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Chapter 3—I’m Going to Become Rich
A week had passed since I became Serna.
During that time, that bastard Kellen hadn’t shown his face even once. It really seemed like he planned to squeeze every last drop out of House Troide and then disappear unless I sent him a letter promising him the trading ship.
“What an incredible piece of trash.”
Even though Serna had willingly handed over those assets herself, I couldn’t help but feel some lingering regret. But instead of dwelling on what had already been lost, I needed to focus on what I could still gain.
Just thinking about what happened at the market still made my blood boil.
After organizing the memories I’d inherited from Serna, the situation was simple.
She had given everything to that bastard Kellen.
The only thing left that could actually make money was the trading ship.
There was also a two-story building owned by House Troide at the far edge of the capital. The location was terrible, and it had been neglected for years, so Kellen probably hadn’t even bothered taking an interest in it.
“Miss, please eat while you work.”
As I spooned up the warm soup Anna had brought me, I slowly read through every document related to the Troide family’s remaining assets.
Whether it was Kim Yunmi from Korea or Serna living here in the Ether Empire…
Both were pathetic women who had thrown away their money because they fell in love.
But the most important thing was this.
Money.
They had become miserable because they lost their money over love.
Even back in Korea, countless chaebols showered poor lovers with money, yet it barely affected them.
Why?
Because they had so much money to begin with.
That’s why, after coming to this world, I’d made the same vow hundreds of times.
Whatever god or whoever had thrown me into this life as punishment—
I was going to become unimaginably wealthy.
So wealthy that even if I threw money into the sea, I’d still have more than enough.
No matter what.
“Anna!”
At my call, Anna, who had been cleaning the windows outside, peeked her head into the room.
The amount of cash I currently possessed was pitifully small.
Back in Korea, an ordinary office worker could never become rich.
Unless they won the lottery.
If I wanted to become rich, I needed a business.
Yes.
I needed to start a business.
“I think we need to go out for a bit.”
“Miss… you know you’ve become really strange, right?”
“What did I do?”
“Well… calling Count Pyro a bastard, for one. And the way you spoke at the market… you were nothing like your usual self.”
“Really?”
As our carriage rolled along, Anna cautiously studied my expression.
“You’re not feeling unwell, are you? Like… maybe something’s wrong with your head?”
Was she implying I’d gone insane?
I smiled faintly, and Anna shivered.
“Anna, I’ve simply come to a realization.”
“What realization?”
“That all men are bastards.”
“Miss!!”
How can you use such vulgar language?!
You’ve become so, so strange!
You used to pace around your room in anxiety if even one day passed without a letter from Count Pyro.
But now you’ve gone an entire week without caring!
And your way of speaking has completely changed!
Where did you even learn to talk so roughly?
You’ve never once used words like that since you were little!
Anna’s nonstop lecture continued like rapid-fire rap.
With diction that clear, she probably would’ve become an excellent rapper if she’d been born in Korea.
“You know, Anna…”
“What is it?”
“Love is ultimately meaningless.”
“…Hearing you say that feels so strange.”
I simply smiled instead of answering.
If we kept talking, I had a feeling I’d explode with frustration over how foolish both my previous life and this one had been.
Maybe because I’d spent the past week eating well and sleeping properly, my hair now looked slightly better than a broom.
I hadn’t gained much weight yet, but even my dry skin had begun to regain some color.
Wearing a simple orange dress, I arrived at the outskirts of the capital.
After getting out of the carriage and following the directions Anna gave me, I finally found the Troide family’s building.
An old structure built from gloomy gray bricks.
Judging from the weathered sign hanging outside, someone must have run a shop here long ago.
Creeeak—
The door opened with an obnoxious groan, and stale, dusty air welcomed us before anything else.
What is this place?
It looked like a rat might pop out at any moment and say, “Hello.”
No wonder Kellen hadn’t bothered taking it.
Renovating this dump would’ve been nothing but a headache.
Dust puffed into the air with every step.
