I Became The Male Lead's Female Friend

Author: Nikss

✿

Somehow, Hestia was puzzled by my impatient, but she informed me right away.

“Yes, it’s easy as long as you know what kind of medicine it was made from. I know how to make it anyway, so I just need to improve it.”

“So, you can make a more effective medicine in a short time?”

“Yeah, that’s right…  But why?”

Hestia stepped back slightly, burdened, as she noticed the excessive radiance on my attitude. I was just staring at her, evilly smiling.

If Hestia was talented in making medicines, am I not talented in turning a person’s back?

A good idea came to my mind and I took one step closer to Hestia. Then she looked at me bewildered, and I whispered in a secret voice, approaching right in front of her before she knew it.

“Come to think of it, do you remember that I haven’t granted you our promise yet?”

“Yeah? What is that…”

“Remember when I said I’d give you the best research facility in the empire and a title.”

Hestia blankly blinked her eyes and nodded her head.

“Uh… yes, but I think it will only be possible if you become a Duke…”

“It might be difficult to get a title right away, but a research facility might be possible.”

“Yes. Yes?”

“You have one now.”

A new research facility has just been built. Count Giovanni, who pursued her and stole the manufacturing method, has taken up residence there.

“A facility for drug development, is it possible?”

Hestia’s eyes widened in an instant as she realized how well she understood this. She told me she couldn’t be any more excited as she stared at me intently.

“I’ll stay up all night starting today.”

✿

After making a secret deal with Hestia, I went straight to Lowell.

After giving information about Count Giovanni, she suddenly disappeared. I was surprised by Lowell’s sudden appearance.

However, after managing his expression like a professional, he asked me what my business was, and after hearing my answer, he broke the expression he had been trying to maintain.

“You know, the money that Count Giovanni asked to lend him,” said Dahlia.

“Oh, what about that? It’s probably…”

“Say that I’ll lend it to him.”

“… What?” asked Lowell.

Lowell looked at me in disbelief.

It would be strange for him, I also couldn’t believe myself for suddenly investing in the development of an uncertain new drug, which I’ve been investing well in only stocks that have been working so far.

As expected, he looked worried and tried to stop me.

“But it’s something that His Excellency has already tried to refuse. They have indeed succeeded in medicine before, but there hasn’t been much success since then. If you want to invest in pharmaceuticals, you should rather go to a place that’s older and more stable…”

“Lowell.”

Dahlia looked at him and gave him a confident smile.

“Trust me.”

He knew that I had done a thing every time I smiled like that, and that he had been watching me for a long time. 

In the end, he looked at me anxiously, sighed deeply, and soon nodded.

“Okay. Then, how much interest will you charge?”

“I won’t charge them.”

“Wha— What?”

Again, Lowell’s eyes widened. I shrugged lightly and continued talking.

“This guy won’t get a penny. Tell him to put up a mortgage instead.”

“You mean a collateral?”

Dahlia replied with a bright smile, “The pharmaceutical laboratory of Count Giovanni.”

My plan was simple. First, take the laboratory as collateral and lend money to Count Giovanni.

The Count was sure to accept my proposal.

I’ve already made medicine with Hestia’s recipe once before, and since it’s made by the same person this time, I’m sure, and I’m confident, that it would sell well.

So, my suggestion was bound to be tempting. I would not charge any interest, which was the biggest problem in lending the money, and I would lend it as long as they put the research center as collateral.

And if the drug was developed safely, the research institute would of course not be taken away, and they would think that they only have to pay the principal with the money from selling the medicine later.

Of course, the medicine would be developed safely, as Count Giovanni thought. 

However, the drug would not sell well as he expected.

“I’m going to sell a similar medicine first!”

It’s not just a similar drug. A medicine, which was improved by the original creator herself, and it’s more effective.

Besides, Hestia was confident that she could make it in a short time. When Count Giovanni puts the medicine on the market, Hestia’s medicine would already be sold first, so his medicine that came out later would be treated as a pair.

