WHOOSH.

STEP STEP STEP STEP!

[GYUU.]

WHOOSH.

STEP STEP STEP STEP STEP!

[GYUU GYUU!]

What am I doing right now?

You could say I’m giving my worn-out mind something soothing.

In other words, I was just playing with King.

Maybe he’d noticed how gloomy I’d been.

When I played with Dive back in the Gracia Empire, he’d worn the most irritated face in the world while fetching the ball. Today, though, his reactions were wildly enthusiastic.

“King, sit.”

[GYUU.]

“Paw.”

[GYUU GYUU!]

Tell him to sit and he sits, quick as lightning. Ask for his paw and he sticks it out like it’s nothing.

Good boy.

Yeah. You’re my safe place.

“Um... Lady Camilla?”

“What?”

Dorman, who had been quietly watching from the side, finally couldn’t stand it anymore and spoke up.

With her eyes unfocused and a goofy smile on her face while she played with King, she looked like someone who’d already lived through an entire lifetime.

“Dorman.”

“Yes!”

At Camilla’s low call, a voice snapped out of him with reflexive discipline.

Why did it feel like I’d be more at ease if she were running around swinging a shoe again?

“Should we go on a trip?”

“A-A trip?”

“Apparently there’s a villa we own way out in the Santono region. Or should we go to the Gracia Empire? I kind of miss Dive too.”

[GYUU?]

“Of course, King has to come too. Ah—can you not? We don’t even know when we’d be back. Do you have to stay here? Still... you’re the house’s Guardian.”

[GYUU GYUU!]

“Yeah, who cares, right? Then let’s just go together.”

Watching Camilla laugh airily as she hugged King and rolled over and over on the dust-caked grass, Dorman swallowed hard without meaning to.

She’s gone off the deep end.

She was smiling. Brightly. And not at just anyone—at him.

That was when he became sure of it. Camilla had let go of the reins on her mind—just a little.

Is that what burnout is?

It was his first time dealing with something like this, and every time Camilla’s eyes met his, Dorman could only keep forcing out awkward smiles.

“Up we go.”

While he bounced in place thinking What do I do? What do I do?, Camilla suddenly sprang to her feet.

She set King down to the side and brushed the dirt off her clothes with a few quick pats.

“Let’s go.”

“Y-You’re really going on a trip?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Excuse me?”

“We’re going to make money.”

“...What?”

“You go to the café. I’ll go to the Trading House.”

No matter what happens to the world, you still have to make money, right? Everyone’s just trying to live. Even if the world ends, I still have to do what I have to do.

“King, I’m going to go make a lot of money, so guard the house.”

[GYUU.]

Leaving Dorman behind in a daze, Camilla even said goodbye to King. Then she turned her head and looked back at Dorman.

“Why do you have such a stupid look on your face?”

“T-That’s...”

“Jeez.”

Well, Manager Hyunseok had been exactly like that at first, too—watching her get crushed by work, half out of her mind, and then suddenly snap back to life and work like nothing happened.

He’d ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) thought she’d disappear for a few days, but it had been so short it almost startled him.

So what?

If you’ve charged up for a bit, isn’t it natural to move again?

Childish clinginess is a habit. Only people who have someone to indulge them can afford to do it.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming?”

“Ah—Ah! Yes! Of course!”

Watching Dorman rush after her, Camilla started walking again as well—under King’s sendoff, the Guardian waving his front paws and going gyuu gyuu.

*****

“This is the outfit I’m going to unveil next.”

“The color’s unusual.”

Juella came in carrying a new sample.

As always, it was deeply satisfying. Enough that she wanted to try it on immediately.

“Can you even get a color like this?”

The design was great, but the color especially caught her eye. It was a slightly dark red, but with a sheen that kept it from looking dull.

“It’s a dye from a plant called ensho. Do you like it?”

“Yeah. I do.”

At Camilla’s answer, a small smile tugged at the corner of Juella’s mouth.

If Camilla liked it, people would like it too. Her eye was always right. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

“I’ll make more soon.”

“Hmm.”

“...? What? Why?”

When Camilla fell silent like she was thinking, Juella looked at her with a puzzled expression.

In response, Camilla stood and pulled something out of a desk drawer.

“What’s this?”

“Read it.”

Juella skimmed the papers quickly. At first she read lightly—then her face hardened in an instant.

“This...!”

“Mantiz Bakes. Your brother. He gambles.”

“.......”

“You see that amount there?”

What Camilla had handed her was, in a word, a debt document. A paper showing that Mantiz—the eldest son and heir of House Bakes—had borrowed money under the family name from a gambling house.

“Why under the family name? He has his own assets and businesses!”

