The Contract I Signed as a Child

The afternoon in Galnem was leisurely.

I sat on a stump that served as a chair, watching Mr. Jimmer chop wood with his axe. Each swing of his axe split a log clean in two. Broad shoulders, impressive muscles... It was a feast for the eyes.

'But if he chops wood this well, he must have good athletic ability. So why does he get injured so often?'

"Mr. Jimmer."

Swinging my legs back and forth as I admired him, I hopped down from the stump with a thump and landed on the ground. He turned to look at me and smiled warmly.

"You said your family lives in the city, right?"

At my words, Mr. Jimmer's hand holding the axe paused.

"...Yeah."

"Don't you miss them?"

I knew quite a bit about Mr. Jimmer. He had once told me about his past. His wife died right after giving birth to their child. He had one son, who was being raised by other family members, he'd said.

"...My son?"

"Yes. You said you haven't gone to the city at all since you started living here."

After setting down his axe for a moment, Mr. Jimmer sat down beside me. Strangely enough, even though he was soaked in sweat, he didn't smell like it.

"I do miss him."

Mr. Jimmer wiped the sweat from his forehead as he spoke.

"But there's nothing I can do about it now. I just hope that as much as I trust that boy, he trusts me too."

"You know, that's exactly it. I mean..."

It might have been a bit presumptuous, but I voiced my thoughts.

"I think you should go see him at least once. If I were Mr. Jimmer's daughter... I think I'd miss my dad a lot."

At my words, Mr. Jimmer's eyes flickered.

"Arinell misses her dad too?"

"Hmm... No. My mom passed away when she was pregnant with me, so I don't even know what he looked like. But Mr. Jimmer is a good person, and it's a little sad to see you living apart from your family like this."

"...Arinell."

I said, trying to encourage Mr. Jimmer.

"I'm alone because I have no family, but you have family and yet you live alone like this. That's not good. It's lonely."

Mr. Jimmer stared at me for a long time. Well, he had plenty of rough edges, but Mr. Jimmer was a good person. I'm sure he would have been a good father even if he had raised his son himself.

"So, I really hope you'll meet your son."

Mr. Jimmer's brown eyes held mine for a long time. I couldn't tell what he was thinking, but his gaze was warm.

"You know. We'll meet soon."

At his words, I widened my eyes and asked.

"Ah, did you already pick a date?"

"...Not exactly."

"Oh come on. Mom always said if you don't make a plan, it's the same as doing nothing."

At my scolding tone, Mr. Jimmer gave a faint smile.

"Really, Arinell. Not much longer. And..."

Mr. Jimmer leaned his upper body slightly toward me. Along with the shadow, his face came quite close—about two feet forward. For a moment, a cloud passed over the sun, casting a shadow.

"Arinell, you'll meet that boy too."

I couldn't understand what he meant, so I asked back.

"Me? Meet your son?"

He nodded.

"Yes, you promised."

When I tilted my head in confusion, he said.

"When Arinell was eight, you treated me for the first time."

"Oh..."

"And you were curious about my story, so you pried and pried."

The memory of that time suddenly came back, and I felt embarrassed.

"But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Could it be you don't remember the promise you made with me?"

Mr. Jimmer made a face like he was about to die of disappointment, then pulled something out from his chest and showed it to me. It was a crumpled, old piece of paper with my scribbles written on it. I instantly remembered what had happened and my face turned red.

Mr. Jimmer recited exactly what I had said back then.

"'Is Mr. Jimmer's son as handsome as you? Then I'll marry Mr. Jimmer's son.'"

"Mr. Jimmmmer!!"

My face burning, I reached up to grab the paper from him, but as a little kid, I could only reach as high as his chest even when I jumped. Mr. Jimmer laughed heartily and tucked it back into his chest.

Honestly, I felt a bit wronged.

'Arinell, do you want to marry my son?' — Mr. Jimmer had been the one who suggested it first.

That was the first thing he'd said after staring at me while I was applying crushed herbs to my wound. I'd naturally thought it was a joke and answered casually, and then he suddenly pulled out a piece of paper and asked me to sign it. That was when my impression of Mr. Jimmer changed. I'd thought he was a grumpy man since he didn't talk much, but he turned out to be surprisingly fun and simple. So instead of signing, I gave him a doodle... and he's kept it all this time?

