Ch.4Foreign Media Contract (2)

My father, Arnold von Rheinland, had two wives.

The woman he truly loved and married, “Reina,” was his first wife and my mother.

The woman he married through contract for the future and glory of the family, “Rezaine,” was his second wife.

The girl before me was the child of the second wife.

Seti von Adelbein Rheinland.

A girl born between the prestigious Adelbein family that ruled the entire northern Galactic Federation, and the Rheinland family, the largest medical household in the south.

As a child of two noble families, she was born with all manner of talents and skills.

“Do you even have any concept of economics…?”

Seti entered the room with her hair rustling.

Her silver hair, gleaming in the light, was clearly natural.

Such hair was rare. And it looked noble at first glance. She was definitely of Adelbein blood.

“Seti.”

“I told you not to call my name because it’s disgusting, didn’t I?”

And there was that unfriendly attitude typical of her maternal family.

It seems the Adelbein family’s nasty temperament wasn’t much different from the novels.

Of course, my half-sister Seti was in an exceptionally sharp state, even taking that into account.

“Is that how you talk to your brother?”

“Brother? How could trash like you be my brother? You piece of garbage.”

Seti clicked her tongue, giving me a contemptuous look.

I understand.

Eidel had thrown countless insults at Seti over the years.

– Child of a concubine.

– Your mother.

– You grew up as the daughter of a woman who couldn’t even receive her husband’s love, so no wonder your personality is like that.

Just from what was described in the novel, it was at least that bad.

Oh, I suddenly feel sorry. I feel extremely embarrassed even though I didn’t do those things.

Anyway, Seti and I could be said to have a relationship worse than strangers.

Keeping that in mind, I raised my head.

“I’m asking because I genuinely can’t believe it. 2,000 trillion? Really? You blew that much money?”

“That’s what I said.”

“You shut up. I’m asking Sonia.”

By now, Seti’s gaze had shifted to Sonia. She apparently didn’t even want to exchange words with me.

Fine. Apologizing right now would just be rubbing salt in the wound.

I’ll apologize later when the mood is right, and for now, I should just send her away and get back to studying.

[— The God of Wisdom and Curiosity likes your studious attitude.]

[— You have received a 50 Fron donation!]

What, this is coming in already? That’s unexpected.

While I was quickly scanning through the status window floating in the air, the conversation between Sonia and Seti ended.

For some reason, Seti’s face was flushed with anger.

She glared at me and said:

“You crazy bastard.”

“How do you have the exact same vocabulary as Father?”

“I call a crazy bastard a crazy bastard. What else should I call you?”

Ha, damn it.

So this is what’s exhausting about being possessed by a scoundrel.

I’ve read many scoundrel web novels before, and I wondered how the protagonists in them managed to overcome such contempt and dismissal. I guess everyone except me has nerves of steel.

[— The God of Wisdom and Curiosity snickers.]

Seti stood with her head held high and arms crossed. She was looking down at me with an arrogant attitude. Her two golden eyes, sparkling as if melted gold had been poured into them, were filled with hostility.

“Not only did you lose money gambling, but you also spent 100,000 credits on entrance exam workbooks?”

“Father said this was acceptable.”

Seti let out a hollow laugh. It was both a sneer and an expression of delight.

“I heard you’ll be removed from the family register if you don’t get into Stellarium?”

“That’s essentially correct.”

There were also options to repay the 2,000 trillion or enlist in the military to maintain the Rheinland surname, but I didn’t bother mentioning them. It’s a path I won’t take anyway.

“Hmm, good. Get lost then.”

Seti seems to have concluded that I will fail.

It doesn’t matter. Now is not the time to improve my relationship with my sister. I resolved to let her words slide until she got tired and left the room.

“Lady Seti.”

That was until Sonia unexpectedly intervened.

“Please look at this.”

“Huh? What’s this?”

“These are the math workbooks that Young Master Eidel just solved.”

I froze my expression.

Hey, you tin can maid, why are you showing her that?

***

– Her half-brother had caused trouble again.

That was the first thing Seti heard when she returned to the main Rheinland household.

Apparently, Eidel had lost a fortune gambling. And he was severely punished by their father for it.

But that wasn’t enough—he had spent another 100,000 credits to purchase Stellarium entrance exam workbooks.

It was absurd.

And unforgivable.

Seti was financially savvy. Despite being only fifteen, she assisted with her father’s business and generated millions in monthly profits. She had her own stake in the Rheinland family’s total assets.

While she worked hard to earn money, it was her incompetent half-sibling who spent it.

Could she even call someone like that her brother?

Probably not.

To Seti, Eidel von Rheinland was essentially a human trash bound to her by the shackles of blood relation.

Normally, she wouldn’t even want to deal with him, but this time she couldn’t stand it anymore.

“I’ll kill him.”

She planned to settle this once and for all.

Grinding her teeth, Seti entered a corridor she normally avoided.

Following the narrow path led to a room that exuded a messy, decadent atmosphere.

