Chapter 70: The Turning Wheel

Leaving behind words pregnant with meaning, the Crown Prince departed.

After seeing off the Crown Prince and returning to his office, Deon sat at his desk and picked up the paperwork as if nothing had happened. Despite his calm demeanor, his gaze was subtly unfocused as he scanned the documents.

With his crimson eyes gleaming, Deon glared at a corner of the papers, lost in thought.

‘What does he know?’

And how much does he know?

What was the Emperor’s intention in having him deliver such words?

“……Master?”

“……”

The voice that broke through his reverie startled him. With a small sigh, he placed the papers he was holding down.

How lost in thought must he have been to not even notice his presence?

He looked at Dan with an expressionless face.

As his emotionless gaze fixed on him, Dan, who had been cautiously observing him while half-rising from the sofa, flinched and took a step back.

“……Are you alright?”

His voice trembled slightly.

During his time in this mansion, learning various skills, he had often heard tales of the mansion owner’s drastically shifting temperament.

He had even witnessed such moments firsthand when he boldly asked him to take him in.

‘What on earth could have happened?’

But this was on a completely different level than before.

The atmosphere subtly emanating from him, as if his mood was foul, was sharply honed, aiming to tear everything around him to shreds.

It felt as though countless blades were pointed his way, ready to strike the moment he uttered a word.

“……Come to think of it, you said you had something to say.”

“Yes? Yes!”

“Speak.”

“It’s just that….”

Could he really bring this up with him in this state?

Dan mulled over what he wanted to say, debating whether to speak or not, but eventually, unable to withstand Deon’s gaze, he squeezed his eyes shut and spoke.

“I was hoping you could… lend me some money.”

“……What?”

A voice filled with bewilderment returned.

Now that things had come to this, he had to finish what he started. If he stopped now, he would only create a massive misunderstanding.

Dan hastily added.

“It’s not because I’m greedy for money. I just want to….”

“……?”

“……I want to try and invest it.”

Deon tilted his head.

He listened silently as Dan explained that all the profits generated from investing the money would go to him. Then, he slowly rose from his seat.

He walked around the office desk, sat on the sofa opposite Dan, leisurely crossed his legs, and tilted his head, stroking his chin.

The action seemed almost innocent, but the voice that followed was chillingly low.

“Have you always known how to invest?”

“……No.”

“If that’s the case, it means you learned it here. How strange. The thing you clearly wanted to learn was swordsmanship. Could I have misheard, or did the butler disobey my orders?”

His crimson eyes glowed with a bloodthirsty light.

Within them, the unique glint of a madman flickered, causing Dan to momentarily stop breathing.

Just meeting his gaze felt suffocating, a mix of damp, sticky, and chilling emotions.

Regardless of his breath catching in his throat, a smile began to bloom on his lips.

Not a fake smile. It was a genuine smile, causing Deon’s eyes to narrow, but Dan was too caught up in his own emotions to notice.

He was truly delighted.

‘If it’s a disaster, it should be like this.’

As expected, he wasn’t wrong.

The last vestiges of doubt vanished, and Dan trembled with overwhelming emotion. Deon uncrossed his legs and leaned forward.

Like a predator approaching its prey, he placed his hands on the table and leaned forward, bringing his face close to Dan’s.

The red eyes that filled Dan’s vision narrowed slightly between the eyelids.

“I’ve been thinking about your purpose. You said you would follow me, yet you haven’t asked for anything.”

“……”

“Even now, the thing you’ve come to ask for is to try investing money? And all the profits you make from it will be mine?”

This didn’t even qualify as ‘asking’ for something.

He liked the emotion he saw in his eyes and had taken him in, but that didn’t mean he was completely oblivious.

No one would follow a stranger for no reason.

Deon knew this truth all too well, and so, he had come up with two possibilities.

“The conjectures I’ve come up with so far are twofold.”

“……”

“Either the thing you desire is so great that you’re trying to build trust first—”

“……”

“Or following me is your purpose in itself.”

And now, seeing his smile, he could vaguely sense it.

Deon slowly straightened up and leaned back against the sofa. A meaningful smile hung on his lips.

“I won’t pry into how you charmed the servants of this mansion and what you learned.”

“……!”

“More importantly, you said you wanted to try investing, right?”

***

Rememver entered, a stack of documents tucked under his arm.

Still reeling from the shock of the Crown Prince’s sudden visit, I blankly stared, at a loss for words. He greeted me with his usual succinctness before suddenly blurting out something unexpected.

“My being summoned must mean a decision has been made.”

“?”

“It seems the conclusion is to proceed with the investment, is that correct?”

“……Investment?”

My wandering thoughts snapped back to attention. Investment, all of a sudden?

Spacing out like this, I felt like I was about to be struck by a bolt of lightning.

Even someone uninterested in investment like me knew that a single wrong move could lead to ruin. What was going on….

I was about to ask more questions when someone cut me off.

“Yes, Master has decided to entrust me with the money.”

Whoa! Was that Dan? When did he get here? No, more importantly….

I said that?!

“I see. Not a bad decision. I’ve personally verified Dan’s skills, after all.”

