Chapter 66

“Dammit… Come on…!”

-Thud, thud.

No matter how much strength she applied, the wheelchair wheels refused to budge.

“How stupid… what am I even doing?”

A self-mocking voice escaped the woman sitting in the chair. It had already been several minutes since the right wheel had jammed in a gap in the doorway. In the past, her family would have helped her.

Now, there was no one. It was the result of moving into the dormitory not long ago.

She put strength into her hands on the rims once more. It felt like her skin was about to tear. Just then, the sound of a door opening echoed from the upstairs hallway. Voices drifted down the stairs.

“Excuse me, over there…”

The woman turned her head toward those coming down. She intended to ask for help.

“…”

But she immediately shut her mouth. She had forgotten. Most of the people occupying the rooms on the second floor were from the lower district. Though they worked together, she had never spoken to them about anything outside of work.

“What are you doing? Let’s go.”

The lower district workers looked away from the woman in the wheelchair and disappeared. The woman didn’t expect help from them anyway. They were lower district people, and she was from the upper district.

But then, she heard the sound of footsteps on the grit. It was coming from the direction where the group had just left. The woman reflexively looked back.

Standing there was one person from the group that had just departed.

The lower district woman spoke. “Let go of that. I’ll get it out for you.”

“…”

Before she could even refuse, the lower district woman approached her.

“Bloody hell. What were you doing to get it stuck this tight?”

After a bit of straining, the lower district woman finally succeeded in pulling the wheel free.

“Ah… thank you.”

The upper district woman bowed her head. The lower district woman accepted the thanks half-heartedly and asked, “By the way, what is this thing? This chair with wheels. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Oh.”

The upper district woman looked down at her wheelchair and answered. “The Lord’s young master made it.”

“The one who wears gloves… with the white hair?”

“That’s right.”

The upper district woman nodded. “It’s a bit inconvenient, but it’s a godsend. Thanks to this, someone like me can actually come out and work.”

“It looks that way. Still, it’d be better to stay with your family. Do you not have any…?”

The lower district woman asked tentatively. The upper district woman chuckled.

“No, I have a husband. But he has to earn money, too. If I stay at home, he spends all his time just looking after me. Besides, the commute was too far.”

“…You’re working hard. You too.”

“That’s life, isn’t it? I’m Sasha.”

Sasha offered her hand to the lower district woman. After a moment of hesitation, the woman took it and shook.

“Call me Vina. What happened to your legs?”

“Ah, that happened back when I was in the military…”

That morning, Sasha and Vina struck each other as being quite similar. For starters, they were both women who went out to work alone, and they both had the same thick calluses on their hands and sturdy arms.

But the biggest reason they felt they resembled one another was something else entirely. It was the fact that they were both far more talkative than they looked.

“It seems your operation was a success, for now.”

“Which operation are you talking about? I have more than one going on.”

I asked without taking my eyes off my paperwork. Izack answered.

“The dormitory. The staff are getting along better than expected.”

“That’s good to hear.”

Izack’s eyebrows twitched slightly. “You don’t seem particularly surprised.”

“Well, yes. I built the dormitory so the employees would get close to each other, after all.”

“Was it all part of the plan?”

-Tap, tap.

I tapped the stack of documents twice to straighten them and set them on the corner of the desk. Then, I turned my gaze to Izack.

“Do you remember the criteria I used to select the people for the dormitory?”

“Any lower district resident was allowed in.”

“Conversely, the criteria for the upper district employees were quite strict. You still remember the details, don’t you?”

When I asked, Izack replied, “Those without families, or those with four or more dependents, the elderly, the disabled… ah.”

As he listed the conditions, he stopped as if realizing something. His eyes fixed on me.

“You intentionally picked only the employees who were in difficult circumstances.”

“Exactly. With the conditions I set, there was a high probability that their situations would be similar to those coming up from the lower district to work alone.”

“So you wanted them to feel a sense of ‘sympathy among fellow sufferers’?”

Before I knew it, Izack was glaring at me with sharp eyes. I asked him, “Do you consider it emotional deception?”

“If not that, then what?”

“What else?” I replied without a hint of a smile. “I showed them reality.”

“…Reality?”

“The reality that people’s lives are pretty much the same everywhere; the reality that inequality exists even in the upper district; and the reality that someone is working to resolve that inequality.”

I shrugged. “If you want to say it’s a reality distorted to fit my desires, I won’t argue. But that is exactly what I want to do. Distort reality. To make it a more equal reality.”

Izack snapped up from his seat. “I won’t be toyed with by such wordplay.”

I shouted at his retreating back. “We’ll see! Whether this is wordplay or real reality!”

-Slam!

‘The door’s going to break.’

He walked out without looking back. Immediately after, Adele asked me, “Was it really necessary to get on his nerves like that? I think he would have liked you a lot more if you’d just let your intentions go unsaid.”

“I was thinking the same thing. Sigh…”

I let out a long sigh. Adele asked, “Then why did you do it?”

