PVMC 02

Chapter 02

“Um, excuse me…”
Drawing on my past-life instincts as a powerless commoner, I put on the most pitiful expression I could manage.
With pleading tears hanging at the corners of my drooping eyes, I asked,
“Isn’t there some way you could help…?”

“I’m sorry.”
The reply was a firm refusal.

“Damn it.”
I swallowed a sigh and leaned back against the chair. As expected, first-tier banks are strict no matter where you go.

“We really would like to take your circumstances into account, but the amount is simply too large. Six months is already the longest extension we can offer.”
“Ah, yeah. I know. I know.”

The bank clerk was right.
Honestly, with a sum this big, the bank would want to collect it immediately. They’d only extended the deadline this much because of my prior credit.

In the end, I left the bank empty-handed and popped a candy I’d prepared into my mouth.
“Life’s bitter—damn.”
After circling the plaza once, I sat down on a nearby bench.

“The sky’s so blue.”
Meanwhile, my life was stuck at a red light.
“No, stop the self-pity!”

The first plan had fallen through, but I couldn’t just give up like this. I sprang to my feet and headed toward my next destination.

“Hey, don’t worry. I’ll be a count before you know it!”

At that moment, I instinctively turned my head toward the voice.
A familiar face came into view.

“What the—”
I rubbed my eyes quickly.

I wasn’t mistaken.
The same pink hair and green eyes as mine.
Even that fierce, sharp-featured look.

It was definitely my uncle, Xavier Pusher.

“But right now…”
Was he going into a bar?

Without realizing it, I looked up at the sky.
It was just as vividly blue as before.
Which meant he was drinking in broad daylight?

“Well, I mean, you can drink.”
I wanted a drink myself right now.

But maybe a small tavern—fine.
The place Xavier had just entered clearly looked expensive.

“Highly suspicious, to say the least.”

Turning my head toward the clock tower, I saw there was still plenty of time.
I narrowed my eyes.

“I smell something.”
Something really rotten.

So I immediately moved my feet and followed after Xavier.

Even from afar it looked extravagant, but up close the place was downright dazzling.

“How may I help you?”
The doorman, standing stiffly, bowed toward me. I lifted the corners of my mouth into a bright smile and pointed at the door.

“The man who just went in is my uncle. He said he’d go ahead and get a table. I had a prior appointment, so I’m late.”

Yeah. Obviously a lie.
But he was my uncle, and my prior appointment was the bank—so it wasn’t completely false.

“Do you not have a maid with you?”
“I sent her on an errand for a moment.”

At my words, the doorman tilted his head.
He didn’t quite trust me, but my resemblance to my uncle clearly made things confusing.

“Lord Pusher did not leave any specific instructions.”
“Oh! He must’ve forgotten again!”

I clapped my hands cheerfully, and the doorman’s eyes immediately narrowed.
He scrutinized me carefully.
But moments like this were exactly when you couldn’t afford to lose confidence.

“As you can see, my uncle can be a bit scatterbrained.”

A lie has to be told boldly to sound real. If I backed down even a little, it’d all fall apart.
Just in case, I pulled out the card I’d prepared.

When the doorman saw the seal bearing the white stag—the symbol of Renesty—his eyes shook violently.

“He told me to come in quickly.”
“……”

“If not, you can go fetch him and check whether I’m telling the truth. But if I am telling the truth, you’ll have to compensate me for keeping me standing here like this.”

The doorman’s expression turned complicated.
It seemed he hadn’t expected me to be this brazen.
Unsure whether I was lying or not, he swallowed hard.

After a moment,
he let out a low sigh and grasped the handle.

“Please, go inside.”

I broke into a wide grin and hurried through the open door.
“Thank you!”

Just like its clean, classical exterior, the interior practically reeked of money.
The hall, reminiscent of a noble family’s reception room, felt more like a salon than an ordinary bar.

“You’d never know unless you actually came to a place this expensive.”
To avoid looking like a first-timer, I straightened my posture and looked around.

I’d suspected as much from the outside, and sure enough—it was no ordinary bar.
“Some kind of high-society hangout, maybe?”

Curiosity piqued, I surveyed the place.
There was a hall with tables, but also several private rooms for discreet meetings.

That was when a staff member approached.
“Are you here alone?”
“Ah, yes.”

I smiled faintly and turned to them, then nodded toward the tightly closed rooms.
“By any chance, where did the guests who just came in go?”

The staff member replied with a polite smile.
But no answer followed.

“So they can’t tell me.”
Not even going to open their mouth, huh.

“That must mean their confidentiality is airtight.”
How disappointing.

If it were the doorman, maybe—but snooping around for Xavier in here didn’t seem easy.
Still, I couldn’t just back down.

If that prideful bastard had come to a place like this, there had to be a reason.
After thinking for a moment, I looked at the staff member again.

“Then could you show me to a seat?”
They bowed respectfully and gestured inward.
“Please follow me.”

Xavier Pusher.
He was the younger brother of the late count and lived on with the title of the Pusher viscountcy.

Xavier was greedy by nature and fiercely proud of being a noble.
I’d heard that he’d been jealous of his older brother, the heir, since childhood.

So when the count died, instead of grieving, he’d only raged over the enormous debt of twenty billion left behind.

“Well, I already knew he was human garbage.”
Just the fact that he’d screamed at his barely twenty-year-old niece in the middle of the night to repay the debt said it all.

Seriously, the nerve.
“Hmph. He’s going to ruin himself one day.”

In the story, Xavier was a one-off supporting character who picked a fight with the protagonist, got thoroughly taught a lesson, and then vanished without a trace.

Still—what was he thinking now?
“When I saw him earlier, it looked like two or three people with him.”

I hadn’t gotten a good look at their faces, but anyone who could casually walk into a place like this wasn’t ordinary.
At the very least, they were nobles.

“Is he plotting something shady again?”
Given his track record, it was a fairly plausible guess.

“Here’s the coffee you ordered.”
“Oh, thank you.”

I sipped the cheapest coffee they had.
“Ugh. The taste of capital!”
Bitter as hell.

After finishing about half of it, I carefully scanned my surroundings.
How long had it been already?
At least thirty minutes, probably—but there was still no sign of him.

“Does this place have some kind of back exit?”
Well, a hidden passage or two wouldn’t be surprising in a place like this.

If so, waiting here was just a waste of time.

“Ugh…”
When I glanced at the wall clock, I felt time was starting to run dangerously short.
It’d be bad if I was late again.

“I should just get up.”
There was nothing else to do.

I’d just count today as having drunk an expensive coffee.
Since I didn’t know what he was up to, it’d be better to stay cautious for now.

With that, I stood up, placed a gold coin on the table, and left the bar.

“Damn it. I just wasted time because of that jerk.”
I should’ve just gone straight home!
After glaring fiercely at the shop I’d just left, I headed down the street, grumbling.

But just as I turned a corner—
my vision suddenly flipped.

“Ugh—what the hell?!”

My knee throbbed painfully against the stone pavement.
I barely managed to swallow a scream as I lifted my head.

“Kya—?!”

At that moment, my mouth was clamped shut.