“How hard have you worked for overseas expansion? Are you really okay with your company, which you’ve raised like a child, falling into someone else’s hands?”
“……”
“If we just get through this rough patch, we could rake in money from overseas. I find it too precious to let go—both this company and the youth you’ve poured into it with your blood, sweat, and tears.”
“But Miss, there truly is no other way.”
Schrödinger, in a state of devastation, rubbed his face with both hands as he spoke.
If there were any way to save it, he would sell his soul.
“Do you really have nothing left? You must have made a lot of money.”
Marie asked with a tearful expression, grasping at straws.
“I’ve used up all my cash and even sold my house trying to stop the bleeding. As for the rest, I invested in stocks……”
“What stocks?”
“Some theme stocks……”
“Theme stocks? What sector did you invest in?”
“I heard rumors that the government was going to build barriers at the borders to prevent illegal immigrants and refugees from entering.”
Marie couldn’t believe her ears.
‘Is it the kind of barrier I’m thinking of?’
It was exactly what she was thinking.
Rumors had spread about building a wall along the entire border, and not a few people, including Schrödinger, had bought related stocks.
“I bought shares in construction companies likely to be selected as contractors, companies that manufacture bricks or construction materials needed for the barrier work, bakery companies since the government would need to buy bread for workers to eat while working, and various others……”
Judging by his increasingly deflated voice and diminishing confidence, it seemed he hadn’t made any successful picks among them.
Marie closed her eyes tightly and grabbed the back of her neck.
It sounded absurd even just hearing about it.
“Seeing that there’s still no word from the government, it seems it was just a false rumor……”
Schrödinger bowed his head deeply as if he had committed a mortal sin.
“But wouldn’t there have been some companies whose stock prices rose among them? There must be many long-established companies among the construction firms.”
“It went out of business after a building recently collapsed due to shoddy construction.”
Marie had also seen that article in the newspaper.
It was a public library, and fortunately, there were no casualties as it happened before opening, but criticism poured in from across the country.
Libraries needed to be built more sturdily than other buildings because of the weight of books.
The officials and corporate executives in charge of this important construction had embezzled materials and budget through collusion between politics and business.
Thanks to the use of cheap materials, the building collapsed under the weight just two days after books were displayed on the shelves.
It was the ultimate fate of those who underestimated the weight of books.
“Of all the construction companies out there, you just had to pick that one….. What about the construction materials company?”
“The one I invested in was the company that supplied cheap materials at premium prices for that construction project.”
“What about the bakery company?”
“That place makes bread using imported wheat that’s cheaper, but this year locusts swarmed that region, causing wheat prices to skyrocket……”
She didn’t need to hear any more.
Schrödinger was apparently a king of destruction, ruining everything he touched.
Perhaps he had some kind of radar that only identified doomed companies and drew him to them like a moth to flame?
To be fair, Marie wasn’t one to talk.
‘When I look at other transmigrator characters, everything they touch turns to gold, so why don’t I have that transmigration buff?!’
Marie firmly resolved that if she ever met the author, she would grab them by the collar and flip them over like in a wrestling match.
“Is that all you invested in?”
Hans, who had been quietly listening, finally spoke up.
“Well, there is just one place left……”
“Where is it?”
Marie asked without much expectation on her face.
“I heard that seafood from across the ocean, including salted mackerel from the New Continent, would become popular, so I bought many shares in a shipping company that mainly operates routes to that area.”
Her previously indifferent expression brightened for the first time since arriving at the headquarters.
The New Continent had a country with low population density and good natural environment, called the ‘Earthly Paradise’ or ‘Clean Nation.’
After a newspaper column introduced agricultural and marine products from there, demand surged as health-conscious nobles showed interest.
Since the history of exchange between the Valdek Empire and the New Continent wasn’t very deep, no other company had maintained routes there as long as this shipping company.
Naturally, business flowed to them because of their navigational expertise.
“Those shares should have gone up a lot, right?”
“That’s why I was holding onto them until they rose more, but when I reluctantly decided to sell……”
Schrödinger placed the newspaper that Marie had seen at home earlier on the table, looking like a man who had lost his country.
