TLEDH | 40

TLEDH

Chapter 40

Hoo.

Remembering the last few hours, which had been like a storm, sweat seeped down my back, and my whole body felt like it was going limp again.

“Honestly, when the young lady shouted ‘100 gold coins!’ at the end! Her whole body was trembling, you know? I clearly bought the dagger for 2 gold coins, so she only had 28 gold coins in her pocket, but she just went ahead and said 100! When she did that, my vision really went dark.”

Pell recounted the story as if telling a heroic tale, clutching his forehead.

“Wow, this young lady really has no sense… I mean, uh.”
“Pell!”

In an instant, as if realizing his mistake, Pell shut his mouth tightly and looked at me, gauging my reaction. I turned my head to meet the gazes of Pell and Hail.

A fool with no sense.
He’s right. Well.

I nodded as if to say it was okay.

“He’s right, but still.”

It’s true that I made a reckless bid without thinking.

Maybe if I hadn’t seen that crazy pig, I wouldn’t have gotten so excited.

But what could I do? The person who kept intercepting my bids looked exactly like the description in the novel: fat and greedy.

‘Since I’ve started, I have to go all out.’

“I thought 30 gold coins would be enough. But 100 gold coins…”
Pell shook his head vigorously.
“Honestly, that’s probably the highest price ever in that slave trading auction hall? I honestly thought the child with white skin and silver hair would go for more.”
“Ah.”

Who bought that child, again?

But since that auction took place before Jayden’s, that pig who couldn’t get him probably didn’t win her as a consolation prize, right?

‘If only I had the money.’

I could have saved them all.

Gold coins, gold coins. Money. Money. Money!

Yeah, I think it’s about time I start thinking about how to make money.

‘I need to list things I can do as soon as I get to Oné.’

Nothing can be done without money, right?

And in Oné, I’ll be more free than staying in the mansion, and Grandfather might even like me taking initiative like that.

After all, sending me to Oné to mingle among the commoners probably had that meaning.

‘Grandfather also did business in Oné.’

So, me making money would probably be seen as a positive.

Of course, I plan to keep my official activities and my secret funds separate.

Just in case, for any unforeseen situation, I need to have some secret funds, no, emergency funds, right?

“But what did you do about the remaining amount?”
“Ah. That. I borrowed it.”
“From whom…?”

Hail blinked his eyes, wondering who I could have borrowed such a large sum from, considering my very presence here was a secret. Under his puzzled gaze, I just smiled back with an expression that said I couldn’t believe it either.

‘Young Lady.’

I didn’t know either.
I never expected to meet *him* there.
Haha. Ha!

* * *

“100 gold coins.”
“Yikes!”

I shouted the bid instead of the fidgeting Pell.

Of course, it’s true that I bid first and thought later.

I couldn’t let that pig take Jayden away from me.

I thought of my allowance and the land that was my share.

If I used them as collateral, I could probably borrow about 100 gold coins from the bank.

I had used up the maximum amount I could, but I had no regrets.

Because it was Jayden.

A child connected to me by a strand from my past life, a thread of fate.

‘Yeah, let’s just think about how well Jayden treated me.’

I shouldn’t regret it.

My chest felt strangely empty, but for now, I held back my tears, swallowing them hard, and hugged the dagger.

Then, as I turned to go get Jayden-
“Young Lady.”

‘Huh?’

A voice that shouldn’t be heard here reached my ears.

‘I’m screwed.’

That was the first thought that popped into my head at that moment.

Followed by, ‘Should I run?’ But Pell’s face was too much like Hail’s to lie to, and Bennet must have had his own certainty when he called out to me.

Therefore.

“Hello, Bennet.”

It meant, ‘Running would be pointless anyway.’

I smiled widely, looked back at him, and waved.

His hood was still up, so I had to tilt my head back a bit more to look up at him, but I could recognize him just by the clothes he was wearing.

