CHAPTER 11…………………………………………..
“Why did you pick up the money from the fountain?”
There was something oddly laden with emotion in Schwaben’s voice as he asked me.
I could feel even Dandolo, who was kneeling, hesitate for a moment.
Mini Quest Activated!
The character Schwaben is currently projecting his own childhood onto you, dear Reader. Give the right answer to maximize the Grand Duke’s favor!
Isn’t it a good thing to look good in front of the head of House Berkshire? But beware—give a clumsy answer and you might instantly fall out of Schwaben’s favor. And if that happens, here’s a gentle hint: the rest of your life as a Reader will become very difficult…
Well then, good luck, Reader!
Quest Success Condition: Win Schwaben’s favor with a satisfactory answer
Quest Failure: 1% of assets confiscated
Until you answer, the “Status Ailment” penalty is temporarily lifted.
“…!”
Suddenly, I couldn’t feel the cold at all.
My head started working rapidly.
So many thoughts surfaced, but…
For now, I needed to focus on the quest right in front of me.
Why is Schwaben overlapping his childhood with me? I need to know that to answer properly.
Schwaben’s childhood wasn’t described in detail in the original novel.
In Tyrant Addiction, the Grand Duke was merely the villainess’s grandfather.
No one reads a reverse-harem romance fantasy and wonders about the villainess’s family background in that much detail.
Even using the Skim-Reading skill wouldn’t help much here.
This doesn’t feel like a situation where I can win with “cuteness.”
I searched my memory.
I remembered reading that Schwaben considered himself self-made.
That was because he was born a bastard.
I, too, had a biological father on Earth who was a chaebol—but I was an illegitimate child no one acknowledged.
So, vaguely…
I think I get it.
If Schwaben, who had inherited the blood of the previous head of the house, still considered himself self-made in a conservative aristocratic society…
Then he must have memories of being looked down on as a bastard in his childhood. Like me.
He must have grown up far removed from lavish support—enough that frugality was ingrained in him.
Berkshire donated enormous sums even to Count Hubert’s charity events.
That was likely due to Schwaben’s belief that the wealth of the rich should circulate to save the poor.
A man so meticulous and work-obsessed that even in old age, through extreme self-discipline, he still held onto his position as head of the house.
He must have had a childhood so hard that it left a deep grudge toward money. Schwaben experienced poverty as a child—just like me. Seeing me, rescued from the slums, obsessively coveting even the coins in the fountain, he unconsciously overlapped himself with me.
I could picture Schwaben as a child, filled with fierce determination to succeed.
Grinding his teeth, vowing that no matter what, he would climb upward.
Now, Schwaben was the master of Berkshire—the richest man on the continent.
And yet, the reputation that always followed him was that he was the most frugal.
That alone showed how precious money was to the Grand Duke.
“One bronze coin is still precious money.”
I straightened my posture, masking my expression with calmness.
I lifted my gaze to Schwaben towering far above me, making my eyes shine as intelligently as possible.
“What value does all this money have if it’s just piled up? Money only gains meaning when it’s used, when it passes through people’s hands, doesn’t it?”
I spoke slowly, in a soft voice.
“I had no money at all, so the moment I saw it, I felt greedy. I wanted to touch it. I wanted to have it.”
“…And what would you do with it?”
“I don’t want to be poor.”
If Schwaben was projecting his childhood onto me, I was confident I could deliberately mirror it.
After all, I, too, possessed that fierce obsession with success.
If I hadn’t, I would never have wished to transmigrate into this world in the first place.
“I was always sad and lonely in the slums. Cold, hungry, sick. People ignored what I said at the slightest excuse—calling me uneducated, vulgar. So…”
Perhaps my words struck a nerve, because Dandolo seemed to flinch, but I never once looked at my cousin.
I kept my eyes fixed on Schwaben’s red pupils.
“I want to become rich.”
Desire is not a sin.
Wanting something intensely and pursuing it is not wrong.
