The Male Lead I Raised Is Obsessed With Me

Time passed by and it was Balder’s reunion day.

The house had been noisy since morning with the sounds of the servants running around.

“Is the rose water bath ready? Then, bring it over here!”

“What happened to the clothes entrusted to the famous tailor? Wait, it’s wrinkled here! Iron it again!”

“A ruby or sapphire is too flashy and it will bury the look, so let’s use pearls instead.”

“Have you finished grooming the horses? Have you changed the horseshoe as well?”

And finally, the end result was brilliant.

I looked at Balder, who had a puzzled look, with a satisfied expression.

Although his ordinary look remained the same, his hair was well-combed, his luxurious clothes had a subtle sheen and even his carriage was pulled by snow white horses.

It was an appearance that screamed wealth.

“Uh……Madam, what is this for?”

Balder asked, still puzzled.

“Isn’t today your reunion day?”

“You remembered that!”

“Since you’ll be working in our castle, I’ve been paying attention. Go and have fun today.”

Then, I winked at a servant and they handed him a heavy pouch.

Balder, who took a peek of the pouch, turned surprised.

“M-Madam. This…! This is too much……!”

“You haven’t even received a paycheck. It’s been a while, why don’t you treat your friends with this money?”

“Madam…”

Balder’s eyes moistened with emotion.

Looking at that face, I knew I didn’t have to worry about the plan succeeding.

＊  ＊  ＊

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The pub where the reunion was held was a place where Balder often went during his academy days.

He had promised to keep in touch, but for three years since graduating from the academy, Balder had never attended the reunion.

It was because he did not want to show his shabby unemployed appearance.

But today was different.

In the window, the image of his dressed up self from the morning was reflected.

He looked completely different from a few days ago.

‘They even took care of my clothes for this, the Valfurga duchy are really kind.’

Loyalty to the Valfurga duchy deepened in Balder’s heart.

After checking his clothes one last time, Balder entered the pub.

“I’m not late, am I?”

Balder’s appearance made his classmates look at him with a surprised expression.

“Balder…? Is that really you?”

One of his classmates repeated his name for confirmation, as if he couldn’t believe it.

“Haha. Why are you so surprised? Well, it has been a while since we’ve seen each other.”

As Balder took a seat at a vacant spot, all his classmates’ gaze focused on him.

“No, why have you changed so much? What happened all this time?”

“Work is what happened. Come on, hurry up and order. I’ll pay for it today, so everyone can just order as much as you want!”

But Balder’s classmates were more interested in Balder’s changes than the pub menu.

“What have you been doing these days? Based on your appearance, it looks like you’ve struck gold.”

“Did you start a business or something? Did you marry a rich lady with your face?”

“What marriage? The family I work for prepared this for me. You know the Repère boutique, right? It’s where I got it tailored.”

Balder proudly showed his sleeves.

“The place where you work bought you such expensive clothes? No, what do you do there?”

A classmate doubted Balder.

Balder was particularly mediocre among his classmates.

Decent grades and an ordinary face.

A guy who hadn’t been talented in anything suddenly appeared in such a fancy outfit, naturally everyone was curious about the secret.

“It’s nothing special. I just learned to be an administrator, so that’s what I do. My master knows how to value their people.”

Balder smiled and boasted in earnest.

“They pay a lot and that carriage was all lent by the family.”

Upon hearing Balder’s boast, every classmate made a look of envy.

Had he appeared in ordinary clothes, they would have thought he was exaggerating, but seeing how well-dressed he was, they had no choice but to believe.

“Where do you work?”

To the question from one of the classmates, Balder answered with a proud expression.

“The Duke of Valfurga. They’re one of the great four duchy families.”

Then, some of the classmates had a puzzled look.

“If you say the Valfurga, do you mean that ruined duke?”

“I heard their hair loss medicine has been successful these days, so they didn’t go bankrupt. No, on the other hand, does the duchy hire commoners?”

“You didn’t cheat on your identity, did you?”

Balder became furious at the words of his classmates.

“Nonsense! They hired me even though they knew I was a commoner. There was no such thing as discrimination against the commoners. As expected, the four great dukes are the true nobles.”

Seeing that, Albert, Balder’s classmates, pondered.

He performed much better than Balder during the academy days and had good grades.

Thanks to that, he was now working as an administrator for a baron family, but to be honest, he was not very satisfied with it.

Just because he was a commoner, his salary was lower than his colleagues, and he was often left with troublesome tasks.

