Chapter 2
Upon hearing the news of Nivellia’s bankruptcy, Marquess Caleo Deiamor rushed to his daughter’s room.
“Oh, my poor girl…”
What greeted him was the sight of her back, slumped motionless on the floor.
The shoulders of the four-year-old CEO—left with nothing but debt and unsold inventory—looked unbearably heavy.
Caleo carefully sat down beside his daughter, who lay sprawled out in defeat.
“Sweetheart… I heard it went under?”
“Totally ruined…”
Nivellia replied weakly.
“Life’s not easy…”
“That’s life,” he nodded, answering with quiet understanding.
Then Caleo offered gently, “How about a drink with Dad?”
Claiming that such sorrow was best washed away with a cold glass of milk, he gently helped the drooping Nivellia to her feet.
“Nini’s upset right now, her chest feels all hot. I want cold milk.”
“You’ll get a tummy ache if it’s too cold. Let’s go with lukewarm.”
“Can I have it with chocolate cookies?”
“Sure, we can dip them in lukewarm milk.”
“…Can I have two?”
“Just one.”
“Aw…”
Clinging to her father’s hand, Nivellia wobbled toward the dining room like a drunken little wanderer.
When they arrived, the kitchen staff—already aware of the young lady’s misfortune—had a glass of milk and a large chocolate cookie waiting for her.
“And one for Dad, just the same.”
As per Nivellia’s request, a slightly larger glass of milk was set before Caleo.
The father and daughter clinked their glasses together.
After sipping the pleasantly cool milk, Nivellia broke her cookie in half and dipped it deeply into the glass—so deep that even her fingers were soaked. The cookie softened quickly.
“Daddy!”
“Hmm?”
“When you have chocolate cookies and milk, right?”
“Yeah, we’ve got both.”
“And then you do this—like this—then it becomes super yummy! And, and the cookie’s all round and pretty, isn’t it?”
“It is. Just like you, Nini.”
“Heehee! That’s why I love them!”
With a big bite of the milk-drenched cookie, Nivellia beamed with pure delight.
Caleo, smiling gently, used a handkerchief to wipe the milk dripping from her small fingers.
“Feeling better now? Is the sadness gone?”
“Just a little…”
Nivellia murmured as she chewed.
“Nini tried really hard, but didn’t make any money. That makes me sad.”
“I understand. That would make anyone feel down.”
“I hate the world. I hope everyone else earns less than me.”
“…That’s a bit extreme, sweetheart.”
Caleo waited patiently until she finished her cookie.
“Nini.”
“Yeah?”
“So, does that mean you’re not going to do business anymore?”
“I am!”
Though today had ended in failure, Nivellia’s dream still burned bright in her chest.
“I have to make lots of money! So I can buy yummy things for Wolfie!”
At the mention of “Wolfie,” Caleo’s thoughts turned to his daughter’s beloved stuffed animal.
She’d clung to that doll ever since she was a baby, too small to even hold up her head. Its name was Wolfie.
It had once been a luxurious handmade toy crafted from gold-dyed fabric and set with top-grade rubies. Now, it was little more than a grimy, threadbare rag.
Sometimes, I swear it looks like the doll is begging me to end its misery…
But every time he so much as tried to clean or mend it, Nivellia threw such a fit that no one dared touch it. It had easily been over six months since its last wash. Her maid, Deter, was always looking for a chance to sneak it away for cleaning.
“Wolfie would be in big trouble without me. He’d probably starve!”
“I see.”
“But making money’s really hard.”
“That’s what life is, sweetheart.”
“Nini learned about life today. It’s cold and heartless…”
“You worked so hard on what you made for your shop. Of course it’s upsetting.”
As Nivellia leaned her chin on the table, pouting in sorrow, Caleo spoke softly.
“Want some advice from Dad?”
Her eyes went wide.
“I’m not as good as your mother, but I know a thing or two about business. I help her out here and there, remember?”
“Daddy…!”
Moved by his words, Nivellia clambered down from her chair and wrapped her tiny arms around his leg.
“You’re more useful than I thought!”
“…Thanks for the backhanded compliment. Really makes me want to help you more,” Caleo replied dryly.
The Deiamor father and daughter moved to another room.
“To Nini’s room!”
Once they arrived, Nivellia prepared a notebook and crayons, ready to take notes on everything her father said.
Caleo began.
“First of all, your cookie shapes are too messy.”
He placed one of her homemade cookies next to one that looked just like the one they’d eaten earlier and compared them.
“If you were the customer, which one would you pick?”
“This one! The big one!”
“And what about the one you made?”
“……”
“Don’t look away like a guilty kitten. Be honest.”
“W-Well, it’s kind of true…”
Nivellia confessed honestly, glancing guiltily at the cookie she had made.
“But it still tastes good…”
“But customers don’t know how it tastes.”