Anna was so worried about dirt getting on my dress that she clutched the hem and devoted all her attention to protecting it.
Although old and filthy from years of neglect, it was a fairly spacious two-story building.
It wasn’t a bad place to start a business.
I couldn’t cook.
I couldn’t sew clothes.
But there was one thing I’d done consistently since I was twenty in my previous life.
Jewelry design.
Designing pieces using gemstones and precious metals.
The initial investment would be steep, but in a society of nobles like the Ether Empire, it should sell quite well.
Back then, I had genuinely loved my work.
Even now, I could vividly remember the thrill of seeing one of my designs approved and released.
Just thinking about it made my fingertips tingle.
“Anna, let’s start a business.”
“Y-Yes, let’s. Although I’m worried your dress will get dirty… Wait, what?!”
Anna’s eyes became perfectly round.
It was as though she wanted to ask,
“A business? But you’ve never been good at anything!”
“I’m thinking of starting a jewelry business.”
“Miss… you’ve never shown any interest in jewelry.”
“That’s not true. I love jewelry.”
“When Count Pyro bought you jewelry before, you always left it sitting in your room instead of wearing it.”
“That’s because I loved it too much.”
Anna clearly didn’t believe me.
Ignoring her skeptical look, I headed upstairs.
Still stunned, she hurried after me.
“Miss, wouldn’t the trading ship alone be enough for us to live on? As long as you don’t hand it over to Count Pyro…”
“I want to become the richest noble lady in the Empire.”
“B-But… can a jewelry business really succeed in a rundown shop like this?”
“Remember the money I gave you earlier?”
It was practically all the cash assets I had left.
Calling it a fortune would be laughable.
I’d handed Anna around 2,000 Trang.
It should be enough to renovate and clean up the building.
Considering the Empire’s cost of living, it was roughly enough to cover one year’s expenses.
“After repairing the building, we’ll use what’s left to buy display cases.”
“If we’re selling jewelry, we’ll need expensive gemstones… and who’s going to do the craftsmanship?”
“I already have someone in mind for the craftsmanship.”
“And the gemstone supplier?”
“…I’ll have to find one.”
Anna simply shook her head at my firm answer.
House Troide had no authority, no wealth, and no prestige left.
Thanks to my bedridden father and the foolish Serna, the family had collapsed almost overnight.
There wasn’t a single noble willing to help us anymore.
The only nobles left were those who mocked us as Count Pyro’s loyal fools.
Finding gemstones was the biggest obstacle.
Still, during the past week, I’d come up with one possible solution.
“We have mages.”
Anna looked at me as if I’d gone completely mad.
“Miss… are you saying a mage is going to craft jewelry? Those arrogant mages?”
“We have that mage.”
“…Who exactly?”
“The mage whose life I once saved.”
“His name was…”
“Surely you don’t mean Orvi?”
“Exactly.”
Orvi.
One of the few names I’d managed to dig out from Serna’s distant memories.
Magic existed in the Ether Empire.
Although it wasn’t common to encounter mages in everyday life, beyond the Empire’s deepest and darkest forest lay a hidden place called Quillen, where mages lived together.
It couldn’t even be seen by people who couldn’t use magic.
Serna hadn’t met Orvi there.
She’d met him in the middle of the capital.
Before making her debut in noble society, young Serna had been sightseeing around the city while holding her butler’s hand when she found a collapsed little boy lying in a back alley.
She brought him back to the estate and nursed him with great care.
His name was Orvi.
He had been a gifted young mage from Quillen, but after enduring relentless abuse from his father, he’d fled through the dangerous forest and barely reached the capital before collapsing from exhaustion.
Fortunately, Serna found him in time and saved his life.
Even though Serna insisted she didn’t need repayment, Orvi handed her a small blue gemstone before leaving.
“If you ever need help, call for me.”
Only much later did Serna discover that the stone wasn’t an ordinary gem at all—
It was a mana stone.
“Will we even be able to find Orvi after all this time?”
“Don’t worry. He left something behind.”
“…Then what about the gemstones?”
