Obviously, It’s My Child

He took a sip and looked up at the ceiling from which cotton puffs were hanging like clouds.

“The store is unique. It’s not the toy store I imagined.”

“You like it?”

“It’s not something to like or dislike. I mean, kids will love it anyway. But is this the only way it makes a business?”

“It’ll work. Look at the people around here.”

“I’m asking if it’s profitable. These decorations, child-watching guards, would cost quite a bit. I think there will be a lot of customers who just hang out.”

Claire was silent for a moment. That fact made Erich feel a sense of triumph.

“How did you know it’s my store?”

“Is there anyone else in the world who would come up with an idea that others can’t even think of?”

And the person who runs it.

Erich was always surprised by that.

Claire always talked as if she had no power or abilities, and was unwilling to step forward.

But in reality, she never hesitated whenever she started something. She had never failed. She often downplayed even what she has achieved.

Claire responded with an uncomfortable face.

“I’m sure I’m not the first to try to keep customers in rather than let them go.”

“Children are different. They’re not the kind of people who can open their wallets themselves. In fact, buying a toy itself isn’t a common thing.”

In most families, children as young as seven were given a job. If their parents had a store or land to go to, it was natural for the children to help with the housework.

Herding sheep and cattle was usually the work of children. If they lived in the city, it was normal to sell newspapers or work as a servant, and even in factories they used seven or eight year olds.

Even though they were young and were still playing, there was no reason to buy them toys. There are many things to play with in the world.

Claire said bitterly.

“So the person who brings their child to this place is rich. If they stay long, they will spend money.”

“Hmm.”

“Actually, it’s not about making money right now.”

Claire admitted bluntly.

“I’m just trying to run a lot of businesses. Some succeed, some fail. It was close to failure, but there were a lot of people who liked it, so I’m keeping it.”

“I see.”

“Even if their parents don’t buy it… Sometimes they save money while working as an apprentice or errand boy and then they come to buy something.”

It’s like coming to buy a treasure. So Claire had them make toys for a slightly older age group as well.

Children can have fun even by pounding grass with a twig or a few stones, but after having a nephew, she felt sorry for them.

Erich said.

“You have the temperament of a gambler.”

“What kind of gamble would this be? It’s just one store.”

“I’m not talking about this store alone.”

“Ah.”

Claire gave a short exclamation. Then she tucked a lock of her hair behind one ear and looked away as if she was uncomfortable.

“Did you know that the Weaving Guild is mine?”

“…Because reports come in. It seems to be doing pretty well in my domain.”

Erich also turned his gaze and looked out of his window at the street. For the past five years, he didn’t want her to find out he’d been watching the Weaving Guild’s trend.

He didn’t know she had a child.

He may have had to watch the Delford estate rather than the Weaving guild. It was lamentable that his pride prevented him from doing so.

“Oh, come to think of it, there is a dispute over there.”

Claire answered lightly without bringing up the story of Marquisate Belf.

She believed that Erich wouldn’t be involved in such a thing, but even if he knew, that wouldn’t be strange.

“Well, I was lucky.”

“You can’t make something like the Weaving Guild by luck alone.”

“Then let’s say I had a good imagination.”

Claire replied as if it was nothing.

And she really thought it was no big deal. She knew the shape of the future.

The Rommel-Arren Empire did not have a history consistent with the world she lived in her previous life. They differed in geography and climatic characteristics.

But human nature was the same. It’s the same with what comes after any technology, and what people will aspire to when supplies become abundant.

Claire had a vague knowledge of the goings-on of the industrial revolution, and she knew, above all, the outcome of what was at its end.

So, she just had to choose what to challenge. She believed in her success and could throw her hand without hesitation.

Budgeting, raising investments, and generating leverage weren’t new or complicated to Claire. Because she lived in a world where capitalism was extremely developed.

‘I’m not a gambler, I’m a swindler.’

Of course, this does not mean that the economic structure was simple or easy to make money.

But Claire was a noble. Although if she was a lower aristocrat of Southern Arren, she could be said to be the bottom of society.

She was free from extortion or threats, things acted good, and the rules moved favorably.

Even that was considered an unfair expedient to Claire.

If this was the case even for her, an Arren noble, how convenient were the great nobles of Rommel living in? And what an unfair world it is for ordinary people.

The country, the laws, and even the principles of the world are completely different for them. Claire looked at Erich while thinking about that.

“You’re angry at me again.”

Erich said. Claire laughed.

“No. It’s not that I’m angry with you. I just sometimes get unbearably angry with the world.”

“…….”

“Because I know it well. I just didn’t make it obvious.”

Claire smiled. That was a bit odd.

They could have been nothing. Erich could have passed on seeing her as nothing but a lower-class noble.

He thought she was just an underclassman going to and from the same professor’s lab, and he could have passed her by with a nod.

If so, Claire might have thought of him as just a high-ranking person, and she might have tried to him with her connections when something happened.

‘Even now, we’re not in a relationship.’

Claire put that wedge at the end of his thinking.

Erich muttered.

“That…”

“That…?”

Claire tilted her head. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she lost track of what he was talking about earlier.