Even so, he thought it was better than farming or doing any other jobs, but he changed his mind when he saw how Balder was treated, whom he thought was inferior to him.

‘Wait. If Balder was treated like that, won’t I at least be treated similarly too?’

Come to think of it, he had seen an announcement that the Valfurga duchy was hiring administrators.

Although he thought the conditions were good at that time, he didn’t apply because he was reluctant about going to a cold and far duchy.

Seeing how Balder was doing made him think, ‘Maybe I should give it a try too?’

＊  ＊  ＊

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“It’s a success.” 

Treon said as he placed down the tray full of letters.

“Are they all letters saying they want to work in our land?”

“Yes. Your plan has succeeded again this time. I’ve never thought of advertising in this way, but as expected, madam is truly brilliant.”

“It’s natural, the best way was to show it with your own eyes. So, are there a lot of commoners?”

As I asked while opening the letter, Treon nodded.

“I believe they found the fact that we don’t discriminate against commoners attractive.”

“Well, they just need to do their job well regardless of social status. But at least, I don’t have to worry about Naol going on a strike now.”

Thanks to that, my heart felt lighter.

“In any case, the size of the territory will grow even larger, so it will be difficult if we continue to struggle to find people like this.”

“Oh. Speaking of, why don’t we build an academy on our land, butler?”

“Academy? But there are no nobles in our territory who can attend.”

“It will be an academy that not only nobles, but even commoners can attend.”

I remembered the elementary school I experienced in Korea before transmigrating.

“When they reach a certain age, they can send their children to school so that they can read and write, and if they wish to learn more, our family can give them a scholarship and send them to college, I mean, to the capital academy. If they have a talent, it’s good to develop it.”

Treon was lost in thought at the possibility that he had never imagined.

“We will need more people in our territory in the future. We not only need administrators, but also pharmacists and wizards.”

“But the time……”

“Of course, it will take a very long time. It would take ten years. But butler, think about it. The people who were born and raised in our territory can learn and work for us.”

Treon made a delighted face as he imagined it.

Long passed the glamorous days, and everyone had left the Duchy of Valfurga.

Farming was difficult, and they’d rather be a mercenary than risk their life to become a hunter.

It was clear that Treon was imagining a splendid future far beyond the present.

He slowly opened his mouth as if he was parched.

“That……It must be a wonderful sight.”

＊  ＊  ＊

Please do not repost. Read only at Dropped Inks.

Since I have obtained an administrator, and I had a long time to spare, I held hands with Luc and headed to a dessert shop in the capital.

Topped with soft whipped cream and decorated with fresh fruits, the cake shone like a jewel under the light.

“Luc, say ah~”

I cut a large piece of cake and gave it to Luc first.

Luc opened his little mouth and ate the cake I gave him like a baby bird.

“How is it? Delicious?”

I looked at Luc’s expression with great anticipation.

It can’t be helped, this was Luc’s first time eating a cake!

Come to think of it, I have never eaten a cake after being transmigrated.

‘At the time, I was so poor that I couldn’t afford to buy bread, and there was no decent patisserie in the territory, so it couldn’t be helped…’

Luc’s mouth moved.

His white cheeks flushed and eyes twinkled each time.

“Delicious, right?”

At my question, Luc nodded at me with his mouth closed.

“It melted in my mouth.”

“Right? Do you want another bite?”

“No, it’s delicious, so sister should eat it with me.”

Then this time, he cut twice as big as I did and gave it to me.

“It’s sister’s turn now.”

“Isn’t this too big?”

“Then I’ll cut it smaller.”

Luc carefully sliced the fruit decorations on the cake so that it wouldn’t fall off.

Blackie, stretched out on the table, wagged his tail in displeasure.

[Master, I’m not sure what that action means.]

“It means that our cute Luc is even cuter.”

[I don’t understand what is so cute about that.]

“Are you talking to Blackie?”

Luc asked, handing me a small piece.

I nodded as I ate the piece Luc had cut.

“Yup. I was talking about how cute you are.”

Luc placed his palms under his chin and looked up at me.

“Am I cute?”

“Of course! The cutest in the world!”

Luc smiled brightly.

At that sight, the people around who had been glancing at us let out a dreamy sigh. 

[…….]

Blackie looked at Luc with a bewildered look.

Of course, that was just my feeling as the reptile’s expression remained unchanged.

As though he saw something strange in the shadows, Blackie seemed very uneasy of Luc. 

“But I’m still worried. If we go to the meeting this time, it will be revealed that sister is a divine beast contractor. Will you be alright?”