chapter 3
“Mom, here’s the newspaper!”
“Thank you.”
Nivellia, still in her pajamas, delivered the morning paper and asked,
“Mom, can you be my guarantor?”
“Looks like you’ve learned something new again?”
Celetina smiled.
“I asked Dad, but he refused….”
“Being a guarantor is very scary. You shouldn’t ask others for that lightly. A truly admirable person pays off their own debts.”
“So that’s how it is?”
“That’s how it is.”
“I guess there’s no choice….”
As payment for completing her errand, Nivellia pulled out her debt deduction sheet.
“Please stick one on.”
On the sheet was a large drawing of a bunch of grapes. Each time she completed a task, adults would place a purple sticker on one grape.
Once she filled all 128, her debt would be cleared.
“You delivered the newspaper, so I’ll give you one sticker.”
“Can I have two?”
“No.”
“Mom is so cold.”
“So your catchphrase now is ‘so cold,’ huh?”
“‘Life is tough’ is also my catchphrase!”
“…Who did you learn that from?”
Celetina placed one sticker on the sheet.
Looking at the still half-empty sheet, Nivellia’s face showed how daunting the task was.
“Sigh… earning other people’s money isn’t easy.”
Pfft—!
Celetina, who had been drinking tea while reading, suddenly choked.
“Mom! What’s wrong?!”
“Cough—!”
“Mom’s dying! Mom is dying!!”
Nivellia quickly called the staff waiting outside.
For helping in an emergency, she earned another sticker.
“I hope Mom gets sick again!”
“….”
Celetina, having barely recovered, simply smiled silently.
A child’s innocent malice could sometimes be cruel.
* * *
Nivellia continued her efforts to repay her debt.
She ate her meals properly, picked up trash when she saw it, and gathered fallen twigs in the garden.
“What if we sell the leftover cookies?” Dether suggested.
“The leftovers?”
“If you sell all the cookies, you can turn that money into stickers and put them on your sheet. You’ll pay off your debt quickly.”
“There’s such a method?!”
Nivellia hurried back to her room and brought out the remaining cookies.
All 19 unsold packs were still in the box.
“Why not sell them to the staff in the mansion? The cookies help relieve fatigue.”
“That’s right! When you eat them, your tiredness disappears!”
“What price should we set?”
“25,000 Uva per cookie.”
Smart Nivellia hadn’t forgotten Kaleo’s advice.
“Then 3 cookies is, um….”
“75,000 Uva.”
“Waaah…!”
She didn’t fully understand, but it sounded like a huge amount.
After clumsily counting on her fingers, a dark smile appeared on her face.
“If I sell like this and get rich… I can rule the world!”
“Our lady has grand ambitions.”
“If you rule the world, you become king.”
“I see.”
“And if you rule the king, you become a saint!”
“So the saint is the strongest.”
“Yep!”
Putting the cookies into a round basket, Nivellia walked around the mansion selling them.
“Buy!”
“…Pardon?”
“Buy! I said buy!”
“My lady, that’s not how you sell things.”
After calming her down from blocking a servant’s path, Dether demonstrated.
“Hello, this is the bankrupt Meow Shop. We’re clearing out stock, so please take a look. Cheap prices.”
“Oh, a clearance sale.”
The servant nodded, recalling the news.
“How much?”
“3 cookies for 75,000 Uva.”
“…Excuse me?”
The servant glanced at the cookies.
Three small, unattractive cookies for nearly 80,000 Uva—about the price of a portion of beef.
“These aren’t ordinary cookies,” Dether explained.
“They’re effective for headaches, toothaches, menstrual pain, stomachaches, and back pain.”
“I… I’m a man, so I don’t need the menstrual pain part….”
“But you have a head and back, right? It’s also good for your wrists.”
“…Are these really cookies?”
Price was the biggest problem.
“…Hing.”
Sensing failure, Nivellia’s shoulders drooped.
