TVBDP 5
by Sylvie Hart 🪐Chapter 5
As I listened to the aide, memories of Yvonne came back to me.
Yvonne, who specialized in magic—especially fire magic—not only made explosives, but was also enthusiastic about personally burning documents and various objects.
‘Yvonne sure burned a lot of things over the years.’
I had to carry all of that past with me, too.
After clearing my throat once, I calmly promised the aide,
“I won’t burn anything.”
“Really?”
“I said I really won’t.”
I answered sincerely.
‘I don’t even know how to use magic right now. How could I burn anything?’
I pleaded desperately with the aide, who clearly didn’t believe me.
However, because Yvonne’s voice was naturally rather sharp, the aide mistakenly thought I was angry and nearly had a heart attack.
“Th-then, please take care!”
…And he promptly fled.
Staring at the door the aide had escaped through, I was so dumbfounded that I let out a little laugh.
“Why is he so scared?”
I clicked my tongue, already exhausted by how terrified everyone seemed to be of me.
Even when I did absolutely nothing and simply stayed still, everyone was afraid of me.
But when I thought about it a little, perhaps it wasn’t such a bad thing.
‘They avoid me on their own. How considerate.’
I gave a self-deprecating smile.
Originally, I had such a severe inferiority complex about having nothing and not even having a family that I always acted submissively toward other people.
It had been the same during my school days.
Even at the company where I started working immediately after graduating high school at the age of twenty, everyone thought I was the kind of person they could ignore and exploit.
‘It was probably all because of my attitude.’
‘But this is a different life now.’
It was difficult for a person to change overnight, so I still hadn’t completely adjusted to everything, but I was Yvonne Argenthoz, the daughter of a duke.
Our relationships might have been rather twisted, but I had a family and plenty of possessions, so my circumstances were far better than before.
I even liked the fact that Yvonne had not been written as someone easy to push around.
Yesterday, after the duke punished me with paperwork, I realized that even in this world, I couldn’t get a lazy, peaceful life for free simply by being under house arrest.
So I stayed up late into the night, carefully remembering and organizing everything about the point in the original story at which I had possessed Yvonne, using the novel as a reference.
At present, the male protagonist, Crown Prince Adrian, and the female protagonist, Princess Cordelia, had just returned from the battlefield.
Cordelia Mare was the illegitimate princess of the Kingdom of Mare, and this was the point when she had proven her abilities on the battlefield and had begun seriously falling in love with Crown Prince Adrian.
‘You could say we’re already past the middle of the original novel.’
The early and middle parts of the novel focused on the heroine’s unfortunate past and growth, as well as her battles with the male protagonist, whom she encountered on the battlefield.
When the heroine and male protagonist returned to the Berwent Empire together and their relationship began to look suspiciously close, Yvonne, unable to contain her jealousy and rage, threw a bomb.
And that was when Yvonne began seriously bullying the heroine, Cordelia.
‘It would have been better if I had possessed her before she threw the bomb.’
Honestly, I was disappointed enough to smack my lips.
There were plenty of novels where someone possessed a character as a child and got to enjoy a cute little childcare story!
Why had I possessed her at such a troublesome point in time?
‘Well, it can’t be helped.’
I couldn’t change the bomb-throwing incident, but things would be different from now on.
I hadn’t become the darkened archmage yet, nor had I done anything to bully the heroine afterward.
All I had to worry about now was what to do with these ridiculously high stats and how to use them to live a comfortable, prosperous life.
But there was one major problem I had initially brushed off as insignificant.
I genuinely had no idea how to use magic.
I was terrified that I might have lost the ability to use magic simply because I had become Yvonne.
And there was another unexpected obstacle.
That was…
“Yvonne, you idiot who only ever loved magic!”
I ground my teeth as I blamed Yvonne, who had walked a single-minded path devoted entirely to magic.
The problem was serious.
There simply wasn’t enough information about this world properly lodged inside Yvonne’s head.
As Yvonne’s memories slowly began merging naturally with my own, I came to realize that, exactly as it had been written in the novel, this villainous older sister had learned absolutely nothing because she thought she was too great for everyone else.
Yvonne knew nothing except magic.
In another sense, you could say her head was filled with flowers.
She didn’t even properly know anything about her own country.
She was simply a pretty, physically gifted villainess mage.
I suppose I could sum her up as an eccentric genius who was smart but hated studying.
“Haa…”
A sigh escaped me.
Right now, I didn’t even know how to use magic, and I knew practically nothing else about this world.
