Even the employees that became loyal to Juliet may face the other way if push comes to shove. Zieve didn't knew if Juliet understood that the hearts of men were fickle. Glancing at her employees, he could see the uncertainty within their eyes as he continued.

"That would be a foolish move! Are you trying to kill yourself?!"

He fiercely scolded and Juliet's figure froze, her expression hardened as she retorted.

"Then, what do you want to happen? Are you gonna let us be crushed by them?! I will be fine if that happens but what about you guys? What about all of you?!" Juliet's fierce retort shook everyone's hearts.

That's right, every employee in this room were failures of the Academy. Those that didn't manage to reach the ranks of Inner Disciples before the age of twelve was considered as failures, they would either stay on the Academy as servants, return to their families or become a wandering vagrant.

Juliet's words served to remind them that they didn't have any other choice but to fight against the Imperial Clan lest they lost their remaining bastion.

"Also, we're in the territory of the Paradyne Academy, there's no way that they would act so overbearing within its borders..."

Zieve's expression brightened when he heard Juliet's words. That's right, they may not be able to openly oppose the Imperial Clan in any other places in the Empire, but inside the Paradyne Academy. They could be defiant.

The other employees also realized this fact as each and everyone of them burned with determination. Under the fierce suppression of the Imperial Clan, these young men and women weren't willing to act like dogs for the Empire.

If they're gonna die.

They're gonna die with dignity!

"I understand, everyone of us will back you up even if h.e.l.l awaits us..." Zieve and Juliet's employees expressions went solemn. They glanced at each other and nodded their heads, strengthening their resolve that no matter what, they would never leave Juliet alone.

A young girl like her already possessed such strong will and a defiant mindset, as someone older than her, they would lose face if they backed down.

"Leave the rumor dispersal to me..."

"I'll be the head of Public Relations."

"Leave the advertis.e.m.e.nts to me, we will surely get our customers back from their hands..."

They all declared with solemn expressions as Juliet swept her gaze over them with a smile on her face.

"Seeing you all being like this makes me feel like we're gonna fail..." Zieve shook his head and teased while Juliet puffed her cheeks and scolded, "Don't jinx it, Zieve!"

Laughter erupted and the tense atmosphere of the restaurant dissipated. Soon, customers who were loyal to Juliet's restaurant arrived later in the morning and told Juliet that some nasty rumors about them using mortal ingredients instead of Spiritual Ingredients circulated out of nowhere and caused quite a commotion among her frequent customers.

Not only that, the Duterte General Merchandises suddenly offered cheap breakfast meals that used Spiritual Ingredients, something that wasn't cost effective given that Spiritual Ingredients were expensive and hard to cultivate.

"So that's what they're doing behind the scenes. The Imperial Clan sure is formidable, to think that they could circulate such malicious rumors so fast in such a short amount of time..." Zieve nodded in understanding and Juliet sighed.

Fights among establishements frequently happened and it was something that Juliet witnessed almost every month back at their small restaurant at the Empire of Dawn. Her mother fought valiantly with the schemers but Juliet who was still a young child at that time didn't really bother about it.

Sweat rolled down Juliet's fair countenance, it was the first time that she encountered such a conundrum on her own and the factors involved made her dizzy. Sweeping her gaze over her concerned employees, Juliet calmed her mind and thought,

"If I give up and fall down, what would happen to them, they would surely be kicked out of the Academy and would live a life worse than death in the hands of the Imperial Clan."

Zieve saw Juliet's darkened expression and sighed in his heart. No matter how bold Juliet could be, she still lacked experience. Wisdom born from experience cannot be bestowed by words.

"Juliet," Zieve placed his hand on Juliet's head and said with a smile, "We're all members of the Dreamy House family so if you're having trouble with something, you should consult us instead of brainstorming it on your own..."

Juliet's figure froze and she emerged from her contemplation. Turning her head at Zieve, her figure trembled when she saw the supporting smiles of her crew.

"That's right, Juliet. You supported us when we're down, I think it's time for us to do the same..."

"Indeed, this one will never let this restaurant disappear."

"No one shall dare to bully this place under my presence..."

Zieve lightly laughed, "See? You need to rely more on your friends rather than do everything on your own..."

Juliet nodded her head, her lips widened into a sweet smile which almost melted everyone's heart out of adoration for her cuteness. Trodding over her crew members, the entire team of Juliet's Dreamy House started brainstorming on their next course of actions.

"Since the Imperial Clan deliberately spread these malicious rumors, that only means that they're now actively trying to get us off the picture. But the question is, why didn't they do that from the start before we could establish our presence?"

A male crew member asked with uncertainty, and Zieve answered his inquiry.

"They should be worried about the backing behind Juliet. After all, it is quite far-fetched that a young girl like her could establish such an influence on her own without receiving the support of her family members..."

His answer made the others nod including Juliet who said, "But since they're proactively attacking us right now, something should've happened that made them this confident..." She thought with a frown, thinking for the possible reasons why the Imperial Clan attacked them directly.

"Since they were worried about Juliet's backing so they didn't attack at first. Now that they're attacking, it should be because they discovered something about Juliet that erased their worries towards her." A female crew member said with a solemn expression and Zieve nodded.

"That's right, either they're thinking that Juliet's backing is nothing special or they're holding some kind of a solid evidence against Juliet that they confidently a.s.saulted them at the front..."

"That's impossible! We're always using the freshest Spiritual Ingredient that we can find at the market, where did they get the basis for their accusations?!" A male crew member retorted and Zieve shrugged. "I don't know, I'm just a head chef, anything regarding management is the job of the higher-ups, not me." He made a sidelong glance at Juliet.

Juliet stared speechlessly at him for a moment before saying, "It should be about the incoming delivery supplies that I tasked Jacob with, using some kind of a method, they managed to get some intelligence about our actions regarding the incoming winter..."

Juliet's expression went solemn, she stood up and stared at the Duterte General Merchandises, "If a fight is want they want, we would be cowards if we didn't give them what they want."

"Since the cat is already out of the bag, we must try to find some ways to minimize the damage that they're doing towards our reputation while at the sametime, keeping track of the income so that we could at least break even."

Zieve stared at the dignified young girl with a smile on his face. Yes, this side of hers that she inherited from her mother was one of the reasons why Zieve decided to follow such a young girl on his own accord.

Suppressing his excitement towards the next several days, Zieve and the crew members stared seriously at Juliet.

"Then, Juliet, what is that way that you're talking about, how can we possibly use expensive ingredients, keep our prices low while also breaking even?" A female crew member asked with s.h.i.+ning eyes and it was at that moment that everything slowed down as Juliet turned around and said with a sweet smile on her face.

"I don't know..."