* * *

“……”

Clatter, swish, swish.

“……”

Thud, clatter.

“……”

Thud, crunch–

Only silence descended upon the table where the three people sat.

Nocturne Lavernia put down the freshly baked bread he was holding, feeling like he might choke.

This was because he was busy watching his sister eat quickly yet elegantly, and in enormous quantities, across from him.

The family had gathered after a long time, but all that could be heard were the occasional sound of eating.

“……”

“……”

Marquis Lavernia was equally at a loss for words.

Serena, who had only greeted him and sat down quietly, started eating as soon as he began his meal.

It had been years since they met, but nothing seemed to have changed.

No, he thought nothing had changed.

‘…Has she become a beggar while I wasn’t looking?’

Marquis Lavernia ended up having a somewhat rude thought about his daughter.

Marquis Lavernia didn’t know Serena Lavernia’s exact eating capacity, but he wasn’t completely unaware either.

In any case, she wasn’t a child who could eat this much.

Thud, thud, thud.

Plates piled up, and up, and up again.

The food in front of her disappeared into her mouth in an instant, but it didn’t look unsightly or poor.

It was fast, precise, and elegant.

Not a single morsel was dropped, and her table manners were perfect.

“Serena. By any chance, is the Kelahinum ducal family suffering from food shortages or financial difficulties these days?”

Marquis Lavernia asked quite seriously.

Serena, who was eating earnestly thinking that the taste of home-cooked meals was indeed nostalgic, raised her head at the unexpected question.

And she saw.

Two pairs of eyes looking at her as if she were a monkey in a zoo.

‘…What’s this?’

Those eyes looking at her like a pitiful pig that hadn’t eaten for days and couldn’t control itself.

She didn’t answer immediately, first chewing what was in her mouth.

After swallowing the food and rinsing her mouth with grape juice disguised as wine, she slowly put down her glass.

“No, is there a problem?”

“You seem to be eating too much. I’m worried you might upset your stomach.”

Serena’s eyes narrowed at those concerned words.

Surely, how could this upset her stomach?

She had only eaten about ten small plates at most.

For her, who would normally eat at least 30 plates at a buffet, this was just dietary control after hearing shocking words from Magnus.

‘Seems they find it a waste to feed me.’

Serena nodded.

It seemed they weren’t too keen on feeding a loach.

This was because Serena tended to eat a lot, quickly, and also neatly.

When being pushed around by professors, there were often no separate times for meals.

She didn’t know about other professors, but at least her vicious professors were like that.

Anyway, there were times when she had to go hungry all day.

On such days, she could only eat one meal late at night, so she would eat in advance when she could, in preparation for such times.

This became a habit, and she behaved similarly when she became Serena.

“…It’s not because I find it a waste.”

Marquis Lavernia added, seeing Serena’s narrowed eyes filled with displeasure.

He was worried she might flip the table if she felt offended.

‘They say a thief is most wary of being stolen from.’

It seems he finds it a waste to feed her, but doesn’t want to show it.

‘Well, he did say they were in financial difficulties.’

Only then did she somewhat understand the Marquis of Lavernia’s attitude.

Because if she thought about an unwelcome, uninvited guest suddenly coming and consuming food when there’s no money at home, even Serena would have been angry.

She put down her utensils, savoring the lingering taste of the home-cooked meal she had after a long time.

“I was inconsiderate. At a time when even a piece of meat or a grain of flour must be precious to you.”

She reflected.

Slay, who was standing behind the Marquis of Lavernia, was shocked at those words.

‘Oh no, I made a slip of the tongue because I was too nervous.’

Serena, belatedly seeing this scene, slightly covered her mouth with a look of dismay.

“…What?”

Marquis Lavernia, pondering over Serena’s words, asked with a slightly bewildered face.

“Ah……”

She was told not to mention it.

Serena glanced at Slay, who was shocked and almost in tears, and then looked at Nocturne Lavernia sitting across from her.

He had been glaring at Serena intensely since he first came in.

The gaze was so blatant that it was burdensome, which was partly why she had kept her face buried in her plate.

She pondered for a moment.

She had to somehow smooth this over.

She considered how to salvage the situation without embarrassing her blood relatives whom she met after a long time.

Mobilizing everything she had learned over her 18 years of slave life.

“I meant that I ate too much without consideration, when you probably don’t want to give even a piece of meat or a grain of flour to a daughter like me.”

“……?”

Marquis Lavernia realized that his brain was refusing to process.

He couldn’t help it.

He couldn’t understand what he had just heard.

“A daughter like you…?”

He first picked out the most disturbing phrase.

Serena nodded with an expressionless face.

“What does that mean?”

“A loach?”

“……?”

Does he not understand if I say it like this?

She wasn’t sure if loaches existed in this world.

This was because she had only tended to herb gardens and wasn’t majoring in fish ecology.

“A cuttlefish?”

“……”

Seems neither exists.

Serena, who had let out a low sigh, crossed her arms and pondered. She couldn’t think of an appropriate word.

“A nuisance! A troublemaker?”

She shouted, having found a suitable word that would be understood anywhere in the world.

“……!”

Fortunately, Marquis Lavernia understood that.

Serena read contempt in Nocturne’s gaze. Surprisingly, she was sufficiently hated.

It was just the right condition for a deal.

She needed money to live as a freeloader. She needed money to make money.

You need money to multiply money.

The reason why those who have become richer is because they roll what they have well and work hard to inflate it.

Professor Lemerun was like that too.

He rolled Serena well. He rolled her hard. He rolled her back and forth, rolled her in dung fields, rolled her in herb gardens, and rolled her in monster forests.

As a result, Serena really inflated well.

Because she was hit from all sides.

Of course, it was just a small snowball for a snowball fight that had grown as big as a rock.

But in the end, it’s still a snowball and can’t beat a rock.

That’s right. Serena had become a huge snowball as big as a rock, but she couldn’t beat Professor Lemerun, who was a rock.

Yes, it’s money.

She was planning to propose.

It was a pretty good proposal to quietly remove her name from the family register if they lent her money.

Serena opened her mouth.

“So, I have a proposal, Father.”

Her assistant switch clicked on.

“A proposal?”

Marquis Lavernia frowned.

Sure enough, it seemed his daughter needed something.

He was somewhat disappointed by Serena’s behavior, which didn’t deviate at all from his expectations, but he didn’t show it.

“Yes, I thought so.”

Although she didn’t show it outwardly due to the negotiation rules engraved in her body, Serena was surprised by the Marquis of Lavernia’s words.

‘To think he had anticipated this…’

It seems he wasn’t the head of a family for nothing.

‘This won’t be easy.’

Serena swallowed a sigh inwardly.

Marquis Lavernia was thinking about the ‘rainbow gold’ jewelry.

Of course, he had no intention of buying it for her.

Why would he go to the trouble of buying such an expensive thing at an auction for a child who only causes trouble?

But…

‘A nuisance…’

He never imagined she would say such a thing with her own mouth.

‘No matter what, for a Lavernia bloodline to be called a troublemaker!!’

…No, this might be accurate.

Marquis Lavernia was objective.

“I suppose you can guess what I’m going to ask for as well.”

“Yes.”

“Then……”

“I understand.”

Marquis Lavernia answered with a stern expression without even listening.

‘If she gets jewelry of that caliber, she probably won’t have such strange thoughts.’

Marquis Lavernia thought.

‘I, I was hated more than I thought…?’

Serena thought as well.

Although Serena was a bit shocked by the fact that the size of his hatred was larger than expected, she soon felt better when she thought about money.

This was truly what it meant to have different dreams.