The Male Lead Is Trying To Tame Me With Money - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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01.

Thud.

Thunk.

Slap.

These sounds were none other than the sound effects of various documents being placed in front of me.

“….”

“Your hands have stopped, Rose.”

This crazy tyrannical boss.

“Seems like you’re quite leisurely?”

I glared intently at the provider of this insane workload as a form of protest, then replaced my answer with a shallow sigh and moved my hands again.

My hands were completely covered in ink. The first joint of my middle finger had become even more bumpy than when I was a test-taker in my past life!

Really, I missed the laptop keyboard I used to curse and pound on in my previous life.

I grumbled dozens of complaints internally, but since I couldn’t deny reality, I focused on the scratching sound of the pen tip and continued processing the insane amount of documents.

How did it really come to this.

I’m sure I possessed the female protagonist of this work.

Just because I twisted fate a little.

Isn’t it too much for the family to go completely bankrupt, oh God…!

*

Rozelita Salice, the precious only daughter of the Salice Baron.

That was the name and status of my second life.

A second life – I had seen it countless times in novels I read as a hobby, yet I never thought it would happen to me.

If I had known such a future awaited, I would have chosen to read only soft, healing-filled works instead of this kind of story.

Then I would have been born as a beloved youngest child, or perhaps as maid #1 serving that youngest child.

But in my past life, I had picked up too many novels to temporarily forget the pain of reality, and the genres were incredibly diverse.

So when I was born into a misery novel out of all those various books, I should have realized.

‘That my luck is absolutely terrible.’

But there was a reason I failed to do so.

Even though the genre was a misery novel, the target I possessed wasn’t a villain or a one-or-two-line extra, but the protagonist.

‘Although it was a life of crossing the threshold of death seven times and constantly getting caught up in kidnapping and threats, the ending was definitely a happy one.’

So when I realized I was born as the protagonist of a misery novel, honestly, I wanted to change my fate.

In my previous life, I was an extremely ordinary person who relieved stress through novels and variety shows.

For someone like me to be a protagonist who overcomes all kinds of hardships and adversity.

There’s no way I could do it.

‘Oh God, I don’t know why you made me live such a life, but I am not worthy.’

Around age seven, when I realized this world was inside that misery novel, I confessed my capabilities to God, at least in my heart.

So I hoped to gladly yield my role to any ambitious villain or extra possessor who might have appeared in this world.

I never wanted to be the protagonist of some grand story.

I’d be satisfied just being the protagonist of my own ordinary, peaceful life.

The Salice Baron family I was born into was reasonably solid, and my parents were both kind and didn’t engage in foolish behavior.

Just as they had consistently worried about and supported the female protagonist in the original work, they were no different as my parents.

So I only changed my fate a little.

From the life of protagonist Rozelita, who gets entangled and involved by saving the Male Lead in childhood, to the life of an ordinary rural noble young lady.

Until then, I truly hadn’t expected.

That just wanting to live ordinarily.

‘I’m sorry, Rozelita.’

‘Our beloved daughter, especially in the year before your debutante ball…’

Would require paying the price of the family going completely bankrupt.

*

If I had known it would come to this, I should have done the business that Rozelita had done in the original work.

Looking at our family that could barely save the estate and manor even after selling all the expensive things, I deeply regretted it.

There were even debts that still needed to be repaid.

But it was already in the past.

‘If I touched the protagonist’s share, I felt like I’d really have to live the protagonist’s life…’

However, now wasn’t the time to be picky.

Business? You need a foundation for that too.

There’s no point waving at a train that’s already left – it won’t reverse for you.

‘Still, don’t worry too much, Rozelita. We’ll definitely protect you.’

My kind and gentle parents said that, but I wasn’t someone who would just sit still believing only those words.

Wasn’t I someone who had lived tenaciously in my previous life just to take care of myself?

For me, with healthy limbs and good health, to just sit still relying only on my parents – that would be absurd.

So unlike other young ladies my age, instead of preparing for my debutante, I threw myself into the job market.