At least, that’s what Schwaben believes.
“They say many grains of sand make a mountain. Just like affection gathers and becomes love. No matter how large a sum of money is, it grows only coin by coin. If I keep gathering the money in my hand, it’ll grow bigger. And someday, I’ll become rich too.”
“……”
“It felt sad, like the money had been abandoned. So… so I picked it up.”
No matter how long I waited, only silence followed.
There wasn’t even a proper response.
Schwaben’s reaction was so quiet that I wondered if I had answered wrong.
But then—
Ding.
The character Schwaben has deeply empathized with your feelings. Congratulations, Reader! You have met the quest success condition!
As a quest reward, the skill “Cuteness” has been upgraded to “No Money, But Still Cute.”
“…!”
I was dumbfounded.
It was good that I succeeded, but…
What is that pathetic skill name? Are you mocking me right now?
“The money in the fountain has no owner, so the money you picked up is yours.”
“But my lord…!”
Unable to let that slide, Dandolo—who had been silent until now—shouted out.
But under Schwaben’s icy gaze, so different from the look he gave me, Dandolo shut his mouth.
With a single glance, Schwaben silenced his cousin and turned back to me.
“…The Gold Dragon is not so narrow-minded as to be angered by a child picking up a few gold coins. And since I empathized with your answer, I will forgive you this once.”
Schwaben added,
“However, Ariana. Many eyes will be watching you.”
It was a warning to be careful of my future actions.
I bowed my head obediently.
“I won’t do it again.”
“…Good.”
It looked as though Schwaben smiled faintly.
“…Come to think of it, this is your first time at the ducal castle today. You must be uncomfortable without anyone attending you yet.”
At that moment, the butler standing behind Schwaben bowed his head.
He looked very accustomed to his role, as if he had served the Grand Duke for many years.
“Butler, guide this child to her room and assign her appropriate attendants.”
“I shall obey Your Grace’s command.”
My heart pounded.
In any case… I felt happy, like I had been acknowledged.
“This will be the room where you will stay from now on, miss.”
“Thank you.”
I looked around the room and couldn’t help but admire it.
As expected of Berkshire’s wealth, it was incredibly luxurious.
Thanks to the attendants Schwaben assigned me, I enjoyed a delicious dinner, was helped with my bath, and even changed into new clothes.
“Then please rest comfortably.”
As I watched the maid withdraw politely, I took a moment to steady my breath.
Ding.
Congratulations, Reader! You’ve finally obtained Ariana’s room from the original novel! You’ve more or less adapted to the world of Tyrant Addiction now, right? Sadly, the tutorial ends here.
“Hey, little bird. …Usually, transmigration starts with waking up directly in a noble lady’s bedroom, you know? Who starts a transmigration in a garbage dump?”
In response to my grumbling, the notification window replied as if it were sad.
Because Tyrant Addiction has a clear difficulty rating of SSS, the tutorial stage was unavoidable, Reader.
SSS?
“There was no mention of that…?”
As I flinched at the highest difficulty rating, a quest window appeared before my eyes.
Final Clear Quest has arrived!
Success Condition 1: Achieve Phares’s Possessiveness Lv. 9999+
Did I see that wrong?
But there was another success condition.
Success Condition 2: Prove your ability to make money and inherit the position of Head of House Berkshire from Schwaben
Failure: Death
Time Limit: 20 years
Warning: You must fulfill both Success Conditions 1 and 2.
“…….”
It felt like my heart stopped for a moment.
What kind of bolt from the blue was this?
“W-wait, wait, wait! I chose this transmigration because I wanted to become rich, so… fine, I can somehow accept the Head of House Berkshire quest. But who the hell is Phares?”
More than that—was it even possible to raise possessiveness to that level?
9999+? Seriously?
I was left speechless in disbelief.
Reader, do you think I called it SSS difficulty for no reason?
“…Bird.”
You little bastard.
