RNB 02

Chapter 2

“That incredibly valuable land you own is going to be transferred to Baron Garen as part of the wedding gifts.”

‘…Wait a second.’

What exactly did I just hear?

“I’ve already signed all the paperwork with Baron Garen, so just accept it and quietly get married.”

‘Did I hear that correctly? Whose land are they talking about giving away?’

For a moment, Yvenne doubted her own ears.

“Honestly, we should’ve done this ages ago. How does it make sense for that land to belong to you? It’s only now returning to its rightful owner. The old man must’ve gone senile. Who hands over land through a lottery?”

“Exactly. Father-in-law really went too far. It’s infuriating that we only received half the profits all this time.”

The sheer shamelessness of her uncle and aunt casually speaking nonsense as though it were perfectly reasonable left Yvenne dumbfounded.

It was her land—why were they passing it around among themselves?

“What exactly are you talking about? The land is under my name. How can unrelated people make deals over it? At least say something that makes sense.”

“What do you mean unrelated? Soon enough, it’ll be very much related to us. Unless, of course, you cease to matter.”

‘What kind of garbage is that supposed to mean now?’

Completely failing to understand her uncle’s words, Yvenne’s eyes widened.

“What do you mean by that? Why would I cease to matter?”

“You foolish girl! Once you marry, you won’t be Yvenne Sweet anymore—you’ll be Yvenne Garen! Which means the land you own naturally becomes Baron Garen’s property as your husband! That’s why we arranged to receive it beforehand as part of the marriage gifts. The paperwork is already complete, so hand over the land and quietly get married!”

Her uncle declared this proudly, puffing out his chest.

Now that Yvenne understood the full story, she was beyond stunned.

“You should consider yourself lucky! Baron Garen must truly adore you to hand over such valuable land as wedding gifts! Honestly, every marriage proposal you received before only wanted you for that land, so I thought you’d never marry at all. But Baron Garen generously offered the land himself, so what a relief this is. And don’t feel sad about losing the land—it’s merely returning to its rightful owner.”

“Oh, absolutely. And she’s so extravagant too! All she knows how to do is spend money every day. Honestly, dear, don’t even get me started. I thought no noble family would ever be able to handle her expenses, but thank goodness Baron Garen stepped forward.”

“Indeed. Luckily, Baron Garen has quite a bit of money from his shipping business, doesn’t he? A man in love will do anything, after all.”

“Oh my! Oh my! How exciting! I’m getting butterflies myself!”

‘I knew Uncle and Aunt were idiots, but to think they were this stupid…’

As if Baron Garen would really hand over that precious land as wedding gifts.

All he had to do was ignore the signed agreement.

‘Do they seriously not realize that no lawsuit would work when the land was never theirs to begin with…?’

Just in case, Yvenne looked at the couple again.

Her uncle and aunt were already excitedly listing all the luxury goods they planned to buy, acting as though they already owned the land.

Without realizing it, Yvenne slowly shook her head.

They truly had no clue.

Letting their chatter pass through one ear and out the other, Yvenne leaned her head back and stared at the sky.

Not a single cloud marred its clarity.

[Hmm. Half the profits should do. That way Teymon won’t sell you off for an enormous price—or perhaps won’t sell you at all.]

‘No, Grandfather. I think you were wrong. Your son is far dumber than you thought. Your granddaughter is about to be sold off dirt cheap.’

Grandfather, I told you. You should’ve made that smart-looking collateral relative the successor instead.

‘That ridiculous obsession with bloodlines…’

Then, deliberately ignoring the combat magic scroll she always carried hidden against her chest—and the magic ring on her finger—Yvenne closed her eyes tightly and thought:

All of this happened because the limited-edition golden shoes from Oz Company, whose slogan was “Good shoes will take you to good places,” had broken.

Otherwise, there was no explanation for why today had led her down such a catastrophically filthy path.

Imperial Year 1574.

Within the Magic Tower—or, more precisely, in the cozy two-story house built on the Tower grounds—lived the Tower’s one and only alchemist, who had resided there for the past three years.

And originally, there had been no such house there at all.

The very day she was told to marry Baron Garen—

Yvenne immediately stormed out of the Sweet estate and borrowed an enormous sum from the Magic Tower using her land as collateral.

With part of the money, she purchased the two-story house and begged the mage uncles to magically transport the entire building onto the Tower grounds.

Then she spent the remaining money as extravagantly as possible.

Loudly enough that even Baron Garen, all the way out west, would hear about it.

By the time the rumors spread, the response to Baron Garen’s damned proposal arrived in the form of a debt certificate stamped with the seal of the Tower Master himself.

Upon seeing the astronomical amount written on Yvenne Sweet’s debt document, Baron Garen nearly fainted—and promptly canceled the marriage.

‘“Quite wealthy,” my ass. If he couldn’t even handle that much money, then what exactly was he bragging about?’

Yvenne was extremely satisfied after successfully preventing the disgusting, shameless Baron Garen—who wanted to marry a girl young enough to be his daughter—from ever attaching himself to her life.

Then, clutching her beloved debt certificate, she marched straight to her uncle’s estate and caused an enormous scene demanding repayment.

‘Uncle’s face back then was truly worth seeing.’

Thanks to Yvenne bringing not only the destruction of the “golden goose” land but also a debt amount beyond imagination, her uncle’s face had turned deathly pale.

He screamed that he would expel her from the family no matter what.

And eventually, through a formal family meeting, Yvenne received official papers declaring her disowned from House Sweet.

Clutching those papers in her hands, Yvenne trembled violently.

