IFAHWIPUTML Chapter 21

There was a book on the upper shelf of the library that caught Verasielle's eye.

['Making 100 Billion Shillings from 10,000 Shillings']

Quite the enticing title. And here it was, sitting on the bookshelf of the Halos family—literally the wealthiest household in the entire empire.

Like this book had somehow been the secret to accumulating all that wealth?

She momentarily forgot about her breathlessness and quickly dragged the ladder from the end of the shelf. She climbed halfway up, stretched, and pulled the book free. Pale dust came swirling down.

It hadn't been read in ages—the dust had accumulated in thick layers.

She examined the book in her hands.

['You Can Become Rich Too!']

A powerfully motivational single-line pitch. This seemed like such a strange book to find here.

'Let me just peek at the contents real quick?'

Once she collected her reward money and paid off her debts, she'd have 20 million shillings left. If she could somehow multiply that... she could basically live the rest of her life without working.

The moment Veras opened the book with greedy glee and began flipping through it, the old ladder she was standing on wobbled.

"Huh? Wh—?!"

Startled, Verasielle flailed, but her body was already tipping backward with the ladder.

This is it, she thought for one gut-wrenching instant.

Thump.

Strong arms suddenly wrapped around her back and knees.

'Arms?'

When no pain came, Veras opened her tightly squeezed eyes.

"Eek! What are you—?!"

Chayston had caught her. When he'd gotten there, she had no idea. But now their faces were impossibly close—close enough to feel each other breathing.

The realization snapped her out of shock. Flustered, Veras struggled.

"Put me down! Put me down!"

"..."

Chayston, unbothered by her thrashing which, frankly, was nothing in his arms, set her on the ground without even frowning.

Once she was standing, Veras smoothed her crumpled dress a few times and forced her panic into something resembling composure.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to just wander in—I was looking to see if Raphel was hiding in here..."

Since she was the one who'd let herself in without permission, she made a rapid assessment of the situation and apologized.

"The child hasn't come in," Chayston said flatly, watching her.

He'd actually been searching for a book at the far end of the shelf when he'd heard her. The sound had caught his attention, and when he came to investigate, he found her tipping off a ladder. Letting her fall would have meant serious injury, so he'd caught her, though he hadn't much liked having to do it.

"Oh, I see... well, thank you anyway. Lucky for me, you were here or I'd have been hurt."

"..."

"I'll just get going then."

Veras turned and hurried from the awkwardness of the moment. Not because she was ungrateful—but because being caught in his arms in what was definitely a princess-carry position was supremely embarrassing.

Especially when that realization hit her now, safe distance away. She actually shivered, goosebumps prickling up her arms.

She was nearly out of the library when something made her turn back.

"Your wound healed?"

His hand wound—the one she'd been worrying about—was already closed up. The medicine box she'd brought must have actually helped.

Chayston's expression shifted subtly in that moment.

He'd treated that cut a handful of times and then forgotten about it entirely. The fact that Verasielle remembered it was... notable.

"Next time you get a wound, disinfect it right away, okay? You could actually get tetanus otherwise," she said, then vanished from the library entirely.

Chayston looked at his own clean hands.

Just as she'd said, the wound he'd treated was completely healed. No scarring.

Tetanus? What on earth was she talking about? But... he didn't particularly mind her concern. Because it meant she worried about him, even if he couldn't fathom why.

Left alone, Chayston picked up the book that had fallen to the floor.

['Making 100 Billion Shillings from 10,000 Shillings']

Quite the straightforward title. It was such a strange book that it caught his attention. Had she climbed that ladder specifically to read this? Was she interested in investing now, rather than just spending?

He found it both exasperating and oddly interesting that she'd chosen this particular book out of all the thousands on his shelves. He let out a small, involuntary laugh.

"Raphel!"

Back on the first floor, Verasielle went searching again. She'd completely forgotten she was supposed to be playing hide-and-seek with him—that she'd promised to find him.

Poor kid was probably waiting desperately for her to show up.

"Hehehehe!"

As she frantically searched, she heard his laughter. It was coming from the direction of the dining room.

'He took it all the way to the dining room?'

His hiding skills were improving by the day. Mentally applauding Raphel profusely, Veras headed in that direction.

"Let me down!"

A squealing, delighted sound came from the kitchen.

"Raphel, are you in here?"

She stepped into the kitchen, and—

"Veras!"

There was Raphel, beaming with pure joy and absolutely covered in flour.

His sleek black hair was buried under a white powder coating, and his face looked like it had been dusted with powder too—only his big, bright eyes stood out, perfectly clear and round.

