SMCS Ch 20 — Making Money is the Easiest in Rofan

The joy of finally selling 10,000 shares lasted even shorter than I expected. To be more precise, emotions that were greater than joy kept rushing into my mind.

Late at night, when everyone had already fallen asleep. I sat alone in my bedroom and messed up my innocent hair once again.

“What the hell, seriously!”

No matter how much I mulled over it, the absurdity of it was endless. It wasn’t just happy about selling 10,000 shares for the first time, but also at the reward that was given. Without even a sense of shame, I had answered loudly in front of Leonon. 

But what was important was what the reward contained. Wasn’t a reward literally a ‘prize’ or something that had a corresponding value to it? It had always been like that, so of course I thought it’d be like that this time as well. 

But to think that it was a sudden kiss. It used such an unreasonable way to direct it too.

“It’s ridiculous. What sort of reward is that…”

I was speechless at my memory of that moment that vividly came to my mind. That unbelievably soft feeling, that long golden hair that gently brushed against my forehead, and that refreshing scent that permeated the tip of my nose…

“Ah, why do I keep thinking about it?!” I frantically shook my head and tried to cut off my thoughts quickly, but my heart was already pounding loudly, as if it were a beating drum. 

I was just sitting, but I felt hot somehow. I stormed over to the windows and turned the handles, opening the shutters. Then, a cool wind blew in, as if it had just been waiting.

“Haa…” I finally calmed down after some cold air.

‘Now that I think about it, he only said that cookies would be given as a reward, and didn’t mention the way they worked how it would be decided.’

Staring at the particularly bright moon in the night sky today, I became lost in thought. The reason I didn’t have many questions about cookies so far was because I thought it was just a reward for selling a lot of stocks. And every time I used it, it helped me a lot. But I wouldn’t have used it so easily if I had known that such an absurd situation could also be given as a reward.

“It’s fortunate that this only happened with the Commander, if this happened with someone else, then obviously…” I was shocked at the words I had unknowingly uttered and closed my mouth hurriedly.

“You must be crazy! Words can turn into seeds1!” I was taken aback and flicked my hand back and forth violently in the empty air. After struggling like that for a while, I was finally able to catch my breath.

In any case, there’s no way that this situation won’t happen again. So what exactly is a cookie, and will it affect my selling of shares if I don’t use it? It didn’t matter whether or not I could use them whenever I wanted to. Right now, my first priority was to find the answers to these questions. 

And there was only one person who could tell me. 

“Winnard.” I said his name quietly. But nothing happened for some reason. 

What, why is it still so quiet? Did you not hear me because I said you name too softly?

“Winnard!” I called out quite loudly this time, but I couldn’t even see a baby ant.

The same thing happened again, no matter how many times I called out. Although it hadn’t even been more than a few times yet, I obviously thought he would come since he used to show up every time I called him previously. 

“No way, don’t tell me… did something happen to him?”

My mind was filled with anxiety and uneasiness. Perhaps that was also something that was natural. 

Last night, he had said that it was possible to take a look at another main character candidate, ‘Sable Lilly’, because her guide had received disciplinary action and was currently under probation. What if that became a problem and Winnard also received disciplinary action…?

I turned around quickly. I looked in every corner of the room, but there was no sign of suspicion anywhere. Nevertheless, I still kept feeling nervous. It seemed like there were other candidates that were holding their breath and spying on me from somewhere. What if one of them had bad intentions…?

“Winnard…!” It was when I called out his name in earnest once again.

“Oh, my bad.” An urgent voice sounded from behind me. 

I turned my head in delight, and sure enough, Winnard was there, standing where there had been no one before. 

“What the hell, why’d you come so late?” I rushed to his side with a smile. The tension that was weighing down on my body melted away miraculously. This was the first time I had been so happy.

“Tada!”

「Total shares sold: 24,000 shares.」

I immediately opened the system window that I had been planning to show him when he came. Perhaps it was because he was the only one I could brag to, but every time I saw his face now, I would immediately start showing off how many shares I had sold.

“How is it, huh? How do you like that?”

I was very proud of myself when I saw the change in the first digit of the total number. I was so proud my shoulders ended up trembling from narcissistic laughter. 

“Good, very good.” 

At the seemingly satisfied voice, my back straightened unconsciously. “Ha, don’t ask me how I earned it. Just know that I went through a lot.”

