Chapter 29
Anyway.
Azel was safely rescued, and Muniel managed to reconnect with her old comrade.
“Then what about Nini’s investment?”
However, since the originally planned investment opportunity had disappeared, Nibelia couldn’t be completely happy.
So, for Nibelia’s sake, Kaleo and Celetina created an even better opportunity.
A partnership with Azel.
“Azel, you developed that liquid fertilizer that keeps cut flowers fresh for a long time, right? And the flowers planted on the farm must be your work too.”
“In that case, would you like to work with us? We were planning to start a pharmaceutical company—how about you become its representative?”
Azel, who had suddenly been given the chance to become the head of a pharmaceutical company overnight, was stunned.
“Then Nini will invest!”
Nibelia beamed, showing all her white teeth.
After some thought, Azel nodded.
Having grown close to Nibelia over the past few days, she felt almost like an older sister.
And she wanted to protect this small child’s happiness.
But she had one condition.
“Please hire only witches as employees of the pharmaceutical company. And protect us. That’s my condition for the partnership.”
Azel said she wanted to protect wandering witches through the shelter of the company.
“In that case, we should be the ones thanking you.”
“If experts in plants and medicinal herbs gather together, nothing could be better. We should begin preparations immediately.”
Deiamor and the witches.
A moment of cooperation that would go down in history.
But—
“……”
Even though things were going smoothly,
Celetina still couldn’t fall asleep that night.
After tossing and turning for a long time, she eventually went to her office.
On her desk were piles of documents brought from Lubeo.
The fraud committed by the Plaud couple, along with falsified ledgers and various documents.
Celetina had been reading them endlessly, both at work and at home. The edges of the papers were practically wrinkled.
And every time she read them, the same question arose.
‘Why didn’t I notice?’
It had been an investment she carefully selected for Nibelia’s first venture.
She had investigated it far more thoroughly than her own business, and even after deciding on it, she kept monitoring it just in case.
The employees who conducted the investigation hadn’t noticed anything strange either.
But now, looking at it again, there were countless flaws. The transaction partners listed in the ledgers were fake from the start.
“…Ha…”
Celetina leaned back in her chair and shut her eyes tightly.
“I knew this would happen.”
When she opened her eyes again, Kaleo was standing there, looking like he had a lot to say.
“I told you not to work late and then keep working like this.”
“Did I wake you?”
“You know I wake up quickly if you’re not there.”
Celetina rested her head against Kaleo, who was sitting on the armrest of her chair.
“Why didn’t I notice?”
She lightly tapped the stack of documents.
“If I had just looked a little more carefully, I would’ve seen how many strange things there were.”
“I feel the same.”
Kaleo had also personally investigated Nibelia’s investment.
Even the secretary who handled the investigation had lamented, “How could someone as smart as me make such a foolish mistake…?”
It wasn’t just Celetina.
Kaleo too, the secretary too.
Even the brilliant employees of Lubeo.
It was as if something had clouded their vision—no one noticed the strangeness of the Plaud couple.
“…Nini,”
Kaleo said quietly.
He recalled what Nibelia had said earlier that day.
“She said she saw something.”
“What did she see?”
“Poison mushroom. Pink.”
While preparing lunch for the children, Kaleo had suddenly asked her:
“By the way, Nini. How did you know Azel was trapped in the warehouse?”
“I saw a poison mushroom.”
“A poison mushroom?”
“Pink. Poison mushroom pink!”
There was a small window near the ceiling of the warehouse.
Through the dusty glass that made it impossible to see inside clearly, Nibelia said she saw something pink.
But then she added something strange.
“But the pink is gone.”
“The pink is gone?”
“Yeah. Azel has no pink at all. I saw pink, but Azel has no pink. Isn’t that weird?”
Nibelia thought the pink she saw might have been Azel’s hair or eyes.
But when they rescued her, Azel’s hair was brownish, and her eyes were a vivid orange.
The clothes she wore weren’t pink either.
“After hearing that, I immediately sent the secretary and others to the flower farm that afternoon.”
The flower farm, abandoned after the witches disappeared, had quickly turned into ruins.
The flowers had all withered, giving off a foul smell, and insects and spiders had taken over.
“But there was no pink.”
Not in the warehouse, not on the farm, not anywhere in the building.