Right, why did I? I found myself at a loss for words at her question. I reflexively answered like this:

“Because I don’t want to lie to someone I truly want to make one of my own.”

“…”

Adele fell silent at my answer.

Not lying.

Even I don’t think of it as a particularly great approach. Lying is necessary at times. Excessive honesty usually leads to catastrophe.

‘Just like that time my reliability took a massive nosedive.’

I gestured into the air to summon the status window. The profiles of Izack and Pietro appeared, and along with them, their reliability stats.

Izack’s reliability had recovered significantly. But that was it. Lately, his reliability growth had stagnated, hovering just below the 100-point mark for quite a while.

‘I’d like him to become a regular contract talent soon.’

There were only a few points left. I resented the fact that I couldn’t muster a single sweet lie—even though I was already shamelessly hiding the fact that I was a possessor. I was a walking contradiction.

Just then, Adele asked me, “Then did you lie to me too?”

I replied instantly. “I did.”

“Hmph. What? That bruises my ego. Are you saying you don’t want to make me one of your people?”

She grumbled as she began counting on her fingers. “I’m strong, powerful, good at fighting, skilled with weapons… and on top of that, I’m an Emperor’s Hunter.”

Strangely, all those points just boiled down to her being “strong.”

She thrust her five fingers—well, her open palm—at me. I pulled back; it was a bit overwhelming.

“…When did I say I never lie? I said I didn’t want to. I’m telling plenty of lies to Mr. Izack and everyone else.”

“Then does that mean I still have a chance?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“You said it yourself.” I answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “You belong to His Majesty the Emperor.”

“Hmm…”

She rested her chin on her hand and sank into thought. I tried to use the opening to slip away from her, but my attempt ended in failure.

Ever since Izack left, Adele had been lost in thought. Consequently, I was stuck with her, forced to sit in the office all afternoon.

Of course, it didn’t really matter whether she was there or not. I had a mountain of paperwork to process. By the time evening rolled around and I still hadn’t stood up from my seat, it was Adele who grew tired first.

Having been silent all day, she was the first to speak.

“Aren’t you bored?”

“I’m not.”

“How?”

“Every day, something new and ‘exciting’ explodes. It starts with suppliers who’ve already been paid suddenly claiming they can’t deliver the volume…”

“I didn’t ask for all that.”

I shut my mouth and made a gesture as if I were stitching my lips shut.

Adele pointed around the empty office. “Everyone else has clocked out and gone home. Finish the work later and let’s go grab something to eat.”

“I can’t. I’m expecting someone.”

“Expecting someone?”

“Yes. Now that everyone has left for the day, they should be arriving soon.”

“Do you mean that young Chief Steward?”

“No.”

Just then.

-Knock, knock.

Someone tapped on the door. The owner of the knock didn’t wait for my permission; he swung the door open. It was Izack.

“You’re here.”

“You look like you knew I was coming.”

“Because I did. It’s about one of the employees, right? Someone from the lower district.”

Izack looked somewhat reluctant but conceded to my point.

“…They aren’t one of Malik’s men. It’s a carpenter living in the dormitory. For some reason, they said they wanted to see you. I brought them here, but I don’t mind sending them back right now.”

“No. Please, let them in.”

Izack glanced at Adele, nodded, and disappeared again. Appearing in his place was a familiar face.

I greeted her. “Good evening, Vina. It’s been a while since the interview.”

“…”

“Please, have a seat.”

Vina gave a short nod and sat in the chair across from my desk.

“What brings you to see me?”

“Well… um…”

Vina hesitated, unable to get the words out properly. I had known why she was here for a long time.

‘After all, I’m the one who designed things so she would come find me.’

She wanted something from me. After a moment of hesitation, Vina finally stammered out her business.

“I heard that you—no, the Young Master—was the one who created that chair with wheels.”

“That is correct.”

To be precise, I was the one who “popularized” it, but whatever.

“So I was wondering… if I might be able to get the blueprints for that wheeled chair. I tried to make it myself, but the balance… the structure was more complicated than I thought. I’m not a true technician, and I’m clumsy at carving wheels.”

“I see.”

“So, is there any way? I’d be happy even if you just let me copy the drawing…”

“No.”

I refused flatly.

“…”

Vina started to say something but quickly stopped herself. I recalled her personal details.

Vina Wisteria

.
.
.

Lives with a younger sister. Has difficulty walking.

I spoke up. “Providing the blueprints is impossible. They are an important asset of Denabi Castle.”

“Then…”

“Instead, I can sell you the chair itself.”

At those words, Vina’s expression brightened for a fleeting second before darkening again.

“How much would it cost?”

“You don’t need to pay with money. You just need to help me a little.”

“Just say the word. If it’s something I can do…”

“There’s no need to be in such a hurry. It’s a very trivial task.”

‘Of course, it will be a huge help to us.’

What I wanted wasn’t the pocket change from selling a wheelchair. I was going to buy the market itself from her, from Vina.