As soon as I began to shake my hand in resignation and talk too much, a hypothesis flashed through my head for some reason. 

“Heok, no way…!” A bewildered scream popped out of my mouth. “D-Did you perhaps see it too?!”

Instead of answering me, he avoided my eyes for no reason with an awkward expression on his face. Seeing that, I knew instantly without even having to hear it directly from him. 

Unable to overcome the embarrassment, I stomped my feet and covered my red face with both hands as I heard his nonchalant voice sound out. “It’s okay, I don’t care.”

But it’s not okay! It’s me that cares, me! Damn it! So this is how my dark history is being repeated today.

“By the way, what did you call me over for today?” Whether or not it was because he was actually being considerate of me, who was suppressing this bitter medicine that had been given to me, or whether he was actually busy or not, his tone was crisp and businesslike.

It was only then that I actually had a good look at him. A white shirt made of silk and a gold jacket with garnet buttons, as well as a kravat that had a large ruby accessory on it. Although he was normally well dressed as well, he seemed to be dressed even better today. Are you going to a party or something…?

“Oh, I have something I’m curious about. You know about the bonus cookies, right? Do I need to use it right away if I receive it? This isn’t a question that meddles in a candidate’s affairs, right? If it’s alright, please answer me…”

“No.” His reply was so short that it made my meticulously formulated additional reasoning completely insignificant. “You can use it whenever you want to.” 

Winnard added with a light nod, “Since it’s a bonus cookie, just like its name. You’ve already used it before, right?”

I then remembered the time when I had fled from the Duke’s mansion. When I had used the cookies later, smoke had suddenly risen from the mansion. 

“Any other questions?”

Suddenly completely conscious of his words, I cautiously scrutinised him. Staring silently at those emerald eyes of his that were always filled with curiosity and mischief, I opened my mouth. “Where are you normally when you come here?”

It was a rather impulsive question. But it was also something I had been curious about all along. How do you pass your time when I don’t call for you, do you have a separate residence, where do you get so many clothes and accessories from to the extent where they’ve never overlapped, whether you even sleep and eat regularly like me, et cetera. Truthfully, I had a lot of questions about him.

Winnard’s eyebrows furrowed faintly for a moment at the sudden question before I glimpsed a brief ghost of a smile on his lips. “Is this really the time for you to be curious about something like that, Lorella? If it were me, I’d be busy just paying attention to selling shares.”

The reply that came back to me was a frigidly simple answer. It seemed to be a very clear confirmation that even though we shared the same goal, apart from that, there should be a clear and definitive distance between the two of us.

As I stood there blankly and blinked both eyes, Winnard straightened his body which had been leaning against the door previously. 

“May I leave if you don’t have any other questions for me?” he whispered softly with a bright smile. “You did well this time as well, Lorella. Call me again whenever you need me.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a cold wind suddenly blew in, which was a complete contrast to his amiable tone. Somehow having been left alone at some point, I looked around the empty room for a moment before taking a big breath in. 

For some reason, I felt like the inside of me was filled with an awkward and unpleasant feeling.

* * *

pls do not share this anywhere or u will always stub ur toe when u walk past a door frame !! this translation has been stolen from mioscorner.com, pls only read there i’m begging u :kneels:

‘I’ll be the one to invite you next time.’

In what right mind did I make such a promise to Commander Leonon? It was only later that I realised I had made such a ridiculous suggestion.

“Who the hell can I invite to a house like this…?!”

Because I had to settle the debt, there were holes here and there all over the wall, all of the tableware had chips in them, and there wasn’t even a sofa where you could comfortably sit on.

“Regardless of shares or anything else, I have to make money first!” 

To think that I had to worry about my livelihood when selling shares was already too much. The main characters of other transmigration novels were able to live quite luxuriously without having to worry about their livelihood, but why did only I have to go through this sort of trouble? 

However, it’s too early for me to fall into despair. Since I also had a plan.

Just how many times had I seen how main characters that were penniless made money, and how they had uplifted their household and made them known? Fufu, now it’s my turn to show you all!

As soon as day broke, I called for the butler and asked for two things. The first was to be prepared to greet visitors in the morning, and the second was to make preparations to go out to the city after that.

The guest arrived with good timing, after I had enjoyed a leisurely bath and finished a late breakfast. He was a dealer who specialises in collecting jewels. He had become an acquaintance since he was the one I had sold back the luxury goods to in order to pay off our debt. 

