THTE 21

Chapter 21

“Yes…?”

Although the conversation briefly went off-topic in the middle, Nibelia still explained to Arep, rather solemnly, how to work properly.

Arep looked at Nibelia with a mixture of curiosity and admiration.

He found it surprising that a noble actually worked to earn money, and impressive that, despite being so young, she was determined to work and earn.

“Then, let’s get started!”

“Yes.”

They soon began pulling weeds.

Today’s task was weeding.

With summer just around the corner, weeds had begun growing thickly in every flowerbed. Nibelia and Arep carefully pulled out only the weeds the gardeners had pointed out.

“Wow, Arep, you’re doing great!”

Nibelia praised Arep for pulling out weeds neatly, roots and all.

“You’re really good at this.”

“This isn’t your first time, is it…?”

“Jealous…!”

The gardeners working beside them couldn’t help but marvel as well.

“I, I used to do this a lot at the orphanage.”

Arep shyly confessed the reason for his skill.

The gardeners momentarily showed sympathy on their faces.

But Nibelia clapped her hands and praised him even more enthusiastically.

“Awesome! Nini wants to get better too. Teach me.”

“Here, you have to hold tight at the base.”

“Like this?”

“Then gently dig the soil around the roots and pull hard.”

“Heave-ho!”

Following the instructions, Nibelia pulled hard on a weed and fell backward.

Startled, Arep hurriedly checked on her.

Nibelia, falling on the dirt, grass, and flowers, with her white-silver hair messy, blinked wide-eyed in surprise.

When she slightly raised her arm, two weeds, roots and all, were clutched in her hand.

“Hehe!”

Nibelia waved the weeds right in front of Arep’s nose.

“I pulled them out! Nini did it!”

“Are, are you okay? Does it hurt?”

“I’m fine. Nini doesn’t cry over something like this.”

Nibelia got up on her own and dusted the dirt off her clothes without hesitation.

Arep fixed her hat that had fallen askew and brushed off the soil stuck to her white-silver hair.

But Nibelia didn’t really care about her disheveled appearance.

“Let’s pull more quickly!”

“……”

“Today’s snack is chocolate cookies! Let’s finish this and then eat chocolate cookies!”

Thick-ky, thick-ky, thick-ky.

Fat cookie!

Nibelia hummed a makeshift work song on the spot.

It was closer to mumbling than singing, but still, Nibelia enjoyed the labor happily.

“……”

Arep, who had been watching Nibelia with genuine curiosity and slight puzzlement, focused again on pulling weeds.

“…thick-ky, thick-ky.”

Fat cookie.

Before long, the strange work song stuck to Arep’s lips as well.

The gardeners gave a fair assessment of the flowerbeds the two children had diligently weeded.

“You’ve cleaned up nicely. Both of you did well.”

“But why is this area pressed down? Did someone fall over?”

“Should this part be excluded from their hourly pay…?”

They had completed the task better than expected.

The problem was a few flowers crushed when Nibelia fell backward.

Nibelia anxiously waited for the gardeners’ final evaluation.

Arep’s heart pounded along.

“Hmm.”

The gardener looked at them seriously.

“We will take responsibility for the flowers here due to our poor management.”

“Do, do we still get all the pay?”

Nibelia asked nervously.

“Taking money from children isn’t something adults should do…”

“You know well.”

“My dad once lost money gambling with Nini’s money when Nini was two years old. Nini was so sad then…”

“Oh dear…”

The sympathetic gardener pulled out a pen from his pocket.

“Now, please both take out your notebooks.”

Nibelia and Arep took out their notebook passbooks.

These were the ‘pay passbooks’ that Celetina had made.

When working to pay off debts, they used stickers, but when earning money through labor, it was recorded in the pay passbook.

[Weeding Task – Completed]

They had to write the date, task, and result in the notebook and get the manager’s signature to receive their pay.

Nibelia smiled brightly as she looked at the task written in her notebook.

“I earned money!”

“What will you save up for?”

“Investment!”

“Oh, you’re aiming high?”

“When you’re about Nini’s age, it’s time to try something difficult.”

“Hahaha! I see!”

After parting ways with the gardeners, Nibelia and Arep washed off the sweat and dirt from their bodies.

After changing into soft new clothes, they ate the snacks Deter had brought.

“Hehe, fat cookie!”

Nibelia first cut the big, round cookie in half.

“Yum.”

While picking up crumbs fallen on her skirt and the table, Nibelia suddenly turned her head.

“……”

There was Arep, still absorbed in his pay passbook.

“Arep, what’s wrong?”

Nibelia asked.

Startled by her call, Arep hurriedly put down the passbook.

