CH 2

‘What do I mean by millionaire? But… I think I might even be a billionaire…’

While I was staring blankly with my eyes open wide, Jemian, the tax accountant of the Blasco Family, bent down in front of me to face me at eye level.

He suggested in a very friendly and kind voice,

“If Miss Ainsley agrees, I would like to ask you to visit Blasco’s Main House in Artem to see the spirit and go through the inheritance process, but is it alright?”

“Uh….”

“The Duke is also eagerly awaiting you.”

At that moment, all kinds of rumors that followed the Duke of Blasco passed by like a panorama in front of me.

He was a talented person who had been ranked No. 1 in the continent for swordsmanship for more than a decade, but he had a personality defect that couldn’t be covered by his skills and appearance.

Even if it was just a little bit, anything that got on his nerves, at the first sight of it, he would cuss. He was a very foul-mouthed person.

A brutal killer who handled all kinds of rare carnivorous animals and cannibal plants like they were his hands and feet.

A person who threw living humans as prey when bored.

If I were to list all his nicknames one by one, there would be no end.

Moreover, the Duke of Blasco was definitely the leader of the group of villains who didn’t even treat his stepdaughter, the female lead, as a human in the original novel.

I was suddenly scared.

Do you think I’m crazy enough to follow?!!

“I refuse—”

“One million gold in cash.”

My refusal was cut off by the one million gold. It was a definitive amount rather than an ambiguous list of properties.

Jemian winked.

“If we add up the additional income from the territory, 100,000 gold is added every year.”

I was speechless. Just what did he see people as? Do you see me as a person who will sell their life for money?!!

“…And then? Is there any more?”

Snob No. 1 who risked her life for money was right here.

Even among the poor who came from the war, I was especially poor, the most miserable of beggars. I know how dirty a person could be and how sad a person could be if he or she didn’t have money.

I love money.

Money is the best.

No money, no life…

As if he read my mind, Jemian solemnly added.

“The information guild’s profit-sharing ratio is 5 to 5, and including Artem’s Main House, the mansion in the Capital’s price is probably….”

“The mansion in the Capital?”

No, I mean– A mansion in the Capital where it was said the land price was extremely expensive?

My stomach suddenly felt nauseous and my heart started beating quicker. Although my sadness hadn’t gone yet, and even though I was surprised by Grandfather’s identity and almost passed out at the scale of the inheritance, those words alone touched my heart.

‘My dream of buying a house that I couldn’t achieve even in the war….’

On the other hand, Jemian sadly lowered his eyebrows.

“Of course, if Miss Catyshia continues to refuse, we have no choice but to request a memorandum of renunciation of the inheritan—”

“I will go.”

Oh my, this Mister. Your personality is too rash!

“I can go with my body alone. I don’t have any luggage to pack anyway!”

What I’m trying to say is… Just go first in order to at least see the face of the immoral person, who had a major personality defect.

It’s definitely not because I fell for the words that said there was a house in the Capital. I said it’s definitely not because I’m not sure what to eat and how to live starting tomorrow.

It’s just because I’m curious. Just because I’m curious about exactly how large the scale of the inheritance is. Simply curious about whether there is no loan for the Capital’s mansion, and what the legal inheritance process is!

***

When I showed my intention to go to Blasco, things went smoothly.

Grandfather Herzen’s coffin was loaded into a transport carriage decorated with fancy satin and flowers. I climbed into the carriage with a simple load of clothes and some things to take out when I wanted to see Grandfather.

In the carriage heading to Blasco’s Main House, I heard a surprising fact from Jemian, the tax accountant of the Duke Family.

“Are you saying that Grandfather Herzen’s soul is still alive?”

“Strictly speaking, the expression of being alive is not correct, but it is similar in terms of whether it can see and hear. The late Duke has become the spirit of Blasco.”

So it was this kind of story.

Although its position in the history of Imperial politics had changed a little now, Blasco was originally a renowned swordsman family.

Hundreds of years ago, after the First Lord of the Family subjugated the King of Demons who drove the Continent into its Dark Age with the sword, Blasco’s Lords inherited the task of guarding the sword for generations to prevent the demon from taking charge again.

Protecting the Demon Sword meant a bilateral contract with the demon. Instead of the demon obeying the Lord, in order for the soil on which the Demon Sword laid to survive without extinction, the Lord gives up their human soul there.

It was said that Blasco’s previous lords became spirits after death, that is, holy souls, who depended on the sword.

Hearing until that far, there was something that I remembered. That was one of the main settings that appeared in the novel which I possessed, [Now We’re, Like Magic].

“The spirit has already appeared in the tower of spirits at the Main House. So, he appeared in the place where the Demon Sword was asleep. Although it will take months for him to get the right shape to move.”

“Then, if I wait a little bit, does that mean I see Grandfather again?”

“That is right.”

The tip of my nose tingled in relief.

Turns out, I’m not left alone in the world yet.

‘I thought I’d never hear that nagging again.’

I thought I had used up all the water in my eyes at the funeral, but I shed tears again. This time, it was tears of relief.

