The Female Lead Takes Care of Everything - Chapter 60

Everyone around the breakfast table turned to look at Nivellia.

“You want to earn money?” Soles asked, glancing at his meager salary account.

“But you’re already making some, aren’t you?”

“Nope! I want to run a business!”

After her cookie business completely crashed, Nivellia had gone quiet about doing business again for a while.

But today, out of nowhere, the desire came rushing back.

It was time to dust off the Meow Meow Shop sign she had carefully tucked away in her drawer.

“Hmm…”

Caleo responded with some doubt, though his tone was soft and his smile kind—careful not to hurt her feelings.

“But you totally failed last time.”

Celletina gave him a pointed look. Saying it with a smile didn’t mean it wouldn’t sting.

“She did fail!”

But Nivellia wasn’t the least bit upset. In fact, she proudly owned up to it.

“Yep, I failed big time. And I ended up in debt too. I owed 1.28 million Uba…”

“One-point… two-eight… million?!”

Aref’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.

That much debt?

What he didn’t know was that on the very day he first arrived at the estate—when Nivellia had been showing him around—it had actually been her last day of debt-repayment labor for that exact amount.

“Nini, why do you suddenly want to start a business again?” Celletina asked, gently curious.

Nivellia answered firmly.

“I invested, but the money isn’t coming back.”

She had put a whopping 50 million Uba into a pharmaceutical company. But the company hadn’t opened yet, and she hadn’t made a single coin back.

So technically, she hadn’t earned anything from that investment.

Sure, thanks to Monitos’s help, she had secured a notarized pre-contract—but just waiting around was driving her nuts.

For a cat, hunting is instinct.

And for Nivellia, hunting meant making money. She needed to feed Aref, marry him someday, have babies, and live a happy life together. And to do that, she had to earn.

Otherwise, she might end up like the Tower Master—200 years old and still without a house of her own.

“Nini wants to be the one collecting rent, not the one paying it.”

“That’s my girl,” Armiphera said, clearly impressed by her niece’s sharp mindset.

“So, what kind of business this time?” Muniel asked. “Are you going to sell cookies again?”

“Heh.”

Nivellia gave a sly little smirk.

“You’re underestimating me.”

She clicked her tongue and wagged her chubby little finger like a strict schoolteacher. It looked more like a tiny sausage wobbling in the air.

“Where did she even pick that up?” someone whispered.

It was ridiculously cute—and ridiculously smug.

As the adults whispered among themselves, Nivellia proudly revealed her plan.

“Auntie!”

Armiphera blinked, eyes wide. She clearly hadn’t expected to be called out.

“Nini’s going to sell it for you.”

“Huh?”

Sell what?

Armiphera was too stunned to keep up at first—but then, a slow smile spread across her face.

“…Ahh.”

That cheeky little niece of hers—she finally understood what she meant.

“What’s this? A rock?”

“Oh? Oh right, I still had this. It’s a stone mushroom.”

It was the day Armiphera had first arrived.

While letting the children poke around in her bag, she pulled out a strange lump from deep inside.

It was a mushroom, dark and dense like the deep sea at night.

“In Latro, there are steep cliffs. This mushroom grows on the rocks there. You can eat it raw or cooked.”

“Is it tasty?”

“It is, but… well, it’s hard to harvest and looks weird, so most people don’t eat it. Just us mercenaries—when we’re bored or running low on food.”

When dried in the sea wind, the mushrooms shriveled into round, stone-like shapes. But their flavor grew deeper and richer.

Still, because of how they looked—and the fact that mercenaries ate them as emergency rations—they never gained much popularity.

Armiphera had sliced one up and let the kids try it.

It melted like cheese as they chewed.

Thanks to the sea breeze, it had a salty, addictive flavor that made everyone want more.

In the end, the kids ate the entire thing on the spot, begging for another bite.

“Stone mushrooms…” Ardores, listening nearby, nodded.

“I remember eating them during the war. They were surprisingly good.”

“No matter what dish you added it to, the flavor got richer. Thanks to those mushrooms, even meals during the war felt just a little bit happier.”

Muniel smiled, recalling the old days with a surprisingly fond look.

“They’d go great in a salad or pasta too. The scent is really unique, and the texture is excellent. Come to think of it, I’m surprised they’re not distributed more widely.”

Nivellia, proud to have earned her grandparents’ approval, grinned and nodded with satisfaction.

Armiphera’s eyes sparkled too—but then she shook her head, as if remembering something.

“It’s not like we haven’t tried selling them.”

“Because they’re hard to harvest?” Caleo asked.

“That’s part of it, but not really. You can pick them easily just by passing by. If you can’t climb Latro’s cliffs, you’re not much of a mercenary. The real reason? People don’t like them because they’re ‘mercenary food.’”

