Chapter 214

Serena Beresford was depressed.

“Hm…….”

“……”

“Sigh…….”

“……”

“Haah…….”

For hours, she had been rolling around on her bed, sighing endlessly. The usual liveliness was nowhere to be seen—she looked like someone with the weight of the world on her shoulders.

Her Android butler had been standing by for hours, watching her meaningless repetitive behavior while running simulations tirelessly according to his AI Core’s programming.

Why was his young mistress acting like this?

What could be the meaning behind such actions?

What could he possibly do to help her shake off that gloom?

He was a model from the previous generation, but at the time of release, his AI Core had been considered cutting-edge. Within moments, he gathered the data and reached a conclusion.

“Miss Serena.”

“Mm?”

“At times, showing a bit of indifference can actually make a man even more desperate.”

“……”

At his words, Serena glared at him and asked accusingly.

“You checked my SNS, didn’t you?”

“Yes. With my House Manager privileges, I reviewed the sites and SNS posts you accessed, Miss Serena. Based on that data, it appears that contrary to your expectations for the Winter Break, your planned meeting with Young Master Stingray was canceled, particularly around Christmas—”

“Waaah! Shut up! Shut your mouth!”

Serena’s face turned crimson as she grabbed her pillow and hurled it at the butler. Normally, she wouldn’t hesitate to act brazenly in front of Aaron, but at home, she was different—and for good reason.

“What kind of insane butler spies on his own master’s SNS!? Who the hell gave you that kind of authority!?”

“Your mother did, Miss.”

“Wha—since when?”

“Approximately two months ago.”

“Oh, seriously, Mom!!”

It turned out that every post she had made had been automatically shared with her parents. Just the thought of it was mortifying enough, but realizing that her parents had read everything over the past two months and pretended not to know was enough to make her want to die of embarrassment.

“I’m an adult! Who said you can check my account!? Even if they’re my parents, that doesn’t give them the right!”

“When you renewed your user registration in the House Manager program last year, you personally agreed to the clause allowing others to view your SNS account. Therefore, whenever you access external sites through the house network, those records become visible to other family members.”

“Aaaargh!!”

And this was why you should always read contracts carefully.

Without knowing a thing, she had clicked “Agree,” and ended up showing her entire SNS to her parents without realizing it.

Maybe she should just move out and start living on her own. Her friends had already begun renting rooms near Sector A or B and living independently. If she hired a housekeeping Android, she probably wouldn’t have much trouble living alone.

“I must inform you in advance—your mother and the head of the household would not permit it.”

“Oh, really? You can read my thoughts now?”

“I merely inferred your thoughts based on the big data stored in my AI Core.”

“You… just wait. I’m going to sell you off soon.”

Serena warned him sharply, but the Android butler simply bowed his head.

Unlike Ciel, her butler wasn’t a type of robot that had awakened self-awareness, so even threats like that didn’t faze him. Even though they were holding a conversation, it was just her talking to a machine that only responded as programmed.

“Ugh. What am I even doing, arguing with a hunk of metal…….”

Serena sighed again. But she didn’t exactly have anyone else to talk to—especially not about romance.

After her arranged meeting with Aaron, she had gone around bragging to her friends endlessly. That the man who would soon become her husband was none other than the future Emperor of New Valhalla City.

And that wasn’t all—he was handsome and tall.

His body was perfect, and his personality was reliable and strong.

Surely, there could be no better man to marry, or so she had said over and over while basking in her friends’ envy. Now, if she were to say something like, “He hasn’t been contacting me lately, what should I do? ㅠㅠ”, she’d be laughed out of every group chat she was in.

With no one else to turn to, Serena sat upright on her bed and took a deep breath before speaking cautiously.

“So…… what should I do now?”

“Well, Miss, what kind of relationship have you and Young Master Stingray had up to this point?”

“More than friends, but not quite married?”

“I apologize, but I don’t understand.”

“I mean, he’s obviously going to marry me anyway, right? We’ll have, like, three kids, live happily ever after—no, with consistent anti-aging treatments, I could probably keep smooth skin for 300 years! We’ll have a house in Elysium, and send the kids to the Academy branch in Sector A……”

“That’s quite specific. And the part about ‘not quite lovers’?”

“Now that I think about it, my husband-to-be never actually asked me to go out with him.”

“So his title has already changed to ‘husband-to-be,’ has it? And what do you mean, ‘never actually asked’?”

“Well…… I’m not sure.”

“……”

What on earth was that supposed to mean?

Ah, no, I shouldn’t call it that. I shouldn’t use words like that.

The butler instantly realized that an error had occurred in his AI Core. After a brief data cleaning, he opened his mouth again.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what you mean.”

“I mean… ever since I met him, it’s always been—how should I put it…? My memories feel hazy. Like I’ve been half-floating in the sky and just came back down….”

“And so?”

“I think he confessed his love to me, but I’m not sure if that happened in a dream or in real life.”

“……”

“Don’t sigh!”

