Chapter 83
Chapter 83
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: Serendipity (5)
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In the luxury limousine heading back to Tessellation Investment's headquarters.
Leaning deeply into the leather seat with her model-like slender figure, Celestina stared silently out the window.
Her jewel-like crimson eyes glimmered faintly as they gazed at the city lights beyond the glass.
"......"
Her thoughts continued in that utter silence, unbroken by any sound.
They were about the strange connection she'd encountered today.
'Lumina Group's chairman's niece, Evania.'
It differed slightly from the information she had. She hadn't known Rian Lumen had such a relative.
Perhaps after losing his beloved wife, something had changed in his heart. To suddenly bring someone so close like this.
The personnel decisions of a top-100 corporation indirectly influenced other companies, whether intended or not.
That was why she'd invited her to dinner under the pretext of gratitude. She wanted to gauge the girl firsthand.
'Information is the greatest foundation of any investment.'
Skipping the hotel's ordinary dining options, she'd taken the girl to a high-end Japanese restaurant considered a mark of sophistication among business elites. All to probe lightly in various ways.
And from their conversation, her guess that the girl was a candidate for Lumina Group's successor didn't seem entirely off-base.
"........."
Crossing her long, elegant legs the other way to reveal their graceful lines, Celestina sank back into thought.
'Remarkable, truly... such a curious case.'
This city was a society where success demanded not just seizing your own share, but clawing away at others'. It wasn't forgiving enough for the guileless to run a corporation unscathed. Yet to choose such an innocent girl as heir?
Maybe Rian Lumen had some hidden depth beyond what she'd observed.
'Yes, quite unusual.'
Lost in thought, she felt the speeding car jolt lightly.
She elegantly brushed back a stray lock of platinum blonde hair and absentmindedly reached for the handbag beside her.
Inside was a single, neatly folded handkerchief. It should have been returned after dinner, but a childish whim had made her pocket it instead.
"........."
Suddenly, the hotel hallway incident came to mind.
Amid the anxiety squeezing her heart, that warm touch comforting her, that gentle voice...
"It's okay. Everything will be okay."
She was never one to easily trust or lean on others.
Yet those words had melted her tension inexplicably. As if she were in the safest place, cradled in boundless love and care...
'...It put me at ease.'
Her usual attacks, which lingered even after anti-anxiety meds, had vanished like a lie from that one embrace. It was magic. The memory surfaced of those tender hands wiping her tears, the soft scent lingering at her nose.
Did it still cling to this handkerchief?
"......."
Celestina instinctively lifted it toward her face but paused.
It felt a bit undignified.
The realization that she was about to indulge in such childishness drew an involuntary chuckle from her.
"...Ha."
Then, she touched her own face.
A slight upturn at the corners of her mouth. The unfamiliar sensation made her frown without thinking.
She couldn't remember the last time she'd smiled so 'genuinely.'
"......."
Right then, her heart plummeted without warning, then began pounding fiercely.
Thump, thump, thump.
The abnormal anxiety struck without prelude. Familiar, yet never something she could get used to. Her breath quickened, her chest tightened as if to induce nausea.
Through eyes damp with cold sweat, memories blurred together. Her last sight of herself smiling sincerely. Warm recollections from long ago... overlaid with a horribly nostalgic voice.
'Our proud daughter.'
A woman riddled with bullet holes whispered with a bloodied smile.
'Isn't Mommy pretty?'
Soon, inside the burning vehicle, a young girl's half-melted face from burns murmured.
'It was all your choice, Sis. You have to take responsibility.'
Her vision spun dizzily. She couldn't even twitch a finger.
Though seated still, it felt like teetering on a cliff's edge, her chest constricting.
"Hic, heuk..."
Celestina barely extended her trembling hand to fumble for the handbag. She yanked out anti-anxiety pills and shoved a handful into her mouth, forcing them down.
"Hoo, hah, huu..."
As she struggled to regulate her breathing the usual way, something caught her eye.
A fallen handkerchief nearby.
She snatched it up and clamped it over her mouth. A faint, comforting scent seeped in. Strangely, that unfamiliar warmth began soothing her ragged breaths bit by bit.
"......."
Gradually, the tremors ceased, and her wildly hammering heart slowed.
How much time passed?
When she came to, the fine leather seat was soaked with cold sweat.
Her slender shoulders, wrapped around her chilled body, trembled faintly in the darkness.
"......."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Tessellation Investment headquarters building.
Celestina paused to catch her breath before the president's office on the dizzyingly high top floor.
"Hoo..."
Stepping inside, she saw a man seated with the city nightscape at his back.
Hollow, lifeless eyes in a gaunt, corpse-like face. Only his gaze burned with sharp vitality.
He was Jeremy Oberse, president of Tessellation Investment.
For a man wielding a global financial empire, he appeared excessively emaciated.
Once, he'd been Celestina's idol, the father she most wanted to emulate.
But now, meeting his daughter after a month, he skipped greetings and dove straight in.
"How did the Nexus Initiative deal go?"
"The planning team secured 2 percent above the projected share sale price."
"Good work."
Dry praise. There had been times when those words alone made her feel like she owned the world. Each time she boosted profits as trained, her father would stroke her hair proudly.
But the man before her no longer smiled warmly like before.
Celestina's expression facing her father was rigidly set as well.
When the Oberse family shrank from four to two, the survivors broke in their own ways. They might have supported each other... but it was all too late.
Then, her father's voice came again.
"I trust you haven't forgotten. In this world, money is the mightiest weapon, and we who wield it are hunters."
The family creed, drilled into her until her ears blistered.
Indeed, the Oberse family—financial nobility that began amassing vast capital half a century ago—had built their fortune that way.
They preyed on companies' exposed weaknesses, devoured assets through hostile takeovers. Predators grown by consuming other predators. Raised watching her father's methods, Celestina once believed unswervingly that was the path to success.
Yes, she never doubted... until now.
"Never show weakness, anywhere, anytime. Live as the hunter, not the hunted."
"...Yes."
That response lacked her former conviction.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The situation seemed neatly resolved now. Nexus Initiative was fully dismantled, and Zion's androids had gained certain rights, allowed to live in their own city.
There'd been a slight mishap at the final conference I'd observed, but it was fine. No one seemed to have caught my miracle.
Back to everyday life.
I was staying at the cathedral again, diligently filling my days. Preparing new ventures to expand the church into the city, taking management classes at the academy, handling the cathedral's minor tasks—all keeping me busy.
Then, unexpectedly, word came from Godfather once more.
"Ah, Eve. Finally wrapped things up and calling. About Asecure Corporation. I can hand it over now."
His words jogged my memory belatedly.
That private security firm behind the suburban terrorist attack before.
Through Godfather's influence, the old executives were all jailed by ODPD, and he'd said the acquired entity would be my gift.
With recent events piling up, I'd forgotten.
"I've already registered you, Eve, as the corporate executive."
"Thank you, Godfather. How can I ever repay you..."
"Nonsense. The gains from this Nexus deal more than cover the funds used back then—several times over. Don't worry about it. Oh, and there's more news. For that Asecure Corporation I just mentioned, a pretty big contract proposal arrived recently."
"Pardon?"
His words were hard to grasp at first.
Asecure Corporation hadn't even operated properly while cleaning house.
I'd viewed it merely as a front to legally bring the church's guards into the city, not for real security business... So what proposal could it have received?
As I puzzled, Godfather's added explanation startled me.
"The proposal's from Tessellation Investment. They want to outsource security services... If you're interested, you'll need to meet them yourself. You're Asecure Corporation's new head now, Eve."