But with the status of a baron’s daughter, finding work wasn’t easy, so I had to search everywhere and make inquiries.

Most places either rejected me based on status alone or were involved in illegal activities.

After great difficulty, I was finally able to find a job that was legitimate, legal, and even paid quite well.

【Seeking Assistant for 2nd Prince’s Office】

Though it turned out to be an assistant position for the Male Lead…

The Male Lead – I ended up like this trying not to get involved with him.

But humans are weak, and in the end, I submitted my application.

When I was about to starve to death, was it time to worry about fate in books? People cannot live without food.

I had so desperately wanted to avoid getting entangled with the Male Lead, yet now I was so desperate for it.

Less than two weeks after submitting my application, I received an interview notice.

So in the winter of my nineteenth year.

I, Rozelita Salice, chose to go to the capital, determined to somehow protect my family.

Coincidentally, it was the same age when the original Rozelita entered the capital with the Male Lead.

*

Thinking about it, the red alert had been ringing quite loudly from that interview.

“Please go in, Miss Salice.”

For some reason, I was the only one who had arrived at the interview location.

“I’ve been waiting for you for so long, Miss Salice. If the Salice Estate had been just a little closer, I would have sent an Imperial Carriage.”

The Male Lead, who in the original work was prickly to everyone except the female protagonist – and sometimes even to the female protagonist – greeted me with an incredibly kind and bright attitude.

“Th-thank you. You’re too kind, Your Highness.”

Seeing my flustered response to the prince’s words and my clumsy attitude at the thought that he could become my boss, he wore quite a cunning smile – though I only noticed this after working beside him for a while.

“Too kind? Miss Salice’s resume and the documents attached with it were so impressive that I thought I’d definitely regret it if I let you slip away.”

And the fact that the prince, who was incredibly arrogant toward others, was somehow excessively polite to me, a rural noble young lady, that day – looking back, it was full of suspicious elements.

“The interview is just a formality, and I called you here to discuss Miss Salice’s working conditions. Since there’s distance from your estate, this would be convenient for starting work immediately.”

The Male Lead, quite cunningly, presented only sweet conditions that I absolutely couldn’t refuse.

“The working conditions I want to offer Miss Salice are as written in this document.”

The contract he handed me while saying this was much more groundbreaking than even my previous world where labor laws were established, and much better than the job posting.

[Monthly base salary 500 gold, overtime pay calculated at double hourly rate.

*Working hours: 8 hours per day, with 1 hour break time separate.

Two-story house provided 10 minutes by carriage, 30 minutes on foot from workplace, maid provided, three meals a day or meal allowance provided.

50 gold monthly clothing allowance.

20 days annual leave and 4-day work week.

Additional work compensated with substitute leave or double pay.

Separate severance pay upon resignation.]

Failing to realize that excessively good conditions hide traps, I ended up signing right then and there.

Writing the name Rozelita Salice in neat, careful letters.

*

And now, I, Rozelita Salice, think to myself.

“Rose.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Six o’clock in the evening, which you absolutely love.”

“….”

I clenched my teeth tightly as I heard those words.

“Happy, aren’t you? From now on.”

Thud.

The Male Lead placed another stack of documents on my desk with a wicked smile.

“Since it’s the overtime hours you love so much with double pay.”

Why the salary was exceptionally high for a nineteen-year-old noble lady to receive.

Why on earth there were words written like alternative vacation or ‘double allowance’.

“I heard that for tonight’s dinner, they’re preparing your favorite premium beef from the Eastern Region grilled medium rare, with seasonal vegetables as garnish. They’ve prepared low-alcohol wine as well.”

I should have realized why ‘3 meals’ or meal expenses were provided too.

It meant that overtime and weekend work were frequent.

“There really is no workplace like this, is there, Rose?”

He spoke with that beautiful smile that newspapers praised and that young ladies of high society admired whenever they saw it.

I looked at that smile and forced the corners of my mouth up into a smile.

What a devil.

‘Really.’

Oh God….

I really shouldn’t have gotten involved with the Male Lead….

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