The Doll Has a Name Chapter 18 - About Us

Here is the city. In the countryside, the issue might be different, but in the city, a home is practically everything in life.

Solving just the housing problem could reduce urban poverty by more than half and vastly improve the quality of life for citizens.

 

“Since this is a country with enlightened thinking, I assume such things are already taken care of, right?” 

 

Kise’s eager gaze made Leonhardt stifle a laugh. There was something about her—shameless yet justified.

 

“Sounds like you’re demanding a place to live right away. The only thing missing is grabbing me by the collar.”

“That’s not it. Since I’m new, I was hoping for your help. As part of employee welfare.”

“You even mentioned room and board.”

“Then that would be even better.”

 

Room and board would solve everything except clothes. Reading the flow, Kise steered the conversation toward lodging and meals.

 

“If a place provides both, that would be amazing. Truly fantastic.”

“What about food?”

“If it doesn’t suit my taste, I might leave some, but I never skip meals.”

‘Isn’t that exactly what picky eating is?’ Leonhardt thought but didn’t bother to argue.

 

Kise’s negotiation skills were like a street vendor’s sleight of hand—smooth and impossible to counter. 

 

Not a bad trait. Leonhardt smirked.

“Fine. Room and board, both.”

 

🦋

 

About Us

 

Early morning—the long-awaited first day. Though she had tossed and turned all night, the excitement kept exhaustion at bay.

 

3 AM: Putting earrings on, taking them off.
4 AM: Putting shoes on, taking them off.
5 AM: Tying her hair up, letting it down.
6 AM: Putting a skirt on, taking it off.

 

At 7 a.m., everything was back to normal—dressed, groomed, and even wearing accessories as usual.

Though half-conscious and barely holding it together, I still managed to arrive on time without being late.

 

Perhaps it had been arranged in advance, as I smoothly passed through the first-floor hall without any awkward formalities like, ‘Uh, excuse me… I’m starting work today…’ and even made it straight to the third floor where Leonhardt’s office was, without any issues.

 

But I’m a new hire. Today’s my first day. Shouldn’t I at least show some sincerity? With that thought, I arrived at his room 10 minutes earlier than planned.

 

“Is your eyesight not good?”

 

Leonhardt was flipping through a thick ledger in front of a long mahogany desk, wearing a monocle. With near-silent footsteps, Kise approached him.

 

“No, not really. My vision isn’t bad.”

 

Glancing briefly at her, Leonhardt noticed a slightly different expression on Kise’s face compared to yesterday—something like “I was so excited last night I barely slept, but I still made it on time! Ta-da!”—full of giddiness and excitement.

 

Ah, I kinda want to tease her about that. What do I do?

 

Lowering his gaze, Leonhardt struggled to suppress his rising mischievousness.

 

After a brief pause, he spoke again, “It’s more of an… assistive device for influence. People’s trust in me differs depending on whether I’m wearing the monocle or not. I don’t use it often, but as a merchant, you have to be skilled in illusions and trust. We’re the kind of people who chase after intangible things, aren’t we?”

 

“Since it’s our first official day working together, I should make a good impression on you.”

 

Adding that last part, he casually removed the monocle. The silver chain attached to the lens shimmered like a chandelier decoration.

 

“Did you like it?”

 

Kise nodded without hesitation.

“That’s a relief.”

 

A faint smile curled at Leonhardt’s lips. Kise felt it was the very embodiment of a capitalist smile and admired him all the more for it.

 

Yes, humans are weak to appearances—visual creatures, through and through. But the idea of using those visible illusions to grasp something intangible was nothing short of brilliant.

 

Trust, faith, fantasy. 

 

The words he listed lined up neatly in Kise’s mind as she studied his face, sculpted like a finely crafted statue.

 

If he were to smile gently with that face and hand over a piece of dung, claiming it was medicine—no, a lump of gold—she’d probably believe him without question and willingly open her wallet. She might even do so eagerly.

 

Truly, a man devoted to money.

 

“So, image manipulation?”

“No. Image management.”

 

Leonhardt lazily rubbed his eyes with his fingers, deftly swapping one word for another. His low, trailing laughter was sweet enough to melt on the tongue.

 

Why does rubbing his eyes have to look so unnecessarily sexy?

 

Pretending to sweep back her loose hair, Kise averted her gaze from Leonhardt. He lacked consistency. In a word, he was a balance-breaking cheat. 

 

Others might not see it, but Kise was convinced.

 

“And your seat is over here.”

 

Leonhardt rose and guided her toward the window. 

 

Come to think of it, the tea table that had been there yesterday was gone, replaced by a polished set of bookshelves exuding an air of luxury.

 

It was the brightest spot in the room, where sunlight streamed in so vividly that the desk’s surface almost seemed to sparkle with an optical illusion.

 

Master! Please, take your seat, Master!

 

Like a fool, Kise even thought she was hearing things. Her body nearly jolted forward, but then—“Wait, auditory hallucination?”—she screeched to an abrupt halt.

 

“You?”

“Hm?”

“Didn’t you just call me ‘you’?”

“Yeah, I did.”

 

“What’s the problem?” Leonhardt asked with an utterly innocent expression.

 

“I can’t just call you ‘you.’ I want to respect you.”

 

Look at that. He said ‘you’ again.

 

“No, we agreed to call each other by our names, didn’t we?”

 

The term ‘you’, you see, has to be used carefully between men and women. One slip, and things get weird.