Count Bakes had already passed a considerable amount of wealth to Mantiz long ago.

Saying he needed experience early, he’d even entrusted him with several highly profitable businesses. So why was this debt written under the family name?

“He already blew all of that.”

“What?”

He’d lost it all a long time ago, and for a while now he’d been racking up debts under the family name.

And the amount wasn’t small.

It was the kind of sum that would force House Bakes to sell off most of what they owned just to repay it.

What a son.

This is why you can’t coddle the eldest just because they’re the eldest. When they don’t know what the world is, they pull garbage like this.

If you squandered what you inherited, you should stop there. How do you even decide to borrow a sum this huge under the family name?

She almost wanted to applaud that brain of his.

To think someone who doesn’t even fear money like this is the heir of a noble house. He was already ruined.

Come to think of it, the eldest sons around me grew up just fine.

Brother Ludville, Petro, Arsi—

There are always exceptions.

Still, all three of them at least didn’t gamble.

Right. They say there’s no cure for gambling addiction.

Even when you know it’s wrong, you keep doing it.

And it’s scarier because it’s so often not enough to ruin your own life—you grab your family’s lives by the collar and drag them down with you.

“But why do you have this?”

After staring at the papers for a long while, Juella let out a short sigh and dropped them onto the table.

She already knew—far too well—that Mantiz was deep into gambling.

That day, too. The day Camilla learned Juella’s secret. It had happened when Juella tried to stop him from disobeying their father’s orders and going to a gambling house.

Of course, their father had blamed all of that on Juella as well.

What do you think you were doing in front of Lady Sorpel?! What must Mantiz have looked like to her?!

But Father, Brother was trying to go gamble again—

So what if he was! Who are you to lecture your elder brother?!

...I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.

Tsk.

Not just Juella—everyone in the household knew Mantiz gambled.

Only...

We didn’t know the debt was this huge.

Juella ground her teeth.

She wanted to run straight there and grab him by the collar and shake him. How could the man who was supposed to lead the house do this?

“How did you find out?”

“Your mother told me.”

“My mother?”

At Camilla’s flat answer, Juella’s eyes widened rapidly.

“My mother told you herself that he gambles?”

A woman who’d leap out of bed at the word son—and she voluntarily exposed her son’s disgrace to an outsider? That couldn’t be right.

“Not your mother now.”

“What?”

“There’s something like that. Anyway, your family’s businesses were about to get taken, so I paid it off for you first.”

Avoiding Juella’s questioning look, Camilla smoothly changed the subject.

“But. That wasn’t all.”

“If it’s not all... there’s more?”

Juella’s fists clenched tight.

Just how much debt did he have?

“There are seven more places besides this one. This is the biggest, but the rest aren’t small either. Your brother passed the point of handling it himself a long time ago.”

“You insane—!”

Juella swallowed the curse that surged up her throat.

That lunatic—after doing all that, he came home and ate like nothing happened, and even slept peacefully?

“I haven’t handled the rest yet. I only put out the most urgent fire.”

“...Why would you?”

Juella’s expression hardened even further.

She didn’t want to owe Camilla for a debt like this. Not because she still hated her like before.

It was the opposite.

She wanted to become at least a little more equal. She wanted to be seen as someone Camilla could rely on.

So she could stay by her side.

A wave of unfamiliar bitterness surged up and made her eyes sting—but Camilla’s next words made the tears vanish instantly.

“It’s not free.”

“What?”

“I hate wasting money more than anything.”

“Then...”

“I’m going to change the sales profit ratio in my favor. Talk to Chris for the details.”

“That’s what I suggested before. That my share was too big.”

“And I rejected it.”

“You...”

“I told you last time. Don’t try to lower your own value.”

Juella couldn’t say a word.

Calling it “changing the ratio” sounded mild, but even splitting profits evenly had already been an unbelievably favorable contract for Juella.

Opening the boutique, running it, promotions, distribution, sourcing materials—Camilla and the Ghost Trading House handled all of it.

All Juella did was come up with designs and make the clothes.

And now Camilla was saying she’d wrap this up by taking only a bit more of the ratio?

Why?

“Camilla, this is—”

Juella shook her head hard, unable to accept it, but Camilla clicked her tongue at her.

“I told you. I hate wasting money. I’m not some philanthropist.”

“Then why are you doing this much for me?”

“I’m investing in you. And—”

At what came next, Juella’s eyes started shaking like crazy.

“Go over there and make a proper scene.”

“M-Make a scene?”

“At that brother of yours.”

“What are you—”

Camilla met her gaze, lifted the corners of her lips, and smiled brightly.

“Crush him.”