Among the books stacked high on the bookshelf, there was one that caught Wilhazelle’s attention.
[Make 10 billion shillings from 10,000 shillings]
It was a very appealing title. Even Halos, the richest man in the empire, has this book on his bookshelf. Could it be that this book helped the Halos family accumulate wealth? She forgot about hide and seek for a moment and quickly dragged the ladder that was placed at the end of the bookshelf over. When she climbed to the middle of the ladder and reached out to pull out the book, a whitish cloud of dust flew around. It had been a while since anyone had read it, so it was full of dust. She looked at the book in her hands.
[You too can become rich!]
It was a powerful one-liner to describe the book.
‘Should I just take a quick look?’
If she paid off her debt by receiving the reward, she would have 20,000 shillings left. She wanted to know if she could inflate that amount and live on it for the rest of her life. That was when Lizelle grinned greedily and opened the book. Then the old ladder she was standing on began shaking and leaning backwards.
“What? Huh?!”
The startled Wilhazelle quickly tried to stabilize the ladder, but her body fell backwards along with the ladder. Just when she thought she was going to hit the ground, she felt a strong arm wrapping around her back and knees.
‘Huh?’
When she didn’t feel any pain, Lizelle opened her tightly closed eyes.
“Ahh! What!”
She didn’t know when he came in, but Chaser had caught her after she fell from the ladder and…
The faces of the two people were very close. Close enough to feel each other’s breath. The moment she became aware of this, Lizelle squirmed in embarrassment.
“Please let go! Put me down!”
“…”
Chaser lowered Lizelle to the floor easily, even though she must have felt heavy as she struggled. Now standing on her own two feet, she patted her wrinkled dress a few times and had a perplexed look on her face.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude, but I was just wondering if Raphel was hiding in here…”
In any case, since she was the one who came in without permission, Lizelle quickly assessed the situation and apologized to him.
“The child didn’t come in here.”
Chaser was looking at her, unfazed. He was looking for a book at the very end of the bookshelf. Then, suddenly, he heard someone speak, and when he looked, he saw her standing on the ladder, reaching for a book. If he had left her alone, she could have been seriously injured, so he had no choice but to catch her from behind.
“Oh, I see… Anyway, thank you. Thanks to you, I didn’t get hurt.”
“… ”
“Then I’ll leave now.”
Lizelle quickly turned around to go, she wanted to escape from this extremely awkward situation. Although it wasn’t her intention, she was quite embarrassed to end up in his arms.
‘Wasn’t that posture a princess carry…?’
She trembled as the scene came to mind once again. Goosebumps appeared on her arms. Lizelle, who wanted to leave the library as quickly as possible, suddenly turned back around as if she remembered something.
“Did you treat your wound?”
Before he knew it, the wound on his hand had healed. The medicine must’ve helped. At that moment, Chaser’s expression changed subtly. Wilhazelle remembered the wounds that even he had forgotten about after applying the medicine a few times.
“Next time, if you get a wound, it’s better to disinfect it right away. You might really get tetanus otherwise.”
After saying this, she left the library.
Chaser looked at his hands.
His hands, which had been treated as she said, were clean and free of any scars. He wondered what the hell tetanus was and why she’d been talking about it all along……. But he found he also didn’t hate her attention. He didn’t know why, but it seemed she worried about him.
Chaser, who was left alone, picked up the book that had fallen on the floor.
[Make 10 billion shillings from 10,000 shillings]
It was a book with a fairly straightforward title. It was such an unfamiliar book that he wondered if there was always a book like this on the bookshelf. Did she climb the ladder to read this book? Is she now interested in investing rather than luxury?
He laughed, feeling both bewildered and amazed that she had chosen this rediculus book out of so many.
* * *
“Raphel!”
Lizelle went down to the first floor and looked for Raphel again. She was so absorbed in the book that she completely forgot they were playing hide and seek. He must be anxiously waiting for Lizelle to find him…
“Hehehe!”
Lizelle, looking around desperately and feeling regretful, turned her head when she heard Raphel’s laughter. The sound was coming from the dining room.
‘He went to the dining room alone to hide?’
His hiding skills were growing day by day. Lizelle entered the dining room, praising Raphel internally.
“Get down!”
A giggling sound was heard coming from the kitchen.
“Raphel, are you here?”
When Lizelle entered the kitchen looking for Raphel,
“Lizelle!”
There was Raphel, covered in flour and smiling happily. His fine black hair had turned white, covered in flour, and only his big, clear eyes were visible on his white face, as if he had applied powder.
