Chapter 1
Prologue
The pawnshop was crowded with noisy customers.
Among them, a few voices stood out louder than the rest.
“Dad, let’s just go! How could a single coin be worth anything? Why even get it appraised?”
“You never know, kid.”
“I don’t have to go to college, so…!”
A daughter with a troubled expression, and a father who looked even more distressed.
Even without asking, it was easy to guess their situation.
‘They must be here because they don’t have enough money for her college tuition.’
Thinking that, I greeted them with a smile.
“Hello. I’m Elisha, the appraiser. Could you show me the item?”
“Ah, yes. Could you take a look at this coin? I got it in a bet back when I worked on a ship! It’s like my lucky charm.”
“Dad…”
“Just stay quiet. Even if we get just 100,000 gold, that’d still be good, right?”
I glanced at the daughter. She looked downcast.
‘She must feel bad that her father is trying to sell something precious to him for her tuition.’
If the appraisal price turned out low, she would feel even worse.
I wanted to give them a high price, but rules were rules.
As I examined the coin with a loupe, I smiled slightly.
‘Hmm… this really is a lucky charm.’
Looking at the father, who was watching me nervously, I asked gently,
“You said you got this coin from a bet?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Was that bet made in the Calico Strait, by any chance?”
“H-how did you know that…?”
“You can tell just by looking.”
Seeing his shocked expression, I took out a newspaper clipping I had saved and showed it to them.
It read:
[…The so-called ‘Calico Gold Coin’ sold at auction for 10 million gold…]
“W-what?!”
“Ten million gold?!”
The father and daughter looked like they might faint from shock.
I handed them a card.
“It’s in good condition and made of pure gold. Honestly, I’d like to buy it myself since it’s my first time seeing one… but…”
It was an entry card to an auction house.
“But you’ll get a much higher price if you sell it directly at an auction. If you say you were referred by me, they’ll treat you well.”
“Th-thank you…!”
“Thank you so much, Miss Appraiser!”
In a way, it really was a lucky charm.
It solved the daughter’s tuition problem in one go.
I waved at the excited father and daughter as they left.
The next customer, who had been watching, whispered,
“I heard rumors, but it’s true… you’re really an honest appraiser. I’m glad I came here.”
“Haha, you’re too kind.”
“Is that why even Her Highness the Princess uses this place?”
“Cough—!”
When did that become a rumor?
I choked in surprise, and the customer leaned in and whispered,
“I also heard the captain of the Imperial Holy Knights and a cardinal from the temple come here. Is that true?”
“Well… about that…”
“And not just them.”
The customer looked around and lowered their voice.
“I heard even the Grand Duke of the Moro Principality comes here.”
“Th-that’s…”
“Right? Right?! That’s amazing! I can’t believe people like that use a pawnshop!”
‘Where is this customer getting all this information from?’
Then they asked curiously,
“So what do people like that usually buy?”
“Well… they don’t really buy anything.”
“Huh? Then do they come to sell?”
“Not really.”
“What? Then they come and go without buying or selling? Aren’t they just… troublesome customers?”
‘They say troublesome people never realize they’re troublesome.’
Honestly, this overly curious customer wasn’t much better.
I swallowed those words and thought,
Well, those people…
‘They are troublesome… but also not really.’
To explain how those strange, troublesome-not-troublesome people became customers of our pawnshop—
We have to go back a little.
To when—
‘I had just returned.’
Because I, Elisha Lionet,
am living my second life.
0. First Life
The end of my first life was miserable.
I was beaten to death.
“Hey! This girl coughed up blood!”
“Is she dying? I told you not to hit her too hard! We were just trying to steal the necklace…!”
“Run before the guards get here!”
To be precise, I was dying from being beaten.
Snow fell softly as a newspaper page flipped in the wind.
Under a wanted notice, an article read:
[…An unidentified body found in a slum fire near the capital has been identified as former Duke Michele Fiochedad Lionet…]
‘Grandfather is dead.’
After seeing that article, I had no reason left to live.