"Please give it back."

"I can't return such an important contract."

It didn't look like Mr. Jimmer was about to take the paper out of his chest again. I'd been watching him chop wood and briefly thought he was an ordinary person with no flaws. But seeing him keep that doodle and call it a 'contract' all this time...

As expected, Mr. Jimmer was a bit—no, quite a lot—deficient.

"Ugh, you're not going to show that to your son and tell him to marry a girl named Arinell, are you?"

Mr. Jimmer looked at me with eyes that said, why would I ask something so obvious?

"Mr. Jimmmmer, please. If you do that, your son will be disappointed."

I wanted to say he might be taking advantage of my innocence, but I softened my words in case Mr. Jimmer would get sad.

"No, he'll definitely be happy."

"Even if he's being told to get married, the girl is from some backwater village. He won't even want to look at her."

With rough hands and dirt-stained limbs, I certainly wouldn't compare to well-raised city girls. Of course, Mr. Jimmer's family was poor even by city standards, but if his son took after him, he'd be popular.

"What? What's wrong with Arinell?"

Mr. Jimmer spoke to me with a serious, earnest expression, as if teaching me something important.

"There's no child in the world as cute and lovely as Arinell."

"..."

I sat dazed for a long time after dreaming about Galnem village for the first time in a while. Why hadn't I noticed that Mr. Jimmer was suspicious back then? As a reader of the original novel in my past life, I should have been suspicious that such a handsome man was living in the countryside chopping firewood.

'And to think Mr. Jimmer's son who lives in the city is Crown Prince Briton.'

I shook my head, thinking of Briton's face, which looked like a prince raised in a greenhouse. Right, as he said, there was still plenty of time until marriageable age, and who knew what the future held.

"Miss. It's Adam."

Adam's voice came from outside. I roughly fixed my messy hair from napping and replied to Adam.

"Yes, come in."

Soon Adam entered my room and began his report.

"I have some news. First, Hugobrint Bank has changed the trustee managing the trust assets. He's still the same guy, but he won't pull any tricks like last time. I gave him a stern warning."

Good, that's how it should be.

"Good job, Adam!"

"And the Military Department, the Economic Department, the Ministry of Justice, the Pension Ministry... in short, many institutions are showing interest in your movements, Miss. I caught a few men loitering in front of the Marquisate and threatened... no, asked them, and they revealed where they came from."

I tilted my head in confusion.

"To me? Why?"

"They just said they received orders from above to keep a close eye on you. Do you have any idea? Do you hold any grudges against those places or..."

At Adam's words, I puffed out my cheeks as if it were ridiculous and retorted.

"Grudges! You must have forgotten—I'm eleven years old."

What kind of grudge would a little kid like me have with such major institutions? To begin with, the only people I know are Mr. Jimmer and the people of Galnem village.

"I'm sorry. Since you're so childlike, I briefly suspected... Hmm."

I glared at Adam sharply.

"Anyway, even if you're the Crown Princess-to-be, it's unusual to attract the attention of such institutions, so I think I need to find out the reason."

Adam smiled awkwardly and changed the subject.

After Adam left the room, I went through the Marquisate's inheritance. First, the Marquisate's land rental income was only five thousand Bring. In Korean money, that would be about five million won in income. There was a large sum at Hugobrint Bank, but it was frozen, so it was no use for now.

'I don't even know what's in the safe.'

The problem was expenses. In just one week, five thousand Bring had been spent on repair costs. Including food and miscellaneous expenses, it was said to be around thirty thousand Bring. The palace had said they'd pay the servants' salaries for now, but I didn't know when I'd have to start paying...

'Ugh. Cars and houses—they all have maintenance costs.'

I let out a long sigh.

'At this rate, I'll go negative before even a year is over.'

"The most important thing... is money."

Suddenly, Mr. Amus came to mind. I wondered if he had read the letter I sent.

"Miss."

Adam's voice came as he tapped the desk with the tip of his pen. Adam approached me, and for some reason, he had a happy expression.

"There's news from the royal palace."

"...Yes?"

Thinking of Parmes's face, I felt a bit tense and scratched the back of my hand with my fingers. The memory of his threat to move next door came back.

"They say they'll be paying you a pension as death compensation for the Marquis and Marquise."

"Really?"

I widened my eyes.