Chapter 17
“Shall we take a break?”
“A break? No way! Finish what you were saying. What exactly are you trying to replace? What’s your real intention?!”
Her cryptic comfort felt more irritating than any childish squabble.
For a second, I was tempted to show off — maybe pretend to be some genius who could memorize every book here just to prove this household didn’t need a mistress at all — but I held myself back.
Apparently she couldn’t read the fire in my eyes, because she just smiled and said,
“I’ve prepared some snacks you might like, my lady. Please, have plenty. Then I’ll take my leave.”
Once she closed the door and left, the waiting maids came in with the snacks.
Cupcakes topped with fruit and milk sweetened with honey.
“Ugh, I don’t have time for this! I need to figure out what she meant!”
But I couldn’t take my eyes off what had just been placed on my desk.
My young body had already surrendered to the temptation of those glossy, syrup-glazed seasonal fruits.
As I stared, entranced, an old memory came to me.
“Right. Yeah, there were cakes like this back then too…?”
“Lady! Lady!”
“Hm?”
A potato-faced kid — one of the lackeys of the twin bullies who ruled the classroom — called out to me.
“My father said so! He said the young lady has a nasty temper! That maids keep getting kicked out!”
“Yeah. That’s true. Be careful.”
I told them the truth, but my innocent smile fooled them. They whispered among themselves, “She’s lying! What would a dumb commoner know?” and exchanged glances.
Potato-boy smirked and said,
“So, Lady, they say you used to be a commoner? Then this must be your first time eating something like this. Want me to teach you how?”
“Oh? Okay!”
“You eat it like this. This is the tastiest part, see?”
He pretended to peel the cupcake wrapper and take a bite.
I was so amused by how ridiculous it was.
“Wow! Really? Looks delicious! Since you taught me, I’ll return the favor — I’ll eat the bad part of your cake for you!”
With that, I smugly plucked off the fruit topping and took a big bite. Potato-boy’s eyes started watering.
“W-wait! No! My cake! Waaaah!”
I could barely hold back my laughter, tilting my head innocently.
Of course, I’d fallen for this prank once before.
Back then, a cake like this was a mythical treasure for a slum kid like me.
“And the most humiliating part? Even the cupcake wrapper tasted good. I ate it so many times I gave myself stomachaches. Just thinking about it still makes me mad.”
Still, I decided that was enough revenge.
Kids this age would follow whoever showed dominance once — that’s just how it worked.
Sure enough, the twins who’d been in on the prank started laughing too.
“Idiot, you think the young lady would fall for that?”
“B-but she did!”
Potato-boy pointed at my real target.
The gardener’s daughter — a commoner and an adopted child from a collateral branch.
Lucky to have been adopted, sure, but she’d been bullied even worse than I was in my past life.
“Ha ha! That’s right, she fell for it. How long did she eat those wrappers? A month? Anyway, tough girl. Lady, don’t be friends with Bianca. She only gets two silvers a week as allowance!”
“Right! Ten weeks for just one gold! Guess her dad, the viscount, must be broke!”
Oh, dear.
Those twins were about to lose a few teeth.
Bianca’s father — the viscount — might have been poor, but he’d worked as our family’s gardener and treated his adopted daughter like his own flesh and blood. Their bond was precious.
And now these idiots had insulted him.
“Say that again and I’ll knock your teeth out. I don’t care about anything else, but don’t you dare talk about my dad.”
“Nice! Bianca already threw the first punch?”
I cheered silently, though I knew the twins wouldn’t go down easy.
“Oh, what’ll you do? Pay us again like last time?”
“Yeah! Maybe sell that fancy land of yours? Oh wait, it’s in a no-development zone, isn’t it? Hahaha!”
“……”
Unlike me, they’d keep tormenting her endlessly.
And Bianca, proud as she was, would keep enduring it — holding on until she got to the academy.
She already had that defeated look, as if she knew how this would play out.
“Alright. Guess it’s time for me to step in.”
“You guys, that’s enough.”
“What? Are you taking her side ‘cause you’re both commoners? That’s not allowed.”
“Yeah! That’s not allowed! We won’t play with you anymore!”
Please. The only ones losing out are you — not being able to play with the duke’s daughter.
I almost decided to knock out a few more of their baby teeth but restrained myself and smiled sweetly.
“Ha-ha! No, I’m not taking sides. I’m saying let’s play a game.”
“A game?”
I plucked a pearl from my dress and hid it under one of three teacups, shuffling them around.
“Now, where’s the pearl~?”
“Duh, on the left.”
