***
Halbert walked over with his eyes wide open when I asked him to come in.
“Good morning, My Lady.”
“Yeah, this doesn’t seem to be a good morning for Halbert.”
“…I couldn’t sleep well.”
The act of pressing the nose bridge and talking seemed tiring.
It wasn’t that I was upset, it was like he didn’t seem to sleep at all.
“It’s not a big deal, but Archeus is coming to the mansion today.”
“Archeus”?
“He is the exclusive wizard of the Philemon family. He is called to find out about amnesiac of His Excellency”
“Did Edlade call him?”
“Yes, I invited him when I first found out, and now He is here…….”
As if muttering with an irritated voice, he said, ‘I think slugs will be faster than him.’
It wasn’t that I couldn’t understand Halbert’s mind, so I laughed awkwardly.
“Is there anything I can help with?”
“… There is not much. It’s because he is someone you don’t know coming to the mansion. Archeus was a vassal of the Philemon family before he was a wizard. He’s still young, so he might be rude to you, My Lady…”
“……”
“If that’s the case, Will he be very harsh to me?”
“It’s hard enough.”
“He is arrogant.”
Halbert sighed and shook his head. “I will warn him, but he is a slow-witted man in this.”
His words were a concern for me.
It was disrespect and insult to the hostess for the former vassal, wizard to say or do anything rude.
There were cases where the hostess, who was married to the family, was bullied by the vassals if they didn’t like her.
It was a shame to not receive the trust of the vassals, so the hostess was the one who had no choice but to endure being bullied.
“I won’t consider it a shame if he acts or talks like that.”
“……I’m sorry, My Lady.”
“No matter what Archeus says, I won’t be hurt, so don’t worry too much.”
“…….MY Lady is so kind.”
“Oh?”
“Because you always say it’s okay.”
I smiled shallowly.
In the office full of warm air, Halbert bowed his head with a still tired face.
“So I just feel sorry.”
Because of Edlade’s memory, Halbert would always apologize to me as if he was a sinner.
Maybe it’s because of me that he loses his memory every day.
“Halbert, there is nothing to apologize for.”
“…… Is that so?”
“Because I’m already happy just getting out of there.”
Halbert knew me better than anyone in the mansion, so he knew exactly where I was talking about ‘there’.
Getting out of the Rayburn family was like getting out of brutal abuse.
“Then I’ll take care of that on my own…”
I told a short story about what happened at the Clover top yesterday.
“Zaran said they sell things that no one else sells. He asked me to deliver that message to Edlade.”
At those words, Halbert’s expression stiffened for a brief moment.
I’m glad that message was delivered properly.
“And I wrote a blank check that I took yesterday.”
“You can use as much as you like. You are the hostess of the family. Please feel free to spend as much as you want.”
“….What if I use it up?”
Speaking as a joke, Halbert stood still with a serious face and pulled a notebook from his arms.
“You can use it all.”
“…..”
“It’s the money I’ve saved up hoping that my Lady will spend it profusely.”
He jokingly uttered the words and put the notebook on the desk.
It was a blank checkbook of the Philemon family.
“Even if you use it profusely, there will be no damage to the family, so you can rest assured.”
Edlade was the richest man in the empire, that’s about it.
How?
Edlade was doing something I didn’t know about in my previous life??
“…Keep it with you. I don’t need that much.”
“From now on, My Lady will take care of it. For me, it’s something that only weighs the coat.”
“……”
“Do you have more to say?”
“Ah, that… The material for the accessories I wore at the last ball, did you give to Engel?”
“Yes.”
“I heard it is a hard-to-find item.”
“It wasn’t something Your Excellency couldn’t get.”
That’s right.
After all, it was something within the Empire.
“…Wasn’t that expensive? I heard that it was an item that they had at the Top Clover. I heard that they don’t sell things if they don’t want to, no matter how much money we give…
I was worried that it might be too much.
Of course, a while ago, he casually handed me a blank check and told me to use it as much as I wanted. ‘Because he’s the Duke of Philemon.’
“……Alas.”
I accepted the short answer. There must have been no reason not to sell it because a great family gave him a huge amount of money.
“But wouldn’t Edlade say it as a waste if he finds out later on?”
“…. Waste?”
“It’s kind of bad to spend too much money on useless things.”
“……”
“If Edlade knew, he’d think I am an extravagant woman who spends the family’s fortune.”
Halbert distorted his face as if he had heard the most bizarre sound in the world.
Then I thought for a moment, scratched my temple, and said.
“Your Excellency asked why you don’t have enough money to spend.”
“Huh?”
“Even though it is a relationship of political marriage, he allowed you to use the money to protect the face as a hostess.”
“…Uhh.”
“But he said you only spend as much money as the antennae of an ant.” [TL: A drop in an ocean.]
