Don’t Ask For Mercy From The Villainess

Chapter 8. Isanna Feilock

Isanna stared at the man who gave her a defiant look while blocking Jessica’s face.  She has felt it before, but the situation was unusual. She heard that he was an apprentice, but the man’s fervour was not that of an apprentice. Isanna looked at him with a calm gaze.

Obviously, it was offensive to her that there was something she didn’t know as the owner of an information guild. If there were one or two gaps in places like this, the group would eventually be in disarray.

“That’s the rule of the general store. Even those with great power would always come here alone.”

At her words, the people around them looked at Jessica’s companion. It was natural that the attention was focused on Isanna’s words as she raised her voice on purpose.

‘She meant to do that again.’

As expected, she wasn’t an easy person. It was a strategy to suppress Jessica’s intention who came here to make a deal. It was a pretty clever trick, but it didn’t work on Jessica.

Because she already experienced this situation once. So did Isanna in the past. When she came here, she also did the same thing and lost to Jessica.

“You wouldn’t be able to say that if you knew what I had.”

Isanna’s eyes turned at Jessica’s words, which came out like a sigh. It was time for Isanna to reply to the noble young lady’s words who intervened out of nowhere.

“I know where the White sSpinel is.”

“A jewel in the mine…”

“You do know that’s not what I’m talking about?”

If she kept talking nonsense, she would show the attitude that she was going to leave. Jessica folded her fan without any hesitation and turned her body around.

“Wait!”

Jessica stopped walking at Isanna’s urgent call when she had slowly walked away. She could tell that Isanna had a firm face and was clenching her teeth as she said to Jessica with a smile.

“I’d like to hear more about that.”

“Here?”

“I’ll show you around.”

Isanna immediately lowered her stance and walked ahead. They entered a separate room where only people with decent money could enter, even among those who visited the Vonzarto general store.

This was the scary thing about this general store. As long as the person had money, they would be treated well regardless of their status. That was the principle of the Moncharto General Store. It was a place where nobles who didn’t have money wouldn’t be entertained, and all of this was planned by Isanna, the head of the company, for the Moncharto General Store.

‘I would have been treated better if only I wasn’t a woman.’

If Isanna wasn’t a woman, she would never have been called a witch of a general store. If she wasn’t a woman, she would be working under other nobles, and would’ve been capable of building a lot more businesses.

Isanna was a capable woman as well as a wonderful person. There was only one reason why she was called a witch. It was because she was a woman.

Isanna plopped down on the couch made of velvet in front of her as she briefly looked at Jessica. Alter looked at Isanna with a cold stare at her cheeky behavior. She then gestured to Alter.

“Oh, don’t be uncomfortable and sit down. Sit down, please!”

Isanna said to Alter and Anna, abandoning her previous polite attitude. Anna, looking at her with a bewildered expression, clapped her hands as if she had just realized it.

“Are you perhaps…….”

“Yes, I’m that person, the owner of this general store.”

“No, what kind of owner would come out and take people…….”

“Because sometimes you have to be at the bottom to see things.”

Jessica raised the corners of her mouth to laugh at her voice which was full of mischief. She has always been a very interesting person. What kind of owner would claim to be a worker to get information? Such people were rare.

‘There was no one like that.’

Isanna was the first. Because of her, this ‘Moncharto General Store’ was able to develop to this extent, and this place was also possibly the best information dealer in the Ert Empire. A person who saw something different from others. Isanna Feilock.

“Where is the white spinel?”

Despite knowing that Jessica was a noble, Isanna still treated her disrespectfully. Because she originally had a mean personality, Jessica understood her insolent attitude. Because she was also a noble. A noble young lady, to be exact.

“Rude……”

When Alter opened his mouth to point out Isanna’s rudeness, Jessica slightly interrupted him with her hand which was holding the fan. Alter, who noticed her wish, soon shut his mouth as Jessica opened her red lips.

“More than that, I have something to obtain first.”

“I can’t say anything until you tell me about the White Spinel.”

“So do I. What I want to get isn’t just provided here, I can just go somewhere else to obtain it.”

