Chapter 3

Chapter 3

As soon as Hanael’s eyes shone like a baby villain’s, Cassius held the letter with an elegant touch.

“No matter what it is, I’ll do you a favor.”

“You better make sure!”

Upon hearing that, the little girl quickly ran back into the house, and Cassius watched her as she did.

It’s not that he has an attachment to his daughter, whom he just met for the first time. It was her appearance that resembled Sierra that weakened his mind.

‘Sierra, Hanael…’

Cassius quietly broached the two names.

The names of the two brought back a terrible memory for Cassius, who lived in pain thanks to a long war and regret. For example, when he was friends with Sierra back at the academy.

‘I like Marigold flowers, do you?’

‘I…’

Sierra, who hesitantly looked at him, smiled brightly and gently waved before turning back around.

Watching Sierra from behind running to care for a flower bed, gradually faded away under the sun.

His feelings were much more intense. He didn’t know clearly then, but he had loved Sierra since then. It was the beginning of an extreme unrequited love, which was fulfilled just by looking at her.

He still thought of his past memories at the academy with Sierra.

Five years ago, he had no courage to hold onto her and never let go, only holding himself back.

But now, things are different. Looking down at the letters in his hand that Hanael seemed to have secretly stolen from Sierra, showed how hard she had been living during his absence.

Cassius untied the knotted letters wrapped in high-quality paper and embedded each sentence into his eyes.

[ I’m raising the rent, so if you have a problem, get out. ]

The letter was from the arrogant building’s owner.

[ Sierra, this is Hans. Isn’t it time for you to move on? Let’s start a life together, shall we? ]

Which crazy bastard wrote this…

Sierra was alone in this world without him, and the traces of her suffering so far unfolded clearly before his eyes.

“This bastard…”

Cassius gritted his teeth. Even the Duke of Idios’ well-trained knights felt chills and stepped further away from him.

* * *

As soon as Hanael opened the door and crept back into the house, Sierra woke up. Sierra, dressed in her pajamas, rubbed her eyes and murmured in a sleepy voice.

“I feel better now that I’ve woken up. I feel more absurd, but refreshed!”

Anyway, isn’t it too quiet…

“Hanael?”

“Hm!”

Hanael popped her head through the door. She had a faint blush on both cheeks as if she did something wrong. Sierra lifted herself from the bed and asked cheerfully,

“Hanael, what did you do?”

“Huh?”

“You look like you’ve done something wrong.”

Hanael shook her head, pretending to be innocent.

“I didn’t do anything wrong!”

Sierra came to her senses as she watched Haneal speak with a twist.

“You!”

No! This is terrible!”

Hanael covered her bum with her tiny hand and ran into the room. Sierra giggled as she watched the scene unfold.

‘It’s not like I heard a breaking pill bottle or anything, so I guess it’s not a big deal.’

More importantly, I needed to collect information on why Cassius went crazy like this. It was time to find out why he was acting so strange.

She checked her pocket watch.

It’s been about five hours since Abel left.

Now that I took a nap, it was time to have dinner with Hanael.

It’s time for Abel, the cute wolf boy, to arrive with the information she needs. Sierra hummed as she placed her pocket watch down on her table.

If Abel finds more information, I’ll get to clear up the misunderstanding!

Time to say goodbye and clean up this mess with Cassius!

My pharmacy is running smoothly, and when my sister arrives, I’ll live a good life with Hanael and my brother-in-law!

* * *

Though, Sierra’s plan would fail before it even started.

Her competent errand boy, Abel, did not arrive until the next morning when she opened up the pharmacy.

‘I can’t even see your nose, Abel. Is it that difficult to gather information?’

Sierra looked up at the sky worriedly. Even if Abel wasn’t coming, she still had to send Hanael to school and open the pharmacy.

Fortunately, Cassius kept his promise to stay away for this one week, allowing Sierra to keep her ordinary routine, unlike yesterday’s shocking bombshell announcement.

She took Hanael to school and headed to the pharmacy. When she opened up the pharmacy, she stopped and looked around.

‘Something’s up.’

The grass seems a little greener, the garden looks more beautiful, and the flower beds seem more enlarged…

But when Sierra stepped into the pharmacy, there was something even more surprising.

“Mr. Scrooge!”

Scrooge was the owner of the pharmacy building. He looked nervous and has been standing in front of the pharmacy since early this morning!

“What are you doing here?”

“Si- Miss Sierra.”

Scrooge raised both hands and made a clear, empty gesture. Sierra frowned and shook her head.

“You are here to raise the rent, right? Let me be clear. I can’t give you any more money.”

Sierra decided to make a strong impression.

