I left the bookstore and collapsed weakly on the ground. Right now, I felt like an innocent country girl who had her bag snatched by some thugs as soon as she arrived in the big city.
‘Those damn bastards. Aren’t they just robbers?’
I turned my head sharply and glared at the bookstore.
Cal and his red-headed henchman had created an atmosphere that made it impossible to say the request was off. In the end, I had no choice but to meekly sign the contract and even pay the 10 gold deposit.
“To spend 160 gold on just delivering free catalogs…”
160 gold was a large sum that would take ordinary commoners years to save up. It was also more than half of the emergency funds I had secretly set aside. No matter how famous the guild was, there’s no way a request fee could be this expensive.
‘Should I go back in now and say it’s all off?’
But remembering Cal’s smiling face with chilling eyes, I shook my head. He certainly seemed to be the guild master, as his intimidating aura was no joke.
I quickly gave up on the idea of reporting to the guards after hearing what Cal added before leaving the basement.
“Just in case, you’re not thinking of reporting this, are you? Well, I don’t mind, but it would be useless.”
Judging by his nonchalant expression, he clearly had some kind of connection with the guards. Even if I reported it, he’d probably be released easily. It would be the same if I reported to the palace. I might even face retaliation instead.
“Damn it, am I really losing half my entire fortune like this?”
I felt like beating up my past self who had thought of this guild in the first place. Even if it took some time, I should have just quietly searched through the 7,000 books in the library!
‘Did I really make some mortal enemy with that man in a past life?’
If not, there’s no way he could interfere every time I try to do something. As the man said, at this point it was fate.
A wretched fate indeed!
[This is the timeline separator]“My money…, my precious 160 gold…”
How hard had I worked to stash that away!
Returning to the Second Prince’s Palace having lost money instead of gaining anything, I repeatedly banged my forehead against a hallway pillar, thinking of the 160 gold that had vanished into thin air.
Even someone as optimistic as me couldn’t be unfazed after losing half my entire fortune in just half a day. Moreover, the thought of having to search through 7,000 books in the library from now on was already giving me a headache.
Just then, someone at the end of the hallway raised their hand high and waved at me.
“Lady Reneola!”
Silvia, who ran up to me in one breath, looked at my forehead with rounded eyes and asked.
“Why is your forehead so red?”
“It’s nothing.”
As I answered while rubbing my forehead, Silvia tilted her head as she examined my expression.
“Did something happen?”
I stared at Silvia’s innocent eyes for a moment, then firmly grasped both her shoulders.
“Silvia.”
“Y-yes?”
Silvia’s eyes widened, seemingly startled by my serious face.
“Stay sharp and live carefully. Especially avoid those damned carrots at all costs. Got it?”
Don’t be fooled like me. It was sincere advice, but Silvia, who couldn’t know the inside story, looked bewildered. Silvia, who nodded without understanding, held out the books she had been preciously holding in her arms.
“I brought a few of the books I mentioned earlier first.”
I looked down at the books she was holding. They appeared to be books containing basic knowledge about magic, such as , , .
Right, as they say, study should have a solid foundation. But I don’t have time for this now. I already have 7,000 books weighing on my shoulders. Don’t you have any more direct books? Something like , for instance.
But I couldn’t say that to Silvia, who was looking at me with sparkling eyes as if expecting praise.
“Thank you, Silvia. I’ll read them slowly.”
“Yes!”
Silvia, who smiled brightly, offered to carry them to my room.
“But what’s that book?”
“This?”
I held up the book I was holding. It was given to me by the red-haired clerk as I was leaving the bookstore in a daze. He said he was gifting it because I seemed to like it.
“? Did you buy it at the bookstore?”
“It was given to me. They say it’s a book that a duke from some empire searched the entire continent to find as a gift for his wife. After that, it became famous and was reprinted after being out of print.”
“My goodness, what a romantic story.”
“Want to read it?”
“Will you lend it to me?”
“You can have it.”
As I walked chatting with Silvia, my tumultuous feelings seemed to calm down a bit.
‘Right, what’s done is done.’
Thinking that dwelling on it would only make me feel worse, I decided to forget about it as I opened the door to my room.
“Hey! Don’t you guys know how to knock?”
Ginger, who seemed to have been doing something very guilty, flinched exaggeratedly and shouted loudly.
