Chapter 11

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter Title: The Princess Only Deals in the Real Thing 1

-----------------------------------------------------------------

공녀님은 진짜만 취급합니다

1화

프롤로그

The pawnshop buzzed with chattering customers.

Among them, one pair stood out with their particularly loud voices.

"Dad, let's just go! What good's an appraisal on a single coin like this?"

"You never know, kiddo."

"I don't even need college, so...!"

A distressed daughter and an even more heartbroken father.

I could guess their situation without asking.

They must be short on tuition for their daughter.

I smiled and greeted them as I thought it over.

"Hello, customers. I'm appraiser Elisha. May I see the item?"

"Ah, sure. Could you take a look at this coin? I won it in a bet back in my sailing days! It's like my lucky charm."

"Dad..."

"Just sit tight, you rascal. Even ten thousand gold would be something."

A quick glance showed the daughter's sullen expression.

She must feel awful about selling her dad's cherished lucky charm for her tuition.

It'd probably hurt even more if the appraisal came in low.

I wanted to give them top dollar, but principles were principles.

I picked up the loupe and examined the coin, then smiled faintly.

Hm, it really is a lucky charm, isn't it?

I smiled at the anxious father peering at me.

"You said you won this coin in a bet?"

"Y-Yes, that's right."

"Was it by any chance in the Calico Strait?"

"H-How did you...?"

"I can tell at a glance."

I unfolded a newspaper clipping I'd saved and showed it to the stunned father.

There it read:

[...The so-called 'Calico Gold Coin' fetches ten million gold at auction...]

"Eek?!"

"T-Ten million gold?!"

I handed a card to the father and daughter, who looked ready to collapse in shock.

"It's in great condition, solid gold. This is my first time seeing a Calico gold coin in person, so I'd love to buy it myself."

It was an invitation to the auction house.

The pair stared at me in bewilderment as they took the card.

"But you'll get more at the auction house directly. Mention I sent you, and they'll treat you right. Give it a try."

"N-No way...!"

"Thank you! Thank you so much, appraiser!"

In a way, it really was a lucky charm.

Their daughter's tuition was solved in one go.

I waved as the excited pair headed out.

The next customer, who'd been watching, whispered.

"I heard rumors, and it's true... The appraiser here is so honest. Glad we came."

"Haha, you're too kind."

"Is that why even Her Highness the Princess uses this place?"

"Koff!"

When did that become a rumor?

I choked on the unexpected name, coughing, and the customer leaned in conspiratorially.

"I heard the Imperial Holy Knight Captain and the temple's cardinal have visited too. Is that true?"

"W-Well, customer..."

"And that's not all."

The customer glanced around, eyes gleaming.

"They say even the Grand Duke of the neighboring Moro Grand Duchy drops by?"

"That's... um."

"Right? Right?! Wow, it's so surreal. Even people like that use a pawnshop!"

What's with this customer's info network?

As I thought that, the customer asked with wide-eyed curiosity.

"What do VIPs like that usually buy? I'm dying to know."

"They don't really buy anything."

"Huh? Then they come to sell?"

"They don't sell much either."

"Whaaat? If they're not buying or selling, aren't they just troublesome customers?"

They say troublemakers don't know they're troublemakers.

Customers who only asked questions weren't exactly ideal either.

I swallowed my blunt thoughts and reflected.

Yeah, those people.

They are troublesome.

But in another way?

Maybe not so much. Who knows.

To figure out how those half-trouble, half-not types ended up as customers at our pawnshop...

I'd have to go back a bit.

Back to right after I regressed.

Me, Elisha Lionet.

I'm living my second life.

0. First Life

The end of my first life was pathetic.

I was beaten to death.

"Hey, this girl's coughing up blood!"

"S-She's not dying, is she? I said go easy! We just wanted the necklace...!"

"Bounce before the principality guards show up!"

More precisely, I was in the process of being beaten to death.

Snow fell softly around me as a newspaper fluttered by in the wind.

Beneath the wanted poster, an article caught my eye:

[...Unidentified body found in slum fire near the imperial capital identified as former Duke Michele Pioquedaad Lionet, shockwaves ensue...]

Grandpa's dead.

Having read that Grandpa's body had been found, I had no reason left to live.

