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Chapter 40
Anyway.
Azell was safely rescued, and Muniel had reunited with an old comrade.
“So, what about Nini’s investment?”
However, because the planned investment opportunity had disappeared, Nibelia couldn’t be completely overjoyed.
For Nibelia, Kaleo and Seletrina created an even better opportunity: a partnership with Azell.
“Azell, you developed that liquid fertilizer that keeps flowers fresh for a long time, right? I’m sure the flowers planted on the farm are also your handiwork.”
“If so, would you like to work with us? We were planning to start a pharmaceutical company, and we’d like you to be the CEO.”
Azell, suddenly offered the chance to become a pharmaceutical company CEO overnight, was dumbfounded.
“Then Nini will invest!”
Nibelia smiled so brightly that her white teeth shone.
Hesitant at first, Azell nodded at those words.
After spending a few days getting close to Nibelia, Azell felt as if she had gained an older sister.
So she wanted to protect this little girl’s happiness.
However, there was a condition.
“All the employees at the pharmaceutical company must include witches. And please protect us. That’s the condition for our partnership.”
Azell said she wanted to protect wandering witches for a long time, using the pharmaceutical company as a haven.
“In that case, we’re actually the grateful ones.”
“If we can gather the best experts in plants and medicinal ingredients, nothing could be better. We must prepare quickly.”
Deiamor and the witches.
It was a moment of collaboration that would go down in history.
But…
“……”
Unlike how smoothly things were going, Seletrina could not sleep even at midnight.
After tossing and turning for a long while, she finally headed to her office.
Her desk was piled high with documents brought from Rubeo.
The fraudulent acts of the Plaud couple, falsified ledgers, and other documents.
Seletrina read them endlessly, both at the office and at home. The corners of the papers were creased from constant handling.
And every time she read, a question arose.
‘Why didn’t I notice this?’
This had been a business carefully chosen for Nibelia’s first investment.
She had researched far more than for her own business, and even after deciding on the investment, she had continued monitoring it, just in case.
The staff who had investigated it hadn’t noticed anything unusual either.
But now, reviewing it again, the flaws were glaring. Even the business partners listed in the ledgers were all fake.
Sigh…
Leaning back in her chair, Seletrina squeezed her eyes shut.
‘I knew this would happen.’
When she opened her eyes slowly, Kaleo was looking down at her with a face full of things to say.
“I told you, working late and then still working like this isn’t acceptable.”
“Did I wake you?”
“You know. If you weren’t here, I’d get up immediately.”
Seletrina rested her head lightly on Kaleo’s arm, draped over the chair.
“Why didn’t I notice?”
She lightly touched the stack of documents with her fingers.
“If I had looked more carefully, I would have noticed more than a few strange points.”
“That’s the same for me.”
Kaleo had personally investigated Nibelia’s investment destination as well.
Even the secretary who conducted the investigation had lamented repeatedly, “Me, the smartest person, making such a foolish mistake…?”
Seletrina wasn’t the only one to make a mistake.
Kaleo, the secretary, and even the bright staff of Rubeo.
It was as if something blinded everyone; no one noticed the Plaud couple’s grotesque behavior.
“…Nini did.”
Kaleo said gently.
He remembered what Nibelia had told him earlier that day.
“What did you see?”
“What?”
“Pink poisonous mushrooms.”
While preparing lunch for the children, Kaleo suddenly asked Nibelia this question.
“But Nini, how did you know Azell was trapped in the warehouse?”
“I saw poisonous mushrooms.”
“Poisonous mushrooms?”
“Pink. Pink poisonous mushrooms!”
The small window near the warehouse ceiling.
Through the dusty glass, Nibelia said she saw the color pink.
However, Nibelia added something peculiar.
“But there’s no pink.”
“No pink?”
“Yes. Azell has no pink at all. Nini saw pink, but Azell has none. Weird, right?”
Nibelia had thought the pink she saw was Azell’s hair or eyes.
But when Azell was rescued, her hair was ochre and her eyes were bright orange.
Even the clothes she wore at the time were not pink.
“After hearing that, I immediately sent the secretary to the flower farm in the afternoon. Other staff went too.”
The flower farm, abandoned after the witch disappeared, quickly became a ruin.
The flowers withered, emitting a foul odor, and forest insects and spiders took over the empty house.
“But there was no pink.”
Not in the warehouse, the farm, or any building.
Even the suitcases the Plaud couple took when they fled contained no pink.
