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Chapter 62
“Are we supposed to just keep watching? Without doing anything?”
“Yes.”
But he firmly warned him to draw a clear line.
“Make sure your name, especially your family name, isn’t used carelessly.”
“Ralph, I’m sure you’ll handle that well enough.”
Ardores added a word. Muniel nodded in agreement.
“And don’t make it obvious to Al and Rubens either.”
Muniel’s opinion was that they were wise children, and even without being told, they would conduct themselves properly.
At those words, Kalarov recalled his sons, who never quite fit in with Lima.
If that hadn’t just been a simple difference in personality…
“…This is just my baseless worry, but…”
Kalarov cautiously asked.
He tried to act as nonchalant as possible, as if he was merely checking a passing thought that had come to mind.
Kalarov quietly clenched his fists.
“Is there… some kind of connection?”
His voice, meant to sound calm, trembled instead like that of someone barely containing rage.
“The reason my wife and daughter ended up like that…!”
Nivellia wanted to tell Al and Rubens about her new business plan.
But Armifera quickly covered her mouth with a hand.
Of course, not hard—gently.
Nivellia fiddled with the calloused, scarred hand covering her mouth, then looked up at her.
“Ah-ah. That’s not something you just blurt out.”
Armifera shook her head, saying it was confidential.
“Pfft!” Nivellia wriggled free of her hand and said,
“Confidential means secret!”
“That’s right. You know it well.”
“Then why can’t I say what kind of business I’ll do? You have to advertise to get more customers, right? Like—Come on in! Buy our cookies!”
Nivellia mimicked the soliciting she had once seen at a department store, making everyone laugh.
Her own lips twitched into a smile.
“But no, you can’t.”
Armifera explained the reason.
“Because someone might copy you.”
She said in a serious tone, lowering her voice as if they might lose their chance to make money.
Nivellia gasped in shock, eyes wide.
“Someone might copy me? Just to get in my way?”
“They might interfere because they’re jealous of you making money. Or maybe just some mean-spirited fool with bad intentions might try to mess things up.”
“The world is scary…!”
“That’s why when it comes to money, it’s best to keep things secret.”
“Even from Al and Rubens? They’re my subordinates!”
“But I trust them,” Nivellia said, blinking her big bright eyes. Al and Rubens, moved, looked deeply touched.
“Even from them.”
“Aw, we’d never steal Nini’s plans!”
Rubens shouted, hurt by the implication.
“Nini’s our little sister. Would big brothers protecting their little sister steal from her? Right, bro?”
“Right. But since business talk is serious, I also understand what Lady Armifera means by keeping it secret.”
“Thank you for understanding, gentlemen.”
Treated like grown men, Rubens forgot his sulkiness and grinned.
Nivellia tilted her head toward Areph and whispered softly,
“Then… only Nini and Areph will know, right?”
“….”
“It’s just between us. Heehee, a secret!”
A secret only between the two of them.
Her ticklish little voice passed into Areph’s ears, making his small heart beat faster.
Of course, it wasn’t really a secret just between the two of them.
Solres knew, the adults of Deiamor knew, and Armifera had even already said she would join Nivellia in the business.
But Areph forgot all that. The very idea of “a secret just between him and Nivellia” was enough to make him sink deep into it.
“….”
He nodded hard.
“A… a secret only between us….”
He repeated it slowly in a trembling voice.
Areph had sharp, angled eyes.
With a blank expression, he looked like someone constantly angry.
But his personality was timid, easily frightened. He paid close attention to how others looked at him.
Because of that, Areph had been bullied a lot in the orphanage.
Especially because of his eyes—he was endlessly mocked for them.
So he hated his own eyes.
If his reflection showed up in water or glass, he would quickly look away.
When he went to sleep, he often prayed that his eyes would change into normal ones like everyone else’s.
“….”
But now, Areph could face himself in the mirror.
“All washed up?”
Ardores’s voice came from outside the door.
“Yes!”
After drying his face with a towel, Areph opened the door.
He was learning to wash up on his own.
Rubens had bragged that he could wash by himself, and feeling competitive, Areph had asked Ardores to teach him too.
‘Is it because he’s a wolf…?’
Ardores wiped the last small droplet clinging under Areph’s chin and thought,
‘Being part of a pack makes him grow quickly.’