No matter how generous this rural village was, it was a place where people lived.

Of course, there was evil. In particular, this old man, Scrooge, was like the cliché villain in a novel.

‘I’ll just find another building! I’ve saved almost all my money, so I can move.’

Sierra stared at him in the tired daytime.

“You know, under the Lease Act, you are obligated to notify a client when you raise the rent, then you have to consult with each other. You need to follow the law.”

“Oh, no. I’m not here to say that…”

Sierra raised a brow while looking at Scrooge, who had shrunken under her gaze unexpectedly. Did I go too far? Scrooge’s expression was very strange. He looked embarrassed and apologetic, but horrified, too.

“Well, what is it?”

He quietly handed her a sheet of red paper.

It was like a warning notice.

“T-Take this.”

Sierra looked at him, suspiciously. He was breathing so hard that his face turned red as if he had seen a ghost. Sierra was embarrassed.

“What’s this?”

“Take it first. A-And I’m sorry.”

He dropped to his knees.

‘Why is this old man kneeling in front of me?’

However, there was something more surprising. Sierra opened her eyes wide, looking at the red note he gave her.

[ Scrooge, (hereinafter referred to as A) shall provide Sierra (hereinafter referred to as B) with a building free of charge for the next year. ]

“This is crazy… What…”

Scrooge shouted as Sierra lifted her gaze.

“I-I-If not a year, we could do two years! No! It’s all right!”

She was a young pharmacist and a tenant who rented his building, so it was common to talk informally.

‘Isn’t he kind of weird?’

Even as soon as Sierra frowned, he hurriedly opened his mouth.

“No, what in the-”

“Yes, I get it! I’ll give you up to two years free of rent! Help me!”

After saying that, perhaps because I couldn’t give him an answer right away, he ran away.

“Mister!”

Sierra shrugged her shoulders as she watched the scene of him disappearing quickly.

‘No… What the hell is going on?’

After Scrooge left in such a hurry, Sierra opened the pharmacy in a daze.

‘What’s wrong with him?’

As soon as the pharmacy opened, it became busy as usual. Similar daily life continued, selling energy drinks to old ladies and manufacturing simple digestive potions.

“Did you hear that rumor?”

“Huh, what are you talking about?”

Sierra sat in the pharmacy, listening to the old ladies’ conversation.

No matter how hard I think about it, I doubt Scrooge is that crazy.

‘I didn’t know this old man would write a memorandum and run away right after.’

Sierra looked down at the memorandum with a half-proud and half-confused look. With a legal effective magic seal on it, even if she was given a chance to speak earlier, she still wouldn’t be able to talk around Scrooge.

[ Scrooge, (hereinafter referred to as A) shall provide Sierra (hereinafter referred to as B) with a building free of charge for the next year. ]

After looking down at the memorandum for a while, the topic the old ladies were excitedly chatting about in the pharmacy reached Sierra.

“Anyway, Sierra is very kind and pretty.”

“I don’t think he’s the bad guy in this village…”

Sierra shrugged while sorting out the medicines. However, this time, a quite tempting topic arose.

“By the way, Miss Sierra. Did you hear the rumor about Hans, who followed you around?”

Who is Hans?

Hans was an old, sullen, one-circle wizard who constantly hovered near Sierra. He was also a widower raising a son alone. He was a very lazy man, who hovered around like a fly.

‘There’s no one other than me who could take the spot of the second wife, huh?’

‘Oh, no.’

It was now too much for me to endure. I even thought about drugging him behind his back and then, beat him up so I could say everything I wanted. Sierra furrowed her brows and said,

“Ah, the one who keeps proposing?”

“Yes, him! The knights took him.”

“…?”

“He must have been a criminal, he was arrested by the Lord.”

“What? A criminal?”

“Yup! I guess he’s going to rot forever in prison.”

“Oh…”

I don’t know what kind of crime he committed. However, given his unusual personality and attitude, he could have committed a crime. Sierra nodded and looked at the old ladies in front of her.

“Who would have thought Mr. Hans was such a grim man? You must’ve suffered a lot, too, Sierra!”

Hans, a one-circle wizard, was just a bothersome stalker to Sierra. However, the village treated him as a promising talent. Some people even tried to act like matchmakers and tried hard to tie Hans and Sierra together.

Sierra smiled broadly after the feeling of tension disappearing.

‘This is good for me, but it’s also weird?’

Sierra suddenly felt that the situation was going far too well.

Hans, who was buzzing around her like a fly, was taken away. Besides that, she was also informed that she did not have to pay rent. All in one day.

That’s why…

This current situation felt like a claw machine, where someone manipulated her success. Sierra propped her chin up.

This was very suspicious.