ITMDR 04

Louiseette was so shocked by the unexpected words that she stood there, mouth opening and closing like a fish. She could hardly believe what she had just heard. Really? Truly, 1 million laurans?

Instead of joy, suspicion surged up first. She had already seen the man’s shabby living conditions. How could someone living in a top-floor unit of a commoner’s apartment building possibly name such an outrageous amount? Maybe he knew she was ignorant about money and was trying to scam her.

Her gaze sharpened instinctively.

“I will not accept bluffing. Tell me the amount you can actually afford.”

“My, my. I can see your mind as clearly as a bright lake, Mademoiselle. You think a man living in a place like this couldn’t possibly pay 1 million, don’t you?”

At the man’s mocking tone, Louiseette’s face flushed red. Words slipped out awkwardly.

“I didn’t think that.”

“Let’s stop with the clumsy lies. If we are to trade money, we must be honest with each other. And your suspicion was quite admirable. If I were you, I would have grabbed the collar of anyone claiming ‘1 million’ in a place like this.”

Stellarius wiped his dust-covered hands on a towel and stood up briskly. Louiseette glared at him with tightly furrowed brows. This man completely thinks I’m a child. He probably thinks I’ll calm down easily if he soothes me and gives me candy.

But what Stellarius took out from the chest and unlocked was far from candy. He brought a long, worn-out box and handed it to Louiseette. A heavy clinking sound echoed from it.

“First, 100,000 laurans. Will this give you a little more trust in my financial capacity?”

Louiseette hesitantly opened the lid of the box. The next moment, her hands shook so badly she nearly dropped it.

Inside were ten gold ingots the size of a palm, thick and heavy. Each one clearly bore the number “10,000”—so unmistakable even Louiseette, who had little experience handling money, could recognize it. That such wealth could casually come out of a worn chest!

“H-how….”

“Are you asking how I earned this much money?”

Stellarius asked seriously in return. Louiseette nodded in shock. Seeing her reaction, he seemed to suppress a laugh and leaned forward slightly.

“Rest assured. It’s not stolen money. If you ask whether I obtained it by harming someone—well, a soldier is in a line of work where one inevitably harms others, so that wouldn’t be entirely wrong.”

“I… I’ve never heard that soldiers are paid this much.”

“Of course, normally they aren’t. I was, after all, a war hero. The benevolent Emperor granted me a bonus. I invested that money in a highly productive frontier mine. Thanks to that, even while repairing guns in a place like this, 1 million laurans is no difficult matter.”

At the word “investment,” Louiseette felt something unfamiliar. Count Onueve had once invested in a mine that didn’t even exist and ruined their household. Meanwhile, someone else actually made money from a real one.

“You seem… very skilled.”

“Not particularly. It’s not that difficult if you’re close to dragons. Dragons naturally have an uncanny ability to detect anything that glitters.”

Stellarius twisted his mouth slightly as if mocking himself, but Louiseette—her mind completely absorbed by gold—didn’t notice.

She only recalled her shallow knowledge of dragons. Dragons were said to hoard jewels. They nested in abandoned mines and were experts at locating veins of gold or ore.

As Louiseette stared too long at the gold ingots, Stellarius reached out and closed the box for her. When she lifted her head and met his eyes, he continued:

“In short, this money is what Fleur left behind for me. In that sense, I would like you to hand over Fleur’s descendant. It is the final legacy of my precious friend.”

Louiseette finally thought of the egg. She quickly lifted the wool pouch. Her voice brightened with newfound hope of repaying the massive debt.

“Of course! Of course! I’ll give it to you! As long as you pay, I’ll give you anything!”

“You do seem to like shiny things, Mademoiselle, just like a dragon.”

Stellarius laughed out loud this time. Louiseette bristled, thinking he was mocking her again, but she endured it. She could not risk losing the 1 million laurans over pride.

Confirming the deal, the man pulled out blank paper and a pen, quickly scribbling numbers and a signature. At the same time, he took the wool pouch from her and handed her a blank check.

“Here. 100,000 laurans in cash. The remaining 900,000, take this to the bank and exchange it.”

Nine hundred thousand. Good heavens!

Fearing she might lose it, Louiseette carefully tucked the check into her chest. She hugged the box of gold tightly and spoke quickly so he wouldn’t change his mind.

“Could I borrow some paper? I’ll write a transfer contract. Louiseette, heir of Count Onueve, is transferring the Egg of Fleur to Monsieur Stellarius. For 1 million laurans.”

