This Was Never What I Wanted...

"This was never what I wanted."

"I never wanted to be angry with you."

"You once saved me from those relatives who were eyeing me like vultures."

"You once swore to me that you would never gamble again."

"But you lied to me."

"You betrayed my trust!"

Apartment building, second floor.

The room was dim and unlit. Only the four low-hanging moons outside cast their faint light through the window, outlining the dust hanging in the air and slightly illuminating Tita, who sat in the center of the room.

Seeing Tita, who had clearly waited for him all night, and seeing her reddened eyes, Zhou Yun actually found himself breaking out in a cold sweat.

"I... went to collect fish sauce." Holding bread in one hand and fish sauce in the other, Zhou Yun spoke to Tita somewhat awkwardly.

"Professor Lucretius told me. You went to the Temple District to find his friend and discuss the debt."

With her arms crossed and her body leaning slightly forward, Tita stared at Zhou Yun's face with considerable pressure.

"I went to the Catholicism temple to look for you. They said you had left ages ago and hadn't discussed the debt at all—and you even generously gave them one Denar!"

When Tita said the word "Denar," she bit down on it so hard that it seemed to squeeze out through her teeth.

"Teacher Lucretius gave you thirty Denar. Where is the money? Did you gamble it all away?!"

Zhou Yun said nothing. He merely set down the fish sauce and bread in his hands, stepped forward, took a small black plastic-covered booklet from his pocket, and handed it to Tita.

"Another IOU?" Tita drew a deep breath, her fingers trembling as she held the booklet.

The booklet's cover was embossed with patterns in copper, its central image a Broken Lighthouse.

"This time you owe the Broken Lighthouse Temple? Let me see how much you owe this time!"

"I'm telling you, no matter how much you owe, I won't help you again! Go be a debt slave!"

As she spoke, Tita clenched the booklet tightly, the sweat between her fingers dampening its edges.

She took several deep breaths, yet even after a long while, she still seemed unable to bring herself to open it.

"Actually..." Zhou Yun opened his mouth, wanting to tell Tita that it was not an IOU, but—

"Shut up!" Tita cursed Zhou Yun viciously. Then she gritted her teeth. "I'll still give you my father's pension. Whether you use it to figure out a way to repay your debts or gamble again, I won't care anymore."

"Consider it repayment for how you took care of me before, for helping me get away from those greedy relatives. From now on, we have nothing to do with each other..."

"...But I still have to tell you that money was bought with my father's life. It is also my future dowry. If you have even a shred of conscience left, don't gamble it away. Find a way to repay your debts... You could even use it to flee Macragge."

Listening to Tita's words, Zhou Yun could not help letting out a breath.

Tita still could not bring herself to be cruel...

With this girl's personality, with the way she did things, if Zhou Yun really had been a compulsive gambler, her entire life would have been ruined by him.

After saying all that, Tita seemed to have finally made up her mind. Her fingers clamped down on the cover as she slowly opened it.

Tita had prepared herself. She had imagined that Zhou Yun might owe several hundred more Denar, perhaps even more—over a thousand Denar? Several thousand?

But when Tita opened it, she was still struck by the enormous, dizzying number.

"Fifty-three thousand two hundred and four Denar." Tita read the number with an almost calm voice.

She closed the booklet, glanced at Zhou Yun, and then—

Slap! Slap! Slap!

Tita slapped herself across the face three times, leaving Zhou Yun staring in shock.

Ignoring Zhou Yun, she lowered her head again, opened the booklet, and looked once more at the number.

"Fifty-three thousand two hundred and four Denar. Two hundred and thirty-nine thousand four hundred and eighteen grams of silver. A quarter ton of silver."

"Wow, Uncle, you really are amazing. Your niece is impressed."

Tita looked at Zhou Yun with hollow, resigned, calm, lifeless eyes.

"...It's not debt. Look carefully." Zhou Yun pointed at the booklet and spoke softly.

Tita blinked, lowered her head, and looked at the booklet again...

"Deposit?" Tita tilted her head, then closed the booklet again.

"Tita, our family is rich now." Zhou Yun smiled at Tita.

Tita blinked, then suddenly raised her hand and slapped herself across the face several more times.

Then light gradually returned to her eyes. They brightened and came alive. A somewhat foolish smile appeared at the corner of her mouth as she pointed at the number in the booklet and stared wide-eyed at Zhou Yun.

Did I break the kid's brain...?

"Y-you... how did you get this? Are all your organs still intact?" Tita blurted out.

Zhou Yun could not help laughing and shook his head repeatedly.

"Actually, your uncle is a gambling monster."

"I was deliberately pretending to be stupid before. I was just waiting to fleece the house today."

The fingers holding the booklet slowly loosened. Tita showed a smile of relief, and her eyes suddenly filled with tears that fell onto her thighs.

"Even if that's true, you're not allowed to gamble again."

With her head lowered, Tita spoke quietly.

"Do you know? Every night these past few days, I dreamed that creditors broke into our home, dragged you out of bed, shackled you, stuffed you into an iron cage, whipped you as they led you to the slave market. Your head was half-submerged in mud while you waited for people to bid on you, and people wearing boots kicked you. I also saw you being gnawed by a swarm of bugs, thrown into an arena, dying in the snow, tied to an altar burning with flames, with a sun hanging above it..."

Wasn't that dream a little too specific...? Zhou Yun reached out and patted Tita's head.

"It's all over now." Zhou Yun used his Telepathy School psychic power to slightly strengthen the persuasiveness of his words.

"Mm..." Tita lowered her head and obediently made a soft sound. Then... "Tomorrow, we'll withdraw all the Denar and scatter it in the courtyard downstairs. I'll jump down from the second floor and swim in it!"

Zhou Yun opened his mouth slightly.

He had noticed it before—Tita's thoughts jumped around wildly. She often went from zero to a hundred without warning, saying abrupt things and doing abrupt things.

Is there something wrong with this kid's head?

"You'll fall to your death. They're solid pieces, not liquid."

As Zhou Yun poked Tita's head with a finger, he picked up the bread and fish sauce he had set on the floor.

"Come on, eat." Zhou Yun had been hungry all night, and Tita probably had not eaten or drunk anything either. "Try the Catholicism church's fish sauce and see how it tastes."

Zhou Yun spread a little fish sauce onto the Catholicism church's bread.

He took a bite...

"How is it?" Tita asked.

"Better than Talassar's."

With a solemn expression, Zhou Yun set down the bread in his hand.

"This time, it tastes like Mortarion's bathwater."

"Who is Mortarion?"

"A big stinky moth that's bad at math."