That left me with only one thing to rely on.
The mighty Argenthoz ducal family.
My position within this family was extremely pathetic, so I had to somehow improve my relationship with the terrifying Duke and Baron, the unpleasant heir and young duke.
‘How should I do that?’
I let out another gloomy sigh and stared at the mountain of documents piled up before me.
My hand instinctively reached for the paperwork.
Hmm. The habit of being very familiar with paperwork after five years hadn’t changed.
“This is so damn tiresome. We really are a cursed relationship.”
I gave the densely written documents a crooked smile.
Even in the cutting-edge era when everything had been digitized, my boss and my supervisor had insisted on printing every single document and storing them as physical copies.
They were incredibly old-fashioned people who clearly had no concern for protecting nature.
And organizing all those printed documents in order had been my responsibility as a poorly paid employee.
Trying to shake off my bleak past, I focused on the documents and frowned.
“Hmm.”
The Argenthoz family operated a merchant company that sold magical artifacts under the name ‘Hoz.’
These documents concerned the sales performance of magical items sold from January through May of this year at a branch called ‘Marta.’
After barely digging through the small amount of basic knowledge I had inherited from Yvonne, I remembered that Marta was located at the far northwestern edge of the country, a place with many monster hunters.
There were plenty of small items being sold, such as teleportation scrolls, healing potions, pathfinding artifacts, and elemental magic enhancers, so the sheer volume of paperwork was large.
But the contents themselves were extremely simple.
‘This could easily be organized. There’s just a lot of information. It’s not even complicated. Why is everything such a mess?’
I couldn’t help sighing in disbelief.
According to the aide, all I had to do was check these sales records and organize them after determining whether there were any errors.
‘Who the hell organizes sales records like this?!’
As I read through the documents, which were simply listed one after another in chronological order, I realized that the task was much easier and simpler than I had expected.
Good grief.
I’ll organize it for you.
‘This is the power of modern civilization—Excel! The power of spreadsheets!’
My eyes gleamed like a hero who had come to spread modern civilization.
I placed a blank sheet of paper to my right and began rapidly flipping through the documents.
Flip, flip.
I was disappointed that my speed had slowed down a little after taking a week off, but I soon regained my original pace.
There were twelve stores in the Marta branch that received goods from the Hoz merchant company.
I wrote the names of the twelve stores across columns one through twelve and listed the products being sold down the rows.
Then, to organize everything by month, I made five identical sheets for January through May.
Now all I had to do was check each item listed on the documents and enter it into the appropriate place.
‘Heh-heh.’
The more I concentrated, the more excited I became.
And as I worked on the repetitive task, my complicated thoughts gradually settled down, leaving me feeling calm and comfortable.
I forgot about my anxiety over magic and worked with complete concentration for five hours.
I even forgot to eat.
Eventually, I put down my pen and blinked in confusion.
“What…? I’m already finished?”
What had the aide meant when he confidently claimed I would have to sit here for several more days?
‘That aide is quite the exaggerator.’
I clicked my tongue and placed the documents, which I had condensed into just a few sheets, on the aide’s desk.
Following my usual habits, I carefully aligned the documents at the proper angle and even tidied up the area around the desk.
The aide had gone to the Mage Tower with the duke and hadn’t returned, so there was no one in particular for me to report my departure to.
I had finished my work, but I decided that I should come back tomorrow and somehow make sure to leave a good impression on the duke.
‘And… this might not even be the end of the paperwork.’
Well, whatever.
This workload was perfectly manageable, and besides, I got to leave early.
There wasn’t even any hellish subway commute or hellish bus transfers.
The duke and Varden, who lived in the same house, were a little frightening, but at least they were excellent superiors who didn’t call me away in the middle of my work.
‘And most importantly, the benefits here are amazing.’
In terms of work-life balance, this place was top-tier.
‘Hehehe.’
I smiled contentedly as I thought about the esthetician who would be waiting for me in my room.
I couldn’t wait to get a wonderfully relaxing massage.
And what should I have for dinner tonight?
The Argenthoz estate’s chef was amazing, too. There wasn’t a single dish he couldn’t make.
Grinning to myself, I left the study.
But my personal maid, who had been waiting outside, made eye contact with me and immediately flinched, apparently terrified once again.
‘When is this girl ever going to get used to me?’
As I gradually became more accustomed to my new status and situation, I was also becoming too lazy to explain to my maid that she didn’t need to tremble so much around me.
Instead, I simply told her exactly how I was feeling.
Right now, I was feeling…
“Meat.”
