"I can see you're having a tough time..."

"You must be exhausted from preparing to host the Emperor in just one day."

Aslan sat blankly in his office.

He wasn’t working, nor was he sleeping.

He simply sat there with his eyes open, looking dazed.

Yulia and Charlotte secretly watched him from the doorframe, whispering to each other.

"The other people in the mansion looked really busy too."

They were all in a frenzy preparing for the banquet, tending to the gardens, and doing a major cleanup.

The hired help were so busy that they couldn't even pay attention to Charlotte and Yulia, who were usually doted on, so Aslan must have been overwhelmed.

He was typically a recluse, hardly moving about, but today he was genuinely bustling around non-stop.

"He’s hardly eating, too..."

"He must have lost his appetite from being so tired. At times like this, he should be eating some sweet and sour fruit."

"Hmph. Yulia. You’re worried about him."

"Wha—!? Worried? Me? About that guy? No way!"

Yulia retorted angrily at Charlotte, who had caught her off guard with her cheerful smile.

What nonsense.

Why would I be worried about him?

I should be worried about myself since I need to gather 1 billion Lark to gain my freedom.

"Aren't you worried about him, though?"

"Yeah. I am. I hope he doesn’t get sick."

"…."

Yulia fell silent at Charlotte's casual answer.

She was really too kind-hearted.

Or was it Stockholm Syndrome? Something like that?

How foolish.

"Well, I’m not worried or anything. I just hope he doesn’t get sick because if he works, it’ll bring us opportunities to earn money."

This time, we would receive 0.1 percent of the tolls from the road construction that Aslan had shares in.

Aslan wanted to use us to make money.

Ultimately, he seemed to be planning to make us earn 1 billion Lark each.

If that was the case, it was troublesome that Aslan was in such a state.

"Tch. Yulia is just thinking about money all the time."

"Of course. Are we going to stay here? Don’t you worry about what’s happened to Yuri? Conversely, how much do you think Yuri worries about us? We need to get out of here quickly. We can’t keep doing this forever."

"I have a way if you want to earn money!"

"A way? What kind of way?"

Charlotte’s eyes sparkled with confidence.

Yulia felt a twinge of unease.

Every time Charlotte brought up a method, it was never a normal one.

"Hehe. Let’s sell our labor to the uncle! We’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse!"

"An offer he can’t refuse?"

"Aslan has been watching the uncle work and do business everywhere. The key is market research! We have to present him with what he needs, making it impossible for him not to buy!"

"So what is that?"

"Hehehe!"

With her hands on her hips, Charlotte wore a triumphant smile.

Charlotte subtly pulled something out of her pocket.

.

.

.

'I feel like I’m aging rapidly.'

It was strange.

I had taken plenty of rest, and I hadn’t engaged in any special activities today.

Yet I felt oddly exhausted, unable to focus on anything.

Was it because I had experienced the visit from Irene and the Emperor one after another?

Physically, there was no real strain.

But mentally, I was so drained that my body seemed to have also become weary.

I wanted to rest for a while.

But...

"Young lord. Here’s the design for the training ground."

"Head of the family! We’ve completed the first round of interviews for the Vermont Security public recruitment. You need to budget for the required security personnel based on this list..."

"Uncle! The dirt monster has completely torn up the yard! Should I give it a stern talking to?"

"Charlotte, do something about that. The dirt monster comes to me crying every day, begging for help...!"

There were so many things to worry about.

Too many worries.

Why didn’t I have anyone to handle things for me?

Ah. Right. I cut them all off.

Thanks to that, the only loyal person left by my side was Silvia.

But the most terrifying thing was that the busier I became, the less free time I would have.

For someone like me, who was accustomed to the conveniences of modern civilization, living as a Count here felt like a grueling task.

'My joints are aching. It hurts.'

Was it because of my naturally thin and weak constitution?

Just a little outside activity and some stress had already started taking its toll on my body.

This wasn’t just whining; at this rate, I might end up bedridden.

Should I take a break?

If I did? Who would do the work?

Just as I was overwhelmed with sighs.

The door creaked open, and Yulia and Charlotte entered.

"Stop sighing so much. Negative vibes are contagious, you know..."

"That’s right. Smiling makes you healthier."

"Haah. Okay. I’m sorry."

[The evil god, 'Cali,' glares.]

Ah.

I regretted saying that.

Apologizing for emitting negative vibes in front of the evil god.

Is she angry? Is she mad?

[The evil god, 'Cali,' demands that we only smile in front of our dark knight and necromancer!]

Oh, right.

Cali cared for these kids as much as I did.

That fact suddenly came back to me.

But I had clearly been sighing alone.

Yet those brats walked in.

I felt unfairly defensive about it.

"Hehehe. But I won’t tell you to just smile. If you’re feeling tired and irritated, it’s even more irritating to force a smile."

"It was really agonizing to be forced to smile every time the church people or sponsors visited the orphanage."

"…So what are you here for?"

Seeing Charlotte and Yulia giggling made me feel good...

But the problem was that I was extremely busy.

Unless it was urgent or important, I had to put it off and brush them aside for now.

Just as I was thinking that and about to dismiss them.

"I came because I could see you were very tired! I came to sell this to you!"

"…?"

With a thump, Charlotte placed some scraps of paper on my desk.

Wondering what it was, I leaned closer and saw...

"Massage coupons...?"

"If you use this, you can get a massage from me!"

"I’ll buy it right now. How much?"

"10 billion Lark!"

"…."

A moment of silence descended.

Yulia slapped her forehead.

10 billion Lark is way too expensive...

"Huh? Well! Since Yulia is here too! Then it’s 20 billion Lark!"

"That’s still too expensive."

"Why? This massage coupon is one-of-a-kind and can only be obtained from me!"

"I could hire a professional masseuse for a year with that money and get massages without spending anything."

"Wh-What...!?"

Charlotte’s little voice came out in a panic.

Once again, I ignored her, maintaining my indifference, and I could see Charlotte’s lips twitching.

It looked like she might start crying.

"Still too expensive."

"But, but... I have to earn a lot of money...!"

"Then how about this? Once the security company is set up later, I’ll assign you a suitable task, and you can keep all the pay from that."

"Wow! Really!?"

"And I’ll buy you a doll the next time we go out. I can't stand hearing you grumble about how I only bought one for Yulia. With that, I’ll buy 10 coupons."

"Really!? No second thoughts! I’ll sell it to you! Here! It’s right here!"

With a bright smile, Charlotte wrote 'X10' in big letters on the coupon and handed it to me.

Since using Charlotte in the security company was already part of my plan, it meant I had essentially gotten 10 massage coupons for free.

Good. Very good.

[The evil god, 'Cali,' is looking forward to our dark knight’s massage.]

I was looking forward to it.

Just as I was about to use the massage coupons, I noticed Yulia watching me, trying to find the right moment to speak.

"…What are you trying to sell me?"

"Hehe. Unlike Charlotte’s silly thing, mine will be tempting. You won’t be able to refuse...!"

"Silly!? My massage is not silly!"

"Yap!"

The moment I spoke, Yulia confidently pulled out a scrap of paper.

As I looked at it, I froze for a moment.

What is this?

"One-on-one tutoring coupon?"

"It's a coupon that allows you to have a one-hour lesson directly from me, no matter the subject! What do you think? Don’t you want it? Last time, you said my explanations were so easy to understand that you wanted another session...! Hehe!"

"…."

I really didn’t want it at all.

What do I do about this?

As I looked at Yulia’s confident expression, I found myself in a predicament.