At nine PM, the garden district in the west of the Imperial Capital still blazed with light. Inside an exquisite two-story villa, Vinose stared at bills showing massive losses and expenses far exceeding income. Her hands trembled as she muttered inwardly.
Why? What was happening?
Suddenly, a flood of goods identical to her shop’s stock hit the market. Priced at only a quarter of standard rates—as if given away free—it left her unable to sell a single item for days. Her funds were now critically low.
But worse still, she’d learned those dirt-cheap yet top-quality goods were still plentiful. They were even being restocked. At this rate, bankruptcy loomed.
What on earth was going on? Why was she so unlucky? Why did the flood target exactly her merchandise?
Panicked, she racked her brain. Had she offended someone? Probably not.
Just as the fat aunt frowned in thought, a commotion erupted outside the door. Feeling disturbed, Vinose angrily turned toward the entrance. The scene there left her momentarily stunned.
There, the first to enter were young girls in black-and-white maid uniforms. They bustled about, carrying several boxes into the room.
“Eh? Eh? You—”
Before the fat aunt could stop these strangers barging into her home, she spotted a middle-aged man. He wore a sharp black suit, silver hair parted and slicked back. After entering, he turned and respectfully extended his arm to welcome Olivia, who walked in last.
Hmm~
Olivia nodded in satisfaction. She glanced at the utterly bewildered fat aunt on the sofa and said cheerfully:
“Sebastian, well done. Ah… other maids, carry my boxes to the bedroom upstairs. Then come down and clean. Yikes~ this floor is filthy! Has no one been able to command servants that even basic chores are neglected?”
“Olivia… what are you doing?!”
Finally, faced with Olivia returning home with a crowd, the fat aunt snapped under the threat. She shot to her feet, trembling, pointed at Olivia, and screamed:
“Coming home so late—and bringing strangers into my house! Did I allow you to bring outsiders here? What are you trying to pull? Do you want to die—!”
“Hm?” Olivia tilted her head, then walked to the sofa with a cold smile. Under the aunt’s murderous glare, she sat calmly opposite her. A maid hurried over with a cushion to attend to her.
Vinose stared blankly at the scene. Olivia curled the corner of her mouth and said with a smile:
“These are servants I hired for home. All beautiful, smart, and dexterous maids. Oh, and the handsome butler Sebastian. Anyway, I spent real money to hire them from reliable sources. It took an afternoon, but… whatever. I find I’m quite adapting to a life with servants attending to me!”
“You? Hah… what, what joke are you playing!” The aunt’s voice began to tremble. She shook her head wildly, as if desperate to tear apart the girl’s “lie,” and shouted:
“You clearly spent pocket change hiring actors to play house with me! Hah… with you? Do you even know the monthly wages for so many servants?”
“Yikes~ it is quite a bit, but I can afford it~!”
Olivia snorted coldly. She slammed the remaining fifty thousand denars onto the table.
The atmosphere grew quiet. Vinose stared at the golden high-denomination bills, breathing nervously. After a moment, she reached out to grab them—but a maid beside Olivia slapped her hand away.
“Madam, please do not touch my master’s money without permission.”
The short-haired maid said this coldly to Vinose. But kind words fall on deaf ears. Having lost face, Vinose glared at the maid and snapped: “What do you mean? Don’t you know I’m this brat’s elder? How dare you treat me like this?”
“Hmph, no problem. After all… I like loyal servants. Well done, Lily.”
Olivia smirked from the side. Her attitude clearly told Vinose: these are my servants. In this house, from now on, you don’t call the shots!
“You… where did you get this money?”
Vinose glared resentfully at Olivia, inwardly lamenting fate’s unfairness. Her business was failing while this little brat gained the upper hand.
However, what she didn’t expect was Olivia not only dominating her but humiliating her further. The girl smiled slightly, waved her hand, and said:
“Ah, just luck. I resold some Chen Dou, Shi Fen, Zhu Long Mu, and St. John’s Fruit and such~”
“Wha… what!? Those cheap goods—you sold them?” The aunt’s eyes widened in fury, as if wanting to devour Olivia alive. But the Bluehaired Loli wasn’t flustered. She nodded and continued:
“Small profits, big sales~ hehe. I have tons of stock—more than I can use. I’ve already earned enough to pay off the one hundred fifty thousand from that marriage contract. Remember our deal? Aunt, if I earned enough money, you’d carry me to and from school in a sedan chair every day?”
Olivia bared her small, sharp teeth in a taunting grin, staring intently. Vinose was completely dumbfounded. Wha… what?! She paid off that money too?
“Thi… this… this is bragging…”
“I’m not lying. This morning, I met that old nobleman. I repaid the money and learned something interesting. It turns out… when he proposed, he gave me one hundred fifty thousand as betrothal gifts. So… aunt, that money should have been mine…”
Olivia suddenly stood up and rushed to Vinose. She grabbed the collar of the fat aunt’s luxurious coat and slapped her face with a “smack—”. Vinose felt dizzy. Before she could recover, Olivia pressed close to her face, eyes wide, and shouted fiercely:
“Where did that one hundred fifty thousand in betrothal gifts go!?”
“You’re mad… Olivia, you… you’re insane! Cough… ah… you damn brat, rebelling?! Hah… that one hundred fifty thousand—I spent it on my son. So what? You dare hit me? Do you believe I’ll make sure you never find a foothold in the Imperial Capital… Agh—!”
Before she could finish, Olivia slapped the aunt’s grotesque face again. Vinose fell backward, crashing to the ground like a fat pig awaiting slaughter. She let out grunting cries of pain. Seeing this, the Bluehaired Loli snorted disdainfully and said:
“Seriously? Still dreaming? Before, I feared you only to get by. Now, I have so much money—do I still need you to teach me how to survive in the Imperial Capital, huh?”