Nowhere.
Preparations for the partnership with Azell progressed rapidly.
Azell, having accepted the partnership terms, immediately sent out messages.
The method was extraordinary.
When she sprinkled soil powder infused with her breath onto the ground, it emitted a warm glow and quickly scanned the land.
Within a day, numerous letters arrived in the Deiamor mansion’s mailbox—all contacts from witches.
“Most of the replies were positive.”
Nibelia felt good.
So good that she bounced along like a rabbit. Her smile had long been wide and loose.
“Miss, don’t run.”
Aref warned, fearing she might get hurt.
Nibelia stopped abruptly while hopping ahead.
Then she ran over to Aref.
“Guess what! Nini is going to invest now! With Azell!”
“Yes, that’s great.”
Even though Aref had heard this boast easily twenty times already, he congratulated her sincerely without a trace of annoyance.
The site for the pharmaceutical company was decided to be the former Plaud couple’s flower farm and nearby land.
“Now that Nini is investing, we’ll make a lot of money, right?”
“Yes.”
“What about you, Aref? Are you going to invest too?”
Nibelia asked.
“I’m not sure.”
Aref felt slightly burdened by the fifty million Uba he now had.
He had enjoyed earning money gradually through pulling weeds and helping the employees, but suddenly having a large sum made all his previous labor feel meaningless, which made him a bit sad.
And a little scared.
“Miss.”
“Hm?”
“Are we not working anymore?”
Aref asked.
“You mean the salary account…?”
“We still will.”
Nibelia tilted her head, as if wondering why he would ask.
Aref’s eyes widened.
“Really?”
“Money is earned through hard work. Mom also worked all over when she first earned money.”
“I want to keep earning through the salary account too.”
“Then let’s pull weeds again! Let’s work together!”
“Yes…!”
Aref, slightly blushing, nodded vigorously.
“But we still have a lot of money. It’s good to save.”
Nibelia shared her knowledge.
“No gambling. No cards. Got it?”
“Yes.”
“Or, hmm…”
Recalling some knowledge she had heard before, Nibelia waved her arms in the air.
Aref shyly lifted his arms too.
“Salary account!”
Finally remembering, Nibelia flapped her arms like a chick.
Although the information had some small errors, neither she nor Aref knew that.
“If you put it in the salary account, it earns interest!”
“Interest?”
“Interest is money you get as a thank-you for leaving your money there.”
“Wow…!”
Aref’s eyes sparkled.
“You’re so smart for a kid, Miss. Amazing…!”
Hearing his genuine admiration, Nibelia nodded modestly.
“I guess I am a bit like that.”
If she were too smart, she’d have to conquer the world, which Nibelia found troubling.
As they chattered away, exchanging trivial but fun stories,
“Both of you are here.”
Deter found the two children.
“Deter!”
Nibelia hugged Deter’s legs tightly.
“……”
Aref thought Deter’s skin shimmered unusually.
Her face glowed, her tied-up hair was shinier than he remembered, and a floral scent wafted around.
“Deter smells like flowers today?”
Nibelia noticed the same.
“Why?”
When asked, Deter chuckled.
“I rescued Azell, remember? The masters gave me lots of rose petals for bathing because of that.”
“Deter likes bathing in flowers. She’s like a fairy.”
Fairy Deter explained her purpose.
“Duke Deigladis’ sons came looking for you.”
“……”
“Master Aldo and Master Rubens.”
“……”
Even after hearing their names, Nibelia only blinked slowly with her blue eyes.
“Miss, don’t tell me you forgot them again?”
“…Ah, no.”
Fortunately, Nibelia barely remembered who they were.
“They’re the ones who keep bothering Nini to play with them.”
“Not wrong, but don’t say that in front of them.”
In the parlor, Aldo and Rubens were waiting.
Soles, who had arrived earlier, was talking with them.
“Oh, you’re here!”
Seeing Nibelia and Aref, Rubens waved his arms energetically.
Getting off the sofa, Rubens approached Nibelia and Aref.
“You two started the salary account first, right?”
Then he pulled out his own slightly crumpled salary account from his back pocket. The account showed plenty of evidence of labor.
“We’ve been earning pocket money this way too.”
“Oh, impressive!”
Nibelia praised loudly.
“We did it quickly! Rubens is a bit slow!”
“Annoying! But cute, so I’ll let it slide!”
Laughing, Rubens asked Aref too.