“Wow~ so smart! You win! So I’ll give you money!”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I don’t have any now, though, so wait a sec?”
I got up and stood in front of Bianca.
“Lend me some. You’ve got money, right?”
“No.”
“Please? You won’t regret it.”
“Why would I? I don’t want any trouble.”
“I’ll pay 5 coppers per minute in interest.”
Her catlike eyes widened.
“Wh-what? My lady, do you even know what that means?”
Of course I did — and so did she.
It meant she’d get double her money back in ten minutes.
When I nodded confidently, her eyes narrowed to slits.
“You scammer!!”
Yep~ 15 counts on my record~
I felt a rush of catharsis as the kids bawled in front of me, gold coins stacked like a tower between us.
It wasn’t much — just a single row of pocket money — but still satisfying.
“You evil swindler! I’m telling Lady Diana everything!”
“Sure, go ahead. But hmm, what’ll happen? Your dad’s a count, and mine’s a duke~”
“Waaaah! My allowance! What kind of magic was that?!”
Magic? Please.
In the mortal realm, this was called three-shells street gambling.
Of course, with my tiny five-year-old fingers, I wasn’t as slick as in my prime, but these kids’ reflexes were about as sharp as oatmeal anyway.
Feeling pleased, I gathered the coins in both hands and went over to Bianca.
The previously sullen girl stared at the pile of coins, her blue eyes trembling.
“Y-you… I mean, m-my lady, what on earth is this…?”
“Take it. Twenty-one minutes passed, so that’s four gold and five silver, right?”
“……”
Shocked, she shakily took the money and stuffed it into her pocket — just as Lady Diana came back.
“Did you enjoy your snacks, everyone? Oh my, what’s going on here?”
She was startled to see all the boys crying.
I shrugged nonchalantly.
“Not sure. Why don’t we ask Daddy the Duke…?”
When I met the boys’ eyes with my innocent gaze, they instantly fell silent, trembling.
The class ended smoothly after that, and the servants came to collect their young masters and ladies.
But I told my maids to wait at the entrance. I stayed behind.
I was waiting for Bianca — the last to leave — to come to me first.
“If I act too friendly, she’ll just run off. She was shy even back then. Better to wait.”
Luckily, she took the bait sooner than expected.
As I thought — she hated being in debt, so she must’ve come to thank me.
But what she said next completely threw me off.
Bianca bowed deeply and shouted,
“My lady! Please teach me that skill!”
…Excuse me? What?
I was happy she talked to me, but I didn’t expect her to ask me to teach three-shells gambling.
Still, I had to play it cool — couldn’t scare off a potential ally.
“Three-shells? You can’t make real money with that, Bianca.”
“So that’s what it’s called… But why not? You earned four times your capital in twenty minutes!”
I immediately reset the cups and asked,
“Alright then. Which cup has it?”
“This one!”
“Wrong.”
I showed her both cups — the pearl was under neither.
She gasped.
“T-that’s cheating, my lady!”
“Exactly. That’s why you’ll never make big money with such cheap tricks. At best, you’ll take pocket change off clueless kids.”
“…You’re younger than me, my lady. Then… are you saying you do know how to make big money?”
“I know plenty of bad ways. But Bianca, if I tell you… what’ll you do?”
“……”
Bianca would someday become the head of a major trading company in the empire — a rags-to-riches story that made headlines. She’d rebuild her family’s fortunes and care for her aging adoptive father with deep devotion.
So, of course, she wouldn’t do anything to disappoint him.
“…I can’t. My dad would be sad.”
“Right? Then instead… let’s be friends!”
“Huh?”
“I know a lot of things like this. Maybe I can’t help you earn money, but I can help you not lose it!”
Bianca blinked her wide eyes, clearly flustered.
“…How do you even know these things?”
“Uh, th-that’s… ha-ha…”
Caught off guard, I hesitated — and she nodded to herself as if it all made sense.
“Just as they said… you really are a little villain…”
And that’s how, for the strangest reason, we became friends.
Right then, a servant from her household arrived to take her home.
Feeling satisfied with my success, I turned to head back to the main building — and suddenly, something popped up from the window.
“Ah! You scared me! Oh, Lord Juno, where were you?”
[You said I couldn’t come, so I watched from the tree, obviously! But what the heck? You went to sleep and woke up with a friend? How did you even pull that off? And what was with those hands?]
“W-why are you asking so much? Anyway, I made a friend!”
“……”
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Juno narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
[You’re scary. Seriously. What exactly did you do in your past life?]
“…It’s a secret.”
My criminal record dies with me!