The sense of belonging, the achievement of fitting in and fulfilling a role, gave Areph rapid stability.
“Hmm, today’s wash gets 70 points.”
“That high?”
“Yes. You dried off well. But your sleeves got wet, and you missed a spot under your chin…”
“Next time, I’ll roll up my sleeves and wipe under my chin too.”
“Tomorrow you’ll get higher than 70.”
“Hehe…”
When Areph smiled, his sharp eyes curved gently.
“Your eyes are really beautiful.”
Ardores said.
Areph’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Truly. Especially this brilliant red—they stand out so much that even if I lost you, I’d find you right away.”
“…So did…”
“Hm?”
“My lady said my eyes were pretty too.”
“Nini takes after me—she knows how to recognize what’s beautiful.”
A large hand mussed Areph’s golden hair.
Areph laughed quietly, amused at how his head swayed with the touch.
Ardores smoothed his hair back down.
“Good.”
With a satisfied nod, he walked toward the dining hall with Areph.
Areph looked enviously at the thick finger he was holding.
He wanted to grow big like Ardores someday—big in body, big in heart.
“Lord Ardores.”
“Hmm?”
“My eyes aren’t strange, right?”
“No. They’re beautiful.”
“Back then… in the orphanage…”
Areph told him a little about the painful times he’d experienced there.
Ardores stopped walking, trying his best to remain calm as he listened.
“…That must have been hard.”
The words were dry, but filled with sincerity.
Areph quickly added, embarrassed that it sounded like tattling.
“It’s not hard anymore.”
“That’s good. If you ever feel hurt or sad, tell me. Even if it comes to mind suddenly, like today.”
“Wouldn’t that bother you?”
“Not at all.”
You’ll never be a bother.
At those words, Areph’s ears turned red.
They started walking again.
“But Areph.”
“Yes.”
“Who said those things to you?”
“….”
“If it’s hard to say, you don’t have to.”
But Areph shook his head and gestured the way Nivellia once had.
Ardores willingly bent down and offered his ear.
“The truth is…”
Whisper, whisper.
Areph whispered into Ardores’s ear.
Whisper, whisper.
“…Hmm, that’s a good plan.”
Celetina skimmed through the proposal Nivellia had submitted.
For the past several days, Nivellia and Armifera had been discussing business plans together.
She expressed them with the words and drawings she knew, and submitted it to Celetina.
The proposal had a large drawing of a carriage.
On it was written “transport”—a pretty difficult word for Nivellia to write.
Armifera must have taught it to her.
“I really, really worked hard on this plan!”
Nivellia emphasized her effort.
“Right, Auntie?”
“She really did. I watched her right by her side. This here is proof.”
Armifera pulled out the real proposal she had been hiding behind her back—the distribution plan for stone mushrooms.
Celetina carefully reviewed that one as well.
Meanwhile, Nivellia and Armifera held each other’s hands tightly, praying she would give permission.
And after a while…
“Alright.”
Celetina smiled and nodded.
“Our Rubeo will buy up the stone mushrooms. And we’ll entrust the distribution to Nivellia’s ‘Kitty Shop.’”
“Yaaay!”
Nivellia threw both arms into the air.
“Nini, we did it!”
“We’ll make money! Yay!”
The little niece and her muscular aunt hugged each other in joy.
“But, Auntie!”
“Yes?”
“What does ‘entrust’ mean?”
“Oh, goodness.”
Armifera explained what entrusting meant.
“It means asking someone else to do a job, and paying them for it.”
“Money!”
“Yes, money! You’ll be making money!”
“Kyaa!”
“But.”
Watching them rejoice, Celetina gently brought them back to reality.
“Do you two… have money to start with?”
“Auntie, you don’t have money? You’re an adult.”
“I just became the Mercenary King, so I don’t have any. And I left everything I’d saved behind in Latro…”
Nivellia and Armifera had run into a fundamental problem.
They had no funds to start their new business.
“Ssshh, Sister Celly can be so cold in matters like this…”
She could lend them money, but she absolutely wouldn’t.
Armifera, regretting leaving all her property behind in Latro, glanced at Nivellia.
“Nini, don’t you have money? You’ve been diligently saving in your salary account.”
“I have three million uvas.”
A lot for a child—but nowhere near enough.
But the problem was solved soon after.
