Living As the Villainess Queen

The first thing that came to Eugene’s mind was a ball—the man that entered with her servant wore clothes that made him look like one. His stature was short, face plump, and the wide waist contrasted with his thin torso and legs.

The president of the bank, James as he was called, bowed his head towards her, a few paces away from where she sat on the sofa.

“It’s an honor to meet with you, Your Majesty. I hope you’ve been well.” He humbly greeted her.

Eugene had heard about him before, and despite the fact that Jin never visited him before, he regularly came to give her a report every time the dry period ended. Sarah never attended any of their meetings, and thus couldn’t provide any details about their conversations, but she did note they never lasted long.

Thus, it was safe to assume that Jin and the president had little to no relationship with each other.

For this year, the dry period hadn’t even started yet, this meant that their last meeting had been roughly six months ago. Which was fortunate, because that meant it was still Jin he reported to. Had they met at a much later time, Eugene would’ve been anxious for this first meeting.

“Welcome,” she finally said, “Please, take a seat.” She gestured to the sofa in front of her.

He gave her a brisk nod. “Thank you, my queen… Anika.” He corrected after a moment. 

He must have been forewarned to greet her with a different title just before he came to the meeting.

“I have asked you to come today because I have questions about a few matters.” Eugene began as soon as he sat down.

“Of course, Your Majesty. Please ask me anything.”

“When did we first meet?” She immediately prodded.

He blinked in surprise at the question, before he answered. “Three years ago, Your Majesty, just shortly after you arrived.” 

“Ah, of course!” she said, nodding as she pretended to know the answer.

“And so, you’ve been handling my account for that exact time, haven’t you?” 

He nodded in agreement. 

“Then I would like to request a report on my money transfers. After all, it has been a while.”

“I-I don’t understand, has there been some trouble with the accounts, Your Majesty?” he asked with great confusion. 

Eugene could see the seeds of panic in his eyes. “Oh no, I just wanted a refresher,” she assured him.

He had been jittery ever since he stepped foot in the room. Looking at him now, Eugene was reminded of the fact that Mahar was a society largely based on their social status.

Apart from Rodrigo, whose relationship with Jin was of a special nature, James was the first man Eugene had met with from outside of the palace. While she was uncertain, whether or not everyone outside of the palace acted like him, she figured it wasn’t entirely out of place for him to be so nervous in front of her.

Furthermore, had he been overreacting, Marianne would’ve probably said something for his nerves, but she remained silent.

Still, as a president of the bank, he’s very much an accomplished man, she mused.

Perhaps his nerves most probably stemmed from the fact that he wasn’t of noble birth.  It didn’t mean it wasn’t uncomfortable witnessing someone middle-aged be frightened of her.

“Would it be possible to see them now?” 

“Yes, Your Majesty. I can provide them with my utmost confidence in their sincerity.”

He then turned around, nodding at the boy who was behind him, standing by the door. At an instant, he walked over, handing over a black leather briefcase to James, before standing straight once more.

James took the bag, opened it up, and pulled out a pile of documents inside. Eugene blinked at his efficiency. She was pleasantly amazed by his preparedness for their meeting. He even brought all the reports she might have been expecting, including the ones she did want.

“Right here it shows the initial balance of your accounts, and then this one is the final balance, all calculated and updated from your last withdrawal.” He explained to her, neatly laying out each sheet of paper on the table. After that, he placed a thicker pile beside them. “And this is the withdrawal history from the past three years.”

Eugene blinked at the pile of papers in front of her. It was a lot more than she was expecting to look at. She only initially wanted to know how much money Jin left, but for now, she thought there was also merit to go over the documents as well.

“I see, I shall take time reviewing them. You can leave them here.” She informed him but noted the slight hesitance over her request. “Is there a problem?”

“It’s just, Your Majesty, without those documents, no one can withdraw from your accounts.” He informed her.

She nodded in understanding. “If so, then freeze my accounts. Don’t let anyone else make a withdrawal, even from postdated checks,” she said.

Postdated checks were controlled by the bank and carried a lot of credibility for the bank’s name on how they handled them. Had it been anyone else asking this of him, James would have half a mind to scold them for a preposterous demand. However, as Queen, he couldn’t dare refuse her.

“Of course, Your Majesty,” he finally said, bowing to her.

Eugene immediately had everyone leave the room before she picked up the certificate of deposit with great trepidation.

Mahar used a number system similar to that of Arabic Numerals. And as they used a decimal system the same as from her world, she had no trouble understanding the rows of numbers in front of her.

Each of these numbers signified the same number of gold coins. If she were to convert it to the currency in her homeworld, well then, she found herself incredibly rich as her mouth fell agape as soon as she was done crunching the numbers…

Two hundred billion dollars?! She was shocked.

Are they sure this was only pocket money?! It’s enough to become a business empire’s entire wealth!

Then it doesn’t make sense why she’d marry the Desert King just to buy ancient books!

Would she really use all of her money just to buy books for a petty hobby? Well, she could understand why she felt like it would be such a waste.

I wonder how much is left. She mumbled as she picked up a different sheet of paper. She couldn’t possibly have used it much after all the kingdom pays for her food and clothing.

As soon as she saw the numbers for the final balance, her hands began to tremble…

Only half is left!