Episode 129

How much could a kick from a tiny little girl even hurt, really?

Apparently a lot, judging by the way Adolf Galagos was hopping around like a headless chicken, his face red and contorted in pain.

“Urgh! Are you insane?!”

“……”

“What the hell was that?! Do you even know who I am?!”

Unable to hold back his rage, the idiot raised his hand high above his head.

“A-Adolf!”
Diana rushed forward with wide eyes, trying to stop him.

“Let me go! Girls like her need to be taught their place so they never try to rise above it again!”

He looked like he’d completely snapped from the surprise attack.

The whole scene was so predictable, it was almost boring.

‘Come to think of it, even in my past life, he acted like he was some kind of noble elite.’

Even when he handed me that poison meant for Diana, he barked commands at me like I was some lowly servant.

Sure, by then it had become common knowledge that he was a long-time supporter of the Crown Prince…

But that didn’t mean he ever actually earned a title.

“Go ahead.”

I folded my arms and leaned in close, daring him.

Adolf stopped squabbling with Diana and turned toward me with a furious glare.

“You little—!”

“You’re an adult now, right?”

I said it coolly, meeting his rage with indifference.

“Guess that makes it child abuse now, too. On top of plagiarism.”

“W-What?!”

“I know a thing or two about that stuff. The penalties are pretty steep.”

His hand froze mid-air.

His crazed eyes slowly returned to something more rational.

‘Heh. Guess jail doesn’t sound too fun, huh?’

He must’ve been too fresh into adulthood to fully grasp the gravity of things, but in the Erea Empire, child abuse was a very serious crime.

There was even a well-known case of a high priest who died in prison after being caught abusing orphans at a facility he oversaw.

I decided to drive the nail in and gave Charlotte a meaningful glance.

“Charlotte. You brought the visual magic device, right? Make sure you record everything. He might try to deny it later.”

“Huh? Oh… Yes! O-of course!”

Charlotte, catching on fast, began pretending to rummage through her bag for it.

Of course, it was a complete bluff.

I had come here straight from lounging on my office sofa eating cookies. No way we’d planned for this.

Still, despite Charlotte’s awkward performance, Adolf totally fell for it and quickly lowered his hand.

“Tch! Dammit! I didn’t even hit you! You hit me! Remember that!”

The embarrassment of being scared off must’ve been too much. He clenched both fists and shouted furiously.

“Just wait! I’m gonna sue you for assault!”

“Go ahead.”

I shrugged casually.

‘Let’s see how far you get trying to sue a twelve-year-old.’

In Erea, children under twelve weren’t criminally liable unless the offense was severe.

The fact that he didn’t even know that much just made it clearer:

‘Is this guy seriously this dumb?’

This version of Adolf Galagos was nothing like the terrifying man who cornered me in my past life.

I was still marveling at the change when—

“So you think just because the Duke’s family is backing you, you’re something now?”

Adolf sneered.

“How long do you think that’ll last? You’re not even adopted. Just a sponsored commoner, clinging to someone else’s name.”

“Wow. Creative.”

I picked at my ear with one hand and mocked him.

I’d heard that exact insult so many times by now it didn’t even tickle.

‘A beggar, huh? I stopped being one a long time ago.’

That might’ve stung seven years ago.

But now? My personal assets were more than enough to buy out the entire Galagos Trading Company.

He wasn’t the Crown Prince’s golden boy anymore.

And since Galagos made most of its profits through overseas trade, Adolf was clearly out of touch with domestic affairs.

I curled one side of my mouth into a crooked grin.

“I don’t even need the Duke’s help to deal with trash like you.”

“Wha— That little…!”

“And by the way—why are you copying a ‘beggar’s’ business, huh?”

“We didn’t copy anything! We operate in a totally different field—!”

“Then let’s see what the court says about that.”

I turned around in one swift motion, done with watching him flail around and yell like a child.

“You too, mister.”

“H-Hiiik!”

The contractor, who had gone quiet after Adolf and Diana arrived, flinched at my cold voice.

“Be sure to check your mailbox starting tomorrow. You’ll be getting a court summons real soon.”

“P-Please! Director, wait! I swear I didn’t mean anything by it! I only did what the client asked—!”

“Let’s go, Charlotte.”

“Hey! You! Don’t walk away! Hey—!”

Both the contractor and Adolf called after me, one after the other, but I completely ignored them and marched out of that cursed building with Charlotte at my side.