“My apologies, Miss. In any case, based on our conversation so far, I’ve established a strategy for how you might advance your relationship with Young Master Stingray.”

“R-really?”

Serena looked at her butler with eyes full of expectation. He maintained his calm expression and replied with a textbook answer.

“Up to this point, you’ve only been expressing your own feelings. You’ve never actually confirmed his preferences or thoughts for yourself.”

“B-but he never told me anything first!”

“That may be because your overly forward attitude made him feel pressured. To put it simply, you’ve been pushing too much.”

“Then you’re saying I should start pulling a little now? Maybe act a bit coy?”

“No. Absolutely not. If you try to play push-and-pull games with men in their thirties, you’ll only end up crying into your pillow in regret. I suggest approaching him in a gentler, more subtle way than before.”

“And how exactly do I do that?”

“Start by targeting the people around him.”

The butler spoke calmly.

“The youngest daughter of the Stingray Family, Miss Kallia Stingray, is said to be around your age. She graduated from university early and has recently been active in the fields of entertainment, broadcasting, and fashion.”

“Kallia, huh… so she’s my future sister-in-law.”

“Please, don’t get ahead of yourself.”

“Ugh…”

Serena clicked her tongue softly.

“Anyway, I get what you mean. Since I’m majoring in fashion too, it should be easy to connect with her. I can naturally get close by talking about things we have in common.”

Of course, Serena was a Transmigrator, so she knew well that those within the Stingray Family weren’t bound by ordinary familial relationships.

But that was exactly why she thought—if she could insert herself into their circle and gently steer Kallia to take Aaron’s side, wouldn’t Aaron start to see her value too?

“Got it. Then how do I meet her naturally?”

“There will soon be a fashion show at Neo Britain Hall in Sector A. One of the sponsoring corporations is Stingray Entertainment, so there’s a high chance…”

“That Miss Kallia will attend. Alright. Make sure you arrange a good spot for me there.”

“Understood.”

“Good! I can’t just spend my vacation moping around!”

Serena was already buzzing with excitement at the thought of meeting her future sister-in-law.

“No. That’s not it….”

“Then like this?”

“No, that’s not how it—ugh, no. Humans can’t do it that way; you’ll break it.”

Miyu let out a deep, despairing sigh.

At present, Miyu was at Hans’s house, teaching him the basics of smelting.

As expected of a Dwarf, his home was equipped with a proper old-fashioned furnace. They had started by making a simple iron rod from scratch.

“I’d love to start by teaching him basic arithmetic and the ABCs… but that’s kind of necessary before getting into real theory….”

“Trust me. If you try that, either the Dwarf will run away, or you’ll collapse from stress first.”

“Alright, if you say so, Mr. Aaron….”

I managed to stop Miyu from trying to start with an entire elementary curriculum. Maybe later she could tutor him slowly, but there was no way she could teach all that in a single day.

Besides, no impatient Dwarf would ever sit quietly at a desk to take lessons. For the first day, it was better to teach him in a familiar way—by crafting something—and clearly demonstrate the difference between human and Dwarven technology.

It was a judgment based on the experience I’d gained over the past year as the head of education and recruitment, and it was right on target.

Roughly three hours later.

Drenched in sweat, Miyu came back from the furnace with Hans, both proudly holding up an iron rod. From their expressions, I could tell there had been quite a few arguments along the way.

Then Miyu said proudly to Hans,

“Go ahead, test it.”

“Hm.”

At her request, the Dwarf slammed the iron rod hard against the floor.

Clang!

As expected from a race known for its strength, the floor dented from the impact—but the iron rod remained perfectly intact.

The Dwarf let out a deep exclamation.

“O-ooooh! Strong! It’s solid!”

“I told you, didn’t I? I may not have the strength to hammer the metal myself, but I have the knowledge and the skill.”

“I see… sorry for judging by appearances. I thought you were just some girl who sits in front of a ‘computah’ all day, but I was wrong.”

“Heheh.”

Miyu’s lips curved upward at the Dwarf’s sincere praise. Then she leaned close and whispered to me,

“You were right, Mr. Aaron. Thanks to you, I won the power struggle!”

“Good. That’s how it should be.”

They were the ones who had asked her to teach, but with Dwarves, you couldn’t afford to appear weak. You had to prove your ability first to earn their respect as a teacher.

“I’ll have to start slowly with math and engineering. After that, I’ll learn how to handle that thing called ‘Source Power.’ But I’m not sure if I’ll have enough time… or when I’ll finally be able to use it to strengthen your body, Mr. Aaron….”

“As for that—”

Before I could finish speaking—

The door suddenly burst open, and Iri and Evangeline hurried inside.

While I had been waiting for Miyu at Hans’s place, I’d allowed the two of them to tour the Dwarf village.

But something was off about their expressions. Before I could even ask, Evangeline’s face lit up like she’d just discovered treasure, and she shouted,

“We found it, Aaron! We found it!”

“Found what?”

“The reason the flow of The River weakened!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep