#17

When she arrived at the office, Leonia immediately began her succession training.

“These are the documents you need to handle today.”

Ferio placed a stack of papers on Leonia’s desk that he had selected himself. Even at a glance, the pile was a hand’s span high.

“And these are the reports on your businesses.”

With a heavy thud, another stack landed beside it.

“This is child abuse...”

Leonia’s face twisted into despair, like an old man forced to eat rancid cheese.

“You treat me like a workhorse just because I’m not your biological daughter!”

“Our disgraceful daughter crosses the line again today without hesitation.”

Ferio’s expression remained unmoved as he replied. It was Lupe, caught between the two, who looked the most uncomfortable.

“Ugh, I’m going to run away with Lea!”

“Don’t worry, Varia and I will run away with you.”

Leonia shut her eyes tight, touched by the sincerity of her father’s love.

“Can’t you lose just once?!”

“That’s what I should be saying.”

“Why do parents try to beat their own child?!”

“Why should a child try to beat her own father?”

“You’re the most annoying person in the world!”

Boiling with frustration, Leonia huffed and puffed.

Ferio tilted his head as he watched her.

“You look a bit like a monster today.”

Why do you look so ugly?

“Kyaaaaah!”

Leonia climbed onto the desk and lunged at Ferio.

A shadow passed swiftly across Lupe’s horrified face as he watched from nearby.

But Ferio turned his body with ease and dodged. Dealing with a lunging daughter was simple enough—just stretch out a long arm and block her with a hand to the head.

“I told ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ you before! If you say I look like a monster again, I’ll rip out your legs!”

“I thought you said you’d rip them out if I said you look old?”

“Same difference!”

“Leo, you inherited my looks, so your face is fine—but that temper, where did it come from? Your mom’s not like that.”

“You raised me like this, who else is there to blame?!”

“Yes, it’s all my fault.”

And with that, Ferio wrapped his arms around Leonia’s waist and lifted her up, setting her firmly into her chair.

“Playtime’s over.”

“Does this look like play to you?! I could assassinate you right now!”

“Good. Then get to work.”

Ferio pulled the top file from the stack and placed it neatly on her desk.

“Do your best, my daughter.”

And with that hollow encouragement, he returned to his own desk.

Leonia stared wide-eyed from her seat, too stunned to even react.

“...If I finish all this, can I attempt the assassination?”

She asked seriously.

Ferio pretended not to hear.

Thus ended their savage father-daughter brawl.

‘...Why do they even bother fighting if that’s how it ends?’

Lupe still didn’t understand.

He had been witnessing their arguments for seven years now. And yet, he had never managed to find any meaning in them.

Still, he’d never dare to ask.

Peace quickly returned to the office.

In the quiet sunlight filtering through the windows, only the gentle sounds of pages turning and fountain pens scratching echoed softly.

“...Oho. My business is doing well.”

Leonia smiled proudly as she skimmed a report from the capital. Her shoulders danced with glee.

“Um, young lady.”

Lupe cautiously spoke up.

“I heard you’ve launched another brand...”

“Oh my, dear customer.”

Leonia chuckled.

“You’re so well-informed. You know I always take care of our dear Uncle Lupe.”

Leonia’s wristwatch business was divided into three brands, tailored to different target groups.

And each brand had its own distinct strategy.

For commoners: a mid-to-low range model—affordable even with minor defects.

For professionals and wealthy merchants: high-end, durable, and elegant watches.

And lastly, a premium model produced in strictly limited quantities and sold via reservation.

This time, Leonia was launching a new model under that final category—the premium line.

‘You have to squeeze money from the rich.’

People like Lupe, for example.

After receiving a watch as a gift from Leonia, Lupe had become a loyal customer. Watch collecting, he claimed, was one of his few indulgences and hobbies as a slave to capital.

“Will you be taking reservations this time too?”

Lupe asked, ready to throw money at her.

“There will be reservations,” Leonia grinned, “but...”

“I’m only making seven of them.”

“Only seven?”

“And I’m going to say that reservations are already full.”

This new product would technically be a limited-release—yet no reservations would actually be accepted.

Because from the moment they were made, each of the seven watches already had an owner.

“I wonder who the other six will go to.”

Ferio, listening silently, smirked. He was already confident that one of the limited editions would be his.

Leonia didn’t deny it. Ferio’s assumption was correct.

“Then... why even pretend to take reservations...”

Lupe asked weakly, already resigned to not being among the chosen.

“To drive up the value, of course.”

The faux-reservation system was purely for inflating the watches’ worth.

And to make matters worse, even the fake reservations came with conditions.

“To reserve one, you must submit proof of a previous purchase from our brand.”

A watch that not just anyone could obtain. Do you even qualify?

The arrogance baked into the premium brand’s marketing hit aristocrats right in their pride and vanity.

