Everyone but Me Is a Spy - Chapter 42

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 42
Cheyson took the Money Pouch without thinking, his eyes nearly popping out of his head.
The heavy pouch, substantial enough to strain his grip with a single hand, was stuffed with an enormous sum of cash.
“N-Nina. What on earth is this?”
At his flustered tone, Nina broke into a smile.
“I promised I’d share my Inheritance with you, remember? I’d originally planned to deposit it into your account, but—well, I ended up visiting the Bank without even knowing the family’s account numbers.”
“So you’re giving me this money? Surely you’re not asking me to… blow something up somewhere?”
“Hehe. You really are amusing, aren’t you?”
……
Even as the substantial sum settled into his hands, Cheyson found himself unable to feel genuine joy.
This was different from when he’d arranged for the servants’ wages to be raised.
He couldn’t accept a share of Nina’s Inheritance when he wasn’t even truly family.
What he needed to extract was information about Lequita, not money to support Nina’s life going forward.
“Nina. I can’t accept this.”
“What? But—”
Nina, firmly convinced that the family’s conflicts stemmed from disputes over the Inheritance, couldn’t fathom why Cheyson was refusing.
“Is it the Townhouse you want instead, not money?”
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
Watching Nina, who seemed ready to transfer the Townhouse into his name the moment he agreed, made Cheyson’s vision swim.
‘What am I supposed to extract from a girl this naive and without greed? I doubt she ever even saw her Grandmother’s face while she was alive. Isn’t it pitiful…’
Perhaps she’d stumbled into this underworld business entirely by accident—just a girl who didn’t know any better. What wouldn’t a hungry child do?
Cheyson caught himself pitying her with that look and forced his mind back into focus. He couldn’t afford to waver now.
The Intelligence Agency had already begun watching him closely, and he couldn’t afford to slip.
This moment, alone with Nina and no other agents present—
He decided to look for an opening to carry out the secret mission he’d been given separately.
“Your concern for your family is admirable, but your Grandmother decided to leave the Inheritance only to you. Having you maintain this Townhouse so we can all live here is more than enough.”
“Uncle…”
Something swelled in Nina’s chest, and her eyes grew misty.
“I was right to come to you first. You really are such a dependable adult.”
“Ahem. You do talk nonsense. Is there something else you wanted to discuss?”
“There’s something I wanted to tell you about my visit to the Bank.”
“Come to think of it, you probably hadn’t been to the Downtown area where the Bank is until now.”
Nina took a seat across from him as he gestured to the chair, and began to speak.
“It seems Grandmother already knew about my existence.”
!
Cheyson, who had been expecting casual small talk, felt as though he’d been struck on the back of the head.
“The Bank told you that?”
“Apparently, Grandmother opened an account for me shortly after I was born.”
……
Cheyson’s words caught in his throat. He clawed at his head and drank water in quick succession.
‘Damn. The Solteum Bank never cooperates even when the Intelligence Agency pressures them. I suppose even they didn’t catch this beforehand.’
Nina asked, her expression turning somewhat troubled.
“Did Grandmother never tell the rest of the family about me? Even though everyone seemed to know where I was…”
“Nina. We only learned of your existence today. Your Grandmother harbored many secrets and was a peculiar person in ways we could never understand. Sometimes I even wondered if she was truly a real person.”
Cheyson, without realizing it, found himself focusing more on soothing Nina’s feelings than on keeping his identity hidden.
“She was like a ghost, or perhaps a wind-up doll. No one could have guessed what lay in her heart. Even if the state itself had investigated and tried to restrain her.”
Fortunately, Nina didn’t find his words strange.
“She really was secretive, wasn’t she? But even so, why did Grandmother leave me in the Orphanage? I’ve been longing to meet my family for so long…”
“Your Grandmother didn’t make that choice to torment you. Even if I didn’t know her well, she didn’t seem like a cruel person.”