These people were having a conversation about something extremely important without me. Should I interrupt and stop this madness?

As I frantically looked around to assess the situation, something immediately caught my eye.

The documents tucked under Rememver’s arm.

It wasn’t because there were an insane number of them. Rather….

“Those documents… they seem rather thin….”

“Ah, these? It’s all thanks to that fellow Dan.”

It was Dan again.

I wondered what had happened while I was away. Unlike his initial wary attitude, Rememver looked at Dan with warm eyes and began to elaborate without being asked.

“He saw the backlog of paperwork and offered to help. I taught him the basics, and he handles tasks remarkably well.”

As he said that, he looked at me for some reason.

I almost heard a voice saying, ‘Even better than the Count,’ but that must have been my imagination.

So, that’s why he was so amicable?! Because the amount of paperwork to handle decreased?

“He even identified inefficiencies in the system and made improvements. This is the result.”

His finger pointed to the stack of documents in front of me.

Unlike before, this was a manageable amount of paperwork, enough to finish in 4-5 hours.

……Could it be?

I snapped my head up. My eyes met Rememver’s, who wore a pleased expression.

Afraid of being disappointed after getting my hopes up, I cautiously asked with my eyes instead of directly asking.

‘Could this be it?’

‘Yes, that’s right.’

“……Passed.”

The words tumbled out on their own.

I understood why Rememver was so amiable.

We absolutely had to keep this guy! Anyone who let him go deserved a slap across both cheeks.

“So… you’re asking me to entrust you with money?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. Go ahead and do as you please. Rememver will allocate the budget.”

“Ah…! Thank you very much. I promise I won’t let you down.”

“Then get going.”

Whether he succeeded or failed didn’t matter. Rememver would undoubtedly allocate an amount that wouldn’t be a significant loss even if it disappeared.

More than that, seeing Rememver still here, it seemed he had something else to say.

Sure enough, as soon as Dan left, bowing his thanks, Rememver placed the significantly thinned stack of documents on the office desk.

Even though the amount had decreased, the dislike for paperwork remained the same. I sighed softly and sat down in front of them.

As I picked up the top document, Rememver’s explanation began.

“The handover of Hart territory is complete.”

“Ah….”

So, that’s what he wanted to say. My expression immediately soured.

Even though they were taking it away, they were still going through the handover process by the book. It felt even dirtier. As if I had agreed to it.

‘Well, I did agree, but still.’

Not wanting to hear any more, I simply nodded and changed the subject.

He was the butler, after all, so I should at least tell him I was leaving.

I couldn’t say I was going to the Demon Realm, but I couldn’t just disappear without a word either.

“I’ll be away for a while again.”

“Is that so? You seem to be returning to your former self, Count. That’s a pity.”

He said that, but why was he looking at my dark circles? Was this haggard look my ‘former self’?

Still, I should be thankful he didn’t ask where I was going or why.

I sighed, touching my darkened undereye circles again.

“I’ll depart as soon as preparations are complete. So, please prepare as quickly as possible.”

“Shall we set the estimated travel time to be the same as last time?”

“Yes.”

“Understood.”

Rememver was about to turn and leave when he exclaimed, ‘Ah!’ as if he had forgotten something, and turned back around.

“And about that fellow Dan whom you brought in, Count.”

“……Yes.”

The Dan who even made me invest.

The ‘same’ Dan who was only supposed to learn swordsmanship but also learned how to handle paperwork, and on top of that, made me invest.

Of course, it wasn’t bad that he learned accounting, but still, thinking about it, it felt like I’d been had. Anyway, I felt a bit conflicted.

“As per your orders, I’ve been monitoring him for any suspicious activity, but he hasn’t shown anything out of the ordinary.”

“Excuse me?”

“Whether it’s because he’s still in the phase of building trust, or because there’s genuinely nothing there, I can’t be certain….”

“Excuse me?”

“In this old man’s personal opinion, I believe it’s the latter.”

Wait a minute. I gave the order? To monitor him? When on earth?

And Butler, your ‘personal opinion,’ is truly just that, a purely personal opinion. Your eyes are practically overflowing with affection.

“He also has quite the talent for swordsmanship. Not a genius, but I’ve heard he’s quite gifted.”

This was practically the behavior of a grandpa completely smitten with his grandson.

Just with handling paperwork, he managed to turn Rememver into this. Was he that amazing, or was I just that bad at paperwork…?

“Above all, paperwork is where he truly excels. I’m sure you’re aware of that.”

“Ah… yes.”

Well, I did see the reduced paperwork and invested, so.

It felt a bit찝찝 (jjipjjip – uneasy/queasy), but I didn’t regret it. We need to hold onto talents like him. Especially if all he wants is to be entrusted with a portion of the money.

……But, until just now, I thought Rememver would allocate a suitable amount… now I’m a bit worried.

“Anyway, that fellow Dan seems like a pretty good kid.”

“…….”

He wouldn’t give him a huge amount of money just because he thought he was cute, would he…?

I couldn’t help but eye the late-blooming, grandson-obsessed grandpa with suspicion.