LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 167
TLed by NolepGuy
Chapter 167
Today, the Young Lady’s room was peaceful as always.
“One… two… three.”
Sitting at the table for the first time in a while, the Young Lady and I were focused, basking in the warm afternoon sunlight, as she counted the payment she had received from Malik for her Academy work.
The more the empty money pouch filled up, the higher her lips curled.
“Hehehehe…!”
“Young Lady, your laughter sounds like that of a tax-evading noble.”
“It’s money I don’t have to pay taxes on…!”
“That statement just now makes you sound so much like a villainess.”
“It’s fine because I am a villainess.”
The Young Lady smiled a satisfied smile as she diligently counted her money.
“Hehe… one hundred chocolates.”
Watching the Young Lady chuckle as she fiddled with the platinum coins, I corrected her misconception.
“Young Lady.”
“Hmm?”
“Please don’t underestimate platinum coins.”
“Why?”
“Just one hundred chocolates?”
Scoffing at the idea of one hundred chocolates, I picked up a platinum coin from the table and displayed it in my palm, holding it up in front of the Young Lady’s eyes like an ASMR YouTuber from my previous life. With confidence, I declared loudly.
“With a little exaggeration, you could buy a thousand of them.”
“Hiiiik!”
At the mention of a thousand, the Young Lady dropped the platinum coin she was holding. As the coin rolled on the floor with a “degururu” sound, her eyes followed its movement.
“A thousand?!”
“Even if it’s not a thousand, you could buy more than a hundred.”
As the value of the coin skyrocketed from one hundred to a thousand, the Young Lady’s eyes began to tremble even more.
Letting out an exaggerated “Hooo,” the Young Lady exclaimed.
“If I sew a thousand teddy bear eyes, can I earn one of these?”
“No.”
“What about ten thousand?”
“Hmm… probably not even then.”
Realizing that the amount was unattainable through a side job, the Young Lady snorted loudly and stared intently at the platinum coin.
“Hooo…”
The Young Lady was locked in a staring contest with the First Emperor engraved on the coin.
“Hooo…”
Money really is a wonderful thing.
The Young Lady was still staring. It seemed she was trying to determine whether this coin truly deserved the role of being worth a thousand chocolates. Unable to easily let it go, she bit into the platinum coin with an “ang” and nodded with a pleasant smile.
No, wait.
Should I say it was a sinister smile?
The Young Lady, now wearing a smile that would suit a thief, began to glance at me.
“Ricardo…”
“Yes.”
“You know…”
Drawing out her words and trying to divert my attention, the Young Lady sneakily glanced at the platinum coins on the corner of the table while her fingers wriggled toward them. Watching her, I smiled.
‘It’s way too obvious.’
The Young Lady, who looked down on someone from the slums like me, was underestimating me. I observed her attempted theft with a satisfied smile.
-Sneak.
After gauging my reaction, the Young Lady spoke again.
“How many gold coins does it take to turn into a white one?”
“A hundred.”
“Oh…”
“So if I gather a hundred, they’ll turn into a white coin?”
My hard-earned salary was already heading toward the Young Lady’s treasure pouch. As her hand, like that of Lupin, reached for the coins, I smiled faintly and replied.
“That’s correct. If you work really hard and save up a hundred, you can exchange them for a white coin.”
“I’ve only ever used white ones, so I wouldn’t know.”
“That certainly sounds like a villainess’s perspective.”
“But, Young Lady.”
“Hmm?”
“Do I look like a green-haired head to you?”
“Squid legs?”
“No.”
I smiled slightly and grabbed the Young Lady’s wrist. Startled, her shoulders flinched.
Being careful not to leave a mark on her small, delicate wrist, I gently placed her trembling hand on the table, all while looking into her eyes.
My hand brushed against the treasure pouch during the process, but I pretended not to notice to preserve the Lady’s self-esteem. It was definitely not because I was embarrassed.
The Young Lady looked down at her clenched fist on the table and said.
“N-no!”
“I haven’t even said anything yet.”
“Th-that!”
Watching the Young Lady glance at the window and feign ignorance, I became certain. Even though her tone resembled that of an actor from my previous life who made gambling amusement popular, what could I do?
That guy lost his arm, and I have no intention of losing mine.
I cleaned up the table with a cruel smile.
“The Young Lady must have placed a white bottle cap in the money pouch.”
Feeling something foreign in the pouch as I rummaged through it, I smiled.
With a “thud,” I placed the foreign object on the table, letting it roll naturally toward the Young Lady.
A white bottle cap.
The Young Lady’s eyes began to tremble violently.
“Am I right?”
“Stop making up stories! Ricardo, you must have seen wrong!”
“Ehh… We can only know for sure if the Young Lady opens her hand.”
“Hiiiik!”
The Young Lady couldn’t lie.
When she lied, she always looked at the window.
Her eyebrows trembled slightly.
After serving the Young Lady as her butler for thirteen years, it would be absurd for me not to know these things.
Her face practically screamed, ‘I’m lying.’ With confidence, I declared.
“I bet all the money on the table and a 130-Gold Bath Bomb that the Young Lady is holding a platinum coin.”
“Eeeek…”
The Young Lady clenched her fist tightly and glared at me. Her trembling, flustered gaze made me smile involuntarily, but…
“Then I’ll bet a week’s worth of chocolates!”
