The servants of the Lavernia mansion were currently in a state of extreme tension.

It was to the extent that even the sound of breathing, footsteps, or the rustling of cloth was barely audible as they moved.

This was because, for the Lavernia mansion, Serena was like a demon lord dragging along a raging storm, and the servants of the mansion were like benevolent guardians who, upon hearing the news, quickly made preparations and steeled their hearts to prevent the demon lord and the storm.

‘They’ve already put away all the expensive decorations, I see.’

Slay, entering through the front door into the main hall, quickly scanned the interior with just his eyes.

It seems they’ve cleared away everything visible for now.

Some servants bowed their heads and exchanged glances with each other.

— Hey, did you clear the second floor?

— No, someone else is going to clear it now. What about you? Did you clear the hanging things?

— Not yet! I was trying to hide and clear the valuable things first, but I heard she’s already arrived…

— Damn, that should have been cleared first! That’s the most dangerous thing.

— Oh no! This is bad.

— Why? What now?

— I forgot to bring replacements… Won’t it be too obvious that we cleared things in a hurry?

— …We’re screwed.

This conversation was passed from left to right, top to bottom, and diagonally through the eyes of various servants.

Fortunately, Serena didn’t notice the silent eye conversations that were quickly exchanged.

The experienced butler Slay grasped the general situation from these glances.

He quickly scanned the main hall again, hiding his dismayed inner thoughts beneath a polite expression.

Earlier, he was too rushed to check properly, but looking closely now, it was certainly too obvious.

‘It’s too empty!’

Slay was shocked.

The traces of removed paintings were clearly visible. The evidence of cleared decorations was too blatant.

Even a fool would notice this.

Thud.

Sure enough, Serena stopped in front of a marble pedestal that showed clear signs of hastily removed decorations.

‘…We’re in trouble.’

Slay squeezed his eyes shut.

He wondered if he should call the master, who was currently away, right now.

“This is…”

Serena looked at the empty pedestal with a serious expression.

“Ah, Miss. This is… that is…”

Slay quickly racked his brain. What could he say to smoothly get past this situation?

But no matter how much he thought, no good answer came to mind.

Regardless, Serena looked serious.

“Could it be that the Lavernia family is suffering from financial difficulties?”

This was because she had come today to find her emergency fund account and to extor… no, to ask her father for pocket money.

“Pardon…?”

Unexpected words came out of the young lady’s mouth, who he thought would be furiously angry, accusing them of disrespect.

“…There are many empty pedestals here and there.”

Serena now noticed that the mansion looked emptier than in her memory.

‘…We’re screwed.’

She felt a little sad.

This was because she had planned to get some money from the marquis family for her startup.

But the financial difficulties seemed more serious than she thought.

‘I never imagined they would be selling all the decorations.’

She recalled the various decorations in her memory that were made of gold, adorned with jewels, and were either splendid or incomparably elegant.

Of course, most of them had been either broken or taken away and dismantled to be sold for money by the unnamed possessor who had occupied her body.

Naturally, unaware of these inner circumstances, Serena just felt very sad.

‘My money…’

This was because her plan to extort money had been greatly thwarted.

Even though Serena was someone who would stop at nothing to achieve her goals, without blood or tears, she couldn’t outright demand money when she clearly saw that the long-established marquis family was selling off household decorations one by one to maintain their dignity.

‘This is troublesome.’

At this rate, the ‘Living Life to the Fullest’ project might end before it even begins due to lack of funds to circulate.

‘Why isn’t he answering?’

Serena looked at Slay, who remained silent.

He was somehow staring with wide eyes, his pupils trembling slightly.

It was an expression that suggested something that absolutely shouldn’t have been discovered had been found out.

Seeing Slay’s appearance, tightly closing his mouth and sending trembling glances, Serena, who had been pondering for a moment, soon understood his gaze and inwardly sighed.

‘Ah, he didn’t want me to find out.’

Come to think of it, the relationship between the Lavernia family and Serena Lavernia was very bad.

In ‘Lucky Saintess’, 99% of the world Serena faced was her enemy.

The remaining 1% was Serena herself.

“How unfortunate.”

Serena spoke with sincerity, but trying not to show pity, in a calm voice.

‘Poor Lavernia family.’

Serena shook her head.

However, Serena didn’t realize that her dry voice, which didn’t convey any sense of sympathy at all, could be perceived as mocking by someone.

