Lilia started her day with making her bed. It was uncomfortable, yet it was better than having to sleep with animals or on the ground. Not only that, her room was very clean. She had never sleep in a clean room before.

  She opened her window to let in fresh air and turned on her heels to exit her room. The main space in the house was still unfurnished. There were no chairs, bookshelves, or even kitchen equipment. They didn’t even have eating utensils!

  Grrrruuuuu….

  Her stomach growled, protesting at the lack of food. She let out a huge sigh.

  Ever since the curse had placed its mark on her, she was slowly becoming more humanlike. The taste of hunger was so foreign to her before, yet now she was in constant battle with it almost every day. The same also applied to fatigue. It irked her that human needed to keep a consistent sleeping habit to maintain normal functionality of their organs and self.

  I need to wake him.

  She quietly went upstairs to his room. The door was closed and there was no sound inside. She lifted a hand to knock on the door.

  No response.

  She knocked again.

  Still no response.

  She hesitated, pondering if the master would find her knocking annoying. However, there really was nothing to eat and he left neither money nor notes for meals. She was concerned about his health. In addition, she had no tools to clean and do basic jobs as a slave. Surely, he would not be angry at her for doing her job.

  Knock knock knock!

  She gave him a moment just in case before opening the door. Her eyes found him lying on the bed, wide awake, staring at the ceiling. Curious, she glanced at the ceiling directly atop him to see if there was anything interesting there but no. There was nothing there.

  Feeling that he was not alone, her master moved his eyes to see her at the door, standing in a polite manner.

  Her golden irises met his brown ones as she gave her pleading gaze for any instruction as he had not yet given her any.

  “…ah, right,” he raised one arm in the air. All of a sudden, his hand disappeared into nothing, as if some kind of invisibility magic swallowed it whole.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  “You handle everything from now on,” he produced a coin pouch out of nowhere. Her eyes widened at that.

  Storage magic?! That’s not a spell even I can use!! He… he is an expert!

  “You are also free to buy anything you want as long as it is reasonable for you. A dress, shoes, sweets, or books to communicate—I do not care. As long as you do your job well, I will not say anything.”

  He threw the coin pouch at her carelessly. Flustered, she raised both arms to catch it. The leather pouch landed on her grasp with jingles. What awaited her inside the pouch was a miracle that caused her to gasp loudly.

  It was full of gold coins!

  Flabbergasted, she stared at her master, mouth agape with a hand holding a gold coin.

  “…yes, it is all gold coins there. Bring any amount necessary for daily operation and have breakfast ready later for me. I have no interest in getting up in one hour. Use best judgment with that money. Dismissed.”

  The shock of holding a pouch full of gold coins made her all stiff. With a mechanical bow she exited the room and closed the door behind her. Her hands still trembling from the shock, she gingerly opened the pouch again to reconfirm that she was not hallucinating.

  The pouch was indeed full of gold coins.

  Oh Gods… such a huge amount of money has just been handed to me, a slave…

  This event was so unprecedented she did not know what to say or think.

  Uh… I think I should leave some at home and buy cooking utensils and breakfast. I don’t think I can do any preparation without furniture…

  She returned to the first floor and crossed her arms, thinking.

  Speaking about furniture, should I buy basic furniture without consulting him? I think offering breakfast in an empty dining room is very rude… but he is living as a normal human now; what if the furniture I chose did not satisfy his comfort? What if it is too gaudy for his goal?

  Lilia stopped in her tracks, eyes widened.

  Why did he trust me with such a huge amount of money?

  Any sane slave owner would not let the slaves handle money. It was too risky of a move. She had been a slave for a long time she knew the selling process. Most of the slaves were illiterate. Smart, educated slaves were very few and only available to nobles through certain channels and it was impossible for them to be sold to the commoners. Although some channels did indeed sell such slaves to commoners, their prices were exorbitant meant to discourage or scam them.

  And letting such stupid slaves handle this huge amount of money? No!

  While they did not show it, many slaves, especially the new ones, were hostile to their owner and letting them handle money meant some of it would be stored for personal gain—be it for researching how to break the slave mark, employing assassin to kill their own master, and so on.

  She took a long breath and stared at the pouch money in her hand. Her hand trembled due to the gargantuan responsibilities that had been forcibly delegated to her.

  Does it mean he knew about my capability? Or worse… my identity?

  Lilia slapped her cheeks, eyes full of determination.

  Snap out of it! I am now a slave and I must act like a slave! If he ordered me to manage household money, then I will gladly do it!

  Lilia returned to her room to secretly store a huge amount of money, only pocketing three gold coins for daily usage before departing to nearest Temple-operated market to fulfill her duties.