“Shall we go out for now?”
“But first, I need to get Jayde… I mean, that child.”
“I’ll handle it.”

He then turned his head to Failen, who was standing behind him, and told him to bring the child, then gently pushed my back to guide me out.

“Hey, did you buy somethi…?”

The man who had guided me raised his hand, expressing his delight, but upon seeing Bennet’s fierce expression next to me, he immediately shut his mouth and pretended not to see us, hiding back into the shadows.

For a guy that big to react like that…

‘Bennet must be really angry.’

Honestly, I had never seen his angry face before, so I couldn’t quite picture it, but judging by the atmosphere, it seemed to rival Grandfather’s.

‘Hmm.’

I thought, ‘Oh well,’ and turned my body, pushing his hand away from my back.

“Bennet, listen…”
“I believe you need to explain what this situation is about.”

Bennet’s firm tone seemed to tell me not to even think of brushing this off with a laugh. I pressed my lips together, which had parted slightly.

I wondered how much I needed to explain to get through this smoothly. As I rolled my eyes-
“You’ll need to tell me everything from the beginning.”

He said firmly again.

“I’ll be the one to decide what to skip.”

He had his arms crossed and was staring straight at me. I let out a long sigh.

Judging by his expression, he seemed to have no intention of backing down or letting this slide. With no other choice, I grabbed the end of Bennet’s sleeve and pulled him forward as I walked.

Then, I took the sword sheath out from my embrace.

“This is Dad’s.”
“……”

But Bennet looked at me and the dagger that had come from my embrace with a disbelieving expression.

“This is Welrshipel.”
“……Pardon?”

Bennet was also familiar with the item.

“Why is this…”

Bennet reached out, took Welrshipel, and examined the sheath and hilt.

He seemed unsure if it was the real Welrshipel since he had never seen it in person.

“On the hilt, it’s written in ancient language, ‘Baba. Welrshipel,’ right?”

At my words, he turned the hilt, checked the writing, and nodded.

“That’s right. But how did you…”
“I heard about it by chance.”

What a blatant lie.

How would a 6-year-old young lady living in a grand mansion happen to hear about a dagger in a back-alley auction house like this?

But I repeated that claim, very, very brazenly.

“I heard someone talk about it.”
“About Welrshipel?”
“No, they didn’t say ‘Welrshipel,’ I just heard the description, and it seemed like it, so I came to check. And it was the real Welrshipel! So I bought it.”
“……”

Bennet stared down at me.

Yeah, I know too.
How flimsy this excuse is.

But what can I do?

‘Not all regressionists are geniuses.’

I wish I could be super smart and handle this situation well, but all I can do is stubbornly insist like this, improvising.

But despite my words, Bennet’s expression didn’t soften.

“Did Resha do something wrong?”
“Yes.”

Bennet nodded firmly without any hesitation. I pouted my lips like a duck.

“This is something you could have had someone else do. Hail is here too.”
“But I’m the only one who knows it’s Dad’s, right? What if they buy the wrong thing?”
“Even so. There are so many servants in the mansion, and you come out alone like this, with just one maid…”
“No matter how many people there are, there’s no one who will help Resha.”

I cut off Bennet’s words and shook my head.

At my words, Bennet bit his lower lip slightly.

He looked a bit shocked, probably because I mentioned something he also knew.

‘It doesn’t make sense that he didn’t know.’

“So don’t scold Resha.”
“Scold? I wouldn’t.”
“And don’t tell Grandfather.”
“……Understood.”
“And I’ll pay back the money I borrowed soon.”
“……Pardon?”

Is this what they call being robbed in broad daylight?

He probably just paid the price to stop me, acting on my behalf.

At my words, thrown out like a preemptive strike, he laughed, looking somewhat dumbfounded.

But then he nodded and said, “Understood.”

“I’ll make sure to collect the debt in full.”

His words somehow sounded like he would suck me dry. It made me even think about just selling the land.

“However.”
“……Yes?”