‘Lonely.’ I’ve only been living as Chersenia for ten days, so I’ve never thought about being lonely at all. Rather, I spent every minute of my days in anger, in particular, at the witch, Chersenia, who was accustomed to live by herself after losing her parents at the tender age of 15. Maybe that’s why she was used to being by herself.
“Well, not really?”
His eyes trembled slightly at her answer. He seems quite surprised to hear that she said no. Before long he nodded as if he had accepted.
“I see, you’re strong. Miss Chersenia…….”
“Just call me Chersenia.”
I’m not used to any honorifics, so I said it lightly.
“Oh, yes. Chersenia …”
He mumbled her name. It contained envy of what he did not have. Chersenia caught a shadow as it fell upon his face in his eyes.
‘No. Name …’
It reminded Chersenia of a dead face without a name. Strangely, her chest became heavy.
It was a pity for the one who didn’t have what others had. A week from now, she brought the money back with him as collateral when she returns him back. If she were to give him affection, it would break his heart once they have to part ways.
‘But you’ll need a name to call while I keep him.’
‘Hey, you, there. I can’t keep calling him like that. Yeah.’
Chersenia made a decision after finishing her self rationalization.
So she talked to him, while pondering on a good name.
“You should have a name, too. “
She could see herself in his dark eyes.
“Name ……?”
“Yes, a name. You should have one, too.”
“I’ve never had one before… …” Like a sad puppy, he dropped his shoulders.
“Wow, that’s drawing a lot of compassion.’
Anyone who saw this must have felt a hundred hearts broken at once.1
Chersenia, pressing hard on her stuffy chest, continued.
“Well, what about Ben?”1
This was the only name that came to her mind right now. A name that is simple to call and can be easily memorized. But it’s his first name, and she’s wondering if it was too simple.
“It’s Ben…?”
He spoke with a wistful look.
“Oh, you don’t like it? Then … “
“Oh, no! It’s good.”
All right, Ben. He cut off Chersenia in a hurry and shouted. She must have been pretty good at naming. Somehow a sense of pride came to Chersenia.
“Yes, and so from now on your name is Ben.”
“……”
As if to respond, Ben bent his eyes like a crescent moon and smiled vaguely. His figure was as noble as an angel carved inside the cathedral. Chersenia was momentarily enchanted by Ben’s laughter. Ben grinned as he flushed his cheeks at Chersenia.
***
Entering the currency exchange, Viscount Montenegro was shocked at the sight of their banner. The desk was split in two, the flowerpot was broken on the floor, and the chair was smashed. Literally a mess. He came back thinking she’d gone by now, but it looked like a thief had entered.
“What happened!”
The staff Lewis, who was keeping his seat, was sitting on the floor like a fool. The viscount grabbed Lewis by the shoulder and shook him.
“You’re not getting yourself together! What happened!”
His focusless gaze towards the air seemed to be distracted by external stimuli.
“Come on!”
Louis recognized his own work and was about to cry. Viscount Montenegro was anxious to see if the employee’s response was truly being done by a thief.
‘By any chance…?’ He remembered putting important documents in the safe. He hurriedly took ten iron out of his inner pocket and opened the safe of his broken desk. The vault contained all the original documents, including a certificate of permission for gambling houses and land contracts.
“It wasn’t a thief?’ Viscount Montenegro rose in small relief. Louis only got up from the floor and was warming up.
“What happened?”
“Well, that woman….”
“The woman?”
His eyebrows shook. The woman he is talking about now may be the woman who would help bring his business into bankruptcy. Viscount Montenegro invested quite a lot of money and time to build this gambling site and make it legal. They poured almost all of the money they had to lobby the new officials so that the emperor agreed to his proposal, which incurred debts.
A year is no small measure. After a year’s effort, he obtained the emperor’s approval and created a legal gambling house. Of course, he had to pay a certain portion of his income in taxes, but it was enough to rig the profits he will earn after that. But right now though, he didn’t have any income since the gambling house was just opened.
And somehow, a woman made a jackpot today. A woman who has popped three jackpots in one sitting position. When converted into money, the chips won were over 30 million shillings. He has no income earned yet, and even has debt, he would completely be left bankrupt if he exchanged 30 million shillings. So he ran away. He wouldn’t let a woman destroy everything he had achieved.