“What the…?”
The kitchen was a mess. Flour was scattered everywhere on the floor, and there were two men in front of Raphel playing around, also covered in flour, just like Raphel.
“Butler?”
Lizelle recognized Rohan and opened her round eyes wide.
“Ah, my lady…”
Rohan quickly stood up, embarrassed. Moles, who was next to him, also hurriedly stood up.
“Lizelle! “It’s snowing, it’s snowing!”
Raphel was still sitting on the floor, holding a pile of flour in his hands and throwing it into the air. Only then did she understand why the kitchen was like this. Raphel seemed to have mistook the pure white flour for snow, like in a snow globe.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“No, this is…”
Lizelle approached Raphel, speaking to the two bewildered people.
“Raphel, I found you.”
Lizelle said, pressing his finger on Raphel’s forehead.
“Yeah! Let’s go!”
Raphel, who had played until he was content, stretched out his arms towards Lizelle. She spun the child around, brushing off the flour from his clothes, and picked up the small boy.
“Wooah…”
Raphel must have been tired from having fun, so as soon as Lizelle hugged him, he opened his mouth wide and yawned.
“I’m sorry. Would you like some help cleaning up?”
“No. Don’t worry, we will take care of it.”
Lizelle thanked them and left the kitchen with Raphel.
“Ugh…”
Raphel blinked his heavy eyelids as he was held in Lizelle’s warm arms.
“Did you have fun Raphelion?”
“Yeah… Let’s do it again tomorrow…”
Small lips murmured sleepily. Lizelle smiled softly and stroked the back of his head. Raphel thought while he was sleepy that today was a very, very enjoyable day. The child soon fell asleep in Lizelle’s soft arms.
* * *
That night.
Something moved stealthily in the deep, dark night.
The creature that arrived in front of the tall wall with a quick movement and immediately jumped up. The creature easily climbed onto the wall, looked around once, and then jumped back towards the ground.
“Don’t fall asleep.”
“Alright, I understand.”
The knights who were guarding the gate of the duke’s residence were oblivious to what was happening and were watching to see if anyone was approaching from the front. As if to toy with the knights, the creature easily climbed over the wall and ran towards the mansion with light steps.
It was a small body that could not be caught even by tight security. Its soft fur fluttered gently as its four legs ran. After running for a long time the creature finally arrived in front of the mansion and looked around carefully. Even after exerting himself, he didn’t seem tired or even breathe heavily, as if it was easy.
While looking around, the creature’s long pupils dilated when it found a slightly open window. The gap was very small, but that was fine. The creature stuck its face through the window. The paws and whiskered nose came out first, followed by the two ears that came out of the window and stood up. Next, a very flexible body was pressed tightly into the narrow gap and gently pulled itself through. The entire body was in, and soon the hind feet followed, and last the long tail. The creature lightly jumped down from the window, its long tail waving.
The creature that entered the mansion in an instant slowly approached a person standing in the distance.
“I’m late.”
The knight, Kei, who had just returned from a visit to his hometown, was walking quickly to return to work.
“Meow.”
He lowered the magic lantern he was holding at the sudden cry.
“A cat?”
What was illuminated by the lantern was a cat standing in the hallway.
“Nyaa.”
“How did you get in here?”
The cat slowly approached Kei and nuzzled its face against his leg.
“Meow.”
“I’m sorry, but I have to go quickly.”
Facing such cute behavior, Kei couldn’t help it. He held the gentle cat with both hands. Looking closer, he saw that it was a white cat with odd eyes. The cat seemed to have an owner and had a collar around its neck. A necklace studded with red ruby-like gems.
“I’ll let you out, so go find your owner.”
“Meow.”
Kei was about to take a step toward the hallway window.
“Nyaa!”
The cat’s multicolored eyes and the jewel on its collar flashed.
Kei’s voice was swallowed before it could even be heard. In an instant, he was sucked into the jewel.
Tuk.
The magic lantern that Kei was holding fell helplessly to the floor. As soon as the knight disappeared, the cat landed easily back onto the floor. Then he tapped the jewel on its collar with his front paw. In the blink of an eye, the cat transformed into a human shape.
“Haaa.”
The cat in the shape of Kei let out a long breath, his odd eyes shining in the dark. Soon enough his eyes had turned black like the usual Kei. He then picked up the magic lantern that had fallen on the floor and walked leisurely down the hallway as if nothing had happened.
Thank you for the chapter