“Mademoiselle is careless with her expressions, but quite meticulous at times like this. I’ll write it myself.”

Stellarius pulled out paper and quickly wrote the contract. Louiseette pressed the check tightly against her chest, feeling as if her heart would burst.

The debt-ridden life was over. The House of Onueve was saved. Catherine would cancel the engagement with Duke Truffaut, and she could return to being a carefree noble lady again!

Then Stellarius suddenly asked:

“By the way, may I ask something? No matter how you were deceived—how did your family end up with 1 million in debt?”

Louiseette hesitated, but decided there was no need to fear anymore now that things had improved.

“My father hid the fact that he was scammed. My mother and I lived normally, unaware of anything. Money kept flowing out, and with interest added, it became a huge debt.”

“A rather common family tragedy. I suppose you will continue to suffer in the future. Allow me to offer my encouragement in advance.”

Suffer?

Suffer, he said?

Because of this man, wasn’t the debt already paid off?

Louiseette stared blankly at him. Seeing her reaction, Stellarius frowned and set down his pen.

“Wait. Do you still not understand reality?”

“Reality?”

At her question, Stellarius leaned back as if shocked.

“Listen, Mademoiselle. Do you think paying off debt means everything is over? That’s only the beginning. Lamp oil, water, food, dresses, the maid waiting outside, carriage horses’ feed! How do you plan to cover all of that?”

Louiseette froze.

These were costs she had never even considered. In her former life of comfort, her father had always handled such things. Or rather, she had never even thought about them—she assumed everything was simply free.

But her father was gone. All those living expenses were now her responsibility.

How had she never thought of this!

Stellarius clicked his tongue loudly.

“Even breathing costs money in this world. And your count’s estate is in the capital, isn’t it? Taxes will be quite heavy. Have you even thought about that?”

“Taxes….”

She repeated blankly, her face burning with shame. She had only just realized taxes even existed.

The debt was not the end. In fact, money would be needed endlessly.

And all the provincial estates that once generated income had been used to pay off debt.

So what now? All that remained was a heavily taxed mansion, a few remaining jewels, and a dragon ranch in the Haeyet region she had never even seen.

Her body trembled.

She had thought everything was solved. But it was not. This was only the beginning.

Stellarius, sensing he had pushed her too far, softened his tone.

“I was wondering if you might try restoring the dragon ranch. I was planning to find a place to hatch this egg myself, so I might have helped you temporarily. Dragons are sensitive creatures, and the Haeyet region is the best land for raising them.”

Louiseette shook her head, pale.

She had no plan at all.

“I never thought about it. I just… my mother told me to marry Duke Truffaut to solve the debt, and I just came here because I didn’t want that….”

“I see.”

At the mention of Duke Truffaut, Stellarius frowned openly. He likely knew the duke was already in his sixties.

“It is unfortunate, but your mother likely saw further ahead than you. She wanted to secure your future while solving the household situation. After all, marrying a duke would remove your financial worries. Would it not?”

“I don’t want to become an old man’s second wife!”

Louiseette finally burst out her true feelings. The problem she thought was solved stabbed her again like a needle, and tears almost came to her eyes—but she bit her lip.

Stellarius looked at her with a complicated expression and handed her a copy of the contract.

“I understand. But Mademoiselle, if you want to escape this, you will need to find a way. A means to live going forward.”

Though he had been teasing her like a child, his tone was genuinely sincere now. That made her feel even more embarrassed. She lowered her head.

Even on the way back after handing over the egg, the heaviness did not leave her.

At the bank, she exchanged the check. Stellarius had truly given her the money to clear all her debt—1 million laurans. Sitting in the carriage with such wealth, she stared at the gold-filled box with a strange emptiness.

That man had enough wealth to treat such money as pocket change. And yet he lived in a shabby house and worked with his own hands.

She wanted to dismiss him as a former soldier and commoner—but compared to him, she felt like a hollow noble with nothing.

Reality had changed.

From the moment her father died, everything had shifted. Without the Onueve income, she now had to pay for her own life.

Work or marry Duke Truffaut.

The decision came quickly.

The next dawn, Louiseette packed a travel bag in secret. Documents, jewels, dresses. She left the mansion quietly and took a carriage.

Destination: Cherry Blossom Street.

She climbed the apartment stairs and knocked without hesitation.

When the door opened, she said directly:

“I’m going down to Haeyet. Will you come with me?”