episode_0002

“It was worse than I imagined.”

It was a pure mistake on my part to think that if I were to become a count, I would be wealthy since I was still an aristocrat with a status of my own.

“I want to eat this!”

“Ada, there are a lot of people outside who are starving because they don’t even have this. You can’t complain.”

Her younger sister, Ada, throws away her bread and bursts into tears, saying she doesn’t want to eat it, and her father, Bradley, Earl of Somerset, sternly scolds her.

I looked at the food in front of me, thinking that the dining scene in an aristocratic family was similar to that of an ordinary family.

An unidentifiable thin soup and bread as hard as a rock were placed on the table.

Even if you are not a child, these foods are definitely not appetizing.

The moment I thought I had to eat it first, I split the bread to dip it in the soup.

Pop!

Was it my illusion that I heard the sound of wooden blocks breaking?

“Father, are we at this level?”

“What do you mean, Rupert?”

“No, I thought we could at least have soft bread on the table since we belong to a count family.”

Was living a comfortable, wealthy life as a noble a great desire?

No, no matter what, isn’t this too much? A meal without any meat.

Even if you try to overturn the table, which is a beautiful tradition of Joseon, wouldn’t the recognition association coolly recognize it? These were the foods I wanted.

“I’m sorry. Your father is putting you through a hard time by making bad investments.”

At my words, my father began to cry, and the head maid and butler who prepared the meal beside him also began to cry.

“No, if you suddenly do this.”

I couldn’t help but be taken aback by the suddenly tense atmosphere.

Eventually, the reason for the family’s decline that came out of my father’s mouth was shocking.

The Borus Empire on the Sylvanian continent to which our family belongs.

The emperor of that empire suddenly declared war on the neighboring kingdom of Silveria, and forced the lords of each region to mobilize soldiers or provide military funds.

In an either-or situation, his father, Earl Bradley, decided to support military funds, saying that he could not sacrifice the people of the territory in a war without cause, and as a result, a big hole was created in the territory’s finances.

It is said that, in a situation where taxes on the estate would inevitably be raised if things continued like this, after much deliberation, my father came to one conclusion.

‘You just have to pay back.’

The special situation of war. This situation usually leaves many people devastated, but some people take advantage of this opportunity and make a lot of wealth.

For example, people like war merchants.

My father paid attention to this and made some kind of investment by joining forces with the merchants in the territory.

‘The price of the elves’ special fertilizer has gone down a lot now. ‘Obviously, once the war is over, special fertilizers will be needed to save the devastated land, so prices will rise.’

It was plausible logic. So, it is said that my father bought the elf’s special fertilizer using all the available funds he had and even borrowed a large amount of debt.

and

‘Now that the war is over, we will rebuild our country. I’ll open the imperial treasury and provide support supplies, so everyone do their best to recover!’

Under the emperor’s orders, a catastrophe occurred when a large amount of elven special fertilizer, which the imperial family had stockpiled for post-war preparedness, was spread across the empire.

So, of course, there were no idiots who paid money to buy fertilizer, and the elf’s special fertilizer rotted away in the warehouse of our family mansion.

‘What is this…? ‘Have you been captured by our family’s royal family?’

It is understandable that they sent military funds on behalf of Young Jimin and that they tried to make money by investing in business out of fear that raising taxes would cause hardship for Young Jimin.

But how could the emperor intervene and ruin a business in which the family’s survival was at stake when finances were already at risk?

Of course, I know that investing involves risk.

However, if you were hit by a natural disaster or natural disaster, you wouldn’t feel so unfair. What kind of bullshit is this that it suddenly falls apart due to the intervention of the imperial family?

I was very angry, but the justification was also on the emperor’s side.

‘Look, we have stockpiled a lot of special fertilizer to sell at a high price when the war is over. Please remove my order.’

If I had said that, my family’s life would have been taken away.

How could someone who became a noble try to profit from the pain of war?

‘I’ve always said that you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket.’

It may have been difficult to predict the disaster of an emperor, but the count, who went all-in with his family’s wealth in hopes of getting a piece of the cake, was not very trustworthy either.

I thought that if I left the house to this man, instead of living a comfortable life in another world, I would soon be out on the street, taking pictures of another world where I would be the only one homeless.

Right now

Still, you have to eat to live, so I soaked bread harder than a stone in the soup instead of dipping it in the soup, and thought about what I should do to save my family in the future.

By the way, is there a dentist in this world?