The Lavernia family had been trusted by the imperial family for quite a long time as supporters of the emperor.

However, due to Serena Lavernia, their relationship with the imperial family had soured and their standing had slightly worsened.

There’s an old saying that one mudfish can muddy an entire pond. Or that the octopus brings shame to the fish market.

Serena Lavernia was that mudfish and that octopus.

Because of Serena Lavernia, the Marquis of Lavernia, who had a gentle nature, became colder than the north wind and snow.

Serena Lavernia had deeply instilled a distrust of humans in him.

Of course, it probably also had something to do with the Marchioness of Lavernia collapsing due to extreme stress from being unable to handle the troubles caused by Serena.

The fact that the Lavernia family, who usually cherished their blood relatives due to the scarcity of heirs, decided to completely expel Serena from the family was also partly due to the death of the Marchioness of Lavernia.

When the Marquis of Lavernia, shocked by his wife’s death, was subsequently informed about her attempted poisoning of the Crown Princess and the Duke of Kelahinum, who kept the victims hidden, he completely lost any affection for Serena.

‘Looking at it this way, there’s no hope.’

After thinking that far, Serena came up with an idea.

It was a brilliant trade item that could neatly solve all these situations while also getting money, which she thought was excellent.

‘I’m a genius.’

She smiled contentedly and nodded her head.

‘…This is really too much.’

Slay clenched his fist invisibly as he watched her smiling face.

No matter how estranged she might be, how could she smile so happily while thinking her family was going bankrupt to the point of selling decorations!

Whatever little expectation Slay had left somewhere shattered into pieces.

He made a great effort not to show his disappointed expression and suppressed his sadness.

Then he slightly turned his head.

It was because Serena looked so happy, as if she had made a great harvest.

‘…The young lady of the past is gone now.’

Slay was so upset that he didn’t correct Serena about the financial difficulties.

Despite it being beyond his authority, he couldn’t help it.

Also, Serena didn’t want to pry into others’ embarrassments, so she didn’t press Slay further.

The misunderstanding deepened easily.

“When will Father return?”

“Since he left for a regular meeting at the imperial palace with the young master today, he will probably return in the evening.”

“Is that so?”

She nodded and headed towards the second floor, tracing old and worn-out memories.

Rustle–

As she went up to the second floor, something bulged out from inside her dress.

It was something black.

‘…What is that?’

Slay watched her closely, tensing up, wondering if she was about to do something strange again.

“Living the good life, huh?”

Startled.

Although she was talking to the rabbit, someone else’s heart was startled like a flipped pot lid.

It was Slay.

Slay was truly shocked.

‘She caught me looking!’

His assessment of the situation was quick. He hurriedly opened his mouth in surprise.

‘To think that someone of my caliber would make such a mistake!’

Being one who knew how to be honest, he quickly bowed his head.

“I apologize, I was rude.”

“Huh?”

“I will serve you properly from now on.”

“Ah…?”

Serena looked puzzled at the sudden apology.

Then she soon found an appropriate reason for this unexpected statement.

‘Ah, it must be his answer about the financial difficulties.’

After all, it’s usually the family butler who manages the family’s finances.

‘Did it sound like I was blaming him?’

Feeling a bit guilty that her disappointment might have been too obvious, her conscience pricked her a little.

Of course, he might feel guilty about the mansion’s financial difficulties.

But that doesn’t mean it’s the butler’s fault.

‘The fault of subordinates is the responsibility of their superiors.’

Serena, unusually, wanted to encourage the butler who’s like family, who seemed to have aged 30 years in the blink of an eye.

So she gathered her social skills, which were as gritty as sand grains, and worked hard to mold them.

“It’s not your fault.”

Slay’s eyes widened at Serena’s unexpectedly kind-sounding words.

“If we’re assigning blame, it’s the fault of your master, my father.”

Of course, those molded social skills didn’t turn into a pretty sand castle.

“……”

As expected, Slay’s heart, which had almost softened a bit from the bewildering yet overwhelming emotion at Serena’s words, plummeted instantly.

‘My unprofessional incompetence has caused my master to be insulted…!’

He painfully lamented, recalling the wickedness of the young lady he had served since childhood.

Regardless, Serena deliberately raised the corners of her mouth into a slight smile, just in case her words might be misunderstood.