Chapter 18
“As you, the knight, must know, our temple prioritizes the child’s happiness above all.”
“I suppose so.”
“Do you know where happiness comes from?”
“Well.”
“It’s money.”
He made a circle with his index finger and thumb and smiled cheekily.
“With money, one can wear pretty clothes, and with money, one can eat delicious things too.”
“I see.”
“Our temple prioritizes the child’s happiness.”
While doing that and clearing his throat with ahem ahem, Dylan finally realized that it meant to hand over money if he wanted to take the child.
‘I expected it, but I didn’t think they’d actually take the child and do business with it.’
He let out a sigh and took out the emergency funds he had and offered them.
“Oh dear…”
Theodore, who checked the contents, openly showed his disappointment.
“With this amount, the child cannot become happy.”
“We will bring more later.”
“Happiness cannot be bought on credit. Let me see, how much did that person bring yesterday—”
While doing that and blatantly showing that he would send it to someone else if he didn’t match the amount, Dylan barely held back his rising irritation.
Asil stared blankly at such Dylan.
‘It seems money is needed to take the female lead human away.’
Even though she was young, it was an age where she knew what she needed to know. She was quick-witted too.
‘Just ask Asil for it.’
It was touching that he was trying to help even though he was so broke he had to cut logs with a stick.
‘I should go break logs for him again later.’
Asil secretly left the reception room while thinking something that would shock Dylan if he knew.
And avoiding others’ attention, she opened the sub-space, then took out the treasure pouch she had been cherishing.
‘How many should I give to take the female lead human away?’
She tilted her head and pondered for a moment, then thought they would give change on their own and took the whole thing.
“Piya.”
Since she had decided to act as a pet anyway, Asil crawled on all fours, leading with the pouch, and returned to the reception room.
“Hm…?”
At the sound of gold coins jingling, Dylan, who hadn’t even noticed Asil had left, paused.
‘No way, that pouch—?’
On the other hand, Theodore, who had sold his soul to money, brightened up without asking or questioning.
“Oh ho, as expected of the Duke’s pet, how clever. Is this for me, Pippi?”
“Pii.”
“Thank you. With this amount, Selena should be able to become sufficiently happy, but just in case, let me confirm.”
Dylan didn’t even have a chance to stop him.
Theodore opened Asil’s pouch with lightning-fast hand movements.
And as soon as he opened it, at the dazzling golden light that came into view, he made a choking sound.
“Eek!”
What he wanted was to take everything out right there, but he was a priest who shouldn’t have material desires.
For the sake of his public image, he hurriedly pulled the pouch strings left and right.
“It’s excellent! With this amount, Selena will be more than satisfied!”
Then he tucked it straight into his bosom—
How could he take it all! Asil was greatly shocked by his attitude of not giving even a penny in change.
And Dylan, shocked in another sense, also looked at the priest’s bosom with shaking eyes. It seemed like that was it……
Theodore, unaware of the thoughts of one beast and one person, immediately ordered a junior priest to bring Selena.
Soon, a shrill voice echoed through the entire corridor.
“Let go of this, I said I’m not going, you rotten bastards!”
Then, the exhausted priest struggling to restrain the child’s flailing and the girl furious to the top of her head entered together.
It was Selena, a young girl of similar age to Ednber, with pink hair and golden eyes.
“This damn, freaking! Die, you perverted bastard son of a— Huh?”
She, who had been showing off her rough speech for a romance novel heroine and flashy air punches, stopped abruptly upon seeing Dylan.
“What, why is it different from the original?”
“Is that the child?”.
Dylan asked in a tone desperately hoping that this child wasn’t the one Lizard-nim was looking for.
However, unfortunately, Asil nodded her head.
Pink hair and golden eyes.
It matched the characteristics of the heroine that mom had repeated until her ears were calloused.
Selena, who belatedly discovered Asil, muttered with a dazed face.
“What, why has it really changed……”
“Whew.”
Whether it was strange or not, since she said it was the one they were looking for, there was no choice. He had to take her to the ducal family.
Dylan, who let out a sigh, stood up from his seat.
Theodore, feeling like he was walking on clouds from the much larger sum of money than expected, saw them off with utmost care.
* * *
And that night.
“Lalala— Lalalala.”
Theodore, who had processed all of Selena’s documents at an unprecedented speed, hummed a tune.
Today was a very satisfying day.
Though the noble who had said he would take Selena first got very angry, that was no problem at all.
Something like that couldn’t pin this floating feeling to the ground.
“The world moves with money. Only those with much money can receive my favor—”
Humming to himself while looking at Asil’s money pouch, Theodore smiled slyly, hehehe.
“This cute thing.”
He quietly got up and locked the door so no uninvited guests could enter.
“Now, shall we check how much is in here?”
He rubbed his hands together like a fly, then dumped everything from the pouch onto the desk.
Dazzling golden coins poured out in a heap.
A greedy joy appeared on Theodore’s face.
“Yes, this is it! This is it! ……Hm?”
He, who had scooped up gold coins with both hands, paused.
What is this, why are these damn gold coins so light?
Moreover, at the very bottom of the pouch, there were broken chess pieces, crumbled powder, strangely shaped pebbles, and all sorts of junk.
The pouch had been heavy not because of the gold coins, but because of these things.
“What is this……”
He, who belatedly realized something was off, examined the gold coins closely with trembling eyes.
And was horrified.
「Well done!」
「Our child is the best!」
「Use money preciously.」
What he had received was none other than toy coins.
* * *
Selena was a possessor.
She had been living as an ordinary office worker in a country called South Korea, and while reading a romance novel on her way home from work, she was hit by a truck.
And when she opened her eyes after that, she had possessed the heroine.
“Ah, damn. Reincarnation truck.”
As a avid romance novel reader, she adapted to the new world very quickly.
“But why did I possess the heroine of all things?”
In romance novel possessions, the national rule is to possess gloomy characters and change their fates.
Unless it was a flop or a tragic story, possessing the heroine with a flowery path predicted was rare.
And this novel was neither a flop nor a tragic story.
Though the heroine was sold to a perverted noble as a child and suffered hardships, she completely turned her fate around with her meeting with the male lead.
“There’s no way I’d possess such a good character.”
What on earth? True to her cynical personality, she pondered and pondered again.
In the meantime, taking revenge on those who tormented her within the limits that didn’t change the original story was a bonus.
Selena soon became a lunatic and avoidance target number one in the temple.
Because of that, she ended up going to the perverted noble, but since the result was the same even in the original where she behaved meekly, she didn’t mind much.
Until the people from the Munlepe ducal family came to pick her up.
“What.”
In terms of timing, it wasn’t the time for them to come pick her up yet?
In the original, the perverted noble who took her discovered by chance that Selena could use holy power, and then connected her to Edenber in hopes of making a fortune.
It was a refreshing episode where he used Selena as a hostage to threaten, and the male lead Edenber disposed of the villain and also saved the grandfather.
‘But why did it change.’
She thought hard until her head heated up, but there was nothing among her actions that could change the original’s flow.
In that case—
‘There’s another possessor besides me.’
Nothing else explained it.
Having made that judgment, it was right when Selena had just boarded the Munrepe ducal family’s carriage.
Asil took off the cloth she had been wearing over her head until then.
At the sudden appearance of a familiar face, Selena was horrified inwardly.
‘That girl!’
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By Anna 💓