“I’m still thinking about that.”
“That’s the biggest problem. Most of the mines belong to Count Pyro…”
“Exactly.”
“So I’m looking for someone who can supply even more gemstones than he can.”
No matter how deeply I searched through Serna’s memories, no suitable candidate appeared.
And it wasn’t as though I knew this Empire inside and out.
The old light fixture hanging from the second-floor ceiling crackled before going dark.
“Miss!”
“Hm?”
“I know someone!”
“What?”
“The Duke of Valoran!”
“Valoran?”
The House of Valoran.
According to what little Serna knew, it was probably the most powerful ducal family in the Ether Empire, ruling the largest territory.
That was all she remembered.
Her memories were so filled with Kellen that it was genuinely irritating.
“But Duke Valoran never attends social gatherings. They say he almost never leaves his estate.”
“Why?”
“It’s only a rumor…”
Even though only the two of us were in the building, Anna leaned closer and whispered.
“They say he has no legs, so he can’t go outside.”
“Others say he has no eyes.”
“I think it’s probably both.”
“How horrifying.”
“Anna.”
“Y-Yes?”
“Would you like it if people called me the Skeleton Lady?”
“Of course not, Miss!”
“Then let’s not judge someone based on rumors.”
It would hurt.
If the rumors were true, they would only deepen his wounds.
And if they weren’t, then spreading them was simply rude.
It was no different from everyone calling Serna a fool or the Skeleton Lady.
Anna immediately looked ashamed.
“I’m sorry, Miss.”
It wasn’t really her fault.
But even back in the modern world, I hated internet trolls more than anything.
Still…
A duke surrounded by nothing but rumors.
I couldn’t exactly ask Count Pyro to become my gemstone supplier.
That left me with only one choice.
Duke Valoran.
Another week passed after Anna and I inspected the building.
Ever since hearing about Duke Valoran, I’d sent him letters every single day requesting an audience.
Not one reply came back.
This duke really has terrible social skills.
No matter how important he was, after receiving requests for an entire week, the least he could do was send some kind of response out of courtesy.
The building had already been completely cleaned and repaired.
Soon we’d need to buy display cases and decorations.
Yet the one thing a jewelry shop absolutely needed—
A gemstone supplier—
Remained completely out of reach because I couldn’t even meet the duke.
Fortunately, things had gone a little better with Orvi.
Getting in touch with him had been a struggle, but somehow we managed it.
Neither Anna nor I had any idea how to use the mana stone.
We spent days staring at it in confusion.
“How the hell do you use this thing, Orvi?!”
The moment I snapped, the mana stone burst into brilliant light.
It flashed once—
Then Orvi’s voice echoed from within.
Apparently, saying his name had been the key.
“Lady Serna?”
“Orvi!”
“You startled me.”
For a brief moment, I found myself captivated by his low, calm, gentle voice before quickly getting to the point.
Thankfully, he accepted my request without hesitation.
“I owe you my life, Lady Serna.”
“Use me however you wish.”
There wasn’t even a trace of humor in his voice.
He explained that he couldn’t come immediately because he was occupied with something, and asked me to give him a little time.
I readily agreed.
There wasn’t much for him to do until I secured the gemstones anyway.
Things had been going almost too smoothly.
I suppose it was inevitable that I’d run into a major obstacle eventually.
“I have to go.”
“Where?”
Anna asked without looking up as she straightened my bedding.
“To the Valoran ducal estate.”
“…Miss.”
“If I stand in front of their gates long enough, they’ll have to give me some sort of answer.”
“What noble lady just stands outside a duke’s gates waiting? Please…”
“Anna.”
“I told you.”
“We’re going to become the richest people in the Ether Empire.”
“…Sigh.”
Having completely given up trying to stop me, Anna simply muttered,
“Fine. Do whatever you want, Miss.”
As long as I secured gemstones, I could finally begin my business.
There was no way I was giving up now.
Valoran or whoever he was—
I’d go there myself and settle this face-to-face.
