episode_0058

As expected, Emma, her mind utterly shattered, contacted me and came to meet me.

On Tuesday after school, we met at the Delphi branch of the Etgard Trading Company, which I had set up.

After talking with my family in Sephyr last time, I spoke to my father and mother, and now I could manage the trading company’s funds at my own discretion.

There was probably no other student in Leone, besides Leon, who could manage more money than I could right now.

“So, how much?”

I rubbed my hands together mockingly, like a vile loan shark, and spoke flippantly.

Emma had her head bowed, staring at the ground, but I could almost hear the sound of her biting her lip.

“Ah, my apologies. I’m just a very vulgar merchant, ‘rich but uncultured’… So I jumped straight to money, didn’t I? I should have dragged out the introduction for about five days, going in circles. That’s what a noble does.”

“…..”

At my blatant sarcasm, Emma stood frozen, like a stepping stone, unable to move.

“Anyway, sit down. You’re not just going to stand there, take the money bag I throw at you, and leave, are you? Let’s talk slowly, in a ‘noble’ fashion.”

Emma trembled with shame and sat down on a chair at the table.

Soon, my office door opened, and a small, cute woman in a maid’s outfit entered.

Heidi, my maid who used to work at the main house, had volunteered to transfer to the branch I created, and she was still insisting on wearing her maid outfit here.

Her logic was something like, ‘No matter where I am, I am Young Master’s maid.’ Anyway, she was a bit unique.

“Thanks, Heidi. Now I need to talk to a guest for a bit, so don’t let anyone in. Come to think of it, you know Emma, don’t you? She came to borrow money from me.”

“Ah… Hello. It’s been a while. Hmm…”

Lizley always looked down on Heidi and disliked her immensely, and Emma, who blindly disliked anything Lizley disliked, was no different.

To think that the woman who used to look at her as something beneath a person had come to borrow money from her master…

“You looked down on your master so much… and now you’ve come to borrow money. Life is truly interesting.”

But the loyal girl seemed to dislike Emma for looking down on *me* more than for looking down on *her*, so she left with a cold remark and a bow to me.

“See, Emma? Even the maid you looked down on says it. Life is truly interesting… That’s why people should live with a good heart.”

*Crunch-*

Perhaps because she learned well from my mother, Heidi, who had excellent baking and confectionery skills, had baked very delicious cookies.

“You’ve always looked down on money, merchants, Etgard, and me… calling them vulgar and not noble. So, what is noble? Coming to a vulgar merchant’s son, bowing your head, and asking to borrow money?”

“……”

Seeing her repeatedly employ the silent treatment [a strategy of remaining completely unresponsive] made me deeply displeased, like watching a lazy novelist [someone who writes with minimal effort].

“Answer me. Are you still looking down on me even now? If my words are piercing, and you’re making it obvious you don’t even want to talk, why should I even bother with you? If you want to hold onto your pride, get out. You’re just a silly girl who took out a loan shark loan.”

“You… private loan… how did you know…?”

“Do you think I wouldn’t know about private loans? Your beloved ‘Lizley’s’ family was ruined because of private loans… My family rescued them. Those ungrateful bastards bark without even recognizing their benefactor.”

How many cases could there possibly be where nobles, especially a mere twenty-year-old young master or young lady, would be in ‘debt’ to the point of being pressured for repayment?

Even our Irha, who was the poorest pauper in Leone, eating only one or two meals a day, never accumulated any ‘debt.’

“You took out a private loan, so our esteemed Viscount’s Young Lady, whom you hate so much, has come to Ras, bowing her head. Use your head a bit, don’t show off how dumb you are.”

“Ugh….”

Normally, she wouldn’t be the type to tolerate my harsh words, but she was currently in a desperate situation [literally, ‘fire has fallen on her instep’].

If she upset me and I said, ‘Nope~ not lending you money. You’re on your own,’ she truly wouldn’t be able to get the money unless she sold her organs.

Of course, even if she sold her organs, she wouldn’t gain any merit, so she could never cover a cost exceeding 35 Talentum.

“I know your family is completely broke, even if you, who’s never even opened your family’s financial ledgers, don’t. What has your family head been doing with his life that he can’t even become independent from Gracia and just acts like a subordinate? Well, of course, with the family in such a state, the daughter would be taking out private loans. Why did you even take out a private loan in the first place?”

“You don’t have to insult my family and my father. And… there was a reason for the private loan. Please… I’ll pay it back, so can you lend it to me?”

She wanted to protect her last shred of pride, pleading with me to ‘stop insulting my family!’ but it was no use.

Viscount Agnelli had subtly insulted my father and me more than once or twice, smugly acting like Gracia’s right-hand man.