In the end, he won’t get any benefit from the new drug. He can’t pay off the principal or even part of the debt, and he’ll go bankrupt.

‘Then I will be having the lab held as collateral.’

This was simply killing two birds with one stone.

I would avenge Hestia by catching him by lending money without interest, and above all, I would eat up the research institute he built with all his wealth at once!

If you want to build a research institute, you have to pay attention to money, manpower, and facilities to build a building on an appropriate site.

But can you bring back the Empire’s best research institute, which Count Giovanni has already put all his heart and soul into? 

Was there any other opportunity as good as this one? Because even Hestia acknowledged the laboratory of Count Giovanni.

Even though Count Giovanni cursed all kinds of things, saying, ‘A human without skills reveals only dirty tools.’

 And when Jeron heard the news that I would give him a large sum of money without interest, he hurriedly ran to my office.

“Even the devil will cry…”

Hearing his compliments, I smiled pleasantly. Because I already had a contract in my hand, which Count Giovanni himself had stamped.

I laughed, thinking of Count Giovanni, who was in the midst of his excitement.

“So you should have been careful about the contract.”

And a few days later, I came out to the main street by myself.

Hestia, who, like me, was quite sincere in turning her back on Count Giovanni, was eager to recreate all the drugs that had been developed there.

But if she really did, she’d better get information and develop the medicine more efficiently because she’s likely to be carried away with overwork.

After all, I planned to release a medicine that was more compatible with the drug that Count Giovanni was developing, not just any various medicines. 

In order to do that, I needed to know if he was developing a certain drug.

Actually, as an investor, I could ask. And if I ask him, he’ll be elated and sure to tell me everything, but I didn’t ask him on purpose.

As my last conscience, being a human who tries to backstab him… No, it’s not the same.

He told me the type of medicine just in case. Because releasing a similar medicine could spark public outrage that I cheated on his recipe.

‘I have to be careful.’

Originally, if I want to stab someone else’s back, I have to be as careful as I could.

So, I had previously asked the information manager to dig up Count Giovanni’s back from the moment I received the contract from him, and today I came to receive the requested information myself.

I left the dessert shop run by the informant in a relaxed manner. 

Inside the cake box in my hand, the documents they prepared were hidden.

Having already checked the papers inside, I was lost in thought, handing over the cake box to Lowell, who accompanied me.

“Energy booster?”

In response to my question, the informant nodded and added an explanation.

They say it’s similar to a fatigue reliever, but the effect was superior. 

‘They said that once a person eats it, the body would be relieved of fatigue, and their physical strength will be restored to the previous day.’

“Really?”

‘Yes, it is said that he directly boasted that someone would be fine even if they stayed up all night using the medicine.’

Fortunately, finding information wasn’t difficult.

I thought Count Giovanni would hide it because it’s a new drug he’s working hard to develop.

As expected, he was a talkative person and boasted to his researchers that he was proud of how great the drug was. Thanks to him, I was able to get useful information without spending a lot of money.

What was surprising, however, was that the effect of the drug seemed to be believed by many.

“Can he really make something like that?”

Unlike ordinary fatigue relievers, as soon as you take it, your stamina goes back to the state you had the day before.

As Count Giovanni said, it was even okay to stay up a few nights, it was also a medicine that has no side effects noticeable.

Hestia, who says ‘it’s no big deal’ with such a powerful medicine, was amazing. 

Hestia brags she could even make a medicine that’s many times more effective than that medicine.

‘Am I also jumping into the pharmaceutical business…?’

Standing in the middle of a busy street, seriously thinking about the future, I had to stop thinking about it before long.

It was because of a familiar voice that came from somewhere.

“Dahlia?”

In the middle of my mind, I suddenly raised my head. 

And I felt a strange sense of discomfort.

This situation, I’m sure I’ve experienced it before.

And soon I was able to identify a sense of incompatibility.

“Sir River?”