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Chapter 147: I Shall Give You a Good Dream

“Young miss, what do you think your current relationship with young master Roel is?”

Early in the morning, in Charlotte’s room, Grace was combing Charlotte’s hair as she posed a question. Upon hearing the question, Charlotte blanked for a moment before offering the same response she gave several days ago.

“We’re just a fake engaged couple in a business partnership. Didn’t you already ask me this question a few days ago?”

“Fake?”

Hearing Charlotte’s response, the black-haired maid murmured broodingly to herself. She was unable to shake off the peculiar feeling that had been nudging her ever since a few days ago.

It had been more than a week since they arrived at the Ascarts’ manor, and during this period of time, Grace noticed an extremely severe problem. Whenever the two of them chatted, be it day or night, the frequency of a certain name appearing was on the rise.

And there was a perfect example right now.

“I didn’t expect that Roel would be so well-versed in the Ancient Austine Language. Why would someone from the Theocracy like him go and learn something like that?”

“His clothes yesterday were not too bad. It’s just that the design is a little out of fashion. If we could just tighten the fabric around the shoulders...”

“ I’m not too sure about it, but it looks like his transcendent abilities aren’t as weak as I thought. But whenever I ask him about it, he would simply start stuttering, refusing to tell me the details.”

“...”

Young miss, why do you want to learn the details about him? Aren’t the two of you only in a business partnership? Do you really need to know so much about him?

Grace frowned in confusion.

Ever since she learned that all of the information she had gathered about Roel was a deliberate attempt to misguide her, she had been extremely wary of the maids and servants working for the Ascarts. At the same time, she also began to reassess her evaluation of the engagement.

Even though the misunderstandings had led to Charlotte and Roel starting on the wrong foot, there was no doubt that Roel, in some way, had managed to grow on Charlotte. It had reached the point where he could actually influence her emotions to some degree.

Love and hatred had a commonality between them—interest. As if elements on the same coin, it was possible to flip between the two of them.

What Grace was most worried about with Charlotte was that she would remain cold and nonchalant.

It was the default state for Charlotte to distance herself from others and treat them coolly. This was the result of the trauma she faced in her childhood, which led to her inability to rely on or trust another person. Unless one was able to walk into her heart, any relationship that one forged with her would only remain superficial.

Back then, Grace thought that it would take Roel at least several months to break through the layer of ice around Charlotte’s heart, but things progressed much faster than she thought. The not-too-pleasant first meeting had broken Charlotte’s indifference, spurring her aversion toward him. However, as they came to know one another better, their relationship began to improve swiftly.

Could this be some kind of trick played by the Ascart House?

Grace had been traumatized by the elaborate schemes plotted by the manor’s maids that she couldn’t help but doubt everything those from the Ascart House did. Out of worry, she asked Charlotte if she liked Roel, but unexpectedly, the latter began laughing.

“You’re asking me if I like that fellow? Hahaha! Grace, just what are you thinking? How could that even be possible?” Charlotte responded with utmost confidence to her worried personal maid.

“You should have heard how he speaks. That fellow is the very antithesis of the Sorofyas. He barely knows anything about art and music, and his taste in fashion is also unable to keep up with us. On top of that, he barely understands what romance is. Had it been any other nobleman from Rosa, he would have already devoted multiple love poems to me by now!”

“...”

Grace fell silent upon hearing Charlotte’s words. Differences in hobbies weren’t definitely a bad thing; it depended on how one looked at it.

Inept in music? Doesn’t that mean that the two of you complement one another? Love poems? That sort of thing only works if there’s mutual interest in one another!

“In any case, the relationship between the two of us is only a business transaction. Our engagement is nothing more than a cover to conceal our deal.”

Charlotte crossed her arms as she declared her verdict on this matter decisively. Grace looked at the auburn-haired girl through the mirror, and she suddenly remembered the almost forgotten three divinations made just as a week ago.

Are the results actually accurate?

Grace quickly shook her head. She had no answer to the question in her mind. All she could do here was to hope for the best for the young miss.

...

“Hm? Why did he suddenly fall asleep today?”

In the study room, Charlotte looked at the black-haired boy, who had fallen asleep right next to her, and she blinked her eyes in confusion.

It was the tenth day since they had embarked on this military-style schedule of browsing through the old records. During this period of time, Charlotte had already gotten used to her life at the Ascarts’ manor, and to some degree, she had become quite familiar with the personality of her temporary fiancé.

It was precisely due to that that she was a little confused about how he had fallen asleep here today.

Based on her past impressions, while it would be going too far to say that Roel was a spirited person, he was at least someone who was constantly energetic. His attention would wane from time to time, but he had never shown any signs of exhaustion before. To be honest, she was rather impressed by that.

Even though Charlotte pretty much followed the same schedule too—the two of them would begin work early in the morning and only retire for the day at nine at night—she actually had a secret method to recharge her energy.

Charlotte’s personal maid, Grace, was an Origin Level 3 transcendent, and aside from her formidable combat prowess, she was also well-versed in minor day-to-day spells. One of them was Deep Sleep, which was known to be a cheat for replenishing vitality. Under the effects of Deep Sleep, a single night of rest would leave one feeling invigorated, as if one had rested for several days on end, and it didn’t have any adverse side effects at all.