“That’s my money, though.”
“Eeeek! Lend it to me!”
“Sure.”
The Young Lady’s spirited response made my heart flutter slightly.
‘Did I bet too much…?’
No.
Looking at the Young Lady’s face, I was certain. Even though I momentarily lost focus on the treasure pouch that wavered slightly, I couldn’t back out of the bet for something so trivial.
And as her butler, concerned for her well-being, I couldn’t let it go.
“A week is too little.”
“It’s not little!”
“Let’s make it two weeks.”
“No way!”
“Are you nervous?”
“Eeeek! No!”
Clenching her fist tightly, the Young Lady accepted the bet, spurred on by a single word that could provoke anyone in the world.
Now that the conditions were set to see the sharp expression on the Young Lady’s face, I began to open her trembling fist while watching her quivering eyes.
“Kkung Jjak Jjak. Kkung Jjak Jjak.”
Humming a little tune, I started to pry open her tightly clenched fist, beginning with her pinky finger.
“Shall we take a look?”
I smiled as I looked at the coin tightly held in the Young Lady’s hand. As always, I was confident in my victory and prepared to tease her.
“Huh? It’s a gold coin?”
An unexpected friend greeted me.
The Young Lady looked at me with a bright smile. Her eyes sparkled with the rush of dopamine as she gazed at the gold coin in her palm, while I stared at the same spot with a defeated expression.
“No… This shouldn’t be here.”
The Young Lady smiled as she spoke.
Like a protagonist in a movie, she elegantly pulled a piece of chocolate from her treasure pouch and said,
“Fool. Ricardo, you idiot.”
Watching her chew on the chocolate, I thought to myself,
‘When did she take it…?’
I was sure I saw her take it.
Could it be…!
‘There’s no way she could fool the eyes of a swordsman on the verge of becoming a Sword Master.’ At that moment, I recalled a brief lapse in concentration.
-Eeeek! Stop it!
‘Was it then?’
Did she switch it when my eyes were drawn to the swaying treasure pouch for just a moment? Admittedly, as a man, it was a position I couldn’t help but notice. I had no choice but to acknowledge my mistake.
As if affirming my thoughts, I noticed a glimmering white coin peeking out from between the Young Lady’s treasure pouch as she swept the platinum coins piled on the table into it.
‘As expected.’
So, a villainess is still a villainess after all.
I nodded in defeat and simultaneously grabbed the Young Lady’s hand with a smile.
“There’s still something left to check, though.”
“Hiccup…!”
“The treasure pouch.”
“I… I won!”
Seeing the Young Lady freeze with a hiccup, I spoke with a chilling smile.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Eeeek! Gomtangi!”
-Grr!
“Bite!”
-Grr…
The Young Lady shouted as she watched Gomtangi lie back down, resting her chin on her paw.
“You stupid dog!”
“It’s not a dog, it’s a bear.”
“But Ricardo called it a dog last time!”
“It’s grown too big to be called a dog now.”
“Eeeek!”
As I tickled her, a platinum coin fell out of the Young Lady’s treasure pouch, and she awkwardly laughed as she said,
“How about trading it for one piece of chocolate?”
“I’ll limit it to three days.”
“Eeeek! But I won!”
“Isn’t that a rather underhanded method?”
“No, it’s not!”
It was a day that made me laugh.
Of course.
“Take it if you can!”
Due to the Young Lady’s stubbornness in putting a platinum coin into her treasure pouch and daring me to take it, there was an unexpected expense.
Still.
“Ah… I lost.”
It was an amusing day.
*
After the fierce bet ended, evening arrived.
Under the moonlight, Olivia began rummaging through her treasure pouch.
“Hmm.”
Out came a piece of chocolate.
Then a gold coin.
And then some candy she had been saving.
When her fingers brushed against something, Olivia smiled brightly and pulled out a white platinum coin under the moonlight.
“Wow…!”
A thousand chocolates, just like that.
Seeing the platinum coin she hadn’t used in a long time brought back a fresh sense of nostalgia. It had been a while since she last touched it, and it was, after all, her wealth.
“Hehe…”
Olivia cherished this money.
Not because she could buy a thousand chocolates with it, but because it was money Ricardo had earned through hard work. Even though it was Ricardo’s money, Olivia treasured the coin, thinking she might be able to pay off some of his unpaid salary if she saved it up little by little.
“With this, it’s one thousand one hundred and twenty gold…!”
What should she do with this money?
As much as she loved snacks, she wasn’t a pig who only ate chocolate. She wanted to give a gift to the butler who was always by her side.
After all, he had earned a lot of money.
One gift wouldn’t hurt, right…?
“Since Ricardo is weak, should I buy him some medicine?”
Now that there was nothing to hide, she wondered if it would be okay to hide in the wardrobe again. At the same time, she worried whether he might find it tiresome since she’d already done it once before.
-Whoooosh~
At the sound of a chilling wind that seemed like a ghost might appear, Olivia pulled the blanket over her head and closed her eyes.
“Eek!”
It seemed like tonight, she would have to sleep with Ricardo.
“Ricaaardooo!”
And then.
-Ding.
Darkness descended once more.