That, Caleo said, was exactly what mattered.
“When people are buying for the first time, they don’t know the taste. So they’ll choose whichever looks better. That’s just how people are.”
“I see…”
Nivellia scribbled something into her notebook. She drew a rough circle and messily colored it brown to represent a cookie.
“What’s the second point?”
“How much did it cost you to make the cookies?”
“Hold on…”
Nivellia got up and pulled something out of her desk drawer.
“This—it’s the receipt.”
It was the receipt from when she had purchased the ingredients.
Caleo inspected the slip and asked, “And how much are you selling the cookies for?”
“Three for three thousand Ubba!”
“You’re holding up five fingers.”
“Oh, right—five thousand Ubba!”
“So, how many cookies did you make in total?”
“A lot!”
“We might need to call in Deter for this.”
Right on cue, Deter, who had been waiting outside the door, stepped in and gave a clear report.
“The young lady made a total of seventy-two cookies. Of those, three were eaten secretly when she said she was hungry…”
So, sixty-nine cookies remained.
If bundled into sets of three, that made twenty-three packages.
“Four of those were sold, so we now have nineteen left. Though the young lady did the mixing, I did the baking. My labor cost should be included as well.”
“Deter’s my friend, so I got a good deal.”
“Exactly why you should be paying me more.”
After a few calculations, Caleo gave a tight-lipped smile.
“As I thought… your cookie price is way too low for what you spent on ingredients.”
And that was without even accounting for labor and rental fees for the department store stall. Nivellia’s pricing had been wildly unrealistic.
“You should be charging at least twenty-five thousand Ubba per cookie.”
“Twenty-five thousand?! That’s five whole five-thousands!”
“Eek!”
Startled by the sheer number, Nivellia clutched her round face with her tiny hands.
She squeezed so hard her lips puffed out like a fish’s and her cheeks bulged through her fingers.
“C-Can someone like me even handle that much money…?”
“It’s okay. You’re already in debt for way more than that.”
Deter offered her version of comfort—though it didn’t sound very comforting.
Then Caleo revealed the final mistake.
“You want to sell cookies to people, right? But the shop owner was hiding. That’s the biggest problem.”
“You can’t hide when you’re the boss. You have to confidently sell your product. That’s how you earn your customers’ trust.”
“But that was Deter’s fault for not selling enough.”
“You rascal.”
Caleo gave her a light flick on the forehead—not painful, just a dad’s warning.
“It’s the shop owner who has to stand out and sell, so the customers feel secure.”
“But Mom doesn’t sell stuff at the store…”
“Mom did at the beginning.”
“Ugh…”
A deep sigh escaped her lips—oddly mature for someone her age.
With her brows drooping, Nivellia realized once more how difficult it truly was to earn someone else’s money.
“Then… what do I do now?”
“Well, first… you’ve got to pay off your debt.”
“To ‘clear’ a debt means to clean it up or settle it completely,” Deter explained helpfully.
Nivellia nodded solemnly.
“Clear the debt!”
“Looking at it… your debt comes out to about 12.8 million Ubba…”
Caleo looked down at his daughter, his expression growing serious.
“Nini, if you can’t pay it back, you might have to board a fishing boat.”
“N-Nooo!”
Panic spread across her face as she flailed in fear.
“If I get on a fishing boat, I’ll never see Mommy or Daddy again!”
“Or… you could keep doing errands and help the staff with their work. Slowly pay it off that way.”
“Isn’t there a way to pay it all back at once?”
“There isn’t.”
“Life is brutal.”
“……”
Caleo glanced toward Deter, clearly ready to say something.
But Deter quickly raised both hands.
“I didn’t teach her that.”
As Nivellia began to feel the pressure of reality settling on her small shoulders, a sudden idea struck her.
She jumped to her feet and opened a drawer, pulling something out.
“Daddy, write your name here!”
“Huh?”
“Right here—your name!”
“…What is this?”
“Grandma and Grandpa gave it to me. They said I should use it if I ever need help paying back money!”
Her grandparents were currently off traveling in the forest with her little cousin.
Caleo took the paper Nivellia handed him and looked it over.
“…Well, would you look at that.”
A hollow chuckle escaped his lips.
“My daughter is asking me to co-sign a loan.”
The paper Nivellia’s grandparents had given her… was a joint surety contract.
Of course, she had no idea what that meant.
“What’s that?”
“It means that if you can’t pay your debt, the person whose name is written here has to pay it for you.”
“Wow! That’s amazing!”
“It’s not amazing at all.”
Caleo firmly refused to sign.
The 12.8 million Ubba debt still belonged solely to Nivellia.
There are no shortcuts when it comes to making money.
In the end, Nivellia began paying off her debt one coin at a time—running errands for the family and helping the household staff however she could.