She had been so focused on the embezzlement article about Schrödinger’s company that she hadn’t noticed another breaking news story above it.
“Captured by pirates?”
“With three ships seized, importing companies waiting for goods are facing bankruptcy one after another, and as the next schedules are being delayed, the shipping company’s stock has also plummeted.”
“Wait a minute……”
Marie’s gaze stopped at a passage mentioning statements from a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official.
She remembered that within her small social circle, there was exactly one person who worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Big brother!”
Wilhelm Klein.
He was the eldest son of the Klein baronial residence and Marie’s eldest brother.
In truth, Marie and Wilhelm were practically strangers despite sharing blood.
There was a whole thirteen years between the youngest, Marie, and her eldest brother.
When Marie was born, he was already attending the academy, and when he graduated in early spring at nineteen, Marie was barely six years old.
Though he mostly stayed in the capital, she had no memory of exchanging even a few words with him during the rare occasions he came home for holidays.
“Hello, dear brother.”
Three-year-old Marie had recognized her brother who rarely visited home and gave him a deep bow.
Although she didn’t see him often, she knew who he was from a faded family portrait hanging in the living room that had been taken before she was born.
She could still remember the look in Wilhelm’s eyes at that time.
No emotion could be read in his eyes.
There wasn’t even hatred for the youngest child who was born while causing their mother’s death.
“Who is this?”
Wilhelm had turned to the butler beside him and asked.
“It’s Miss Marie.”
“Ah……”
He genuinely seemed not to know, rather than being sarcastic.
Yes, he had erased even the existence of his youngest sibling from his memory.
Wilhelm said only that much and walked past his young sister without even a sideways glance.
Marie realized that day.
That in this house, she was invisible.
Growing up eating scraps of attention, the youngest never whined or threw tantrums afterward, living quietly as befitted her position.
After graduating, Wilhelm married immediately and then almost completely cut ties with the Klein baronial family after a major fight with his father over supporting different political parties.
The distance from the capital to the Klein barony wasn’t very far, but he never set foot in the barony until he heard the news that his father was dying.
So Marie had no friendship with Wilhelm, and certainly no shared memories.
Even the term “family register mate” seemed too intimate and excessive.
‘If I had to call it something, maybe “family register sharer”?’
But right now, she couldn’t see anything else.
The shipping company was the last hope to save Schrödinger’s company.
‘Since brother is directly involved, he must know more than anyone about this situation.’
To find out what was happening, she was willing to throw away her pride and beg like a fly before her brother, even if it meant getting down on her hands and knees.
‘I can kneel all I want, it’s no big deal.’
As soon as Marie returned home, she took out a piece of stationery and picked up her fountain pen.
「Dear Brother. This is your lovely youngest sister, Marie. Have you been well?」
She ended up screaming at the embarrassing words and tearing up the unfinished letter right there.
“Are you okay?”
“Hans, I can’t do this! I need to meet my brother in person!”
Marie grabbed Hans by both arms, her eyes bloodshot.
“Now?”
“Yes, now!”
“Won’t he be displeased if we barge in without notice?”
“Is that important right now? Even if I have to press my head to the floor and apologize for being rude later, I need to see my brother immediately.”
“Press your head to the floor?”
Before Hans could be surprised by her rough language, Marie thrust his coat back into his hands and headed outside again.
She didn’t even leave a note at the entrance for Gretel and the cook who were out.
Fortunately, the public carriage that had brought them here was just about to leave after feeding the horses.
“Excuse me! We’d like to ride again!”
“I’m sorry, but it’s time for me to finish work.”
Marie flashed her wallet at the coachman who had flatly refused.
“We’re going to the capital! I’ll pay you double the fare!”
“Please get in, Miss. We have a long way to go.”
The coachman quickly changed his attitude and politely opened the carriage door.
The carriage carrying the two of them began to gallop excitedly.
“You don’t have much money left, yet you’re paying double?”
Hans asked, dumbfounded.
“One should never be stingy with investments for the future!”
“You should probably stop investing in stocks now.”
He shook his head as he looked at his friend’s flushed face.