“That must be true. She made a lot of donations, after all.”
Even as she said this, Nina couldn’t hide her melancholy expression.
A woman who would donate to people unrelated to her by blood, yet abandoned her own granddaughter in an Orphanage—it made no sense.
Meanwhile, Cheyson steeled his faltering resolve and retrieved the Sandwich Model Trap from the Secret Double Drawer in the cabinet.
It looked like a soft toy sandwich on the surface, but when split in half along the cut line, the edges transformed into blade-sharp edges—a trap.
“Nina. Look at this for a moment, would you?”
“Oh? Is it a sandwich-shaped toy?”
Nina took the object from his hands without suspicion.
Cheyson ignored the faint pang of conscience and reminded himself of the Master’s Orders.

She’d supposedly injured her leg recently, yet not a drop of blood stained her torn clothes, and he’d found no gauze or evidence of treatment.
Still, at least she’d learned that she wouldn’t faint from cuts and scratches—only from a syringe needle piercing deep enough. That was something.
If he could draw Nina’s blood first with this, Cheyson could keep his position at the Intelligence Agency and handle explosive materials however he pleased.
Nina flexed her fingers, savoring the soft texture of the Sandwich Model Trap, and broke into a radiant smile.
“Are you showing me a toy to cheer me up? I’m not that much of a child, you know.”
Her cheerful voice made Cheyson’s conscience ache all the more.
“You’re still a child in my eyes. You haven’t even had a proper Coming-of-Age Ceremony yet.”
……!
Nina’s eyes widened—she had never thought of such a thing before.
Struggling to survive while taking care of her family, she had let the Coming-of-Age Ceremony pass by without ever expecting one.
To have someone in her family lament that absence touched her deeply.
Her heart warmed, and Nina smiled with genuine happiness.
“Having someone like you as family, as the true elder of this house—you can’t imagine how wonderful that is.”
“There’s no need to flatter me like that.”
“Oh, flatter? I’m being sincere. I’ve found the family I’d only dreamed of, and it’s so much better than I ever imagined. I’m always grateful to you, uncle.”
…….
Confronted by the sincerity in Nina’s words, Cheyson found himself speechless.
……I see.
That’s all the hollow answer he could manage.
Could he really keep up such a cruel deception against someone like Nina?
‘This is wrong.’
The thought escaped his lips unbidden, and he felt a cold premonition creeping up from his feet.
Just then, Nina exclaimed with delight, “Oh!”
“Now that I look at it, this toy can split in half, can’t it? Does it show the sandwich’s cross-section too?”
She reached for the seam, preparing to pull the Sandwich Model Trap apart.
Cheyson gasped and snatched it away without thinking.
“Don’t!”
But the model had already split in two, and the newly sharpened edge slashed deep across his palm.
“Oh! Uncle, your hand……!”
Nina stared at the blood dripping onto the floor and jumped up in alarm.
Wincing at the pain, Cheyson wrapped the Sandwich Model Trap in his clothes and shoved it into a drawer.
“I’ll call a doctor right away!”
“No. It’s fine. I know how to treat wounds.”
“But it looks like a deep cut.”
Nina hopped anxiously and pressed a handkerchief gently against his palm.
“Ugh—it’s fine, I tell you. Enduring a wound like this with fortitude is what makes a true adult.”
“A true adult……!”
Hearing such words for the first time, Nina looked moved.
He truly was a man of this age, the genuine elder of this household.
“If you say so, I’ll accept it. But at least let me help with the treatment.”
Cheyson found he couldn’t refuse even that, so he retrieved the First Aid Kit and placed his hand in Nina’s care.
When the treatment was finished, his hand looked dreadful.
…….
Staring at his hand—now wrapped so thickly in bandages it was the size of his head—he let out a hollow laugh.
Moments later, he discovered the Money Pouch that Nina had left behind.
Lord.
At this point, Cheyson had to admit it: he had failed this mission.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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