(t/n: Please read this at wattpad: themisslatte)
Once he fled and sent the woman back, he later would hire a man so that she would never come here again. But why does his employee Lewis talk about the woman as if he was facing fear?
“Heh, she turned this place upside down…”
Little bit of Lewis, who was shivering, spilled it out of favor.
“You couldn’t deal with just one woman.”
The Viscount blamed Louis. You can’t catch a skinny girl and make the currency exchange hall look like this. He felt the need to tighten his guard.
“That’s not it! She’s a total lunatic. She cut the desk in two with one foot, even using strange power. “
When he saw Louis stamping his feet as if he was falsely accused, he glared at him.
“Strange power?”
“Yes! It’s a strange force! All of a sudden, the wind blew around her, and the atmosphere suddenly became extremely hot! How can there be wind in this secret room!”
It didn’t make sense that the wind was blowing in the closed room with no windows. However, when the viscount saw him wanting to justify himself, he touched his chin. He was an employee who had planned to build a gambling house with him even though he had a long time to bring his plan into fruition. He has never told a lie before, so what the hell is that strange power?
I’ve never heard of it before. I felt strange from the first time I saw her, but I thought she was just a woman with an outstanding appearance.
“Her red eyes glowed like it was burning…” (t/n: Leonia?)3
‘It wouldn’t hurt to investigate.’
Viscount shed a glance and pushed the back of Lewis’ trembling body ordering him to clean the room.
He lowered his heavy ass on the family sofa and looked back in the room. The desk, chair, and pot were the only things broken.
‘Well… ?’
But something was lacking. As if he was looking for something, he turned his head and looked through the room.
“Where’s the slave?”
He couldn’t see the slave he bought a day ago. These days the nobility was slowly going against the Empire about slavery. So he took him to the currency exchange, not to his house. Lewis, who was sweeping the pot, hesitated. Feeling suspicious of him, the Viscount asked again.
“Where’s the slave?”
“Well, that’s what I told you …There was no way to stop the woman…….”
“So?”
I gave him as collateral.
“So I gave him instead…”
After Lewis’s words, he threw a cushion on the sofa. Montenegro’s face rose red in an instant.
“How dare you! Do you know what it was!”
Lewis, who was hit with a cushion on his face, apologized lying on the floor.
“I’m sorry, Sir……… but there is no way to stop her………..”
“I don’t want to hear it! Where’s she gone to?”
Breathing roughly like the sound of a beast, he jumped out of his seat as if he could not bear his anger anymore. What kind of slave is he? He was a pearl-like treasure in the mud found in the slave market. The slave was a gift to Count Netty, who was famous for his backing in the aristocracy. Count Netty was one of the great nobles of the Empire, and the fact that he enjoyed the secret service was a public fact in the dark. He was especially fond of the young and handsome, so he had to overdo it because it was a perfect bribery case to please him.
Viscount Montenegro was desperate for help at a time when he was wasting his entire fortune and even in debt to build a gambling house. The child was spotted in the slave market just in time. He was the perfect slave to present to the Count. He even wrote a letter to the count with confidence saying he’d bring a gift to him, but how dare he send it to her. He grated his own kin.1
As if chewing on the bones of an animal, a raspy sound flowed from his own mouth. The chilling sound made the employee shiver flatter to the point where his nose touched the floor.
“I don’t know where she went………but she said she’d come for the money in a week, so I’m sure she’d bring him back then! “
“Shut up! You useless bastard, find her now and bring the slave now!”
“Yes, yes, yes!”
When the tsunami-like anger of his boss struck, Lewis boiled down and rushed out of the exchange currency room. He threw the rest of the cushions on the couch with unbearable rage. The cushion has fallen to the floor. Surely as long as she has taken the slave as collateral, the woman will not give up the slave unless he gives her the money.
He didn’t have a chance to pay her a penny, but she had to bring the slave. Just in a week the Viscount has to find a way to bring Count Netty his slave.
“There’s no other way then.”
There was the only way to take both. The light of life passed through his eyes.
*****
T/n: From this point onwards, her name would be written as Chersenia since it’s more fitting with the original.