I sat across from him and silently held out a heavy silk pouch. The man removed his circular glasses and slid them to the tip of his nose. Then, he poured out the contents of the pouch onto a white cloth and carefully examined each one. After a while, a bright smile bloomed on his face.

“These are of superb quality. I’ll buy them right away.”

Those had been the accessories I had been wearing when I had escaped from the Duke’s mansion. It was my entire fortune that I had hidden until the end.

Although it had been a gift from other nobles from when I had gotten married, I was rather fed up with it, since rather than having good memories of it, just having it with me reminded me of the past two years. However, since the gift was given to the ‘Duchess’ despite me only being one in name, it was still a good item, so the transaction was carried out quickly. The empty wooden safe was soon filled with gold coins.

“No matter where you go, it’ll be hard for you to come by the price I’ve given you again. Please call me again next time, since I gave you such a generous price.” The man left with a polite farewell and returned.

Although my ears and neck felt rather empty, a fairly satisfactory amount of money was in my hands instead. I held the box of gold coins in my arms and looked around the needlessly spacious room. Although I could buy a luxurious tableware set or decorate the drawing room exquisitely with the gold coins I had now, that still wouldn’t solve the fundamental problem. 

“Miss, the carriage is ready for you.” The butler’s voice was heard from outside the drawing room just in time. 

I picked up my outdoor shawl, raising up the corners of my mouth. This would be the first step of my greatest plan yet.

* * *

After getting on the carriage, I headed to a small bakery located in the corner of the city. I had once eaten a cake here when I had stayed in the temple and it had been so delicious that I had even asked the priest for the name of the bakery. There was no other place that was more perfect than here for my plan.

When I opened the door and entered the shop, a middle-aged woman wearing an apron rushed out to greet me. “Welcome.”

I nodded at her and glanced around the store. There were only six tables. It seemed like the inside of the shop was small since there were many customers who ordered the food to-go.

Well, to be fair, everyone, even the employees of the Mayred County who were located quite far from here, was aware of the bakery’s ability, so the interior didn’t matter very much. The simple interior that wasn’t fancy at all seemed to be a reflection of the patissier’s skills.

Looking around, I said with a smile, “I actually came to find the patissier of this place.”

“That’s me. What seems to be the problem…?” she asked cautiously, looking at my clothes. 

I knew it. From baking the bread to serving the customers, she did everything by herself. 

That was when the woman’s hand which had severe calluses on it caught my eye. There were also a few severe scars that remained on the back of her hand, as if it had been burned by something from somewhere. It was obviously the hand of a master artisan. It would be a scam if this wasn’t a good restaurant!

I held out my pouch of gold coins with a friendly smile in an attempt to diminish her vigilance. “I came because I wanted to make an investment in this place.”

“What?!”

“I’ve tasted the dessert here before, and the taste is absolutely unforgettable.” Her ears quickly turned red when I praised her with a thumbs up. 

At this point, I also didn’t forget to grab onto the opportunity and quickly poured out my next words. “I’ll just quickly cut to the chase. With the money I’ve invested, I hope that Mrs. Patissier is able to make a new menu and sell it. With the condition that the net profit is divided between the two of us by exactly one half. What do you think? It doesn’t sound too bad, right?”

The patissier stood there and listened to me, then pointed me to an empty seat first. Then, she said with a bewildered expression on her face, “I’m grateful for the offer, but it’s just too sudden.” She even shook her head violently side to side. It was clear to anyone who saw that this was a person who was saying no.  

“As you can see, our store is small and the location isn’t very good. Besides, I can’t afford to release a new menu, even if you invest now.” 

But you wouldn’t have directed me to a chair if it wasn’t even the slightest bit tempting. 

“Naturally… I’m confident in my skills though.”

That last comment she made gave me even more hope. 

“That’s alright, since that’s more than enough.”

I took out the papers I had brought from the mansion. Although the picture didn’t look very similar to the actual thing, it was a dessert design that I had worked diligently on last night. “I’ll give your skills wings.”

She stared at the designs with wide eyes and asked in a trembling voice, “W-What is all this? Will this sort of thing… really sell?”

“Of course it will sell.”

“I’ve worked in this industry for a long time, but I’ve never heard or seen this sort of dessert before.”

Eyes full of doubt and an uneasy voice. But I was just that full of confidence. 

“Don’t worry. Since I’ve seen a few sisters suddenly get rich with this.”

