Let’s Make Saving a Habit - Chapter 23

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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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Chapter 23
My mind, dulled by years of conforming to social conventions and promises, lacked the confidence to even mimic their way of thinking.
Fine, let’s say this is merely the perspective of a two-year-old, so it’s different from mine.
But children my own age didn’t seem any easier to understand either.
On a rainy day, there was a child who looked about seven years old, carrying two snails in a glass jar and cradling them as if they were precious treasures.
I approached the child with a gentle smile and asked.
“Are these the children you’re raising?”
“Yes!”
“I see, they’re so cute! Could you tell me what their names are?”
“Aji and Joongji!”
For a moment, I doubted my own ears.
While my own naming sense wasn’t particularly good, it had never been quite that catastrophic.
When I asked why they chose those names, the child explained that they named them “Aji” and “Joongji” because they planned to raise them with affection.
Ah, well, the intention was good, but….
The sound of those names was a bit….
It was a realm that an ordinary person like me could never imagine.
If I tried clumsily to imitate children’s innocence, I felt I wouldn’t even be able to salvage my dignity.
Recalling what had happened before, I quickly abandoned any thought of acting childlike, even for a moment.
Right. I just can’t do it.
I skillfully speared the bacon the Old Gentleman had given me along with a potato on my fork and brought it to my mouth.
Mmm.
Then I raised my thumb as if to say it was delicious. The Old Gentleman would be just as happy seeing me eat with such enjoyment.
“There’s a bit of eggplant flavor mixed in, but it’s delicious!”
Of course, along with the praise, I also gave him a pointed look suggesting he shouldn’t add eggplant to this sacred dish next time.
“Right. I’ll be careful not to add eggplant next time.”
The Old Gentleman chuckled and popped the eggplant I’d removed into his mouth.
I stared intently at the Old Gentleman’s smiling face.
Certainly, he looked even more handsome when he smiled.
Suddenly, I became curious.
The Old Gentleman seemed quite popular with women, so didn’t he have any interest in meeting someone new, aside from his failed first love?
If the Old Gentleman had even the slightest desire to start a family….
I was certain I would be an obstacle, so I wanted to know in advance.
“Say, Old Gentleman, don’t you ever meet new people?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You’re still young, Old Gentleman…. Ah, of course, I do call you that! But anyway, you’re still young and seem quite popular with women, so I was wondering if you had any thoughts about starting a family.”
Though I rambled a bit in the middle, it seemed he understood what I was getting at.
The Old Gentleman fell silent for a moment, as if choosing his words carefully, then spoke.
“…After what happened to my first love, I haven’t felt any desire to meet someone new.”
…What happened to them?
Wait, could it be that it wasn’t just a failed one-sided love, but the other person passed away from illness or an accident?
“I-I’m sorry for bringing up such painful memories.”
I berated myself inwardly.
Ugh, why did I have to mention something that would remind him of his first love!
As I slapped my lips in frustration, the Old Gentleman’s eyebrows twitched.
“You seem to be misunderstanding something. My first love didn’t die.”
“…Pardon?”
“You appear to have gotten the wrong idea.”
“I-I thought perhaps your first love had passed away from an accident or illness, given what you said.”
“Ah, well, the ending wasn’t pleasant. But it’s fine—I harbor no lingering attachments.”
The Old Gentleman spoke with a face devoid of emotion.
“Even when I recall my first love, I feel nothing now.”
And yet…
When he’d said before that I resembled his first love, his expression had definitely been bitter.
Well, if that’s what he says, I’m in no position to argue.
With that thought, I scraped up the remaining food and ate it all.