“Uncle Lupe.”

Leonia turned to the dejected man with a smile.

“Did you really think I’d forget our most loyal—no, valued customer?”

“Y-You don’t mean...!”

“Why would you assume you’re not one of the six?”

Now that’s a little disappointing.

Lupe’s eyes widened.

“Good heavens! Thank you, thank you!”

Overwhelmed with joy, he raised both arms to the sky and shouted.

Only after quite some time did he finally sit back down, pretending as if nothing had happened.

“......”

“......”

Both Ferio and Leonia stared at him with baffled expressions as if they couldn’t believe what they’d just seen from a man his age.

“But it’s incredible, isn’t it?”

Even under their scrutiny, Lupe remained thrilled.

“Who would’ve guessed the watch business would take off like this?”

“I agree.”

Ferio nodded.

“There was a time it almost collapsed.”

“It wasn’t that bad.”

Leonia immediately refuted it.

But truthfully, the watch business had once come close to being scrapped.

Originally, they attached leather straps to the smallest pocket watches available. The idea was novel, but even those small pocket watches were too bulky for wrist wear.

Facing this problem, Leonia recruited Bopa—Paavo’s younger brother—and his capable classmates from the academy and brought them north.

She put them to work on miniaturizing watch components.

The process of reducing already small parts was long and grueling.

After countless failures and dumping enormous amounts of money into it, they finally succeeded.

On top of that, they developed a new technique using quartz crystals, which vibrated at a consistent frequency under force, to reduce time discrepancies.

Thanks to that, Leonia now held full control over the North’s booming watch industry.

“She always had a knack for ideas.”

Ferio spoke casually, but his pride was evident.

“See? You pretend not to care, but I can tell.”

Leonia beamed.

“Dad, you’re so bad at hiding it!”

“I can’t let my guard down for a second or you’ll climb on top of my head.”

“Climbing is my hobby, remember?”

Everything beneath me is mine—Leonia boasted proudly.

“Enough fooling around.”

Ferio brought the room back to order.

“...You were the one chatting away.”

Leonia muttered but obediently returned to her work.

Once again, only the sound of pens scratching and pages fluttering filled the air.

“It’s too quiet—it’s boring.”

Leonia pouted.

“Someone sing or something.”

“If you keep talking, you won’t be allowed to see Lea.”

“Don’t use my sister to threaten me!”

But it was a highly effective threat, and Leonia shut her mouth tightly and focused.

***

Leonia turned fourteen.

The once frail seven-year-old orphan who entered the mansion now stood tall above most girls her age.

With House Voreoti’s signature black coloring, her beauty bordered on arrogance. Her talents in every field were, quite literally, a divine gift.

People even whispered that she might surpass Ferio—deemed the strongest Voreoti in history.

Her status had risen that high.

Naturally, everything she did became a matter of national interest.

One such topic was the academy she would be entering next year.

Even the newspapers reported that Leonia would begin attending the academy, predicting a surge in enrollment applications this year.

But the person in question, Leonia, couldn’t care less about it.

Forget enrollment—she had already studied for the graduation exam with Ardea as a child, and now she idly read academic journals from the Imperial Research Institute while picking her nose.

As for the enrollment paperwork? Ferio had handed that off to Lupe.

So to Leonia, entering the academy meant absolutely nothing.

What she really focused on was her succession training.

“They make me study so damn much.”

That day, with a mildly rebellious spirit, she entered the mansion’s office library.

“They don’t let up, not even once.”

Ferio’s succession lessons were divided into two categories.

One involved performing the duke’s administrative duties.

The other was a lecture-style session directly taught by Ferio.

Compared to the days when all she did was read a book, the lessons were now much more advanced.

Sometimes it felt like her dad was trying to get revenge for all the years of disrespect she’d shown him.

Yesterday had been a workday, so today was one of Ferio’s personal lectures.

Leonia had just presented her thoughts on how to mediate conflicts between territories.

‘The most efficient method is to force reconciliation through Voreoti’s prestige and authority.’

In short: crush them with power.

That was her answer.

‘Technically, it’s correct.’

But as a teacher, Ferio found it disappointing. So he assigned her a new task—to outline the proper attitude of a mediator and propose appropriate mediation strategies.

“If I’m going to inherit the dukedom anyway, shouldn’t they just hand it over peacefully? Wouldn’t that be easier for everyone?”

Leonia seriously considered whether assassination would be quicker than doing her homework.

“I was going to play with Lea this afternoon!”

She growled, picturing her adorable little sister in her mind.

“Just wait. When you’re old, I’ll throw you out of the mansion.”

“I can hear you, you ungrateful brat.”

Ferio, who had been quietly enduring his daughter’s complaints from the outer office, finally spoke up.