Eidel’s room.

Seti flung the door open and stormed in.

“You gambling addict!”

She started with a strong statement. Eidel was thick-skinned enough that this level of confrontation wouldn’t faze him. To deal with human trash, one needed to act somewhat like trash themselves.

However, after some commotion, what she received was neither cursing nor a punch.

“Please look through it from beginning to end.”

“……”

A workbook handed to her by Sonia, the android maid assigned by their father to monitor Eidel.

“The White Blossom series?”

It was an advanced practical workbook published by “Blossom,” a prestigious educational publisher.

This is quite difficult, Seti nodded.

“Yes. The young master was solving this until just now.”

Seti burst out laughing.

“Sonia, I thought you were still stoic, but I see you’ve learned to joke a bit?”

“This is no joke, my lady. Please look through the book.”

Sonia’s attitude toward Seti was quite serious. It seemed as if she was trying to defend Eidel.

Seti found this strange.

Even for a personal maid, this was Sonia.

The android who disciplined Eidel with Muay Thai whenever he misbehaved.

‘…She’s defending Eidel?’

Seti rolled her eyes and glanced at Eidel. He was covering his face with both hands.

“My lady, isn’t it fascinating?”

“What is?”

“The young master was studying. For the first time in 8 years and 3 months.”

“Sonia, please.”

Eidel sighed. He seemed embarrassed. His usual arrogant demeanor was nowhere to be found.

“I’m going to the bathroom for a bit.”

Sighing, Eidel left the room with a Korean mock exam paper in hand.

“Hey, where are you going!”

Seti tried to stop him, but he was too quick to escape.

“……”

She had come prepared with all sorts of curses, intending to settle things today, but her opponent had left the arena.

“What’s wrong with that bastard…?”

Eidel wasn’t the type to run away from her.

If anything, he was the type to bark back until he made her cry.

‘Has he really gone crazy…?’

No answer came from pondering it. She just figured he must have gone mad now that he was about to be expelled from the family.

Thinking it wasn’t a big deal, Seti quickly flipped through the workbook Sonia had handed her.

“…!”

And she couldn’t help but be surprised.

First, the unexpectedly neat handwriting.

There’s a saying that handwriting reflects one’s mind. For example, if someone writes hastily, they likely have an impatient personality. By that standard, Eidel had terrible handwriting.

But now it was calm and not messy? There was a sense of grandeur in the penmanship.

Of course, this was just the surface.

The solution routes that didn’t tolerate complexity.

Concise yet penetrating to the core of each problem to reach the correct answer.

Contrary to her original expectation that he would have barely scratched the surface, all problems were cleanly solved.

Seti, who had been called a prodigy since childhood and had solved many such workbooks, immediately noticed.

“These aren’t the solutions from the answer key.”

Nor were they solutions that Eidel would typically write.

To begin with, Eidel was close to being an idiot who needed to relearn how to find common denominators for fractions.

The fact that “study” and “Eidel” couldn’t coexist was widely known throughout the Galactic Federation.

“I graded it, and there were no wrong answers.”

“Hmm.”

Though she maintained an outward calm, Seti was considerably taken aback.

There was no reason for Sonia, an android, to lie to her.

“I guess he bought someone else’s solved workbook and copied it.”

“It was brand new.”

“So, how many days did it take?”

When Seti solved this workbook, it took her a basic month. Even solving five problems a day was challenging. That’s how insanely difficult it was.

“Three hours.”

So Eidel solved it in three days.

“…What?”

She must have misheard.

Not three days, but…

“Th-three hours?”

It was a time frame she couldn’t even imagine.

Occasionally, prodigies would solve this type of workbook within a week and toss it aside.

But completing it in three hours was impossible. At least not without contracting with a constellation specialized in calculations or being the reincarnation of von Neumann.

That’s why.

Seti, whose mind was rippling with confusion, soon regained her composure.

“Sonia, if you’re going to lie, at least make it believable.”

“It’s not a lie.”

It was futile for a mere robot to desperately deny it.

If Sonia was defending Eidel, it meant he had some leverage over her.

Even though she was an android, she had emotions and could make mistakes. Seti decided to let it go generously.

However.

“If you ever have any troubles, feel free to tell me.”

Seti softened her voice as she tapped Sonia’s shoulder.

“…?”

Sonia seemed puzzled but soon nodded in understanding.

“Anyway, I have to go to academy, so I can’t stay long. Sonia, keep a close eye on him. Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely! Don’t let him spend any more money. Got it?”

“I understand.”

Even after that, Seti gave Sonia the same warning several times before leaving.

“Haah…”

‘Something fishy is going on.’

Seti boarded the auxiliary ship with her academy bag.

***

[— The God of Wisdom and Curiosity feels a strange sense of kinship with your studious spirit, setting up a study room in the bathroom.]

“…Is she gone?”

Eidel returned to the room an hour later.

In his hand was a Korean test paper that had somehow been completed.