“Well, um…”

“Yes?”

“It’s amazing.”

“Amazing what?”

“That I earned money…”

Of course, the pay passbook was not real money.

But Celetina and Kaleo promised to give money if the passbook was filled.

Arep believed their words.

He no longer doubted the sincere hearts of the adults here.

“I can’t believe it. What if this is a dream…?”

“It’s not a dream. Absolutely not!”

Nibelia put half of the cookie she had just cut onto Arep’s plate.

“Eat this and get your strength. Let’s work hard and earn a lot more money!”

“T-This is your cookie, though.”

“It’s okay! Nini ate a lot. Ate a lot yesterday too, and uh, anyway, I ate a lot!”

“……”

Half a cookie on top of a whole cookie.

Arep’s hand wasn’t strong enough yet to cut it neatly.

Nibelia didn’t hesitate to give him the biggest half she had cut.

“Protecting subordinates is the leader’s duty.”

Nibelia patted her chest reassuringly.

“Eat a lot, and let’s work hard again!”

“……”

“And, if this is a dream, um…”

But what should we do if this is a dream?

Nibelia hadn’t thought that far.

“Then let’s dream again! Let’s sleep together!”

“……”

“Nini will cuddle with you.”

Nibelia smiled slyly and took her own small piece of cookie.

She carefully dipped the cookie into the lukewarm milk.

Because the cookie was smaller, she could easily drop it into the cup.

Watching Nibelia nibble on the softened cookie, Arep picked up his own cookie.

Plop.

“Miss.”

Arep offered half of his cookie.

The larger half, just like Nibelia had given him.

“Eat this.”

He put the half cookie on Nibelia’s empty plate.

“Protecting the leader is the subordinate’s duty.”

“……”

“I have to protect you, Miss. That’s why I came here. If a subordinate can’t protect the leader, ah, it’s no good!”

Arep’s face reddened as he spoke with conviction.

‘That’s right. I have to protect her.’

A smaller, younger child promised to protect me.

‘Then I have to protect you just as much.’

I’m the older brother and bigger.

But protection can’t be one-sided.

Arep looked straight into Nibelia’s blue eyes.

“This time, I’ll definitely protect you.”

“……”

“…Huh?”

This time?

Arep tilted his head slightly.

‘Haven’t I felt this before?’

When Solace asked if he wanted to learn swordsmanship. He recalled feeling something similar then.

‘What is this feeling?’

As he was pondering deeply, something warm and cozy suddenly wrapped Arep in a tight embrace.

“Thank you…!”

Nibelia, sitting in her chair, stretched out her short arms and hugged Arep tightly.

Her voice was not cheerful and energetic as usual.

It trembled pitifully, almost as if she were crying.

Arep didn’t understand why Nibelia, who was always lively and strong, suddenly acted like this.

But instead of being flustered, he gently patted Nibelia’s slightly trembling shoulder.

He felt that’s what he should do.

‘No, I…’

This was what I wanted.

For a very long time.

Maybe even before I was born…

News that the Deiamor children were earning pocket money with pay passbooks spread to the neighboring Deiglades mansion.

“Impressive.”

Duke Kalaroff Deiglades chuckled.

“Nini is really amazing.”

Aldo, who assisted him with his duties, laughed along.

“She’s only four years old, but she’s so determined to earn money on her own. Her will is admirable and touching.”

“If someone heard you, they’d think you were Nini’s dad or grandfather.”

“There’s a lot to learn from Nini.”

Not being lazy.

Not lying.

“…That’s totally the opposite of someone.”

A vivid pink-haired face appeared in Aldo’s mind.

Aldo liked pink a lot.

Because it was his mother’s and younger sibling’s hair color.

But now…

“Father.”

“What is it?”

“So, um… what if we try this pay passbook thing too?”

Kalaroff gave a rather harsh look at Aldo’s suggestion.

And a few days later.

“Here, take these.”

Kalaroff called the children into his office and handed each a notebook shaped like a passbook.

Rima also received a passbook.

Holding the notebook tightly with both hands, Rima tilted her head.

“Master Gonja, what is this…?”

“A pay passbook.”

“Pa-pay passbook?”

Is this some kind of magical item I don’t know?

Rima’s face brightened with anticipation.

“From now on, your allowance will be given through labor.”

“…What?”

Rima, who had been floating on a cloud, suddenly plummeted to the ground.

She looked at Kalaroff incredulously.

“La-labor?”

“I heard something interesting from the neighbors.”

Kalaroff looked at Rima and said,

“Especially you, Rima, since you’ll be independent from here when you become an adult, it would be good to start saving money.”

lima was about to faint.