I pointed out, there were a lot of workers with tools.

Anna was swinging a hammer before I knew it.

“If you want to stay here longer with us, I won’t stop you,”

Anna grinned.

“You know, we’re very poor–destitute really, so we only get one meal a day. Oh, of course, you can’t take a bath because the water is dirty. And be careful not to get bitten here because it’s full of rats.”

Uncle James’s eyes shook like an earthquake.

He was born with a golden spoon and has enjoyed all kinds of comforts and luxurious things.

That’s who he was, so he wouldn’t want to be here and inconvenience for another minute. I decided to shake my uncle a little more.

“Dear Uncle, do you know what the public is saying now? It is said that the Duke of Ashford is an evil family that exploits the poor. That’s why even the family members are unhappy with you. At this rate, the returning board will surely challenge your uncle’s style.”

It was not even an exaggeration but a fact. The Ducal house of Ashford is a family that has been giving back to society for many generations. And many members of the family have taken pride in that fact.

However, due to several strikes, Uncle James has tarnished the family’s reputation.

“…..What do you want me to do?”

“Stop being stubborn and give in this once.”

I brought the agreement and handed it over to my uncle.

When I let the rope loose, he glanced at the paper with a look of disapproval.

When I saw him at the hotel’s opening celebration, he was an uncle who was full of grudges and disgruntled.

But he had a face that had aged rapidly in the last few days. His hand shook with the quill pen.

After agonizing over whether to sign or not, he sighed tiredly and reluctantly moved the pen.

As soon as he finished writing, one of the people watching shouted.

“A deal has been reached!”

The factory workers put down their tools and cheered with full elation.

A dramatic labor-management agreement was reached a day after the strike. There were some rather harsh threats and a loud voice yelling against any deal in the process.

Thinking all’s well that ends well, I asked Anna for a handshake.

She held my hand tight, facing each other, and we laughed heartily.

***

“Thank you, Princess.”

This is the second time Anna thanked me.

After all, the factory workers withdrew, and Uncle James was released safely; Anna saw me off waiting for a train to the capital at Lancaster Station.

Just one thank-you is enough. She must have thought she owed me a lot for this.

“What have I done? It’s all thanks to Anna’s brave fight.”

“I-I’m flattered.”

Anna blushed as if she was not used to compliments.

It was so different from the way she wielded a deadly hammer that I laughed for some reason.

When our eyes met, she smiled genuinely.

As the main character’s first love, I couldn’t help but be relieved that she was alive.

She was also a beauty.

I knew how Anna died in the original.

Thank you for all the support you give Zinnovel —yes, I’m talking about you, thank you for reading 🙂 <3