Even the luggage the Plaud couple packed when they fled contained nothing pink.
Nowhere.
Preparations for the partnership with Azel progressed quickly.
After her conditions were accepted, Azel immediately sent out messages.
Her method was fascinating.
She blew breath into a handful of soil powder and scattered it onto the ground. The powder glowed warmly and spread rapidly across the surface.
Then, in less than a day, numerous letters arrived at the Deiamor mansion’s mailbox.
All were responses from witches.
“Most of them were positive replies.”
Nibelia was in a great mood.
So good that she hopped around like a rabbit while walking. Her smile had long since stretched into a wide grin.
“Miss, you shouldn’t run.”
Aref warned her, worried she might fall.
Nibelia stopped abruptly.
Then she dashed back to Aref.
“Hey! Nini is going to invest now! With Azel!”
“Yes, that’s wonderful.”
Even though he had already heard her brag at least twenty times, Aref congratulated her sincerely without any sign of annoyance.
They decided to build the pharmaceutical company on the land of the Plaud couple’s flower farm and the surrounding area.
“Now that Nini invests, we’ll make lots of money, right?”
“Yes.”
“What about Aref? Are you investing too?”
“I’m not sure.”
Aref felt overwhelmed by the fifty million Uba he had received.
When he earned money steadily through labor—pulling weeds and helping workers—it felt rewarding.
But suddenly receiving a large sum made his hard-earned efforts feel meaningless.
It scared him, too.
“Miss.”
“Yeah?”
“Will you stop working now?”
Aref asked.
“That salary account…”
“I’ll keep working.”
Nibelia tilted her head as if the question made no sense.
Aref’s eyes widened.
“R-really?”
“Money is supposed to be earned through hard work. Mom said she worked many jobs when she first started earning money.”
“I want to keep earning through my salary account too.”
“Then let’s pull weeds again! Let’s work together!”
“Yes…!”
Aref nodded enthusiastically, his face slightly flushed.
“But you still have a lot of money. It’s better to save it.”
Nibelia proudly shared her knowledge.
“No gambling. No cards. Got it?”
“Yes.”
“Or… um…”
Trying to recall something she once heard, Nibelia waved her arms around in the air.
Aref quietly copied her.
“Savings account!”
Finally remembering, Nibelia flapped her arms like a chick.
“Put it in a savings account, and you get interest!”
“Interest?”
“Yeah. It’s money they give you to thank you for keeping your money there.”
“Wow…!”
Aref’s eyes sparkled.
“Miss, you’re so young but really smart. Amazing…!”
At the sincere admiration, Nibelia modestly agreed.
“I kind of am.”
If she were too smart, she’d have to conquer the world.
Nibelia shook her head as if troubled.
While they chatted happily—
“I’ve been looking for you two.”
Deter approached them.
“Deter!”
Nibelia hugged Deter’s leg tightly.
“….”
Aref noticed Deter’s skin looked unusually radiant.
Her face glowed, her tied-up hair looked shinier than before, and a faint floral scent lingered.
“Deter, you smell like flowers today.”
“Why do you think?”
Deter laughed softly.
“I was the one who rescued Azel, remember? So the masters rewarded me with a bath full of rose petals.”
“Deter likes bathing in flowers. Maybe you’re a fairy.”
Fairy Deter then explained why she came.
“The sons of Duke Deigladis have arrived.”
“……”
“Master Al and Master Rubens.”
“……”
Even after hearing their names, Nibelia only blinked slowly.
“Miss, don’t tell me you forgot them again?”
“…N-no.”
Fortunately, Nibelia managed to recall them.
“They’re the ones who keep bothering Nini to play with them!”
“That’s not entirely wrong, but please don’t say that in front of them.”
When they entered the reception room, Al and Rubens were waiting.
Soles was already there, talking with them.
“Oh, you’re here!”
Rubens waved energetically when he saw them.
He even got off the sofa and approached them.
“That salary account—you guys started it first, right?”
He pulled out his own salary account book from his back pocket. It was slightly crumpled, filled with records of his labor.
“We’ve been earning pocket money with this lately.”
“Oh, good job!”
Nibelia praised him loudly.
“We did it earlier! Rubens is kind of slow!”
“You’re so cheeky! But you’re cute, so I’ll let it slide!”
Rubens laughed, then turned to Aref and asked—
