“Was she missing a brain or something?”
As soon as Ceres returned to her room, she did exactly one thing, which was to grasp the situation.
As she went through the debts that had piled up and the amount that needed to be repaid immediately, a surge of irritation she hadn’t felt in a long time rose within her. Heat crept up the back of her neck until it felt tight and stiff.
“You actually thought this was a good idea to borrow so much?”
No matter how desperate things got, there was money a person could borrow and money they should never lay a hand on.
“135%?”
The annual interest rate alone was 135%. Most of the loans had been taken out using the house and land as collateral. By now, the interest had long since surpassed the principal.
“Is that head on your shoulders just there to make you look taller? What kind of nerve do you have to use loan sharks?”
Even when she lived as Grace, there were people who made a business of lending money like this, though it had never concerned her.
She only thought that people who borrowed such absurd sums must exist somewhere. If they did so knowing it would ruin them, then they must’ve been truly desperate...
That was about as far as her thoughts had gone.
But...
The original owner of this body had actually taken those loans.
“You were unexpectedly fearless?”
Or maybe she really had no sense at all. How could anyone look at an interest rate like that and still decide to borrow money?
“Sigh.”
The image of the girl she had seen in the darkness came to her mind. The one who had cried so pitifully while begging for help...
Has she taken her own life because of this debt? Because she no longer had the strength to endure it?
Now I understand why the boy acted like that.
She had wondered why he reacted so fiercely toward their aunt, who claimed she had returned to the family house out of concern for her nieces and nephew.
However, it turned out that Agne was the one who had introduced Ceres to these loan sharks. She pushed her to borrow first under the pretense that saving Julia came before anything else.
She wasn’t wrong.
After all, Ceres couldn’t just let her sister die.
“Even so...”
She went through every record of Julia’s treatment and checked them one by one. By the end of it, she was certain.
Arnold Recuperation House.
The place where Julia was staying wasn’t normal. The previous statements were all the same, nothing but endless lists of overpriced medicinal ingredients.
“Is this really a recuperation house?”
Not just some overpriced herb shop?
Knock, knock.
“Come in.”
As soon as she gave permission, Antonian stepped inside carefully. When he saw the desk piled with various papers, a long sigh escaped his lips.
“Do you think you can figure it out just by looking?”
It didn’t sound dismissive at all. He was genuinely asking out of curiosity.
“More or less.”
“If we don’t sell the shop... will Julia really not be able to get treatment?”
Despite saying he would never sell the shop, Antonian knew that with Julia’s treatment at stake, holding onto it might not be the right choice.
“That shop... it was everything to Father and Mother.”
A stew shop standing in the center of the busy district.
The shop had been founded by the first head of the Drow baron family, a renowned mercenary who earned his title through achievements in war and went on to amass great wealth through his keen business sense.
When he died, he left behind a single will.
[That shop is a sanctuary for mercenaries. It must never disappear.]
That wish has been honored for generations, and Ceres’s parents upheld it just as faithfully. At least until a carriage accident three years ago, when they lost their lives and everything began to fall apart.
Not long after their funeral, Julia, who was only four at the time, suddenly collapsed.
Many healers came and went, yet none of them could determine the cause.
“There’s a very capable healer at a recuperation house I know. Why don’t you send her there?”
Following their aunt’s suggestion, Julia was sent there. From that moment on, the treatment expenses began to skyrocket.
“This is the only place that will lend you money right now.”
“Shouldn’t you save Julia first? If you don’t borrow the money now, that poor child won’t receive proper treatment... she’ll die.”
It was at their aunt’s urging that Ceres turned to loan sharks in the first place. There was no other choice.
She signed the papers exactly as Agne told her to. From that day on, the debt began to swell as interest piled up endlessly.
Right now, the only thing of value in the Drow family was that shop in the city center.
Which means... this house won’t last much longer either.
Ceres clicked her tongue inwardly. Even at this very moment, the interest was continuing to pile up.
“Stop listening to Aunt! That shop—”
“Then what if we don’t sell it? Do we have another way?”
“That’s...”
Antonian couldn’t answer and lowered his head. No matter how hard he thought about it, no solution came to mind.
What should I do?
Do they really have to sell it? It was the place their parents had tried so hard to protect all those years.
Selling the shop wouldn’t solve everything either. Even if it covered this month’s treatment, what about the next? And the one after that?
If they lost the income from the shop, how were they supposed to survive after that?
But then... what about Julia?
If they failed to pay this month’s fees, what would happen to her?
...Pathetic.
In the end, there was nothing he could do. The way he had boldly declared to their aunt that he would find a solution somehow felt extremely childish.
“Lift your head.”
At that moment, Ceres’s voice broke through his thoughts. As he slowly raised his head, he saw her frowning deeply.
Antonian bit his lower lip, convinced that even his sister saw him as pathetic. A younger brother who was no help at all...
Smack!
“Ow!”
Antonian quickly clutched his forehead. Ceres just smacked him hard with her palm.
“What was that for?!”
At his startled shout, Ceres clicked her tongue. Her expression looked displeased.
“You’re only twelve.”
“What?”
“Why is a kid like you trying to handle everything alone?”
“Are you looking down on me right now...?!”
Smack!
“Ow! That hurts!”
“You’re the one looking down on me.”
“......”
“I’m your older sister.”
“...Huh?”
“I’m your older sister, and I’m five years older than you.”
Rubbing his aching forehead, Antonian looked at her with a slightly dazed gaze.
Swoosh.
“—!”
As he saw her hand rise again, Antonian flinched, thinking he was about to be hit again.
Tap.
But when her hand landed on his head, it was far gentler than he expected. For a moment, he simply froze.
Tsk, just how little he must have trusted her.
She didn’t know all the details, but from what she had seen, Antonian had been carrying everything on his own.
Running around here, rushing over there...
Maybe it was because the original owner of this body was too unreliable. From what she heard, even maids had ignored her daily.
Every time Ceres was treated unfairly, she never tried to set things right and only cried alone, bottling everything up. In the end, she even tried to take her own life.
What must he have felt while watching his sister like that?
It was far too heavy a burden for a twelve-year-old to carry. The sister he should’ve relied on had become someone he must protects instead.
“Leave it to me now.”
“Leave it to you?”
“Kid, you can stay out of this now.”
“...I told you not to call me that.”
His face flushed slightly at being called a kid. Ceres ruffled his hair again.
“So what are you going to do? Sell the shop?”
“For now...”
Ceres’s gaze shifted to the stack of papers on the table. To be precise, at the bold letters written across the top page.
<Arnold Recuperation House>
“We should meet Julia first, right?”
***
“Gur Village...”
After pulling out the only map in the mansion, Ceres carefully examined the location of the recuperation house Julia was staying in.
“Even on horseback, it would take at least a month.”
She needed to see Julia’s condition for herself before making any decisions. But a month was too long.
“Will it work?”
Just in case, Ceres lightly waved her hand through the air.