RNB 01

Chapter 1

Seventeen-year-old Yvenne Sweet was in such a good mood that morning she could barely stop herself from humming.

Unable to contain her overflowing excitement, she bounced on her feet, her black hair swishing softly with every movement. Despite the sharp upward tilt of her eyes giving her a somewhat haughty appearance, her warm brown eyes brimmed with gentle charm and affection.

In both hands, Yvenne held a pair of limited-edition golden shoes from Oz Company.

Stopping her excited little hops, she gazed lovingly at the hard-won shoes.

“Ahh… so pretty.”

Afraid they might get dusty, she gently blew on them before carefully setting them down. Then she slipped off her indoor slippers and put on the golden shoes instead.

The shoes sparkled brilliantly as they reflected the morning sunlight.

At that moment, Yvenne felt like the heroine of the entire world.

“My gosh~ They’re absolutely perfect for me!”

Clasping her hands together, she sighed in delight.

With these shoes on, she felt like even her dreadful commute to work—one that always started with curses—would somehow become bearable.

She took one step and admired the shoes once.

Two steps, then admired them again.

All the while humming happily to herself.

Before she knew it, she had arrived at the carriage waiting in front of the count’s estate to take her to work.

In high spirits, Yvenne climbed aboard the carriage.

…Or rather, she tried to.

If only her heel hadn’t gotten stuck in the step.

“Huh? Why is this…? What’s happening?”

And if she hadn’t panicked and yanked her foot free so hastily, the tragedy of her shoe heel snapping clean off and tumbling to the ground might never have occurred.

She stared blankly at the broken golden heel glittering beneath the morning sun, unable to process reality.

Then, naturally—

“How was I supposed to get theseee?!”

—she let out a scream worthy of a tragic heroine abandoned by the male lead.

People might wonder why a seventeen-year-old girl was commuting to work in the first place, but Yvenne Sweet had been working at the Magic Tower since she was ten years old.

If that made her some once-in-a-generation magical prodigy, however, the answer was no.

She had absolutely no talent for magic.

The only reason she had worked at the Magic Tower since childhood was because of her parents.

During a mission, her father had died alongside her mother, who had been a mage affiliated with the Magic Tower. As a gesture of compensation and respect, the Tower appointed ten-year-old Yvenne as an alchemist.

And so, from the age of ten until now at seventeen, Yvenne had continued working there without issue.

At least until today.

“My lady, I think it’ll take quite a while to get this wheel out. Perhaps you should walk ahead first…”

“What?!”

On her usual route to work, the carriage wheel had suddenly sunk into a muddy road.

Splash!

“Ptoo! Ptoo! Ugh! What family’s carriage was that?! You red carriage—I’ve memorized youuu!”

Then, while walking to work because of the broken carriage, another carriage sped past and splashed muddy water all over her.

“Agh! Seriously! If work was canceled, couldn’t they have told me beforehand?! This damned Magic Tower never does anything right!”

After struggling all the way there, she only discovered upon arrival that the Magic Tower was completely empty because everyone had been dispatched on a magical beast extermination mission.

And then—

“We’d like to have a talk with you, Yvenne.”

Once she finally returned home, her utterly detestable uncle—the Count Sweet himself—greeted her with a smile and asked to speak with her.

At that point, Yvenne became certain that her entire day had been cursed from the very moment her shoe heel snapped.

“My dear, Yvenne is already seventeen now. I can hardly believe how grown she’s become.”

The Countess, who usually acted as though she wanted to devour Yvenne alive, was suddenly speaking with the warm smile and affectionate tone of a loving mother.

That alone was deeply unsettling.

“Indeed. She’s finally beginning to look like a proper young lady.”

Her uncle—who disliked her just as much as his wife, if not more—was acting just as suspiciously friendly.

‘What’s going on? This is weird. These people aren’t the type to say nice things to me…’

Yvenne narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the couple seated across from her.

The sight of the Count and Countess wearing gentle smiles entered her vision.

‘Ugh. My poor eyes.’

Feeling as though she’d witnessed something she never should have seen, Yvenne grimaced unconsciously and reached for the dessert tray on the table.

She felt like she needed something sweet to smooth out the expression twisting her face.

And honestly, she had a rough idea why they were acting this way.

‘No doubt it’s about the land.’

Resting her cheek lazily against one hand, Yvenne idly kicked her foot in its shabby black flats.

‘Yeah. The land.’

The incredibly valuable territory her grandfather had left her when she was thirteen, before his death two years ago.

The only reason the land had fallen into Yvenne’s hands at all was pure luck.

One day, her grandfather—then the Count Sweet—had suddenly appeared before thirteen-year-old Yvenne and her cousin Daisy with a container filled with hundreds of sticks.

[Pick one each. Whatever property of the count’s estate is written on the stick you draw shall become your gift.]

At those words, Daisy jumped excitedly, declaring she wanted jewelry.

Yvenne, meanwhile, had been indifferent. Out of that many sticks, how many useful ones could there possibly be?

Daisy agonized over her choice.

Yvenne just grabbed one at random.

And Daisy—

‘Got the jewels she wanted.’

While Yvenne drew a stick with an address written on it.

Seeing the address, Daisy mocked her before proudly showing off her own stick labeled “Ruby Necklace.”

