CH 90

She doesn’t know anything about how the world works, or even way too much, does she?

“Do you believe me?”

“I don’t believe you, but there’s no one beside you.” 

“…No. It’s not true, Lady. If you think about it, there must be someone better than me….”

“There’s no one.” 

“I see…” 

So what is this little lamb saying?

“You know that not everyone can act as a substitute, right? Lady does have a choice, but there’s still a minimum requirement for it—” 

“Whether you are aristocrats or have money. It was one of the two.”

“Yes, but I don’t have both, right?” 

So I was going to explain step by step why I can’t be a substitute, but Michelle opened her mouth. 

“I’ll give you that money.” 

“Lady, you’re not an adult, so you can’t even spend money on your own.”

“I’m going to make a deal with the Howard family. The Howard family will give you money, and I will use you as my substitute.” 

“What about my will…?”

“Instead, I’ll pay you when the job is done successfully.” 

It was the first time in my life that anyone would have a maid as their substitute, and it was the first time I’d been told to be a substitute in the first place.

“And you don’t even have the power to control the family and the merchant, so it’s perfect. It’s easy to get kicked out if you try to take it.”

…Even so.

Is there no answer? 

“I’ll give you ten billion linen.” 

“I will do it.” 

Without a moment to think, the words came out right away. The spirit of someone who had been a slave to capitalism to the bone came out.

And that’s how I became Michelle’s substitute.

*  *  *

The work went really smoothly. Gilbert, who was accused, lost his position as a substitute at the nobility council, and I became Michelle’s substitute. 

It wasn’t bad after that. 

Then, it wasn’t long before the substitute’s contract ended. 

<Don’t go…> 

Michelle, who is always proud, held me in tears. 

<You’re the only one I have…>

<…Lady.>

<If you stay with me, I’ll give you more money you like. Huh? So don’t go, Rina.>

Was it because I became attached to Michelle and relied on each other a lot for a while? I couldn’t bear to say no to the sad words.

Eventually, I decided to stay with Michelle.

‘She’s kind of cute, too—’

She looked like a naughty cat if she didn’t act violently. And it was quite fun to spend time with Michelle. Sometimes I felt like I was forced to raise a child, however— It was peaceful without incident. Anyway, Michelle and I were the only ones with each other. 

So the most important question is, did I get 10 billion linen—? 

I haven’t gotten ‘yet.’

Even though the contract ended 3 years ago.

Michelle wasn’t breaking her contract. It’s just that her merchant had a problem right before the contract ended. 

Gilbert, who had a grudge, broke into the merchant and caused problems with the food to be supplied. 

Security was tight because it was a big merchant, but Gilbert, who was there as Michelle’s substitute, got to know about the merchant’s structure. The incident cut off all the customers at the merchant. Then hell unfolded in an instant. 

‘It was the period of the barley hump…’ (T/n: barley hump: A period when food is not enough because the crops harvested in the previous year are exhausted and barley is not yet ripe.)

I felt really dizzy thinking about those days.

It was a time when the merchant could always lose money and go into debt, especially how Michelle was at the time.

<…Rina, I’ll give you 10 billion linen as promised. I won’t hold onto you, so it’s okay to leave my side.> 

She told me not to go, and when the merchant was in danger, she cried and said that, but there was no way I could leave.

It was no longer anyone else’s business as long as I had promised to be by Michelle’s side. So that’s how I found a way to live with Michelle. And the opportunity came.

The war broke out.

As a matter of fact, the Empire was attacked in the granary, and food was cut off. At that time, Michelle and I signed a contract with the imperial family to provide food.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the merchant barely got away. 

After the merchant got out of financial trouble, Michelle tried to give me 10 billion of linen as promised, but I asked to postpone it. 

I didn’t know what would happen in the future, so I put it off until the situation got better.

After that incident, my friendship with Michelle grew stronger. And that’s how I got to work as Michelle’s aide. 

****

“I’ll be back soon, so don’t worry and work.”

“Really?”

“You know I don’t lie. You trust me, right?”

Michelle nodded.

I suddenly remembered the old image of people who never believed in me. 