Before the regression, this unfilial me had stopped my hot-blooded father from unleashing his fury, just because I was afraid of being hated by my fiancée.

Since I’ve regressed, I should try to be filial now.

“You, and your pauper father… you’ve been rude and disrespectful to me and my father more than once or twice. And before you pretend to be a dutiful daughter, don’t take out private loans. You don’t even know what’s important, really, tsk.”

Sharply scolding the fake dutiful daughter who took out private loans, I, the truly filial son, pulled out a pouch full of gold coins from my bosom.

“So, how much is the debt? Yesterday, I heard from the creditors it was 21 gold Talentum, but if you took out a private loan, it balloons like a snowball in a day or two, so do you have to pay back about 40?”

“If I pay today, it’s 28… no, 27.”

Meanwhile, the economical girl hadn’t forgotten the condition Orca had mentioned.

It was so typical of Emma, despite being a blockhead, to remember such trivial details well.

“It’s nothing. Beggars who can’t even pay back something like that… Anyway, I’ll lend you the money. But there’s a condition.”

“What is it…?”

“First, you and I will go together to the debt repayment location.”

She was slightly flustered by my seemingly sudden words, but I soon gave a moderately plausible reason.

Since I held the hilt of the sword, whatever I said became a valid reason, so it was my freedom whether I insisted or not.

“I’m a student at Leone. And I have the right to attend classes in a comfortable and safe environment. I need to know what suspicious things a classmate sitting next to me is doing.”

“Th-that…! That’s my privacy…”

Privacy my ass.

What privacy do you have? You’re my slave now.

Not even pretending to hear her ridiculous words, I pushed forward with force.

“That’s what private loans are about. There’s no reason for someone our age to take them out. Did you start some kind of business in the back alleys? Are you selling drugs? If I ask you, you’ll just lie anyway, so I’m going to see for myself. I need to find out what kind of risk factor you are.”

It would be a sudden demand for Emma, but she absolutely could not refuse the hand I was extending right now.

“If you don’t like it, get out. 27 Talentum is nothing to me, but it’s about half a year’s income for a poor family like yours. For your information, you’ll never be able to raise this money. Lizley already rejected you, didn’t she? Did you go to Senior Garett too?”

My mocking words, full of cackling, must have hit the mark this time, because her face turned grim and she started to tear up.

I continued to press her, wanting to tie her down firmly.

“You might have thought you were incredibly special to Lizley… but really? What merit do you even have? Without Lizley, even if you struggled, would there be even one way for money to come out? Senior Garett, of course, wouldn’t lend you money either. That person was merciless, more than he seemed.”

Perhaps it was the crushing abandonment by Lizley and Garett, the people she had thought were her reliable connections, that heavily affected her, and her demeanor became somewhat submissive.

“Alright… Then, let’s go. I’ll guide you to the debt repayment location.”

“Let’s write the contract after we get back. Anyway, we need to pay off private loans as quickly as possible. If they deliberately avoid meeting you to prevent you from paying the debt, then consider yourself truly bitten/caught.”

Finally, I chuckled, creating an even more fearful atmosphere (and indeed, loan sharks genuinely used the strategy of avoiding meetings to prevent debt repayment), and she hurriedly left the room.

“Young Master, are you going out? Where will you have dinner…”

Heidi, who had been quietly waiting outside the door, asked me.

“Yes, I have to go somewhere with her for a bit. I’ll probably be back in two or three hours, so prepare dinner accordingly. And if you have a spare maid outfit, prepare one. A size similar to yours.”

Heidi slightly frowned at the mention of a maid outfit but soon meekly said she understood and walked away.

“Lead the way, you truly unfilial daughter.”

“……”

I taunted Emma, the unfilial Viscount’s Young Lady walking far ahead of me, and began heading to Orca’s loan shark office.

Pretending not to know a path I could find with my eyes closed was the hardest part.

*

“Orca isn’t here today. After meeting you on Sunday, he got so angry he developed a mild anger illness [hwatbyeong]. A mild internal affliction [mind demon] came to him, so I’m acting as his代理人. If he’s not here, I’m the boss.”

Today, Pisces, who was once again a sexy girl exuding mature beauty, greeted Emma and me.

Our first-class minion’s beauty is truly blossoming these days; she’s so pretty.

“What do you do, pretty Noona? Why is a loan shark so pretty?”

I praised Pisces smoothly, pretending to know nothing.

Pisces blushed slightly and looked pleased but admirably performed her role despite the sudden situation.