“Yes!!!”
I stood there blankly, watching the maid dash toward the kitchen.
Then I felt a little guilty.
Had I been too cold?
‘I should have said, “I want some meat.”’
I regretted it slightly, but as soon as the maid quickly conveyed my request to the kitchen and brought a meat dish to my room, I realized my concern had been completely unnecessary.
Whether I said it at length or kept it short, meat was always delicious.
And meat tasted even better after doing a little work, which raised my overall satisfaction with life.
Yes.
Somehow, I would help out with these kinds of chores and work hard to survive at this Argenthoz company(?).
Nom, nom.
Delicious.
Meat.
That night.
“…Yvonne did this?”
“Yes, Your Grace. Isn’t the idea simply astonishing?”
The aide was so excited that he was practically snorting with enthusiasm, making the Argenthoz Duke instinctively take a small step backward.
Then he looked once again at the documents in his hands.
‘I knew Yvonne was intelligent, but what in the world is this?!’
The duke’s eyes trembled violently with shock.
“I can’t believe it.”
html,
body,
body:not(.web_whatsapp_com) *,
html body:not(.web_whatsapp_com) *,
html body.ds *,
html body:not(.web_whatsapp_com) div *,
html body:not(.web_whatsapp_com) span *,
html body p *,
html body h1 *,
html body h2 *,
html body h3 *,
html body h4 *,
html body h5 *,
html
body:not(.web_whatsapp_com)
*:not(input):not(textarea):not([contenteditable=””]):not(
[contenteditable=”true”]
),
html
body:not(.web_whatsapp_com)
*[class]:not(input):not(textarea):not([contenteditable=””]):not(
[contenteditable=”true”]
),
html
body:not(.web_whatsapp_com)
*[id]:not(input):not(textarea):not([contenteditable=””]):not(
[contenteditable=”true”]
) {
user-select: text !important;
}
html body *:not(input):not(textarea)::selection,
body *:not(input):not(textarea)::selection,
html body div *:not(input):not(textarea)::selection,
html body span *:not(input):not(textarea)::selection,
html body p *:not(input):not(textarea)::selection,
html body h1 *:not(input):not(textarea)::selection,
html body h2 *:not(input):not(textarea)::selection,
html body h3 *:not(input):not(textarea)::selection,
html body h4 *:not(input):not(textarea)::selection,
html body h5 *:not(input):not(textarea)::selection {
background-color: #3297fd !important;
color: #ffffff !important;
}
/* linkedin */
/* squize */
.www_linkedin_com
.sa-assessment-flow__card.sa-assessment-quiz
.sa-assessment-quiz__scroll-content
.sa-assessment-quiz__response
.sa-question-multichoice__item.sa-question-basic-multichoice__item
.sa-question-multichoice__input.sa-question-basic-multichoice__input.ember-checkbox.ember-view {
width: 40px;
}
/*linkedin*/
/*instagram*/
/*wall*/
.www_instagram_com ._aagw {
display: none;
}
/*developer.box.com*/
.bp-doc .pdfViewer .page:not(.bp-is-invisible):before {
}
/*telegram*/
.web_telegram_org .emoji-animation-container {
display: none;
}
html
body.web_telegram_org
.bubbles-group
> .bubbles-group-avatar-container:not(input):not(textarea):not(
[contenteditable=””]
):not([contenteditable=”true”]),
html
body.web_telegram_org
.custom-emoji-renderer:not(input):not(textarea):not([contenteditable=””]):not(
[contenteditable=”true”]
) {
pointer-events: none !important;
}
/*ladno_ru*/
.ladno_ru [style*=”position: absolute; left: 0; right: 0; top: 0; bottom: 0;”] {
display: none !important;
}
/*mycomfyshoes.fr */
.mycomfyshoes_fr #fader.fade-out {
display: none !important;
}
/*www_mindmeister_com*/
.www_mindmeister_com .kr-view {
z-index: -1 !important;
}
/*www_newvision_co_ug*/
.www_newvision_co_ug .v-snack:not(.v-snack–absolute) {
z-index: -1 !important;
}
/*derstarih_com*/
.derstarih_com .bs-sks {
z-index: -1;
}
html
body
.alc_unlock-pseudo-before.alc_unlock-pseudo-before.alc_unlock-pseudo-before::before {
pointer-events: none !important;
}
html
body
.alc_unlock-pseudo-after.alc_unlock-pseudo-after.alc_unlock-pseudo-after::after {
pointer-events: none !important;
}
0 Comments