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Chapter 15
I told Pipi every last detail of my conversation with the legal advisor.
“It’s definitely possible to stop it, since the formal title-transfer procedure hasn’t been fully completed yet. But what comes after is the problem.”
“If what comes after…?”
“Under Imperial law, an unmarried woman cannot be head of a house.”
“What? But there are plenty of female heads of houses already — the Countess of René’s house, the Marchioness of Sorel’s house…”
“Of course, those are just crusty old exceptions left over from antiquated laws. Still, the problem is that it’s written in the code. If your uncle wants to make a fuss, he can.”
“Then what should I do? I had an old fiancé, but we recently agreed to break it off…”
“Hm. Thankfully the law isn’t that strict. If you’re married at the moment you inherit the title, they’ll accept it — they won’t keep bringing it up afterward. You just need to be married briefly. Could you explain the situation and ask a friend to help? If you divorce within a year, it won’t leave a mark in the family register.”
The legal advisor’s suggestion was reasonable, but it had a huge problem.
A sad but clear truth: I had no friends.
Even the one childhood friend I still had had run off with my fiancé — there was no “guy friend” to call on!
[Oh no, what should we do? There isn’t a single male friend to get help from for such a cute, kind, and clever benefactor…] (Pipi’s internal lament.)
Pipi, who had been pacing around lost in thought, suddenly looked up at me. Her two sesame-black eyes shone solemnly.
[Don’t worry. Listen to Pipi’s plan, benefactor. Pipi will go wobbling and hanging around near the back alleys looking cute and pitiful. Then when a kind-hearted man approaches, you — from behind…]
“Wait, Pipi! Calm down. I honestly said I don’t have anyone to ask for help, and the lawyer offered another option.”
[Wow! Thank goodness! What alternative?]
“This.” I handed Pipi the pamphlet I’d tucked in my pocket. She cocked her head and read the big title printed across it.
[‘You, Be Mine! A Heart-Throbbing Romance Operation for Youth’?]
“It’s a program the royal house put out because they’re worried about falling marriage rates among the young. Basically, it’s group matchmaking.”
[Really? If Pipi were human, she wouldn’t try to mate in a place with wording like that, though.]
Yeah, I agreed. The title was embarrassing, and the pamphlet’s design was painfully tacky. But it didn’t matter — I wasn’t entering the program to actually pair up with a real man.
The lawyer said this:
“Honestly, only people trying to get the subsidies join a crappy program like that. It will attract men who are desperate for money; if you offer them cash to marry temporarily, they’ll jump at it.”
The lawyer told me a previous client in a similar situation had joined that program and successfully found someone willing to enter a fake marriage. Hearing there was precedent made me more interested.
When I heard the fee that former client had been offered, my eyes widened.
“Th-thirty thousand gold?”
Well — even a temporary marriage that wouldn’t leave traces on the family tree is still a marriage, so a substantial sum makes sense.
‘Thirty thousand gold is not something I can pull together by working overtime…’ It wasn’t money I could scrape together in a few months. I’d have to rely on a financial institution. I’d stop by the bank before work tomorrow to look into loans.
I planned to squeeze alimony out of Felix, but that bastard wouldn’t give it up willingly.
‘If it goes to court it could take months to get — unreliable. So for the calculation I’ll exclude it for now.’
As I was mentally crunching numbers, Pipi hesitantly spoke.
[By the way, Benefactor, besides what you told Pipi, is there anything else?]
“Hm? No, why?”
[Pipi senses a somewhat dark expression on your face. Sadness 25.4% and loneliness 10.7%…]
“Huh?” Why so precise?
[Actually, Pipi’s understanding of humans has improved a bit. While recharging, the data Pipi gathered from being near you got processed, so now Pipi understands human emotions better!] Pipi said with obvious pride and puffed out her little chest.
She can upgrade herself while alone — what an uncanny chick.
‘What on earth is she?’ I wondered. She was too alive to be a pure artificial construct, too useful to be an ordinary living thing.
I shrugged, swallowing the unresolved question.
“Actually, before coming up here, I had an argument with my uncle.” I told Pipi about the quarrel I’d had earlier. Pipi immediately began to chirp and squawk with fury.
[That XXX bastard!]
She poured out a litany of vicious curses.
[How could Felix do something like that to the Benefactor when he knew what he’d done to you! That XXX! XXX! XX bastard!]
“P-Pipi?” I said. This sounded like more than just emotion analysis — it seemed like another function was being updated.
‘Oh no, did I teach her only the worst about people!’ Because I had fed her so much data about villains, of course the little thing took on the same color.
I felt a deep responsibility for Pipi’s change.
[Once the Benefactor gets the house back, Pipi will make him into a homeless person and do XXXX to him like XXX!] (Pipi vowed.)
“Pipi, s-shhh, calm down. You’ll discharge yourself with all that excitement.” I had to work to soothe her for a while.
Still, there was a small, undeniable pleasure in having someone get angry on my behalf.
“Ugh…” I shuffled out of the bank feeling like a ghost. The Imperial Bank’s interest rates were shockingly high!
[Benefactor, calm down. With a 30,000-gold loan at 15% interest, if you work non-stop for 24 hours a day for 90 straight days, you can repay it in full!] Pipi’s objective numbers only crushed me further. I might die before then!
I’d thought a steady job would be enough, but since I’d only been on the job for a few days, the bank saw me as just another rookie.
Shaken by the brutal interest rates, I trudged off to work.
‘If I find a partner to enter a temporary marriage with, I’ll try to haggle the fee under thirty thousand gold…’ I thought.
The mage tower glittered like something covered in a radiant veil as I arrived. My workplace. My savior!
‘I’ll really work hard.’ I clenched my fist and walked in with determination.
“Is that her?”
“Yes, the one from last time…”
“My junior said she’s — ”
There was a faint whispering about me, but I didn’t have time to care. I hurried up to the top floors, where Aaron greeted me with a bright smile.
“Miss Violet!” Aaron’s dark circles under his eyes looked worse than yesterday’s. He was wearing the same clothes as before, so I wondered if he’d even left the office yesterday. ‘Maybe Aaron senpai also took a loan from the Imperial Bank…?’
Anyway, I accepted the work Aaron handed me and held it close.
I had to do well. Do everything perfectly, work overtime, and earn a big performance bonus.
Not long after, an opportunity arrived.
“All right, attention.” Aaron clapped, drawing everyone’s attention. “We have the annual mana allocation simulation for the tower tonight. I need one person to assist His Excellency during the night shift. The night worker will be chosen by lottery.”
The room fell eerily silent. All the mages exchanged glances but no one spoke. The tension was palpable.
I heard a faint whisper from the mage sitting next to me. “Please… ah, please…”
Her voice was desperate. She was sweating; she must really want that overnight shift.
‘What should I do?’ I watched her profile anxiously. ‘I want it too…’ Normally I would have let someone else have it. But I couldn’t be considerate right now.
‘If I don’t work overtime and get that extra pay, my house will be lost!’ I thought. Sorry, but opportunities belong to those who seize them.
After a moment’s hesitation I clenched my fist tight, pulled courage up from my core, and stood up.
“I’ll do it!”