“Ugh… pretty Noona…! No… Even if a little kid acts cute and playful, I won’t lower the price, you know? Well… I am a loan shark. You can call me Spica. So, did you come to repay the debt on her behalf?”

“Yes. I’m her classmate, and it’s distracting because burly guys keep coming to school and dancing. I also wondered what would happen if they came with knives…”

While Pisces and I talked amicably, Emma just remained helpless as if she had committed a sin.

“You’re kind. How do you plan to get the money back? It’s not a boast, but I’ve learned something from doing this job for a long time. You shouldn’t lend money to people who don’t have it. She’s obviously a pauper, so how do you plan to collect?”

“Well… it doesn’t necessarily have to be paid back in money. We haven’t written the contract yet, so we can get it back in ‘other ways,’ can’t we?”

I subtly melted a Rakshasa from my mind, exuding a somewhat sinister and threatening aura. Emma’s expression immediately turned ashen.

“By the way, what exactly did she do to take out a private loan? I actually came all this way because I was curious about that. Could you tell me?”

When I looked at Pisces with cute, pleading eyes, she gave me a look that seemed to say, ‘Kkueut..! My Master is so cute..!’ while giving the pre-arranged answer.

“Hmm… You’re incredibly cute, but no. Orca is a man of considerable credit… Customer personal information is forbidden to disclose. Instead, shall Noona give you a kiss?”

“Hehe. I’ll just take the thought. I’m somehow shy in front of others… Anyway, it can’t be helped then. If I try to dig it out, Spica-nim will get into trouble with your boss.”

I subtly shifted my gaze to Emma for a moment, and she looked relieved, as if the tension had completely released.

But anyway, the Orca who supposedly got ‘hwatbyeong’ is me, you idiot.

There was no real meaning in putting on such a play.

It was simply because the purpose itself was to torment Emma by twisting and shaking her this way and that.

“…Twenty-six, twenty-seven… twenty-eight? Oh dear? It’s one more! Orca told me to deduct one.”

Pisces elegantly counted the gold coins one by one, then, seeing one extra, looked at me with eyes that said, ‘Huh? Master, this is one more?!’

“Because Noona is pretty. Go buy yourself something delicious. Well then, I’ll be going, pretty Noona. Hey, unfilial daughter. Don’t space out, get up. Your conversation with me starts now.”

Go buy some snacks with that, Pisces. Oh, what a cutie you are.

When I gave a little twitching wink, she grinned foolishly, tore up the contract, and roughly drew lines on the fake ledger.

“Okay. Emma Agnelli, debt repayment complete… Notary Public is Ras Etgard. Trading company stamp and receipt included. Here! Phew… The kid still managed to survive thanks to some connections.”

Emma hurriedly grabbed the debt repayment receipt Pisces handed her and tucked it into her bosom as if someone might snatch it.

To an outsider, it might have looked pathetic and pitiful, but I just found her appearance amusingly ridiculous.

From my perspective, this transaction had no losses from beginning to end.

The loan shark Orca was a fictitious person from the start, and if Emma didn’t pay back the debt and resisted, there was virtually no way to put pressure on Agnelli.

In such a situation, I merely paid my own money with my own money, and far from a loss, it was full of profit… truly a miracle of creating something from nothing!

First, Emma would have been completely cut off by Lizley because of this incident, and consequently, Agnelli would obviously be discarded like a dog’s food bowl.

Also, the hard-earned money [literally ‘snot-stained money’] Emma and Lizley struggled to save? It was essentially offered to Pisces as black magic commission fees.

Finally… only the task of completely subjugating Emma Agnelli remained.

“Ras… what’s going to happen to me now? Earlier, that… you were just joking, right? That talk about being able to make me pay back in ‘other ways’ besides money…”

And meanwhile, she was truly hopeless as a person, because the first thing she said to the person who paid off all her private loans wasn’t ‘thank you.’

Even if I had openly said, ‘I’m going to use her as a slave,’ she should have been thanking me right now.

Seeing her pitifully try to cover her meager body with her arms, as if there was nowhere else to look, just made me sigh. Why was she so overly self-conscious/narcissistic about her appearance?

I teased her with a voice full of contempt and ridicule.

“Does it look like a joke? First, this isn’t a conversation for outside. Let’s go into the office and talk properly. It seems… you’ve done something interesting, haven’t you?”

“Something interesting…?”

She trembled and questioned my words, unable to overcome her anxiety, so I leaned close to her ear and gently… teased her as if tickling her.

“You met a black magic user, didn’t you?”

“…..!!!!”

Watching her eyes widen in shock was, as always, incredibly enjoyable.

With my lines opening the final act, the final chapter of the play ‘Making the Viscount’s Young Lady a Slave’ began.