It was with this cheat that Charlotte was able to wake up refreshed every morning with sufficient energy to drive her through the day. Otherwise, there was no way she could have managed the huge workload she was entrusted with for so many years without rest!

Nevertheless, despite enjoying the miraculous effects of Deep Sleep, Charlotte would still feel tired in the afternoon from time to time, but Roel was able to remain completely fine. All this while, she had attributed it to their physical differences, but it looked like that wasn’t the case.

“Ahh. Now that I think about it, he mentioned that he had forgotten to bring something that reinvigorated him...”

Recalling how Roel had flipped through his pockets when he was brewing tea earlier in the morning, Charlotte nodded her head in realization. But soon after, her forehead furrowed together once more.

Wait a moment, doesn’t that mean that he has been relying on medicine to maintain his energy level thus far?

Surely that can’t be true... Is he an idiot?!

Charlotte’s expression suddenly turned stern as she looked at the black-haired boy slumped over beside her. Medicines currently available on the Sia Continent were hardly anything good. It was not to say that they were ineffective, but most medicines came with major side effects, and some of them were even addictive.

In fact, most doctors viewed medicine to be the last resort. If it was possible to recover naturally, they would never advocate medicine.

Charlotte had never imagined that the source of Roel’s energy would actually be from drugging himself!

“This... isn’t an issue about money anymore.”

Charlotte looked at the sleeping Roel with a conflicted look on her face as she suddenly found her emotions thrown into turmoil. She thought that Roel was cooperating with her in order to shake off the aura of poverty clinging to him, but those assumptions were starting to waver now.

Money was good stuff—Charlotte could testify to that—but was it really worth it for Roel to drug himself and ruin his own health for?

It was worth remembering that Roel was the sole son of the Ascart House. Even though he had an aura that looked as if he owed someone half a million, the aura of fortune lingering around the Ascart House had yet to dissipate. On the contrary, it seemed to be growing denser.

Over the last few years, the Ascart Fiefdom had managed to lay down the foundations required for swift economic growth, and that had attracted many merchants to the region. This surge in commercial activity was building up wealth for the people of the fiefdom.

Charlotte had witnessed its effects herself while she was traveling through the fief. The carriage business in Ascart City was booming, such that they were currently in the midst of constructing a new branch office. There were many more stories like that, and they all testified to the increasing population and activity across the Ascart Fiefdom.

While she had no idea who Roel owed money to, he definitely did have the means to repay his debt.

Most importantly of all, Charlotte was paying Roel by the day, and even if Roel were to slack off she would still have to pay him the same amount. Despite this, Roel was giving his all to help her, even going to the extent of drinking medicine without telling her anything about it. Without a doubt, his intentions were sincere.

It was no longer just about money anymore.

This was a favor, and the value of favors was always immeasurable. Knowing that the person silently doing her a favor was her fiancé, Charlotte felt even more conflicted.

Why is he going so far to help me? It was supposed to be a relationship of mutual benefit...

Charlotte’s thoughts suddenly came to a pause as several questions arose in her mind.

Perhaps, it was Roel’s duty to help her browse through the records, but what about the other things he did for her then? He would wake up early to brew a cup of tea for her, usher her to breakfast on time, chat with her to alleviate her boredom whenever she got tired, and last night, he even massaged her shoulders.

She realized that she had overlooked something all this while. All along, she thought that it was a good transaction for her to purchase Roel’s time with her money. Despite their frequent squabbling, the time she spent with him was still quite relaxing. But, now that she was looking back at it, was it really something she could buy just because she had money?

Assuming that she did buy all of this with money, was she currently paying an equivalent price for it?

Many emotions flickered across Charlotte’s face as she contemplated this important question. She stared down at the young man sprawled atop the book he had been reading, and all of sudden, she felt a slight hint of guilt toward him.

It was already approaching winter, and snow had piled up in the world outside the windows of the study where they worked. The cold wind that battered against the glass had caused a layer of frost to form on the outside. Even though the Ascarts’ manor had a constantly active spell that maintained the temperature of the manor, the two of them came to a consensus to keep the temperature low so that they would remain awake.

However, if one of them were to fall asleep under such chilly conditions...

Charlotte began to worry about Roel. Even though transcendents tended to be more physically resilient, they weren’t entirely immune to illnesses, especially for the more scholarly type of transcendents like Roel.

With such thoughts in mind, she tried to stand up, only to notice their linked hands. She hesitated. She pondered for a moment before picking up a gemstone to contact Grace, who was standing on guard outside.

“Young miss, is there anything you need me for?”

“Bring me a blanket. Also, raise the temperature of the study room.”

“I understand, I’ll have it done right away...”

“Wait a moment. There’s still one more matter I need your help on.”

Charlotte stopped the black-haired maid, who was just about to leave the room. She glanced at the side profile of the exhausted Roel, and after a moment of contemplation, she added.

“I need you to prepare a Deep Sleep spell too.”