I didn't even feel the pain anymore.

Grandpa...

Three years prior, Grandpa and I had lived alone in a small house when relatives burst in and kicked us out.

They claimed Grandpa was a disgraced duke.

"M-My grandpa was a duke?"

Before I could process the shocking revelation I'd never heard before, they forced signatures on me.

Renunciation of Status

Renunciation of Assets

Transfer of Rights Agreement

Documents that screamed "do not sign" at first glance.

But I had no time to investigate; I signed.

"You'll heal my grandpa if I sign, right?"

"Of course! Why would we abandon the duke we've finally found?"

They promised to cure Grandpa's rare disease.

I couldn't refuse those terms.

"One condition, though. Never set foot in this empire again. Ever."

Just like that, I was exiled from the empire overnight.

I barely made it to the Moro Principality.

I scraped by as a day laborer, and the grueling life wrecked my health.

But I endured. As long as my beloved grandpa was safe, I was fine. But then...

[...Lionet Family proceeds with auction of former duke's pawnshop and other assets; inheritance smooth...]

Grandpa was dead.

Not peacefully in bed, but caught in a fire, no less.

And found as an unidentified slum corpse?

The expensive medicine, the top facilities—all lies.

"How... How could this happen...?"

And they sold the pawnshop too.

Grandpa always said he'd never close or sell it, no matter what.

The Lionet Family let him die and didn't even honor his final wish.

They took everything except the necklace.

I gazed vacantly at the red necklace I'd protected even as I was beaten senseless.

The only link to Grandpa I'd managed to take when we were driven out.

Red blood spread across the ground like the necklace.

I felt wronged. Devastated.

As death loomed, despite not believing in gods, I prayed instinctively.

World Tree. Just once, please give me one chance...

Thud.

Before I could finish, my hand went limp.

My eyes closed.

The last things I saw were snow piling softly on the necklace and...

"How pitiful."

A shadow murmuring those words as it stopped before me.

It had been a pitch-black winter night when I closed my eyes...

But now everything was brightly lit.

I stared blankly at the window—or rather, the curtains draped over it.

"No way."

It was unmistakable.

Grandpa had made those curtains himself from fabric he'd gotten.

I jumped up and checked my reflection in the mirror.

Pale purple eyes, unswollen. My favorite plaid pajamas. Long, smooth pinkish hair.

And the necklace I'd worn since early childhood, forgotten in memory.

"I'm back..."

I'd returned. Home.

To the time before dying on the streets of the Moro Principality.

Which meant...?

"G-Grandpa."

I raced down the stairs.

There he was...

"Grandpa!"

"Listen to that voice. You think I'm going somewhere?"

Grandpa was there.

"Grandpa! It's you, right? Do you recognize me? Who am I, Grandpa?"

"This brat wakes up and tests her old man? I took my medicine, don't worry. You're Elisha, my one and only granddaughter."

Grandpa sipped his dark brew.

He grumbled as I hugged him but stroked my face tenderly.

His wrinkled, large hand on my cheek made it real—I was back.

"Why the long face? Bad dream or something?"

"Yeah. A really, really bad one."

"What, a carrot monster?"

"...Yeah, something like that. You still remember I hate carrots?"

"I'd forget everything else before that, you rascal!"

I nearly teared up at how unchanged he was.

But no time for that. I checked the calendar and shot up.

"Three days ago."

Three days before the relatives would barge in and evict us.

"Three days left."

I scanned the house, plastered with memos, blew my nose, and approached Grandpa.

"Grandpa."

"What, brat."

"You know I love you a ton, right?"

"...Hmph. What's with the flattery?"

He snorted, but his lips twitched upward, pleased.

"Want some treat? Or a new ribbon, some clothes?"

No. I don't need that.

Grandpa had raised me for twenty years in place of my early-departed parents.

The reason for my life, my only family.

I gazed at his face fondly for a moment, then cleared my throat casually.

"You're sharp as ever. But that's not what I want."

"Then what do you want?"

"Hmm. Nothing big..."

I clasped my hands like in prayer.

And finished the prayer from my previous life that I hadn't completed.

This time, I'll never let them take anything.

"Give me your seal, Grandpa."

Grandpa, the pawnshop, my life.

Never again.

I grinned.