I couldn’t even feel the pain anymore.
‘Grandfather…’
I had lived alone with him in a small house, until three years ago—when I was kicked out.
Relatives suddenly appeared and said my grandfather had been a disgraced duke.
“W-what? My grandfather is a duke?”
Before I could even process it, they forced me to sign documents.
Renunciation of Status
Waiver of Property
Transfer of Rights Agreement
Obviously, they were documents I should never have signed.
But I had no choice.
“If you sign, you’ll cure my grandfather, right?”
“Of course! We finally found the Duke—how could we abandon him?”
They promised to cure his rare illness.
I couldn’t refuse.
“But there’s one condition. Never set foot in this empire again. Ever.”
And just like that, I was driven out of the empire overnight.
I ended up in the Moro Principality.
I worked day by day as a laborer, my body growing weaker from the harsh life.
‘Still, I could endure it… as long as my grandfather was safe. But…’
[…The Lionet family begins selling off the former duke’s assets, including the pawnshop…]
Grandfather died.
Not peacefully in bed—but in a fire.
And found as an unidentified body in the slums?
All those promises—expensive medicine, the best care—were lies.
“How… how could this happen…?”
And they even sold the pawnshop.
Grandfather always said he would never close or sell it, no matter what.
The Lionet family let him die—and didn’t even honor his last wish.
‘They couldn’t take my necklace… but they took everything else.’
Even as I was beaten, I had protected the red necklace.
The only thing I brought with me when I was kicked out.
The only link I had left to my grandfather.
Blood spread across the ground, as red as the necklace.
I felt wronged. I felt sad.
At the moment I sensed the end, I prayed—despite not even believing in gods.
‘World Tree… just once, please give me one more chance…’
Thud.
Before I could finish my prayer, my strength gave out.
My eyes closed.
The last thing I saw was snow piling softly on the necklace—
and someone’s shadow stopping in front of me.
“How pitiful.”
When I closed my eyes, it had been a dark winter night.
But now—everything was bright.
I opened my eyes and stared blankly at the window.
No—the curtain.
“…No way.”
There was no mistaking it.
It was a curtain my grandfather had made himself.
I quickly got up and looked in the mirror.
Clear violet eyes—not swollen.
My favorite checkered pajamas.
Long, smooth pink hair.
And the necklace I had always worn.
“I came back…”
I had returned.
To before I died.
Then that means—
“G-grandfather!”
I ran downstairs.
And there—
“Grandfather!”
“Why are you shouting? It’s not like I’m going anywhere.”
He was there.
“Grandfather! It’s really you, right? Do you recognize me? Who am I?”
“You brat, testing me first thing in the morning? I’ve taken my medicine, so don’t worry. You’re Elisha, my one and only granddaughter.”
He was drinking dark tea.
When I ran into his arms, he grumbled—but still stroked my face.
Only then did it feel real.
“Why that expression? Did you have a nightmare?”
“Yes… a really, really bad one.”
“What, did a carrot monster show up?”
“…Something like that. You still remember I hate carrots?”
“Even if I forget everything else, I won’t forget that!”
I almost cried from happiness.
But there was no time.
I checked the calendar and froze.
“Three days before.”
Three days before the relatives would come and kick me out.
“Three days left.”
After looking around the house covered in notes, I sniffed and approached my grandfather.
“Grandfather.”
“What is it?”
“You know I love you very much, right?”
“…What’s this all of a sudden?”
He scoffed, but the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
“What do you want? Food? A ribbon? New clothes?”
‘No. I don’t need any of that.’
The man who raised me for 20 years.
My only family.
I looked at him with affection, then cleared my throat.
“You’re sharp, Grandpa. But that’s not what I want.”
“Then what do you want?”
“Well… it’s nothing big…”
I clasped my hands like I was praying.
And finished the prayer I couldn’t complete in my last life.
‘This time, I won’t lose anything.’
“Grandpa—give me your seal.”
My grandfather, the pawnshop, my life—
I won’t let them be taken again.
I smiled.