When I heard that story, shouting in an angry voice to hurry up and bring a coffin, I did think that it was truly like Grandfather.

‘Would the Duke of Blasco’s character also resemble Grandfather Herzen?’

If Grandfather Herzen was the late Duke, then isn’t he the father of the current Duke?

Grandfather would often tell me about his children.

“I had two sons, but one went early. The one who’s left….”

“Why? Did you have a fight?”

“Yeah. I said that his head was thick and since I don’t like seeing him talking back, we had a big fight and he ran away. Eyy, when I think of that stubbornness, I can feel my anger bubbling up from inside again.”

At that time, I wondered, ‘Is he not an ordinary parent? Didn’t his son run away?’, but now it was clear.

‘So he was talking about how he had succeeded the Duke’s position and retired.’

In fact, if my son was a lout, I would also be upset.

No, but. No matter how it was.

“So, Grandfather didn’t hand over his inheritance to his son, no– he didn’t hand it over to the Duke?”

“Yes. The day after the big fight, he only left the Lord position and perfectly ran away!”

Jemian answered so energetically that I unconsciously accepted it.

So it was like that. But if that happened, just what would happen to my place in Blasco?

I hazily recalled the original work again.

The original work, [Now We’re, Like Magic] was about the hardship of the female lead who was adopted by the villain family, Blasco, in the morning because she resonated with the Demon Sword.

After all sorts of hardships in Blasco, there occurred a revenge drama. Her dramatic escape while holding hands with the male lead, and her coming back to destroy Blasco… It was all year round just before this started properly.

‘How was Niela’s life like?’

Niela, who was treated as nobody but someone who leeched off Blasco, had no choice but to strive and compete with her siblings and inherit the Demon Sword.

However, Niela had no power, and eventually, unable to withstand Blasco’s harassment, she escaped the Duchy.

She then asked for help from the only force that could stand against Blasco, which was the White Temple that protected the Holy Sword.

The novel’s big plot was about Niela competing with Blasco to succeed the Demon Sword under the protection of Aikal who had the blood of a divine animal, the most fantastic species dispatched from the temple.

Of course, the romance with the male lead, Aikal, was also significant. In order to protect Niela, Aikal was encroached by the Demon Sword instead of her, and in order to save him, Niela would be reborn as the true successor of the Demon Sword…

Well, it seemed like it was such a growth romance story. Although I don’t even remember it well now.

‘Was it chapter 167? I only remember that the main characters fell into a trap and got separated right before the reunion and I cried a lot…’

After I whined in the comment section asking the writer why they had not come back, I was hit and killed by a car whose driver was drunk. It was the end of my dark first life.

I searched through my memories, and barely remembered the most frustrating part of the original work which could choke a person to death.

“Today dirty little crumbs were seen in the mansion. I’ll fire the cleaning maid.”

This was the line the Duke used to say whenever the female lead who entered as his adopted daughter came into his sight.

“There’s not a single thing of yours here. You shouldn’t even be allowed to breathe here.”

This was the abusive language the Princess used while smiling.

“What benefit would I get should I help you? You’re just someone who leeches off Blasco.”

This was the line that Blasco’s eldest son, heir, and Young Lord, said, rejecting the female lead’s desperate request for help…

I remembered that I was angrier because I was poked by the lines that seemed to subtly overlap with my situation at the time. My lips naturally pouted.

‘The problem wasn’t only his son, but even all his grandchildren had major personality defects. It was understandable that Grandfather was mad.’

I was thinking like that, when I suddenly became anxious.

This, isn’t there too much risk in possessing the inheritance and following along?

Objectively speaking, the possibility that the Duke would like me was zero.

I’m sure he would be like that since I’m a total stranger who didn’t have even a single drop of Blasco’s blood. I was nothing but a freeloader that Grandfather Herzen took care of in his old age.

Doesn’t it mean that all the property in the name of the late Duke was passed on to a child of unknown origin?

‘He also said that I’ll get one million gold in cash and 100,000 gold every year, right?’

The worth of one million gold was truly enormous. For an ordinary person to have such money they would have to work hard for more than 10 years without spending a penny.

No matter how generously I estimated it, the amount of money I would earn in a year could feed three generations of a family.

‘And if all the other properties are combined, it would be at least 2/3 of the total. Will the Main House people welcome me?’

The moment I realized the reality I neglected, chills came rushing in.

The female lead, who didn’t even have a small stake in the family, was treated poorly, and even told that she was a leech, but what was the probability that they would treat a complete stranger heiress who fell from the sky one day, gently?

Zero, it’s zero.

Even if it was me, I wouldn’t welcome that person either. It would be a relief if they didn’t take everything I had and get kicked out. In the worst case, they might bury me in the mountain behind and return the inheritance left in my name to the family again.

That was surely very convincing.

“M-Mister Jemian, when can I see Grandfather Herzen?”

“Since he has just left his body, it will take at least two months for the spirit to stabilize and three months at the longest.”

My spine immediately filled up with chills.

That means that I could definitely die mysteriously before Grandfather comes back to life!