If I keep eating this bread, I may have to buy dentures soon.

***

“Oppa, I’m bored, please do that quickly!”

As I sat at the desk and looked at the family’s financial situation, Ada clung to my leg and whined.

The little boy, who is only 6 years old, is so stubborn that he doesn’t even listen to the idea of playing with him later.

“Uang.”

Ada is making a strange sound when she stretches out her chubby cheeks on both sides because her breast fat hasn’t gone away yet.

‘It’s cute.’

It was cute to see her struggling to avoid my hand stretching her cheeks, so I hugged her and made her sit on my lap, and Ada puffed out her cheeks to show that she was very upset.

“Please draw Cinderella Ada quickly!”

As expected, the original intention was a children’s book.

Because the family’s finances were difficult, there were no things for Ada, who was old enough to play with toys, so I felt sorry for her and drew a children’s book for her.

Well, the only fairy tales I know are D.

[Ada lost her mother when she was young and was mistreated by her father and older brother. Shaba Shaba Hi Shaba~ How much did I cry?]

In addition to the children’s book, I also taught her the Cinderella nursery rhyme, which she rewrote in her own way and went around singing it all day long.

Her father and retainers looked shocked when they heard Ada humming the song.

I obviously taught them the correct lyrics, but they got scolded because I was the source.

After that, singing was banned, but people still frequently came to me and asked me to draw them like Cinderella.

It was annoying, but it bothered me more to see my little sister being lonely, so I drew her every time.

What’s so hard about drawing a child’s picture? But you can do it.

This young client was extremely picky, demanding everything from the color of the dress to the detailed description of the accessories.

“Ada will grow up and compete with the prince!”

Ada is excited and spinning around looking at the picture I drew.

‘Yes, the prince marries the heroine. Wake up from your dream, little brother.’

But I never imagined that this would be a breakthrough that would save the family.

***

“Cinderella… What kind of book is that?”

Baron Sleepy had been going through a lot of trouble recently.

This was because the baron’s only daughter had been whining and berating her lately.

‘I’m the only one who doesn’t have Cinderella!! There is Ada!!’

After visiting the neighboring estate, the Earl of Somerset, the daughter bursts into tears, claiming that she is the only one missing Cinderella.

I asked the maid who went with me what was going on.

‘There was a book that the earl’s daughter had… He read it and from then on he was like this.’

When Baron Sleepy heard this, he immediately ordered his butler to retrieve the book.

Can’t I buy my lovely daughter the book she wants? For a moment, I was excited at the thought of saving her and receiving her daughter’s affection.

‘Baron, I’m sorry… I searched everywhere from nearby stores to bookstores, but I couldn’t find such a book.’

When the butler said he couldn’t get it, I asked around to see if he could get it from another region, but I couldn’t get Cinderella anywhere.

“Does this make sense? Even though you sent a telegraph to the capital to look for it, you can’t find it?!”

When his daughter refused to stop crying and went on a hunger strike, even starving herself, the baron became desperate and spent a lot of money to send a telegraph to the capital through the Magic Tower to look for books.

But Cinderella wasn’t there either.

“Now that things have come to this, wouldn’t it be better to ask the Earl of Somerset directly?”

Baron Sleepy pondered the butler’s words.

In the aristocratic world, asking directly, ‘Where did you get that item?’ is considered unsophisticated behavior.

It means that I have no perspective on things, and it is an expression that indirectly admits that I am inferior to the other person.

Usually, if the other person’s item looked good, he would show his ability by getting the same item without saying anything.

“Damn, where on earth did that poor count get that book…? .”

The Baron felt sick to his stomach, but he could not watch his daughter’s hunger strike like this, so he ordered his butler to prepare to visit the Count’s family.

***

“So you’re saying that the Count’s son created ‘Cinderella’ himself?”

The count actually complained to the baron that the book was giving him a headache.

As it turned out, this wasn’t the first time something like the Baron had happened.

It is said that the daughters of the surrounding estates who played with Ada went back to their families and went on a rampage looking for Cinderella, and suddenly there were many nobles visiting the count’s family.

“It’s a picture book my son drew for his younger brother, so I’m not selling it anywhere, so there’s no way I can do anything about it.”

After hearing the Count’s words, the Baron’s eyes darkened.

He came here after giving up his reputation as a nobleman, but if he returns without any results, he will have to face his daughter’s hunger strike again.

The Baron was in a hurry

“Please let me see your son.”

I made this request earnestly, feeling like I was grasping at straws.