Prejudice against mercenaries.

Food only mercenaries would eat.

That was the real barrier keeping stone mushrooms from being sold.

“Nini, I’m sorry, but stone mushrooms might not be the best idea…”

“No.”

Celletina cut in before he could finish.

She had been listening silently all along, but now her green eyes lit up like fresh leaves under the sun.

“I actually think it could work.”

“Mom!”

Nivellia called out to her like a child spotting her savior.

“Nini can really do it this time! I’ll buy the stone mushrooms and sell them to you!”

“Alright. Then let’s make a deal in three days. Until then, plan everything—how you’ll buy the mushrooms and how you’ll sell them to me.”

“Mom.”

“Yes?”

“When’s three days later?”

“After you sleep three times.”

“Got it!”

“So how long are you staying?”

Caleo asked, eyeing his rose-thorn-strong little sister who was casually stroking a tiny black kitten on the office sofa like some kind of mafia boss.

Armiphera absentmindedly opened and closed her fingers while the kitten purred on her lap.

“I was planning to leave in about a week, but since this happened, I’ll stay a bit longer.”

“And it’s fine leaving your work behind? You’re the Mercenary Queen. You must have things to do.”

“It’s alright. The elders over there like me.”

More accurately, they were terrified of both Muniel and Armiphera.

Caleo briefly wondered, What kind of life did my parents actually live? Then quickly shoved the thought away.

Even as their son, digging into his parents’ past felt like opening a sealed vault—one he wasn’t ready to face.

“Besides, I found a new income source.”

Armiphera grinned.

There hadn’t been a major war on the continent in some time, and the mercenary business had slowly started to fade. Prejudice against mercenaries was another ongoing problem.

Her trip out of Latro was part of a broader effort to find a solution to that issue.

Not like I can just start another war.

And then, out of nowhere, Nivellia gave her the perfect opportunity.

“This clueless little niece of mine gave me a real gift. You and Celletina raised them well. Or did Celletina raise them herself?”

“Celletina and I raised them together. Though Soles was always sharp from the beginning, so he didn’t need much effort.”

“The Tower Master calls Soles ‘the Miracle of Deiamor.’”

“You’d better watch out, Ferra. He might steal your spot as the Tower Master’s favorite.”

“We’ll see. Soles gets a say in that too. And don’t forget—I’ll always be Grandpa’s fizzy soda. He dotes on me when I drive Dad up the wall.”

“…Could you not drive me up the wall so much?”

As the two siblings bickered lightheartedly—

Ather, the Evil Dragon, purred quietly like a real kitten in Armiphera’s lap.

Then, his ears perked.

Slowly, he opened his eyes.

Without a sound, he jumped off Armiphera’s lap.

“Ather?”

The call made him let out a soft myaa.

“Bring the honey lump made from my scales,” he said.

He turned his gaze toward the office balcony. There was something intense in his eyes.

That afternoon.

After a long summer vacation, the Daygladis family returned to the Deiamor estate.

“Nini! How have you been?”

Rubens greeted Nivellia with a bright smile.

“Rubens!”

Nivellia ran to him with just as much excitement.

The two of them spun around together, hopped in place, and clapped their hands in rhythm, giggling with joy.

“……”

Aref watched from the side, clearly wanting to join in.

“Aref! How have you been?”

“Have you been well, Rubens?”

“Yup!”

Aref hesitated for a moment, then held out his hand.

Catching on, Rubens smiled and clapped hands with him too.

He even included the little spin and jump.

“Wow, this is fun with you too, Aref!”

“I was really jealous watching you and the lady earlier.”

“Hehe, really? Then do you know this one?”

With a sparkle in his eye, Rubens showed Aref a more complicated hand greeting—like a special, cooler version of their earlier game.

Meanwhile, Nivellia, smiling at the two boys from afar, left them and approached Al, who had just finished saying hello to Soles.

“Al!”

“Nini.”

Al turned to her with a welcoming smile.

“Have you been well? Huh, you’ve gotten taller, haven’t you?”

“Yup!”

“That’s awesome! Oh, these are cookies from our territory. They’re filled with fruit that only grows there.”

“They’re probably not as good as chocolate, but I think you’ll like them,” he added.

Nivellia nodded politely.

“But hey, Nini,” Al asked curiously, “who’s the person behind you?”

Nivellia turned around.

There stood Armiphera, tall and confident like a wild rose in full bloom, smiling gently.

“That’s my aunt.”

Nivellia introduced her with pride.

“She ran away from home a long time ago, became a queen, and now she’s back—with a black lizard, doing all sorts of stuff.”

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