"What in the—"

The kitchen was a disaster.

Flour was scattered everywhere, and standing in front of Raphel—covered in just as much flour—were two men.

"Butler?"

Veras recognized Rohan and her eyes widened.

"Ah, Miss Verasielle...," Rohan said, thoroughly embarrassed, standing up quickly. The man beside him—Molls—scrambled to his feet as well.

"Veras! Snow! Pretty snow!"

Only Raphel remained sitting on the floor, handful of flour in his palm, throwing it gleefully into the air.

Now she got it. Raphel had seen the flour and thought it was snow from outside.

"You must have worked hard," Verasielle said, regarding the two men with sympathetic eyes before she approached Raphel.

"Found you," she said, booping his flour-covered cheek with her finger.

"Hehe! So much fun!"

Raphel stretched both arms toward her.

Veras lifted him up, brushed the flour from his clothes as best she could, and settled his small body into her arms.

"Mmmm..." Almost immediately, the tiredness from playing crashed over him. His mouth opened wide in a yawn.

"I'm sorry to ask, but could you help clean this up?" she asked the men.

"Of course not, Miss. We'll take care of it," they assured her.

After thanking them both, Veras left the kitchen with Raphel.

"Nnnggg..."

Nestled against her warm embrace, Raphel blinked his heavy eyes.

"Did you have fun today?"

"Mm... do it again tomorrow...?"

His small lips mumbled something between words and whimpers.

Veras smiled gently and stroked the back of his head.

Even in his drowsiness, Raphel thought the same thing: today had been wonderful. So, so wonderful.

Within moments, he was asleep in her soft arms.

That night.

Through the deep and dark of night, something moved with fluid grace.

Quick and silent, the creature arrived at the grand estate. With light-footed leaps, it bounded upward, then vaulted over the gate wall in one smooth motion as if it weighed nothing at all.

It paused atop the wall to survey the grounds, then dropped soundlessly to the earth below.

"Stay alert," one of the knights guarding the main gate said.

"Right. Got it," his partner replied.

The two guards stood vigilant, entirely unaware that their security had just been breached. Something with a small body had slipped over the wall with ridiculous ease.

Soft fur swayed with each nimble bound as the creature darted toward the mansion. It navigated the thorough security with laughable simplicity.

After some time—dozens of minutes of constant running—the creature finally reached the estate. It crept carefully around, examining every angle.

There was no sign of exhaustion despite the long sprint. No ragged breathing. Nothing.

As it scanned the perimeter, a window that was only slightly ajar caught its attention. The creature's long, narrow pupils dilated.

The gap was tiny, but it would do.

The creature shoved its face through the narrow opening. Front paws emerged first, then whiskers and a pink nose, followed by ears that pricked upright.

Then came an impossibly flexible body, squeezing through the tight space as if it had no bones—like some boneless cephalopod.

The torso came through, then finally the hind legs, and at last a long tail slipped inside.

The creature dropped lightly from the windowsill, tail swishing.

In one fluid motion, it had entered the manor. It padded silently toward the distant sound of approaching footsteps.

"You're late," a knight named Kai said to himself, hurrying back after stopping by the main house to attend to business.

"Meow."

He jumped at the sudden sound, lowering the magical lantern he was carrying.

"A cat?"

In the lantern's light stood a cat—just sitting there in the hallway.

"Meow."

"How did you get in here?"

The cat slowly approached, then rubbed its face against his leg.

"Sorry, little one, but you'll have to go," Kai said. Despite the adorable gesture, he had no choice. He scooped the cat up into his arms with both hands.

Up close, he could see it was a white cat with heterochromatic eyes—one blue, one red.

It was wearing a collar, which suggested it belonged to someone. A red ruby glittered on the collar, set like a precious stone.

"Sorry about this. I'll let you out so you can find your owner."

"Meow."

Kai stepped toward a hallway window to release the cat. That's when—

"Meow!"

The cat's heterochromatic eyes and the ruby on its collar both flashed brilliantly.

"Wh—"

Kai's voice died in his throat. In an instant, he was pulled into the jewel itself—swallowed whole.

Thunk.

The magical lantern Kai had been holding fell uselessly to the floor.

The cat landed gracefully from the air where Kai had vanished. It reached out with one paw and tapped the ruby on its collar.

The next blink, the cat's form rippled—and a person stood in its place.

Taking the form of Kai, the being exhaled a long breath.

It had hidden away its heterochromatic eyes. The pupils had shifted back to ordinary black, indistinguishable from human eyes.

It picked up the fallen magical lantern, then strolled casually down the hallway as if nothing had happened at all.