…There was a time like that.

“I’ll take care of it on my own, so Lady please just pay attention to the contract with the temple.”

The war is over.

However, problems continued in the newly acquired territory. If the invaded country’s king had died, its people would not have been able to join the Empire obediently. They stayed and fought, but the Empire crushed them, and those who escaped safely became bandits and caused problems in the land of the Empire. Then they decided to subjugate the group that caused problems together with the temple that participated in this war.

That’s why Michelle’s merchant decided to procure food. 

“Come back safely.” 

Michelle only listened to me half-heartedly and with a sullen expression. 

But I don’t feel anxious because I know that Michelle is good at handling things.

“You know you can’t go to the temple and hit people, right?”

“Am I a kid?”

“Just kidding.”

Michelle had a face full of dissatisfaction.

“Rina, I wish you could come with me.”

“Let’s go together next time.”

“No. You don’t come.”

Michelle suddenly crumpled her expression and changed her words.

“Because there’s some weird guy.”

“Weird person?”

“Yeah. You know the guy I told you about before.”

Ah. Was it that white guy? 

Michelle, who went to the temple for the first time, said that she met a white guy. Michelle called the almost-white man a “pure white man” because he wore white clothes that matched his hair color.

And it turns out that he was the Paladin Commander. 

Michelle would be the only one who would call him a pure white man, a man of considerable power in the temple.

The man was the man who made a big contribution to this war.

‘He wasn’t in the novel….’

Or do I not remember?

It was strange that the development didn’t go the way I knew it. But, obviously, in the novel, Richard contributed and gained the Emperor’s trust—. 

Unlike the novel, it was the temple that first captured the victory of the war. That person changed the way the war was going, which had been going badly. 

So at first I doubted whether the man was Richard. 

However, doubts disappeared after receiving reports that the Pope trusted him and that he had long been loyal to the Pope. 

“There’s something wrong with him. I don’t like it anyway.”

“Is there anyone that Lady likes?”

“You’re arrogant, Rina.”

“But you don’t hate it, do you?”

“….”

Michelle didn’t answer. That means she didn’t hate it. 

“But Rina, are you really not going to the north with me?”

“I’m not going. I hate cold weather.”

It was in the north that they signed a contract with the temple and decided to provide food. Michelle asked me to go with her, but I refused.

‘At this time of year, a major character from the novel is visiting the North…’

I’ll try to avoid it as much as possible.

“Come to think of it, I heard that he was looking for someone.”

Is she talking about the white guy? 

“Lady, it’s time for you to go to the temple.”

As I was talking with Michelle, time passed like this. Then I saw Michelle, who hurriedly left. 

I hope you have a safe trip.

****

“How old am I and you still worried about me…” Michelle clicked her tongue.

Shabrina still thinks she’s a kid. 

She has become an adult now. 

She was still lacking, however, she went through the days of ‘barley hump’ with Shabrina and saw everything she couldn’t see before.

Michelle was going through a phase where she didn’t care about anything at her age, and there’s no way to answer such a wise responsibility.

“You’re here, Baron.”

When she arrived at the temple, they rushed out from the temple to meet her.

During the war, she signed food-supply contracts not only with the imperial family but also with the temple, so she was well-established.

‘It’s all thanks to Shabrina.’

She received some successor classes, but the actual practice was different.

Without Shabrina, what would have happened to her? She doesn’t even want to think about it. 

“I’ll guide you.”

A high-ranking priest, not an ordinary priest, came out to serve Michelle directly. 

It’s not like when Michelle received bad treatment from the servant before. 

Soon she was led to a room. And inside the room—.

“You’ve arrived.”

The white guy that Michelle spoke to looked at her with a smile. The priests around them were mesmerized by that beautiful smile. But Michelle knew that kind of thing well.

Cold blue eyes and someone who has a cold side somewhere.

Michelle looked at the terribly beautiful man and thought of the person he was looking for.

‘Did he say pink hair—’

Coincidentally, Shabrina also had pink hair. And it’s uncommon.

There was no way this man was looking for Shabrina, but instinctively she didn’t want to make them meet.