I Became the Master of the Villain

The old warehouse door creaked open with a grating sound, and the first thing that came into view were laborers armed with tools.
Next was Uncle James, tightly bound with rope. His clothes were dirty and his hair disheveled, but he didn’t appear to have been beaten. It seemed the workers had treated him rather gentlemanly.
"Olivia! Rescue me this instant!"

Judging by the energy he had left to shout like that, it seemed he was doing just fine.
Ignoring my uncle’s SOS, I turned to the workers of the Ashford factory and spoke.
"I'm Olivia Ashford. I’ve come to negotiate with you... Who should I speak to?"

A young-looking woman stepped forward. She couldn't have been more than twenty. She introduced herself.
"I'm Anna Walker, representative of the workers. Please, speak with me."
I almost gasped aloud.

This woman is really Anna...?
Suppressing my surprise, I carefully examined her face.
Resolute black eyes, hair as dark as ebony, and a firm expression that seemed unlikely to yield to any hardship. It was the exact same face I had read about in the original novel.

Anna Walker, the only woman Kian ever loved, had appeared before my eyes.
***
The negotiation began, and Anna and I sat face-to-face with a small table between us.

Anna spoke calmly and without hesitation, showing no sign of nervousness.
After listening closely, I learned that the workers had three main demands: increased wages, reduced working hours, and an end to child labor exploitation.
I found their demands reasonable. My uncle did not.

"Olivia! You must never give in to those scoundrels!"
He raged as if the world were ending.
Two men standing guard over him glanced at Anna, like underlings awaiting orders from their boss. Anna stood up, looking as if she had no choice.
"It seems he doesn’t quite understand his situation."

I agreed. My uncle seemed to have forgotten that he was the hostage here.
But as Anna approached him, he shrank back in fear.
"Sir James. If you agree to our demands, we will end the strike and return to the factory. But if not—"

She took a hammer handed to her by one of the men and raised it over his head in a threatening gesture.
"Give up any hope of leaving here in one piece."
She truly looked like she could smash his skull like an egg if she wanted.

"O-Olivia... Get this thing away from me! Now!"
Even I got chills watching this, so I could only imagine how Uncle James felt. He was on the verge of passing out. Frankly, I could've understood if he started foaming at the mouth and collapsed right then and there.
Anyway... Anna Walker. I could see why Kian would fall for a woman like her. In the original novel, she was also fearless.

That must be why she risked everything to save Kian.
After briefly recalling the original story, I focused back on the current situation.
Thanks to Anna’s brutal intimidation, all the workers were now nervously watching to see how I would respond. If I rejected their demands, things would likely spiral into disaster.

But I hadn’t come here to fight them.
I immediately opened my mouth.
"Very well. I’ll accept all your demands."

With that, the tense atmosphere snapped like a stretched string finally released. Sighs of relief escaped from various corners of the warehouse.
I handed Anna a document as she returned to the negotiating table. Her eyes widened as she read through it. She asked in a doubtful tone,
"You’re really proposing to agree to these terms?"

I nodded.
It was a contract I had prepared in advance before leaving for Lancaster. Of course, I had already affixed the duchy’s official seal. I pointed to the blank at the bottom.
"The only thing left is your signature, Miss Anna."

Wages doubled, working hours halved. No one present could have any complaints with those terms.
Except for one person—Uncle James.
"Who gave you the right to make such a decision?!"

If he weren’t tied up, he looked ready to flip the negotiation table.
"I hold management rights over the spinning factory! You have no authority to interfere in factory affairs! This contract is completely invalid!"
Anna looked at me as if to ask whether that was true. But instead of replying, I simply smiled.

Because from what he just said, I now had confirmation—my uncle was unaware of something very important.
"According to company policy, Article 9 states that if the CEO is absent or the position is vacant, the head of the family assumes all approval authority."
"...What?"

My uncle repeated dumbly. His face said he had no idea such a rule existed. I explained kindly.
"It means that if anything happens to you, I have the authority to sign on your behalf."
The CEO of the Ashford Spinning Factory was indeed Uncle James. But if a situation arose where he had to vacate the position for an extended period, the authority would transfer to the highest-ranking member of the family.

And that was me—Olivia Ashford, the duke’s proxy.
Only then did he finally understand the situation. His face turned deathly pale. Rather than blaming himself for never having read the manual thoroughly, he directed his fury toward me. He ground his teeth and hissed,
"Olivia... I’ll just void this foolish agreement once I get out of here!"

"You're free to leave. But wouldn’t that require these gentlemen to untie you first?"
I gestured toward the crowd of workers wielding tools. Anna was already swinging her hammer through the air.
"If you’d like to stay with us a little longer, we won’t stop you."

Anna grinned.
"As you know, we’re quite poor, so meals are only served once a day. Oh, and the water’s dirty, so no bathing. Also, the rats are a real problem—be careful not to get bitten."
"..."

Uncle James’s eyes trembled as if struck by an earthquake. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, spoiled with every luxury. No wonder he couldn’t bear to spend even another second here. I decided to shake him up a bit more.
"Uncle, do you know what the public is saying these days? That House Ashford is a corrupt family exploiting the poor. Even the family members are growing dissatisfied with you. At this rate, they’ll surely raise objections ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) at the next board meeting."
That wasn’t an exaggeration—it was the truth.

The Ashford family had a long tradition of giving back to society. The family members took great pride in that legacy.
But thanks to the repeated strike crises, Uncle James had sullied the family’s reputation.
"...What do you want me to do?"

"Stop being so stubborn and just give in this once."
I held out the contract to him. As the men loosened his ropes, he glared at the document with clear resentment.
At the hotel’s grand opening, he had been energetic and mischievous. But in just a few days, he now looked utterly aged and drained.

His hand trembled as he gripped the fountain pen. He hesitated until the last moment, then finally let out a sigh and reluctantly signed the document.
The moment his signature was complete, someone among the onlookers shouted,
"The agreement has been finalized!"

That was the cue. The factory workers dropped their tools and cheered with joy.
A dramatic resolution had been reached just one day after the strike began. There had been some rough threats and shouting along the way, but still.
All’s well that ends well, I thought as I extended my hand to Anna. She shook it firmly, and we exchanged smiles.

***
"Thank you, Lady Ashford."
That made two times now—hearing her thank me.

After all the factory workers had cleared out and Uncle James had been safely released, Anna came to see me off at the Lancaster station as I waited for the train back to the capital.
One thank-you would've been enough. But she must’ve felt deeply indebted to me after everything.
"I didn’t do much. It’s thanks to your brave fight, Miss Anna."

"That’s... too generous."
Anna blushed slightly, as if unused to compliments.
It was such a contrast to her earlier hammer-swinging self that I couldn’t help but chuckle. When our eyes met, she gave me a radiant smile.

Beautiful, just as one would expect from the protagonist’s first love. I felt grateful she was still alive.
Because I knew exactly how she died in the original story.