“Whoa, Director! That was so intense!”

As soon as we stepped outside, Charlotte finally exhaled and gushed in awe.

“You totally blew me away! I can’t believe our director is so bold and fearless! Weren’t you scared? You just kicked that dumb guy down like it was nothing…!”

“Shh. Save it for when we get back.”

There was no need to give those creeps any more ammo to use against us.

We were already just across the street from the salon, so I picked up the pace and gently nudged Charlotte along as she continued to chatter excitedly—until…

“Belze!”

Bang!
The door behind us flew open, and someone called my name.

‘Of course. I knew this would happen.’

I really wanted to just keep walking, but they were quicker.

Tap-tap-tap!

The figure ran ahead and blocked my path, speaking in a flustered tone.

“Belze, I think there’s been a misunderstanding.”

“What misunderstanding?”

“Adolf’s not usually like that… He’s just been really on edge lately with the salon opening and everything…”

“……”

“If he upset you, I’m sorry. I’ll apologize on his behalf.”

I looked at Diana’s blurred, teary face with a blank expression.

‘Why’s she apologizing when it was Adolf who fought with me?’

Honestly, this wasn’t the first time Diana had done this, so I didn’t even feel angry anymore.

Even in my past life, she’d always apologized without giving me a chance to explain why I was upset.

In noble society, it was considered proper and cultured to accept an apology, no matter how half-hearted.

Which meant that if I ignored her or insisted on my side of the story, I’d just come off as rude and vulgar.

I’d been through this routine so many times.

‘Ugh, it’s getting old.’

I glanced around with disinterested eyes.

It was past noon, and ladies had already begun waving fans as they strolled out to shop.
Gentlemen in fedoras escorted them gracefully through the square.

Even if they were pretending not to look, I could feel their attention trained on us.

I sighed and turned back to Diana.

“Diana.”

“Huh?”

“You’re my longtime friend, right?”

“Y-Yeah, of course…”

She looked confused at my sudden change of tone, her violet eyes wavering.

But I didn’t care. Like I was performing a play, I threw up my arms and raised my voice dramatically.

“Then how could you side with someone who plagiarized my concept?! You, of all people, know how much I cherish my salon—how hard I’ve worked to build it!”

“B-Belze…”

“And even so, I kept letting your mother buy on credit all this time because you’re my closest friend…”

“C-Credit?!”

Her eyes widened in shock, and she practically shouted.

“Yup.”

I held up a hand with my fingers spread wide, trying to suppress a smirk.

“As of last time, she crossed 5,000 gold.”

“T-That’s… I never heard anything about that!”

Her violet eyes trembled like leaves in the wind. Clearly, she had no idea.

“Mother never mentioned it at all…”

‘Figures.’

I thought with an indifferent shrug.

Five thousand gold—roughly 500 million won.

Honestly, even for high-ranking nobles, there wasn’t a single shop in the empire that allowed that much credit.

Even luxury dressmakers capped their credit at 500 gold.

The only reason I’d let the Marchioness’s debt snowball was to prepare for any unexpected developments.

‘If the story ever starts to twist strangely because I stole a few plot items, I need leverage.’

Unfortunately, since the incident seven years ago with Logan and Magnus, the cultists had vanished without a trace.

Anyone remotely connected to them had been “cut off”—killed, essentially.

From that mangy Dungkeski to Sven, Emma, Logan, Magnus… all of them.

Sven and Logan’s cause of death? Suicide.
In the Kallios knights’ underground prison.
While tied up.
By biting their tongues.

The whole thing left a sour taste.

Even after opening the salon, I had continued to investigate every possible link between the cult and Diana.

But I found nothing.

For the last seven years, Diana had busied herself climbing the social ladder—healing, mingling, attending soirées.

No strange behavior. Nothing suspicious.
Except for the few plot changes I caused, she had stuck to the original timeline faithfully.

I should have felt relieved to confirm she wasn’t part of the cult…

So why did something still feel off?

When Diana finally began to calm down, I spoke softly, as if to comfort her.

“…I’m sure it’s not your fault.”

But I only took that step back to prepare for a bigger leap forward.

“Still… since you’re close with Galagos, I’m guessing your mother is too?”

“What? What are you—”

“I mean, come on. He’s just a commoner. A grown man. How else would he know exactly how our salon massage zone is designed?”

“……”

“Don’t you think?”