I’ll Definitely Make Him Pay It Back Double Someday!
Since a child had been born, he demanded congratulatory money.
The uncle who showed up saying that didn’t even look at me once. It was as though he hadn’t noticed my existence at all.
In these one year and two months, Uncle had probably never once come to this mansion. And yet the moment his own son was born, he came demanding money? Just how thick-skinned was this guy?
Most likely, this uncle had been coming here to demand money every chance he got.
That explained the expressions on the maid and butler’s faces.
“To begin with! This territory should have become mine in the first place! Chichiue merely pitied you, who weren’t even the eldest son, and granted you this tiny domain. In other words, you’re merely living off my leftovers! In that case, shouldn’t you hand over half the profits from the mine to me… no, eighty percent!?”
What the hell was this uncle talking about?
Eighty percent of the profits? He didn’t manage the mine, and he wasn’t paying the workers employed there, yet he wanted the profits handed over to him... Ugh, now that I looked closely, this man had jewels dangling all over his fingers and clothes. The colors and designs didn’t match at all. Accessories with zero sense of unity and absolutely no taste.
… Wait a second!
“Milady, I’ve brought it.”
At that moment, the head maid arrived carrying a small box. It wasn’t an ordinary box either. It was a jeweled case decorated with silver.
“Count-sama. Congratulations on the birth of your heir. Please accept this.”
Eh, wait, congratulatory money? They were giving it to him?
“Oho, Katia-dono. As expected, you truly are a capable wife. Let’s see now.”
Hey, hey, are you seriously checking it immediately after receiving it?
“Tch. That’s all?”
That’s all!?
“My deepest apologies, Count-sama. Your visit was so sudden that we were unable to properly prepare any hospitality.”
“Oh? Then if I had informed you in advance, you could have prepared more money?”
“T-that is...”
What is wrong with this guy? Seriously, what is wrong with him!?
“Very well. Then I shall visit again another day. Next time, I’ll bring my wife and son as well, so make sure to entertain us properly. I’m counting on you.”
After saying only that, Uncle left.
He really came just to collect money... T-that thing is Chichiue-dono’s older brother!?
“What a horrible man. When Dermont-sama was born, he didn’t even send a single word of congratulations.”
The maid muttered that angrily. The head maid scolded her, but she clearly wasn’t satisfied.
“But it’s true, isn’t it? Even the debts from the Count’s failed business ventures were shoved onto Baron-sama.”
“And the jewelry and dresses for that man and the Countess are being bought under our master’s name too...”
Even the head maid openly showed her displeasure.
No, wait. Father was paying off Uncle’s debts!?
Could it be that the debt collectors who occasionally came here... were actually collecting loans made to that man!?
W-what a bastard.
Not a single coin should be given to someone like that!
Though... the kind-hearted Father probably couldn’t refuse him.
I later learned that Uncle and Father were half-brothers.
Father had apparently been raised while being scorned as “the child of the homewrecker who stole Chichiue away from Hahaue.”
But gentle Father , even from childhood, never resented his stepmother or older brother. If anything, he’d apparently carried guilt over it instead, or so I heard the head butler say.
But in reality, the homewrecker had been the stepmother, my step-grandmother.
That part came from the gossip-loving maids.
Apparently, Grandfather and Grandmother, Father’s real mother, had originally been lovers. But my step-grandmother had fallen for him one-sidedly and forcibly arranged the marriage by exploiting the fact that her parents held a higher title.
That was supposedly the real story.
Both mother and son were rotten to the core.
I couldn’t accept the fact that a man like that was feeding off the baron house!
But even if I wasn’t exactly a baby anymore, I am still just a toddler. I can’t protect the baron house from that trash uncle, and I don’t even know how I should protect it.
What could I do right now...? For now, I needed to master alchemy magic completely.
And then I’d make the barony richer and richer.
I made that resolution, and two years passed.
During that time, trash Uncle stayed true to his declaration and visited the baron house with his whole family to demand money.
Not once. Five times over those two years.
Someday, I’ll definitely make him pay it all back double!
But not everything during that time was infuriating.
“Hogyaaaahh, hogyaaaahh.”
“Fueeeehh, fueeeehh.”
Our family gained new members. Twin babies, a boy and a girl.
“My little brother and little sister... My first siblings.”
“Yes, that’s right, Der. You’re a big brother now.”
That’s right. My first siblings.
I’d been an only child in my previous life, so these really were my very first siblings.
And I had both a little brother and a little sister.
Their cheeks were so soft.
I felt like I finally understood why Father had been so obsessed with poking mine back when I was a baby.
It seemed the time had finally come to show the fruits of the alchemy magic I’d steadily practiced over these past two years.
Oniichan’s gonna make lots of toys for you two!
What do you think about this chapter?
