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∼Chapter 9∼
A 5,000 Cash Draw Ticket!
Just hearing those words made my heart flutter. I nodded with a delighted expression.
‘I’ll use it!’
[The 5,000 Cash Draw Ticket is being used.]
Along with the notification, a roulette wheel appeared before my eyes.
The damn demon was drawn on the wheel, winking and waving at me.
‘That con artist!’
I wanted to complain to him immediately, but it was only a picture drawn on the roulette wheel.
‘……Could it be that the draw probabilities are rigged too?’
A reasonable suspicion suddenly occurred to me, but I shook my head.
‘No. Don’t jinx it. Let’s think positive thoughts.’
Watching the roulette wheel spin round and round, I swallowed nervously.
I had read it in a book once.
Strong desires could become reality.
‘5,000 Cash! 5,000 Cash! Let it be 5,000 Cash!’
[Congratulations!]
‘Oh!’
At the congratulatory message, I clenched my fists excitedly.
‘Sure, it’s a demon, but he couldn’t possibly be that evil— huh?’
[You have won 100 Cash!]
I froze at the words that followed.
‘What are you congratulating me for?! Are you making fun of me?!’
100 Cash?!
Not even 1,000 Cash, but a measly 100 Cash?!
Wasn’t that the smallest amount of Cash I could possibly draw?
‘Even in my previous life, while everyone else was drawing 1,000 won, 2,000 won, or 5,000 won, I always got 100 won…… And now it’s happening here too!’
What was I supposed to do with 100 won?
Reality was so rotten that the 500 Cash quest reward was actually much better than a 5,000 Cash draw ticket!
I flopped face-first onto the bed and wildly kicked and waved my arms.
“Waaaaaah!”
[Your current Cash balance is 1,100 Cash.]
A notification was shoved right in front of my eyes as if deliberately mocking me.
‘Ha. So I can’t summon a novel? Even if I try to summon one with 1,100 Cash, all I’ll hear is that I don’t have enough Cash.’
How long was it going to take to collect Cash by drawing only 100 or 200 at a time?
With a sulky expression, I lightly poked the cover of the book.
Then I suddenly lifted my head.
‘Oh, right! Come to think of it, there was a notification I hadn’t checked yet!’
As soon as I thought that, the notifications continued from where I had stopped reading.
[Because the satisfaction level of the persuasion target, Duke Phaeraton, is at its maximum, an additional reward will be provided.]
[Would you like to receive the additional reward now?]
‘Yes.’
I didn’t know what the additional reward was, but I hoped it would simply be Cash rather than another draw ticket.
Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much.
I lazily lay on my side and stared at the notification window.
[Calculating additional reward… Calculation complete.]
[Additional reward will be provided.]
[Would you like to use the to summon a ? The novel will be available for rental for three days from the date of summoning.]
‘Huh?’
I shot upright in bed.
I had been disappointed when I saw the words “Novel Rental Ticket,” but I could rent the entire novel instead of just one chapter?
‘Oh my goodness! That’s even better than getting 5,000 Cash!!’
Thank you, Duke!
I honestly couldn’t understand it, but thank you for being maximally satisfied with me!
I bowed toward the direction of the Duke’s office.
‘All right, then…….’
I stared at the notification window that was still floating before me.
I had been planning to summon <I’ll Run Away, Even Though I’m a Rich Heiress>, but now I hesitated.
‘Collecting Cash is probably going to be harder than I thought…….’
I had gotten lucky with the additional reward this time, but who knew what would happen next time?
After experiencing the miracle of a 5,000 Cash draw ticket turning into 100 Cash in an instant, I was worried.
‘Let’s save it for now.’
I never knew when I might need a particular ability, so it would probably be better to keep it as insurance.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
Knock, knock.
I quickly hid the book beneath the blanket.
If they saw how much the book had changed and questioned me about it, I wouldn’t know what to say.
A moment later, the door opened, and the maids came inside.
“I’m sorry, young lady. We were all away when you woke up.”
“It’s okay!”
I shook my head and quickly climbed down from the bed.
“You must be hungry, right? You were sleeping so soundly that we didn’t wake you for mealtime.”
The moment she said that, my stomach growled.
“Yes. I slept so deeply that I didn’t even realize I was falling asleep.”
I felt a little embarrassed.