Just as the servant was about to apologize—
“Ah, wait.”
He took something out of his pocket.
“Would this work?”
It was a purple circular sticker—the exact kind used on Nivellia’s debt sheet.
“Oh!”
Her eyes widened.
“The madam gave me this this morning. Could I pay with three of these?”
“That works! Stickers work!”
“Then I’ll exchange these for the cookies.”
“You can give more stickers if you want!”
“Madam said only three.”
Nivellia quickly held out her sheet, and the servant placed three stickers on it before taking the cookies.
“My lady,” Dether gestured.
“Thank you for buying!”
Nivellia bowed deeply.
The servant bowed back.
“No, I wish you prosperity.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means ‘earn lots of money.’”
“Then will you be my guarantor?”
“…No.”
“I see….”
Encouraged, Nivellia worked hard, trading cookies for stickers.
Some tried to bargain down the price, but she firmly stood her ground.
“This is Nini’s pride.”
“Oh my, you even know the word ‘pride’? That’s a difficult one.”
A green-haired maid giggled while placing stickers.
“Pride is like a person’s legs. You need it to stand tall. Without it, you’ll collapse someday.”
“I like how you sometimes say cool things.”
“If you like me, will you be my guarantor?”
“Not that much.”
“…Oh.”
Her once daunting sheet was now more than half filled. Only two cookie packs remained.
“Hehe!”
Nivellia beamed.
“I don’t have to work as hard now!”
“You still need to repay your debt.”
Dether looked into the basket.
“Two left—shall we keep selling?”
“Mm-mm.”
Shaking her head, Nivellia tucked them into her pocket.
“I’ll give them to my brother. And Grandma and Grandpa too.”
* * *
Nivellia was the youngest in a large family of three generations living together.
Grandparents, parents, and an older brother.
She also had an aunt traveling somewhere, but she didn’t remember her.
Her older brother was ten years old.
Unlike Nivellia’s white hair, he had red hair like their father and grandfather, and green eyes like their mother.
Nivellia loved her brother very much.
“Nini!”
“Hissss!”
But when he suddenly appeared loudly, she hissed at him.
Startled, she scrambled into a corner, baring her tiny teeth.
“Hiss! Hiss!”
“Nini, calm down. It’s your brother.”
Solace Deiamor, used to this, gently calmed her.
Dether, watching, thought he looked like a beast tamer.
Though the “beast” was adorably harmless.
“Did I scare you? Sorry. I rushed because I wanted to see you.”
“……”
“Do you recognize me now? Are you okay?”
“Brother!”
Nivellia jumped up and swung her fists.
“You scared me! Idiot! Idiot!”
Solace let her hit him once, dodged the rest, and hugged her.
She wrapped her arms around him too.
“Have you been well? Did you miss me?”
“Not really, but I like you!”
Despite her earlier anger, she now giggled happily.
“Where were you?”
“I was in the forest looking at mushrooms. I found poisonous ones and made medicine. It was fun.”
“Poisonous mushrooms are dangerous! If you eat them, you’re done for!”
“Done for?”
They walked hand in hand.
Dether asked,
“What kinds did you find?”
“Not many—it’s spring. Yellow mushrooms, funnel mushrooms….”
“They grow more in summer and autumn.”
“But I found something rare.”
Solace suddenly made a scary face and leaned close to Nivellia.
She quickly pulled her finger out of her nose.
“A pink mushroom!”
“Pink?!”
“It was beautiful—but extremely poisonous.”
“Wow….”
Nivellia nodded seriously.
“Want to see it? I brought it for you.”
* * *
In the living room, the adults were already discussing the mushroom.
“It really looks like deer antlers.”
“Don’t touch it—it’s highly toxic.”
“Shall we sell it?”
“Of course. Set a high price.”
“Nini is here!”
The adults turned at Solace’s voice.
“Nini!”
Nivellia raised both arms high to announce her presence.