The man who brought the tea to the special room glanced at her and tried to put it down, but Jessica picked up the fan again, preventing him from doing so. The man was studying her face for a moment before picking up the tea, then went outside when Isanna gestured at him with her chin.

“We will need time to talk about it in detail.”

It meant that she needed time to figure out whether the information she had was true or not. Jessica couldn’t hide her laughter when she heard that. She wouldn’t know where Jessica got the information, instead she would only be wasting her time.

She couldn’t say that she was a person who had seen the future ahead. So she wouldn’t be able to explain anything even though she knew the exact location of the person Isanna was looking for.

“Okay, I’ll give you a week.”

“What? Even if you underestimate us by being ungrateful, we don’t need that much of a time.”

Jessica laughed loudly at her when she suddenly said she didn’t need that much time, knowing that they wouldn’t find anything regarding the information. The clear laugh echoed through the special room, and Isanna didn’t hide her uncomfortable expression as she considered the laugh a mockery.

“How rude. You have a lot of confidence.”

Jessica bent her eyes as she opened her fan and covered her mouth.

“I said a week because I thought you would take a lot of time, so how long should I wait?”

“I don’t need much time! Two days is enough!”

Compared to when Jessica met Isanna in her past life. She was a little more emotional because she was still young. Originally, she wasn’t this emotional, but Jessica was composed even though she was younger and that made Isanna more impatient. Jessica was unexpectedly benefiting from this.

“That would be great.”

She tapped on the armrest of the sofa as she folded the fancy fan with a ‘tuck’ sound.

“I’ll give you two days. Come see me at the Marquis of Viterne in two days. I’ll tell the butler in advance.”

“The Marquis of Viterne family. A daughter from an excellent family.”

“Not yet, not to that extent.”

Jessica  got up from her seat and bowed her head in an elegant way. Isanna’s eyes widened at her attitude as if she were treating her an equal.

Because it was the first time for Isanna to see a noble lady bow her head toward her. She has met a wide variety of people ever since running the Information Guild, but she has never seen a person, or a noble who showed courtesy toward her.

“Please wait for any news from me.”

Jessica’s eyes bent like the moon at the honorific that slipped past Isanna’s lips. No one could see her face curved up like a light crescent moon. Also, no one even guided her when she turned around.

Isanna spoke up when she wasn’t seen anymore after watching Jessica’s back who was walking without guidance as if she had been here many times.

“What do you think?”

“I don’t believe it. We couldn’t find any trace of him even though we had been searching for him. But the young lady, who doesn’t come out of the Marquisate, knew about him. It’s nonsense.”

The man who took a step forward from behind Isanna said to her. It was Naern, a man who joined the Ert Empire along with her, founded the Moncharto General Store, and ran an Information Guild. Naern talked to Isanna again, his words were filled with worry.

“You can’t be fooled by a young lady’s words.”

“Of course I know that, but I don’t think it’s a lie.”

“…….”

“I’m sure she knows something. That young lady.”

She seemed to know a lot more than what she showed. The general store’s witch, Isanna, has decided to change her judgment on Jessica a little bit. From an immature and noble young lady to a lady who was a snake on the inside.

How can such a young lady have a calmer look than her who had been suffering hardships of the world? The eyes that resembled a shining sapphire were beautiful, however, the spite in them could never be described as such.

‘That girl is a witch.’

Nothing could be compared to her being a witch, but the same applied to Jessica, the girl she had seen earlier. A woman with the same eyes as Isanna. It stirred Isanna’s interest because that was the first time she saw a woman with the same eyes as her in the empire.

“It’s going to be fun.”

It’s been quite a while since she has seen the eyes that looked down at the world. Isanna recalled the eyes she had shown  her. The eyes that looked at the world arrogantly. The same light as Jessica’s.

They had the exact same shining eyes, but something within them was different. If Jessica’s eyes were a look of spite, hers was a hopeful one.

“It seems to be different but similar.”

“Pardon me?”

“No, there’s just something like that.”

Being called as the witch of the General Store, Isanna’s eyes sparkled as if she had found something interesting.

***

[T/N: Honestly I really like Jessica’s character development here lol]