It seemed the only thing I had gotten better at since coming here was sleeping.
I scratched my cheek, and Anna nodded as if she understood.
“Hehe, you must have been tired.”
With Anna taking my side, I became confident again.
That’s right. I had every reason to be tired!
How many things had happened today?
I had completed an extreme quest and even survived being interrogated!
Most importantly, I was a baby!
I stuck my belly out proudly, making the maids laugh.
But the warm atmosphere lasted only a moment before Nancy dropped a bombshell.
“Still, we were all very surprised. We never imagined you would fall completely asleep on His Grace’s lap.”
“…Huh?”
My head creaked around as I looked at Nancy.
“I-I fell asleep on the Duke’s—no, Daddy’s lap?!”
“Yes. You were sleeping so peacefully.”
“Peacefully… slept?”
On the lap of the Duke of all people?
“At first, you kept nodding off, but later you completely stretched out across His Grace’s lap and slept soundly.”
Wow.
I really had gotten some deep sleep.
“It was the first time in a long while that the office felt so warm. Even though it’s colder than the northern snowfields.”
“I’m sure everyone had a hard time holding back their laughter.”
No way.
I didn’t think that was true of the men who had been gasping like they were being strangled.
Why had I even done that?
At that moment, a bad feeling passed through my heart.
“So Anna brought me here?”
Anna brought me here, right?
Please say yes.
“No. His Grace personally carried you here.”
Why did my bad feelings never turn out to be wrong?
“Next time, Anna, you bring me here.”
“Pardon?”
“What if Daddy gets annoyed with me?”
Annoying children were disliked.
“Young lady……”
Anna made a strange expression.
Then, as if she had made up her mind, she crouched down and met my eyes.
“There’s no way His Grace could be annoyed by the youngest young lady.”
“That’s right. You saw him call for the tailor today, didn’t you? I’ve never seen His Grace look for a tailor first in my entire life. He dislikes even having his measurements taken, so the butler has always had trouble with that.”
“His Grace truly cherishes the youngest young lady.”
The maids each tried to comfort me.
They all had the exact same expression as Anna.
‘That wasn’t something worth making such faces over.’
It wasn’t like I was starving for my father’s affection.
I felt sorry that I had made them worry about me for no reason.
“I’m really okay!”
I deliberately spoke more brightly, but for some reason, the maids’ expressions became even more distorted.
Anna carefully took my hand.
“It’s just that His Grace…… is very inexperienced when it comes to these things.”
“No, I really am—”
“It must be difficult for you to understand. I didn’t understand it either, even after working at the ducal residence for several years. But now that I see it, I think he’s simply inexperienced.”
Her words were vague, but the more she spoke, the more conviction appeared on Anna’s face.
She looked exactly like someone who had just realized something.
“I thought His Grace was a perfect person without a single weakness. Someone who never needed other people, and who couldn’t understand people who needed others……”
That wasn’t perfection.
My lips moved, but I didn’t say it out loud.
“But I realized it after seeing how His Grace treats the youngest young lady. He’s simply inexperienced.”
“After seeing how he treats me?”
“Yes.”
“I keep seeing sides of His Grace that I’ve never seen even once during all the years I’ve worked at the ducal residence.”
“Actually, even the way I’m talking with the youngest young lady like this feels unfamiliar to me.”
“Everyone in the ducal household is different from ordinary people……”
“Different from ordinary people?”
At my question, Anna became flustered and exchanged glances with the others.
Seeing the maids hurriedly shut their mouths, I tilted my head innocently, pretending I knew nothing.
“Why? What’s different?”
“Oh, goodness. Different? We simply mean special.”
“That’s right. A family this extraordinary isn’t exactly common, is it?”
I narrowed my eyes at the maids as they laughed awkwardly.
‘There’s something going on. As I thought, House Phaeraton isn’t an ordinary ducal family.’
But the maids didn’t seem willing to tell me.
‘Well, I suppose it would be inappropriate to tell a baby all sorts of things about her family.’
Especially if they were bad things.
Seeing the maids’ troubled expressions, I changed the subject.
“I’m hungry!”
The maids smiled in relief.
As I watched Nancy’s back disappear while she went to get some food, I thought to myself.
‘Hmm. I need to investigate the ducal family.’
It seemed House Phaeraton was anything but an ordinary family.