“I should’ve gone into debt sooner! There was such an easy solution all along!”

Unable to contain her joy at no longer having to use the surname Sweet, she stomped her feet and flapped her arms in the air.

Then she shouted proudly:

“As expected, I’m a genius!”

Watching this spectacle from behind her, Ian Fernan—the 21st Master of the Magic Tower—merely shook his head in disbelief as he passed by.

From the moment she was born, Yvenne had been rich.

How rich?

Rich enough that even after borrowing money against her precious land and blowing every last coin, she still wouldn’t bat an eye.

The reason Yvenne could afford such recklessness was because of the inheritance left by her father.

‘Dad had absurdly good luck when it came to money.’

Everything he touched generated profits—at minimum double, and sometimes up to five hundred times the original investment.

And because her parents feared that all that wealth could place young Yvenne in danger if she were ever left alone, they started teaching her survival strategies early.

[Yvenne, what did we say you should do if Mom and Dad aren’t around anymore?]

[First, transfer the land and buildings into the Magic Tower’s name. Then ask the mage uncles to store the jewels and paintings in Warehouse 23 inside the Tower headquarters. After that, move the money into the fake-name accounts Mom and Dad made. Then I go cry to Grandpa!]

[Do you tell Grandpa about the fortune or not?]

[I don’t tell him!]

[And what if the Magic Tower shows signs of trying to swallow up your inheritance?]

[I submit the corruption records and dirty secrets to the Imperial Family and destroy the Magic Tower!]

“Oh my! Isn’t our daughter clever~?”

“Hehehe!”

The father and daughter excitedly shouting things like “Our daughter’s a genius!” “Fake-name accounts!” “The Magic Tower sucks!” had earned utterly bewildered looks from Ian Fernan, the 21st Tower Master, who sat beside them holding a coffee cup and staring at them like they were lunatics.

And then, when Yvenne turned ten—

‘Everything Dad joked about came true. Except for destroying the Magic Tower.’

Life at House Sweet afterward hadn’t been particularly lacking.

Her grandfather gave her a generous allowance—far more than most noble daughters received—and she also earned a salary from the Magic Tower.

But for Yvenne, who had never once in her life hesitated over something she wanted…

…it was nowhere near enough.

For the first time ever, she found herself looking at price tags and hesitating.

‘Debating whether to buy something? If I were actually poor, at least I’d have a reason to be upset! It’s not like I don’t have money!’

That was the problem.

She had more money than she could ever spend—but couldn’t openly use it.

A mere young noble lady only had a fixed monthly allowance. Spending far beyond that would obviously arouse suspicion.

And suspicion would inevitably lead to troublesome complications.

So Yvenne endured it.

‘The first two years at the count’s estate, I held out pretty well.’

Those two years were the longest stretch of patience Yvenne had ever maintained in her life.

Then, on the 134th day after those two years—

Disaster struck.

That day, she saw an unbelievably gorgeous limited-edition handbag.

Her eyes practically rolled back as she screamed internally:

That belongs to me!

And before she knew it, the beautiful bag was hanging from her arm as naturally as if it had always belonged there.

At the time, she thought:

‘It’s only once. It’ll be fine.’

That was the problem.

The first time was hard.

Every time after that became easier.

‘The second time’s fine too. Totally.’

‘Third time? No one will notice.’

‘Just this once more. This is absolutely the last thing I buy. After today, I’ll stay within my allowance.’

‘Today is truly the last time…’

‘Actually yesterday was the second-to-last time, and today is the real last time.’

‘This is the real real last time. If I buy something again, I’m a dog. A dog!’

‘…Woof woof.’

Watching all this unfold, Ian Fernan clicked his tongue and muttered that she’d get caught eventually.

But around that time, Yvenne luckily inherited the count family’s priceless land.

Because of that, not a single person questioned her extravagant spending anymore.

‘Until I turned fifteen, Grandfather dealt with everyone after the land. After that, Uncle handled them.’

Regardless of his intentions, under her uncle’s protection, Yvenne believed she’d be able to quietly enjoy life while freely spending the hidden fortune she’d tucked away behind the excuse of the land.

‘Never in my dreams did I imagine Uncle would do something so stupid.’

And so, on the day the heel of her limited-edition golden shoes snapped, Yvenne decided:

Just destroy the precious land entirely.

‘Well, not literally.’

Regardless of the truth, outwardly she had borrowed money from the Magic Tower using the land as collateral and buried herself in debt.

With the land gone, her uncle had no reason to keep her around and immediately stripped her of the Sweet family name.

But that was fine.

‘The family’s protection had already become useless to me anyway. I’m not some ten-year-old little girl anymore, and rumors already spread throughout the capital that I’m a shallow spendthrift drowning in debt, so nobody approaches me.’

She was extremely satisfied.

Though the labels of “debtor” and “extravagant woman” followed her everywhere, life was far more comfortable this way.

On the first day after officially being removed from the family registry and receiving the Magic Tower surname—

Yvenne Highwen proudly strode into the Tower’s main castle with her chin held high.

The mages waiting for her lined up in two rows at the entrance, applauding and shouting:

“The pride of our Magic Tower!”

“A genius among geniuses!”

In response, Yvenne bounced in place while flashing double peace signs against her cheeks before immediately resuming her elegant, runway-like walk as though none of it had happened.

Watching this scene entirely by accident while leaving his office, Ian Fernan muttered with a grave expression:

“Does our Magic Tower only employ lunatics?”

It was a very happy scene within the Magic Tower.

Well—

Happy for everyone except Ian.