Volume 1 Chapter 107

Volume 1 + Chapter 107: An Apology

“Please accept our deepest apologies! Miss Eve, the Reynolds family will bear full responsibility for this matter. Whatever requests you may have, feel free to state them. We will spare no effort to satisfy them, as long as we can obtain your forgiveness.”

Old Master Reynolds kept bowing apologetically toward Eve. With his aged body and limited mobility, even these small, repeated nods of contrition already exhausted all his strength.

Even his son at the side could not help but frown, feeling distressed for his father while silently cursing his own son’s utter incompetence.

But matters had already come to this, and there was nothing he could do. The father who would not even leave his bed when the imperial Emperor came to visit had, today, insisted on personally coming out to meet this future Imperial Grand Advisor.

From this alone, one could see just how important Miss Eve was in the old master’s eyes.

“The shop that was damaged—we will compensate for it. Gerson, bring the money.”

“Yes, Father. This is all I have on me…”

Gerson rummaged through his pockets for quite some time, eventually producing several silver coins and one gold coin. Truth be told, this amount was already more than sufficient to compensate for the damaged shop.

After all, the most serious damage was just a shop door. The interior was merely in disarray and could be restored with some time spent tidying up.

Even hiring someone to clean up the mess would probably cost no more than a few copper coins.

However, the expression on Old Master Reynolds’s face was clearly dissatisfied.

“Go back and get more money.”

“Yes, Father.”

Before Eve or the others could say anything, Gerson had already jogged off to fetch more money.

Taking advantage of this gap, the people from the Imperial Tribunal escorted away the Reynolds family’s young master, who had been beaten to the brink of death, his face swollen and bruised.

Carried out by several knights working together, he was clearly still somewhat conscious. His gaze fell on Eve nearby. Seeing his grandfather—whom he normally dared not even look at directly—chatting and laughing with her, his attitude full of respect, it was obvious at a glance that Eve occupied a superior position.

That dissolute young master had never witnessed such a scene before.

After all, even if the imperial Emperor himself appeared, it likely would not warrant such deference from his grandfather.

Yet now, as the sole heir of the Reynolds family, he was treated like a stray dog by the roadside. Even Butler Fu, who usually doted on him the most, could not be bothered to spare him a glance.

Let alone stop the Imperial Tribunal from taking him away.

Only now did the wayward young master finally realize that he had kicked an iron plate.

No, far more than that. It was practically an iron mountain. Damn it. If only he hadn’t gone drinking with that guy last night.

It was just a drunken wager after losing at drinking—why take it so seriously? That fellow had already been expelled from the academy. By rights, he was the real stray dog. Why had he let himself be led around by the nose?

Just because of a single taunt—“sore loser”—he had gone on a rampage and smashed up half a commercial street?

It was almost laughable.

Perhaps because the “bloodletting therapy” had been a little too effective, having been soundly beaten three separate times, the Reynolds family’s dissolute young master miraculously began reflecting on his actions.

Unfortunately, Old Master Reynolds was unaware of this change in his grandson’s heart.

At this moment, he was still busily negotiating with Eve, discussing compensation matters.

But unlike Eve’s first encounter with Umi’s mother, when she had fiercely bargained over a single piece of beef, this time he was doing the exact opposite.

He was raising the price relentlessly.

Even though Eve had already said that excessive compensation was unnecessary, and that everything should simply be handled according to the Imperial Tribunal’s ruling.

After all, Old Master Reynolds was already at such an advanced age, yet had still insisted on coming personally to apologize. In just this short span of time, he had bowed his head no fewer than a hundred times.

His attitude was more than sincere enough, so Eve had no intention of taking advantage of the situation.

As long as Umi and her mother’s shop was repaired and some compensation was provided, that would suffice. Paying them dozens of gold coins in one lump sum would instead attract trouble for this single mother.

“In that case, I’ll make the final call. Along with full compensation… you should know that the Reynolds family is large, with extensive estates, and many mouths to feed.”

“Meat supplies, in particular, have always been an issue. Since you were able to set up this shop in the imperial capital, it proves that you have both the capability and the connections to procure goods of good quality at reasonable prices.”

Having watched the empire grow from its infancy, Old Master Reynolds understood very well what it meant to successfully operate a shop on a commercial street where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold.

What’s more, she was a single mother with a child, no one to rely on, having to both raise her child and earn a living. That made it even harder.

He understood the principle of teaching someone to fish rather than simply giving them a fish. Within his means, he felt that if he could lend a helping hand, he should.

Besides, Old Master Reynolds had his own private considerations. Miss Eve was willing to stand up for this mother and daughter, which clearly meant their relationship was not an ordinary one.

Building goodwill with this single mother was, for the Reynolds family, effectively building a connection to Miss Eve.

With this thought, Old Master Reynolds became even more convinced that his decision was the right one.

“So I hope that you will take charge of supplying the Reynolds family’s kitchens with the meat we require. Of course, however much you can supply, we will take.”

“Naturally, the Reynolds family’s overall demand is quite large. You need not exhaust yourself trying to meet all of it. Within your capabilities, if your supply falls short, we will of course find other solutions and will never blame you.”

“In short, no matter what, we are willing to purchase your goods at the highest market price, with priority. Please do not refuse—this is also the Reynolds family’s way of offering you an apology, for my good-for-nothing grandson’s offense against you.”

Old Master Reynolds’s attitude was sincere. In essence, he meant that from now on, all kinds of meat sold by Umi’s family would be contracted by the Reynolds family—at the highest price.

For Umi’s family, this was naturally a great boon. After all, the greatest concern in doing business was instability.

Now, with the Reynolds family as a steady patron, they might not grow fabulously wealthy, but they would no longer have to toil excessively, and stability was guaranteed.

Even if the shop earned nothing today for various reasons, the income from supplying the Reynolds family’s kitchens would allow Umi’s family to remain at ease.

Not only was it stable—if handled well, making a substantial profit through this opportunity was entirely possible.

It was equivalent to handing Umi’s family a tremendous opportunity. How far they could take it would depend entirely on how Umi’s mother chose to manage it.

An opportunity like this was something countless shop owners along the entire commercial street could only envy.

The most representative example was the clothing shop at the far end of the street. Thanks to the craftsmanship of its chief designer, Miss Roland, that shop regularly received a steady stream of orders from nobles and royalty.

Even though it was open for business only a small fraction of the year, it had not stopped that shop from expanding year after year in the heart of the imperial capital’s most valuable commercial district.

“This…”

Umi’s mother felt momentarily at a loss. Faced with such an overwhelmingly tempting offer, she had no reason at all to refuse.