✦ ✦ ✦
Time had slipped away, and it was nearly a month since I’d taken the entrance examination for the Papiope Talent Cultivation Institute.
I still hadn’t decided whether to become the Old Gentleman’s daughter or be adopted into Duke Papiope’s Mansion.
No, truthfully, I already knew.
That being adopted into Duke Papiope’s Mansion was the right choice.
But rejecting the Old Gentleman’s adoption proposal was so difficult that I kept postponing it, and here I was.
The grace period I’d requested from the institute was nearly up, so I needed to visit soon.
One week.
I would go and ask for just one more week’s extension of the deferment period.
After that, I would refuse the adoption offer without hesitation and enroll in the Papiope Talent Cultivation Institute.
But there was one obstacle standing in my way.
I regarded the Old Gentleman with a peculiar expression as he read a book titled “The Picky Eater and the Non-Picky Eater” with utmost seriousness.
Why on earth was he reading a book with a title that sounded like a pink-filled shoujo manga?
In any case.
To go to the institute, I had to get the Old Gentleman out of the house.
The institute was about thirty minutes away by carriage.
So the Old Gentleman needed to be away for at least an hour.
I clapped my hands as if I’d just thought of something.
“That’s right! Now that I think about it, when I visited the Ageratum Merchant Company the other day, the Merchant Leader was looking for you.”
It wasn’t a lie.
I remembered hearing that the Merchant Leader of Ageratum was having trouble recruiting mercenaries these days.
“…The Merchant Leader was looking for me?”
“Yes. It seems he had something to discuss regarding mercenary work.”
“…I’ve retired from mercenary work.”
“Still, you’re the one who saved me. Would it be alright if I heard your story?”
As I batted my eyelashes in supplication, the Old Gentleman closed his book and rose from his seat.
He then donned a generously cut robe with practiced ease and gave me a nod.
“I’ll be back shortly.”
“Oh! While you’re out, could you pick up something delicious? I’m really in the mood for something absolutely amazing today.”
“Hmm. Then I suppose I’ll have to grill eggplant for dinner tonight.”
“…That’s too much!”
As I looked at him with the expression of someone who’d lost everything, he thoroughly mussed my hair.
“I’ll bring back plenty of that meat you love.”
Having managed to drag out the time and inadvertently secure an excellent dinner menu, I grinned with my hair all disheveled.
“Safe travels!”
As it had been in the previous timeline, the Old Gentleman was quite financially comfortable.
Having worked for the renowned Golden Silver Mercenary Company, it was only natural that he’d accumulated considerable savings.
So even after the Old Gentleman quit mercenary work, I wasn’t worried about finances.
If money ever ran short, I could simply earn it myself.
What concerned me, however, was…
…that the neighbors were gradually noticing that the Old Gentleman and I lived together.
The Old Gentleman had apparently introduced me as the daughter of a friend.
The neighbors seemed unaware of who lived in this house before I arrived.
It was a testament to how thoroughly the Old Gentleman had hidden himself away.
“But he gave that up…”
I pushed the unresolved question to the back of my mind and stood up.
About three minutes had passed since I’d seen the Old Gentleman off.
I grabbed the emergency funds I’d obtained from the Merchant Leader and left the house. It was payment for the carriage driver.
[Overlaying the current timeline onto Timeline 1.]
“Alright. Let me visit the Talent Cultivation Institute before the Old Gentleman returns home.”

✦ ✦ ✦
I arrived safely at the Papiope Talent Cultivation Institute entrance by carriage.
Unable to tolerate even a moment’s waste of time, I hurried toward the institute building.
That was when it happened.
The chatter of children who appeared to be students at the institute reached my ears.
“I’m so jealous. If the Duke adopted me, I’m confident I could enjoy a life of luxury.”
“A life of luxury? I could manage that too.”
“Ah, I wish the Duke would suddenly go mad and adopt me.”
“Then wouldn’t Duke Papiope’s Mansion truly be cursed?”
“Ugh, I can’t even speak freely. Anyway, who do you think will win tomorrow’s adoption tournament and be adopted by the Duke?”
For a moment, I doubted my own ears.
…The adoption tournament is tomorrow?
Good heavens. Wasn’t it supposed to take place around the end of this year in the previous timeline?
It’s June now—why has the schedule moved up so drastically?

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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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