But Yvenne’s hands had trembled violently as she stared at the address, desperately covering her widening grin.

Jackpot!

Daisy, who only cared about jewelry and dresses, hadn’t realized it—but that address belonged to the most valuable piece of land owned by the entire count family.

‘Who would’ve thought that address would be among the sticks?’

Her uncle had looked so shocked his eyes nearly popped out.

Meanwhile, oblivious Daisy proudly boasted about winning a ruby necklace while mocking Yvenne’s “weird address,” only to get smacked across the back by her furious mother.

After all, the income generated from that “weird address” could buy not just hundreds of ruby necklaces, but thousands.

Even Count Sweet himself had looked slightly startled upon seeing Yvenne’s stick before muttering that at least her luck with money perfectly resembled her late father’s.

Her uncle had angrily protested to her grandfather, but the old count had firmly declared:

[No take-backs.]

Thanks to that, Yvenne ended up owning land that could feed her for life without her lifting a finger.

Later, Count Sweet had privately summoned her and said:

[If I die early, give a portion of the profits from that land to Teymon. Use it to negotiate with him so he won’t interfere in your marriage.]

Then, after rubbing his chin thoughtfully, he added:

[Hmm. About half the profits should do. That way Teymon will…]

That had been the single most useful piece of advice her grandfather had ever given her.

‘Though giving away half the profits is a pretty major flaw.’

Even with the condition that they would never interfere in her marriage prospects, her uncle and aunt still weren’t satisfied with receiving half the land’s profits.

They coveted the land greedily.

Thinking young Yvenne would be easy to manipulate, they alternated between praising her, criticizing her spending habits, and complaining about the family business struggling financially.

Yvenne remained unmoved by any of it—flattery, persuasion, criticism, or threats alike.

‘Seriously, the nerve of them. Shameless.’

She was certain they intended to talk about the land again today too, and she wished they’d hurry up and get it over with.

Completely uninterested in anything her uncle and aunt had to say, Yvenne simply stared mournfully at the worn black flats she’d hastily put on after her precious golden shoes were ruined.

‘Sob… my Oz shoes. I worked so hard to get them.’

She drifted briefly into sorrowful thoughts about the ruined limited-edition shoes before becoming absorbed in figuring out how to obtain another pair.

‘Maybe I should hire an information broker and pay extra for them…?’

“And so, Yvenne, we’ve arranged an excellent marriage prospect for you.”

“That sounds— …Wait, what?! What kind of bullshit is that?!”

Yvenne, whose thoughts had been consumed entirely by replacing her limited-edition shoes, nearly cursed out loud at the sudden bombshell dropped by her uncle.

Only then did she straighten from her lazy posture and stare directly at the couple across from her.

“A marriage prospect? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“You’ll marry Baron Garen this September. I personally selected him after careful consideration.”

‘Garen?’

Gaaaaren?!

“Apparently Baron Garen saw you during his visit to the estate and fell in love at first sight. A match like Baron Garen is quite excellent, don’t you think, Venne?”

Yvenne stared at her uncle in disbelief.

Was he serious?

‘Baron Garen is a divorced man over fifty with children! In what universe is that a good match?! Is he insane?’

It was a moment that made her deeply question the judgment of the head of a noble family.

A father-aged divorced man for a seventeen-year-old girl?!

Even if her own father were still alive, he’d probably be much younger than Baron Garen!

Yvenne glared sharply at her uncle.

Meanwhile, after dropping such an explosive statement, her uncle sat there proudly stroking his mustache with his chin held high.

He even gave an obnoxious little “ahem.”

“I’m pretty sure I made this clear when I first agreed to give you half the income from the land every month. In exchange, you were not to interfere in my marriage prospects.”

She could still vividly remember him grinning from ear to ear as he promised to leave everything to him.

“This man gave up that arrangement because he wanted to send his only niece into such a wonderful marriage! What other uncle could be so generous?”

Her aunt—who loved money no less than her husband—laughed theatrically.

That only made Yvenne more suspicious.

‘…What is this really? They’re genuinely giving up the money? There’s no way.’

Yvenne watched the overdressed couple giggling and grinning at each other beneath layers of expensive jewels before slowly shaking her head.

A mutt never stops eating crap.

‘What exactly are they scheming? What benefit could they possibly gain from marrying me off to Baron Garen?’

Leaning back in her chair with narrowed eyes, Yvenne crossed her arms firmly.

She became certain of it.

Her uncle must have made some kind of deal with Baron Garen.

And whatever he was getting from it had to be worth even more than the monthly money she gave him.

“Then you won’t be receiving any profits from my land anymore. You understand that, right?”

As she spoke, she carefully studied her uncle’s expression.

The corners of his mouth twitched ever so slightly, as though he were barely suppressing delight.

“Ah~ that land~”

“Dear!”

Unable to stop himself from talking, her uncle was immediately restrained by her aunt.

But he merely waved it off casually.

“Oh, come now! She’ll find out eventually anyway. What difference does it make if she learns now?”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

Apparently her aunt hadn’t intended to stop him all that seriously, because she only glanced sideways at Yvenne before trailing off.

Now completely unconcerned, her uncle leaned back smugly and looked straight at Yvenne.

And when he continued speaking—

Yvenne froze in place, arms still crossed.