“Ant……”
“I think there is a misunderstanding, so I will tell you.”
Halbert sighed as he put on a serious face.
He was wondering how to speak.
I blinked in surprise at Halbert’s words.
Edlade said that?
We didn’t see each other, so I didn’t know what he was ordering to Halbert or what interest he had in me.
Yesterday, when we suddenly met, I couldn’t sleep because I didn’t know why Edlade was acting like that last night, and I tossed and turned for a long time.
“So… My Lady.”
“Yes?”
“You said you were very extravagant yesterday, right?”
“Yes, I was.”
I bought more than ten expensive jewels, and I also bought several crafted ornaments.
It was a lot of money considering that Zaran’s mouth was wide open.
“That would be an accurate analogy.”
“What do you mean?”
“The money you spent yesterday is as much money as your Excellency mentioned about the antennae of an ant.”
“……”
“So you can rest assured that even if you do your shopping every day like yesterday, the family’s fortune will not be damaged.”
“Well…”
“My Lady, this is my wish… Please, be extravagant.”
I nodded my head as I watched Halbert casually spit the word ‘please’ with a serious face.
The Philemon family was not like this to me, considering the memories of my past life.
Of course, for one year, I was confined to the bedroom, imagining myself and trembling, and for another year, I lived a life full of boundaries, awkwardly shaking my body.
Wasn’t that why I was often called by Conzel?
I was relatively free for the first half and the other half, I was in love with Edlade until the last day.
So for me, the memories of last year were the best.
The last terrible memories remained, but before that, there were at least a lot of good things that were sweet and memorable.
Looking back, the Philemon family seemed to be falling apart from the beginning of that last year.
He didn’t carry a blank checkbook in this way, and the mansion remained the same, but Edlade often went outside to work.
Halbert’s words were false. I don’t remember when the Philemon family was fine.
I really didn’t know anything.
“Then, My Lady, do you have anything more to order?”
“……No, it’s okay now.”
I leaned back comfortably in the chair as I watched Halbert bow and leave.
Through these trivial conversations, I realize things you didn’t know.
It wasn’t a good realization as before.
A bad realization.
I wasn’t comfortable with how stupid I was.
“Now that I know.”
I just shouldn’t do stupid things like last life.
And I will not watch the Philemon family collapse like that.
In order to protect Edlade, the Philemon family must not collapse.
“Come to think of it, I still don’t know what’s in the Capella territory.”
Who knows?
It will be ambiguous to ask Harbert.
Because there was nothing to answer if he asked back how I knew about it.
In particular, it was said that the Rayburns were on their side to help the Archduke, so I should pay attention.
‘There are more restrictions than I thought.’
I also wanted to go to the information guild to get information, and I needed someone to act on my behalf.
“Ummm…”
No one could come to mind. A person who is trustworthy enough to act like a limb never betrays, and is unlikely to divulge secrets.
“Let’s think about this a little more.”
I didn’t remember all of the past three years clearly, so I put it off for a while.
****
Archeus never doubted that he was a genius.
At the age of fifteen, he possessed vast natural magical powers comparable to his grandfathers, who studied till their gray hair grew sparsely, and he thought that a genius with a brain that was good enough to calculate his formulas at once in a short amount of time.
‘It would be nice to be a genius of the century.’
He clearly had the idea that when he became an adult, he would become a great wizard who would fill the pages of history.
Yes, he never doubted that.
There was no magic he couldn’t do, no secret words he couldn’t crack.
“What do you think? Okay?”
Halbert asked from the side as if to urge.
Archeus wanted to be annoyed for not being able to concentrate, but he couldn’t open his mouth because he was trying to know the answer.
The cold sweat on his forehead was the first embarrassment he had ever felt in his life.
“Stop.”
In the end, Archeus lowered his hand at Edlade’s words, who was still accepting mana.
Even after collecting mana, the uncomfortable feeling did not go away.
“What? You don’t know?”
Archeus was furious at Halbert’s cry.
“You haven’t answered yet!”
“You said you didn’t know”.
“Do you think I’m you?”
“How dare you!”
“Bro! I don’t use names like that for people who are shorter than me.”
“Your Excellency, this man… Permit me to beat him…”
“Your Excellency cares for me!”
Blood rose on Halbert’s forehead looking at the act of sticking his tongue out.
He only clenched his fists because permission wasn’t given.
Archeus pouted his lips and put a cookie into his mouth.
“It’s a power I don’t know. It’s the first time I’ve felt the power. It’s similar to the divine power, but it’s different.”
“What is that?”
“I’m thinking about it!”
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Edlade held his chin and said while the two complained in anger.
“Is it similar to the magic power in my body?”
“Your Excellency!”
Halbert exclaimed in surprise.