Chapter 12
“Lacey, someone from the pharmacy came by earlier.”
I had just returned to my room and was starting to get ready for bed. Sonia, who had been lounging on the bed, suddenly spoke up.
“They asked why you hadn’t come for your treatment.”
“Oh, dear.”
I had been completely distracted.
To anyone looking, Lacey’s health condition was serious.
Apparently, it was because her body had been poisoned by toxic weeds.
Thanks to a month of treatment, she had just barely recovered enough for daily life.
Even so, the pharmacist’s opinion was that she needed to take medicine for the time being.
“Shouldn’t you go now, even at this hour? You suffered from that illness just yesterday.”
While I was on leave, Sonia delivered the medicine, so I took it diligently. It seemed like skipping one day might be okay, though.
“Hmm, alright.”
No. To get to Euphorian, I need to recover my health as quickly as possible.
I had only just hung my apron on the hook and opened the door when…
“Head Maid?”
The Head Maid was standing at the door. Her fist was raised lightly, as if she was about to knock.
“Perfect timing, Lacey. The Master wishes to see you.”
The Head Maid’s expression was exactly that:
‘What trouble have you caused now?’
I hadn’t done anything particularly wrong.
I just shared some knowledge I had while having dinner with Blake.
“Join our Tawehra Merchant Group! As an art appraiser!”
Artistic sensibility isn’t something you cultivate in a day or two.
Those who enjoy art are the upper classes, like royalty and nobility. People who have been seeing and hearing about it since before they could walk.
They’re not in a position to be hired by someone else.
So, Blake probably thought of it as a long shot.
“Your talent is too precious to be spent cleaning and doing laundry here.”
If only one commoner with an artistic eye would appear before him, he’d…
“You returning the handkerchief instead of discarding it, and your eye for art… it all seems truly special.”
At this point, should I thank the Queen?
It’s because she showed me the limited edition items at the Collar Boutique.
“Travel with me and unearth artworks! Ah, that’s right. How about the Kingdom of Euphorian as our first destination? This autumn’s harvest festival……”
Anyway, I must seize this opportunity.
The problem was that there was one obstacle.
“I gratefully accept the offer. But the truth is, I’m under a lifetime contract, so my movements aren’t free.”
“So, if the contract issue is resolved, you’ll come? Don’t worry about the lifetime contract buyout or penalty fees.”
Speaking of which, how much is the lifetime contract buyout?
There had been no news about the lifetime contract I had requested from the Head Maid.
“I can’t possibly burden you with that. It might be more than a year’s worth of salary……”
“Haha, what do you take the Tawehra Merchant Group for! Consider it an investment in the talent who will lead our group’s art division!”
By the way, did Blake go to Ash Carniece in the middle of the night like this?
I heard merchants have a strong economic sense and hate wasting even spare time. It seemed it was true.
“So, void it!”
“Void… it?”
“You don’t know what contract voidance means?”
I’d heard there’s a culture of using abbreviated language for economic efficiency.
But ‘void’ sounded a bit… harsh.
While my thoughts were running in circles, we arrived at the Master’s office.
“How much will it take?”
Blake was negotiating, leaning over Ash Carniece’s desk.
“How much do I need to pay to free Lacey from Carniece?”
His attitude made me feel like I’d become a protected hunting species…
At the Head Maid’s signal, I took a few steps inside, and the door closed behind me.
Only three people remained in the office: Ash Carniece, Blake, and me.
The atmosphere was terribly awkward.
I tried to bow out of courtesy, but…
“You sure managed to stir up trouble while under disciplinary action.”
His critical gaze was even more blatant than the Head Maid’s.
“Why are you picking a fight with our Tawehra Merchant Group’s art appraiser?”
Blake was already speaking as if I belonged to the Tawehra Merchant Group.
“Is it your will to void the lifetime contract?”
When I promptly nodded, the frown on Ash Carniece’s brow deepened.
“I heard the interest would cover the lifetime contract buyout and penalty fees. Do you consent to disclosing the lifetime contract to a third party?”
Why was he being so stiff and formal? It didn’t suit him.
“Yes.”
Ash Carniece *tsk*ed, clicked his tongue, then pulled a thin file from his desk drawer and opened it.
The amount written on the first page made both my and Blake’s eyes widen as if they would pop out.
“Huh?”
“Billions?!”
A scream escaped automatically.
Was I seeing this right?
Blake and I traced the numbers with our fingertips, counting the amount properly.
“3… 3.8 billion…?”
The voice of astonishment came from Blake’s mouth.
The specific amount was 3,894,000,000 Gold.
“Why would a commoner need such a huge sum?”
That’s exactly what I was thinking.
I heard that commoners could live idly for life with just a few hundred Gold, so why would anyone need over a billion…?
As if anticipating the question, Ash Carniece pointed with his chin to the bottom of the document.