“Who knocks when entering their own room?”
I calmly retorted and stared at Ginger with my arms crossed. Ginger seemed at a loss for words, mumbling and letting her gaze wander.
At those panicked eyes, I suspiciously scanned her surroundings. Her awkwardly leaning against my desk seemed suspicious no matter how I looked at it.
“By the way, what are you doing at my desk?”
“Wh-what would I be doing? I was just trying to open the window for a moment. Are you suspecting me now?”
Ginger, who overreacted more than necessary, frowned as if offended. Then she roughly pushed past me and Silvia and left the room.
“Lady Reneola, quickly check if anything is missing.”
Silvia worriedly said as she watched Ginger’s retreating back. I rummaged through the desk that Ginger had obviously touched.
“Nothing seems to be particularly missing.”
“That’s a relief. Be careful. Ginger will definitely try every means to find fault with you, Lady Reneola.”
As I nodded, Silvia looked around the room.
“So this is the room Lady Reneola uses.”
Although it probably wasn’t any different from other maids’ rooms, Silvia looked very excited.
“Can I come visit sometimes?”
“Why not? Come often.”
When I nodded willingly, Silvia’s expression brightened even more.
“I’ll come over on days when Ginger is out for the night. It would be nice to lie in bed together and tell ghost stories all night!”
Silvia, who said she would prepare candles and cookies, already seemed excited. I grabbed her and sat her on the bed.
“Silvia, I have something to ask.”
“Yes, please go ahead.”
“When there’s a difficult problem to solve, people usually request help from guilds, right?”
“That’s right, though it’s not common.”
Silvia nodded and asked worriedly.
“Did something really happen? Is that why you looked upset earlier?”
“No, that’s not it, it’s just… Ah, my younger sibling needed something but it’s not easy to obtain, so I was wondering if you knew any reliable guilds in the capital.”
“Hmm…”
Silvia rolled her eyes in thought, then exclaimed as if something suddenly occurred to her.
“I’ve heard of one place through the grapevine.”
“Where?”
As my eyes lit up, Silvia unnecessarily looked around the empty room and lowered her voice.
“I heard there’s a place called ‘Black Horse’ that’s famous for definitely succeeding in any request. They say it’s a terrifying dark guild that doesn’t refuse even dangerous jobs. But the request method is extremely complicated, so I’ve never actually met anyone who’s made a request.”
Having just had money extorted from me by the guild master of that dangerous guild, I clicked my tongue in displeasure. What complicated request method, it was sloppy to the extreme. Silvia continued speaking, completely unaware that I was the one who had actually made a request.
“No matter how urgent, it’s better not to get involved with dark guilds. They’re people who might do anything.”
“…I’ll be careful. Then are there any other guilds besides that one?”
“Hmm… I’m not sure. There are many guilds, but there are so many disreputable ones that it’s not easy to find a trustworthy place. Last month’s newspaper even had an article about a guild that took the request fee and ran away in the middle of the night.”
“I see…”
I was thinking of trying to request from another reliable guild if there was one, but I guess that’s out. In the end, I’ll have no choice but to search through 7,000 books.
“Then can maids borrow books from the library too?”
I hadn’t thought to ask before because I was so shocked by the number 7,000. My mind was racing with the thought that I needed to go quickly and start searching even one book.
“Of course! The royal library can be used by everyone working in the palace.”
I inwardly breathed a sigh of relief at Silvia’s words. If maids weren’t allowed in the library, my only option would have been to sneak in at night.
After parting with Silvia, who regretted not being able to go together due to work, I headed straight for the library. The library I entered through the heavy mahogany doors was so vast it couldn’t be taken in at a glance.
What was amazing was the books that filled that immense space. Seeing the piles of books stacked nearly to the ceiling, crammed tightly on shelves and overflowing, I was already overwhelmed.
I looked around the magnificent interior with my mouth agape. I understood Silvia’s boast that there was no book in the world that couldn’t be found in the Hilic Kingdom.
“If there’s an earthquake, I’d die crushed under books first.”
As I was thinking I couldn’t read them all even if I spent my whole life with books, someone spoke to me from behind.
“How may I help you?”
I jumped in surprise and turned around, having thought no one was there due to the lack of presence.
__________
“Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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