“So annoying. Why do I have to wait on someone like Giselle?”
The maid, May, muttered sarcastically as if talking to herself.
Before Count Florette arrived, Giselle had been in a worse position than her—doing menial labor with low-paid servants. The lowest existence in the entire mansion. No matter how people mistreated her, she never said a word back and only repeated apologies.
“Sure, I’m a fallen noble, but I’m not stupid enough to talk formally to someone that lowly.”
Calling Giselle “lady” felt like a waste. Hearing May’s muttering, Giselle blinked her glassy, amethyst eyes.
“Are you talking to me?”
May scowled and said in a threatening tone:
“Ugh, you’re annoying. Just sit down and behave, will you?”
“Hmm.”
“If you keep whining quietly, I might at least treat you like a lady. Got it?”
Just someone who used to cry all the time and eat garbage food—suddenly looking polished and shiny like she’d gotten a status upgrade?
“Disgusting to even look at.”
Giselle stared at her and smiled faintly.
“No thanks. I’m busy, so I’m going. Follow me or not, suit yourself.”
May expected her to cry and mumble an apology like usual, but today was different.
“Did someone like Giselle just… ignore me?”
Giselle walked away humming, unfazed by May’s fury. Now a maid by title, May had no choice but to follow her.
But Giselle’s strange behavior didn’t stop there.
When they arrived at the wine cellar, Giselle plopped herself on the floor and sniffed the dirt. It was utterly shocking.
“Where on earth is the wine cellar keeper?”
“Meh, whatever. I love wine!”
“What?”
“Get out of the way! I’m going to smash everything!”
Pushing May aside with surprising strength, she opened the lid of an oak barrel and pulled a glass from a bulging pouch.
“Want a drink too?”
“Lady Giselle! Get a hold of yourself! A noble lady, drinking like this—”
“Who cares!”
Pop! Bang!
The oak barrel rolled across the floor with a loud crash.
“I’m breaking everything!”
May looked around the wine cellar in dismay. Giselle’s laughter echoed as expensive, aged wines were destroyed.
“Ah~ this is so much fun!”
“They said she was crazy—and it’s true!”
Seeing Giselle laugh so wildly, May grew terrified.
“Hey! Giselle! What do you think you’re doing?”
“Madam said to go easy on Giselle now that Count Florette is back, but come on, she’s still Giselle, right?”
She seemed half out of her mind. Then, Giselle raised her hand and lightly slapped May across the cheek.
“Did you just call me ‘hey’?”
“H-How dare you! You slapped—”
Smack!
Another slap.
“Ugh, whatever! Get lost. Giselle’s going to drink more!”
Terrified, May stumbled backward, recalling the saying: “Never stay near a madman.”
‘She’s really gone mad. I have to report this to the Count and Lady Mariposa immediately. They need to lock her up somewhere!’
As the door slammed shut behind May, who fled in a hurry—
Inside the now dark wine cellar, Giselle’s violet eyes shimmered eerily. Pressing her hand to the wine-soaked floor, she grinned.
“Yep, when the floor’s wet, the weak spots show.”
The Florette family’s underground wine cellar was floored with topper soil. Normally dry, but when soaked with wine, certain areas sank about 20 cm.
“And hidden in those depressions—my target: the ledgers. Protected with magic so they won’t be damaged by dirt or moisture.”
Lifting the accounting ledger, Giselle let out a sinister chuckle.
Just then, someone entered the storage room and shouted.
“W-Who are you? Why are you holding that paper?!”
“Me? Hmm, your savior, maybe?”
Giselle greeted the man with that same eerie grin.
The man, known for lazing around the neglected wine cellar and never being reprimanded for slacking—was once the mansion’s head accountant.
“Nice to see you, genius accountant and inventor of double-entry bookkeeping—Uncle Kima.”
Only Giselle, who had read “Would You Regret It If I Died?”, knew that he had secretly buried the ledger he invented before being demoted.
The bottle dropped from Kima’s hand with a crash. He was so shocked he even stopped hiccuping as his mind raced.
“What the hell is going on?”
He had just been enjoying wine as usual.
“What the—she recognized my accounting genius?”
Lady Mariposa had always mocked him.
“Double-entry what? Arabic numerals? Who the hell writes those in ledgers?”
Even when he explained that it allowed precise recording of income and expenses—no one listened.
Infuriated, Mariposa demoted him and replaced him with her own relative. Just before being dismissed, he pretended he “lost” the ledger and buried it in the wine cellar.
Sadly, his great invention was left to rot.
“I found your double-entry ledger. Got anything to say?”
“Th-That! I’m sorry!”
Secretly stealing and hiding the family’s ledgers was a crime punishable by death. Kima trembled in terror.
“Should I forgive you?”
“W-Would you, my lady?”
“Sure. I have two conditions. First, hand over the money-box artifact.”
Money-box artifact?
Kima recalled the small cube-shaped artifact he’d commissioned from dwarves—tiny enough to fit in a dress pocket, yet holding over 100 billion in a dimensional space.
“H-How do you know about that?”
He’d planned to use it for the Florette family if reinstated as accountant…
“Hand it over. In exchange, I’ll bring this ledger back into the light.”
Giselle handed him a light piece of paper instead of the ledger.
[Artifact Provision & Secondary Job Slave Contract]
“S-Slave?!”
“Just give me the artifact and occasionally help me manage my money. A genius like you is rare.”
It was just a passing comment, but—
Having spent over five years drunk and forgotten in the wine cellar, something stirred.
“Double-entry? What’s that?”
“Think that nonsense earns you extra pay?”
“Idiot.”
Everyone had called him a fool. But now that someone acknowledged him—his eyes welled up.
That’s why he accepted the paper that clearly said “slave contract.”
[Clause 1-1: ‘Kima’ shall manage ‘Giselle’s’ finances for free…]
[Clause 1-2: ‘Giselle’ shall do her utmost to reinstate ‘Kima’ as official accountant…]
It was clearly a slave contract.
Yet the handwriting was so elegant—it was almost like magic had been cast on the words.
‘I can feel the brilliance just from the script… Who is this woman?’
After reading it all, he signed it as if enchanted.
The floor was a mess of wine. His hidden ledger was now in her hands.
“I love this. Investing will be a breeze. Everything’s going great. This must be the protagonist’s buff.”
Muttering to herself, Giselle smirked as she snatched the artifact box from her pocket.
“B-But what’s going on here? How did you know the ledger was hidden there? And why are you helping me get reinstated—”
She didn’t answer.
Just then, the wine cellar door swung open.
In came Count Florette, looking puzzled, Lady Mariposa looking triumphant, and May—her cheek still red.
“Giselle Florette! What do you think you’re doing? Causing chaos even within the family?!”