The reason was written there.
“……For the repayment of my father’s gambling debts?”
Gambling debts?
Lacey’s father’s?
It felt like an earthquake, everything shaking around me. No, perhaps it was my own body trembling.
“After your father’s death, the debt was inherited by you, the guarantor. Deciding that you, lacking the ability to repay, would be sold abroad, you requested that I pay the debt on your behalf, with the lifetime contract as the condition. Do you need further explanation?”
It was unbelievable. Did he just casually hand over such an enormous sum merely as collateral for a lifetime contract?
I considered the possibility that it might be a forged document.
After all, only the signatures of Ash Carniece and Lacey Tiel were on it.
Couldn’t something like this be forged if one set their mind to it?
The stacked back pages peeked out slightly due to the fine tremor. Clinging to a slender thread of hope, I checked the next page.
“The Laurel Bank, Ufello Branch?”
It was a loan repayment confirmation statement mediated by a bank in the Euphorian capital.
Stamped with a specially manufactured seal to prevent forgery.
Blake took the confirmation statement and tilted it to examine the seal against the light.
He let out a sigh and shook his head. It meant the document was genuine.
“Lacey. You had a father with… an incredible scale of operations.”
I didn’t know if it was a compliment or an insult, but his exclamation made me feel like crying.
“Blake Tawehra. Do you intend to cover this amount plus the penalty fee?”
A groan escaped him, from which I could read deep anguish.
After a moment, Blake raised both hands as if surrendering and spoke.
“I’m sorry, Lacey. I have an important investment project coming up, so mobilizing this much money right now is impossible.”
I could understand Blake’s situation perfectly well.
He couldn’t be expected to fork over 3.8 billion Gold for someone he had no ties to.
Still, I had no clue what Ash Carniece saw in Lacey to trust her enough to repay such a massive debt on her behalf.
“You don’t need to apologize.”
If anything, I was grateful.
Normally, someone would have asked why I didn’t mention the amount properly.
*Thud!*
The file closed, cutting off the flow of conversation.
“How utterly despicable.”
The gazes of Blake and me, who had been feeling sorry towards each other, returned to Ash Carniece.
“To think you were so desperate to poach someone from my household.”
He flicked his finger with a *tap*.
The knights waiting outside entered as if they had been waiting for the signal and surrounded Blake.
“Get out of Carniece. Now. Blake Tawehra.”
As if those words were the signal, Blake was grabbed by his arms and legs like a drunken troublemaker.
“Hey, hey! Ash Carniece! At least hear me out…! Let go of me!”
Despite his considerable stature, requiring me to tilt my head back to look up at him, Blake was dragged out of the office without being able to resist.
I tried to take a step to follow him, but…
“And you.”
“Y-yes?”
His sharp call stopped me in my tracks.
Ash Carniece was looking at me with a terrifying expression, as if he was about to finish me off right then and there.
Well, of course.
The maid he had rescued by paying over 3.8 billion was conspiring with a guest to leave Carniece.
The sense of betrayal must have been immense.
As he closed the distance with large strides, all the hairs on my body stood on end.
Was it my turn now?
*Gulp-*
I swallowed nervously.
Surely he wasn’t planning to banish me…
“You are confined to quarters for the time being.”
……What?
* * *
“Don’t come near me.”
“They say bad luck is contagious.”
It’s been three days since I was kicked out of the Master’s office.
I was now treated as the official troublemaker of Carniece Castle.
Honestly, it wasn’t much of a blow.
“Actually, it’s better to be out of the laundry room. I’ll take this chance to rest properly, and get treatment too.”
I had already been threatened that if I forgot just one more time, they would bring a cauldron to my room to brew the medicine.
Wouldn’t the people in the next room and across the hall complain then?
Sonia would probably run away too, saying the smell of the medicine is terrible. Sigh.
“Lacey, why are you out here?”
Before I knew it, Sonia was beside me.
She had broken away from the group heading to the dining hall and spoken to me.
“It feels stifling to be stuck in the room all the time.”
“What?”
It wasn’t just a flimsy excuse.
Somehow, I think I’ve become a little afraid of small spaces.
In the hut, Grandma Vianu was with me, and in the dormitory, Sonia was there, so I didn’t notice.
But left alone, I found myself trembling and biting my nails.
“But you have to endure it. You’re under confinement.”
Of course, I tried to endure it.
The longer it went on, the more my chest felt tight and it became hard to breathe.
Even worse than that was the fear of not being able to escape.
“The mood is just bad right now. If the Head Maid catches you, well… she’ll hold our entire dormitory responsible.”
Collective responsibility.
It was a term that left a bitter taste in my mouth. It reminded me of the debt inheritance I learned about three days ago.
What on earth was Lacey’s father thinking, incurring a debt of 3.8 billion?