“Are there really people like that…? Oh, are you perhaps from abroad?”

“Well, you could see it like that! Anyways, just trust me!”

Wasn’t this just groundless confidence? No, far from it. Since I had a buff that no one else had. It’s a buff that’s called ‘being a transmigrator’. No one knows as much as I do about how to make money in Rofan2 novels! I could already picture myself raking in the money. 

“Fufufu.” 

A laugh that couldn’t be held back still kept leaking out despite the hand that was covering my mouth.

* * *

The so-called <Making money is the easiest in Rofan!> project was launched in no time. It didn’t even take very long since I had invested in someone who had excellent skills. 

The morning sunlight was pouring in brilliantly on the day the new menu was to be introduced. The inside of the store was already bursting with a sweet smell. The beautiful sight of the white vanilla ice cream melting on the steaming flat croissant was enough to make my mouth water. Next to it were large macarons, each one beautifully packaged and displayed like jewels.

Just one bite. Yeah, just one bite and it’ll be a hit!

I clenched my fists and personally opened the store’s door. First, I planned for it to go viral with the regular customers of the bakery. Since not only the commoners, but also the nobles were apparently quite fond of visiting here, I had a chance to make it big this way.

Shortly after opening, the bell on the door shook with a cheerful diriring sound. The first person to visit the bakery was an elegant old lady who was also accompanied by a maid.

“Welcome!” I rushed over and greeted them with a big smile. 

“Oh my, it’s someone I haven’t seen before!”

“Yes, I’ve come to help with the new dessert that just came out. Would you like to try a taste?” And quickly placed a small plate in front of her. “This is a croffle3 that’s famous abroad…”

“Goodness, what is this?” But contrary to my expectations, she frowned and cut me off. “Bread that’s been pressed flat, was this a result of an error in the baking process?”

“What? N-No. If you just take a bite first, it’s crispy on the outside and soft on the inside…”

“Furthermore, the cream on top is melting all over it… My apologies, but I don’t feel like eating it at all.”

Huh? I-It’s not supposed to go like this though?

Flustered, I hurriedly put down the plate of croffle. This time, quickly picking up a packaged fat macaron. “Then how about this one? This is a fatcaron4 that can only be eaten in a faraway country…”

But somehow, the frown on the old madam’s face got even deeper. “It seems to be intended as finger food judging by the individual packing, but it’s not easy for someone who’s old like me to take a bite if it’s that big. I don’t like it when my mouth and hands are messy when I eat either.” She shook her head.

Th-This can’t be happening! There’s no way K-food can fail! All the other main characters in Rofan were clearly successful though! I saw it several times, over and over again!

“I-It may look like that, but you’ll definitely change your mind after eating it. So could you just give it a little taste?” 

I followed her around and begged her. But the old madam only chose the products she wanted, completed the transaction, and left quickly. 

After that, customers have been streaming steadily into the store. There was a couple on a date, as well as a mother with a child.

“Mr. Customer, you’ll definitely change your mind after taking a bite. Please.” I begged, following after the little brat. “Just one bite, okay?”

But the brat was too cruel. “Mom! This noona5 keeps telling me to eat bread that looks like the bottom of my shoe!”

Looking at the back view of the child who had turned his back to me coldly and ran back to his mom, I let out a mournful cry, “Please, just one bite~!”

[from top to bottom]
uwahhhhh!
drip drip

[1] 말이 씨가 된다 = words said without any intention can sometimes lead to unexpected results 

[2] recap but rofan is an abbreviation of the genres ‘romance + fantasy’ and usually refer to novels that are in that european historical nobility setting with magic in that world as well (so most transmigration stories like this)

[3] flattened croissant with a waffle press served with either ice cream or cream on top.

[4] macaron with extra thick filling

[5] used to refer to older females (used by males)

author’s note

one bite fairy

naver comments

끄댕이 (timi****)
haa, look at our lorella… she’s crying because a kid isn’t eating it… don’t cry unnie, if unnie’s the one that made it, then i’ll definitely eat it, even if it tastes like the bottom of my shoe…

dryadalis (jane****)
it’s not obvious… i love it so much ahGLKDSJFDFJSDSJF

the truth of pure, cute, sexy, and decadence (love***)
haa… there’s no way winnard isn’t a male lead candidate!!! no matter how i look at it, he’s definitely a male lead candidate if the female lead’s heart hurts!!!!?