 

And when you say it with that much warmth, like you’re doing now, it really, really gets strange.

 

“Names are friendly, of course. And ‘you’ is polite. So mixing them is good, isn’t it? Don’t you like it?”

 

Let me say it again—he’s kind. Overflowing with consideration and gentleness.

 

“Don’t sweat the small stuff, Kise.”

 

But it’s not small stuff. You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?

 

Pulling out a chair for her, Leonhardt gestured toward her seat with a tilt of his chin.

 

“Go on, sit. It won’t take as long as you think. Didn’t you say you wanted to adjust to the work quickly?”

 

And just like that, he smoothly changed the subject. 

 

The man’s social skills were truly impressive. Even if she was internally marveling at his finesse, outwardly, Kise maintained a calm, lake-like expression as she gracefully took the seat he offered.

 

And the moment she sat down, a shiver ran up her spine. 

 

Her soul screamed at full volume, ‘Kise! This is it! Right here! A desk steeped in tradition, the kind self-made successes must have passed through! The birthplace of rags-to-riches legends, where a matchstick girl might’ve founded a top-tier lamp company!’

 

The feeling from the desk was intoxicatingly good.

 

The curved form, shaped like a kidney bean in the Avarian-era style, featured exquisite marquetry of tulipwood and a clean finish, with the beautiful signature of the craftsman engraved on the base. 

 

Beneath the base, there was even a hidden drawer that opened with the press of a button.

 

It was a seat so splendid it could bring tears to the eyes of any newcomer daring to sit on it. Leonhardt’s eyes curved into crescents as he watched Kise, visibly delighted, fidgeting with excitement.

 

Like a kitten dropped in an unfamiliar place, the woman, who had been slow to let her guard down, crumbled in an instant—albeit briefly—as if she had never received such a gift before.

 

Leonhardt smiled leisurely as he countered the floral ambush with a direct confrontation across the desk.

 

You shook me yesterday, didn’t you? Now it’s your turn to be shaken. 

 

A mischievous urge to tease her rose within him.

 

From the towering bookshelves reaching up to the ceiling, he swiftly picked out three books. Then, bending forward at Kise’s desk, he sensed her flinch and pull away in surprise.

 

“These are what you need to familiarize yourself with first.”

 

Leonhardt tapped the spines of the books. 

 

As soon as he drew near again, Kise silently followed his movements with her eyes, overwhelmed by the warmth radiating from him.

 

“The first is the company’s articles of incorporation. There are shareholders who occasionally pick fights. Knowing these will make it easier to handle them.”

 

Flipping it open, she found 46 clauses densely packed across the pages.

 

Article 1: This company shall be named Marée Société, a joint-stock company.

Article 2: The purpose of this company is to engage in the following businesses.

Article 3: The company’s headquarters shall be located in Mercà, Rikent Republic, and may establish local subsidiaries or branches abroad as needed.

Article 4, Article 5…

 

This is overwhelming.

 

They say life is an endless series of lessons. The thought of having to learn and absorb all these things as I stumble forward makes my head spin.

 

The sound of a one-way ticket to hardship snapping into place echoes in my ears. 

 

Even at the marquis’s estate, I attended lessons without fail every single day, and now I have to study here too.

 

Brushing off the weight of the written word with some effort, Kise let her curiosity show.

“So there really are people who pick fights just because they don’t like something?”

 

“Occasionally. The major shareholders do that. They’ll send notaries or take things to court.”

 

“That’s more clever than I expected.”

 

“Clever, sure. But it’s just trading fists for verbal violence. The ugliness is no different.”

 

Leonhardt handed her the second book, saying she’d understand the meaning in time. It wasn’t so much a book as a massive stack of hundreds of sheets of paper bound together.

 

“Did you see the buildings with blue gates on your way here?”

 

“Yes, those are warehouses, right?”

 

“This is the record of every item in those warehouses and their inventory. It’s last year’s log, so it’s different from now, but you should still get a sense of what comes in and out. It’s the best way to learn which items are popular during which seasons and what the main trade goods are. Once you’re familiar with it, I might even put you in charge as the head manager.”

 

Am I the only one feeling like the workload is piling up like a mountain?

 

Excitement at the thought of taking on big responsibilities clashes with skepticism—What nonsense. 

 

The best life is one of leisure and comfort.

 

“I’ll do my best, boss! Just leave it to me!”

 

Right when those words should have come out, it was as if my lips were sealed shut—they wouldn’t move. My quick wit and sharp instincts, which had so easily grasped how reckless ambition in my rookie days could open the gates of hell, had never felt so bitterly regrettable.

 

“I’ll… do my best.”

 

“You didn’t have to push yourself to answer like that from the start,” Leonhardt said with a soft chuckle.

 

“It’s a tough position. Many employees have quit before.”

 

What exactly was the point of warning me about such a heavy responsibility from my very first day? 

 

Forcing a bright smile that didn’t match her inner thoughts, Kise mirrored the grin Leonhardt wore, as if stamped onto his face.

 

“Looking forward to working with you.”

 

“Yes, understood. I’ll make sure not even a single rat dares to scurry around.”

 

The use of the word ‘rat’ was very much intentional, but Leonhardt seemed to appreciate the defiance in it.

 

Then, claiming it was the last one, he handed over a third ledger, thick with bundled promissory notes.

 

“These are all promissory notes issued in my name. You can cash them immediately at the bank. If any business expenses come up, stamp the back and use them as needed.”