The Doll Has a Name – Chapter 23.1 – About Us

Author: Nikss

“Kise?”

“Ah… Sorry. But it’s just so, so strange. Why are we all entering the same space together right now?”

I’m the only one who should be entering here. Right? No?

“It’s my house?”

The two men answered simultaneously before Leonhardt Moent concluded definitively.

“It’s my house. Tristan is just a freeloader.”

“I’m renting it! I pay rent, so it’s my house too.”

“He tried real estate speculation and failed.”

“It’s not speculation, it’s investment! Investment!”

Tristan got excited, spraying saliva as he insisted that a large-scale arts district would soon be built on the landfill site he had purchased.

He went on about how once the roads were built and commercial districts moved in, he’d become filthy rich overnight.

Then he’d rip up that stuck-up look on Leo’s face and blow celebratory fanfares or something like that.

Where and from whom Kise had picked up this nonsense about someone sitting on a gold mine, she had no idea under the wide, yellowing sky.

💫

Goddess Hill, located at the bend of the Grand Canal, is an area where the wealthy congregate, known as the Rook Quarter.

Before the War of Independence, this road was reportedly the main street leading to the largest temple in Mercà.

Although the temple was destroyed during the invasion, the road still leads to Goddess Hill.

The average mansion price here, where the city’s most luxurious estates are clustered, is 100,000 ducats.

Dozens of barges owned by the magnates of each house are moored in the Lesser Canal, which serves as their collective backyard.

Kise Ohara climbed the stairs, passed through the main gate, and walked through the garden under the open sky before finally stepping alone into the house.

Contrary to her expectation that the hall would be filled with displays of the family’s wealth and achievements, it was simply and neatly finished with straight, tidy oak walls.

There were, however, many objects—not common items like glamorous chandeliers, vases, or grand pianos, but things Kise had never seen before—taxidermied animals, feathered ornaments, and a wooden ship model so large it rivaled a boulder, prominently displayed in the center.

After picking up a world atlas, she had tripped over it and placed it next to a totemic mask, Kise glanced around the muted, low-saturation space.

This was no house with a short history.

‘It’s a pretty decent mansion,’ she thought.

Just then, Tristan’s voice cut in.

“Unnecessarily nice mansion, huh?”

“What a waste, a total waste,” he clicked his tongue.

“Do you have any idea how much it costs to maintain a mansion like this, never mind the money to buy it? I’m telling you, I think humans will eventually shift toward living alone—single-person households or nuclear families, you know? So in the future, shared housing might become more popular than mansions like this. Or maybe small two-story houses?”

“Is that so?”

“Yes! I’m speaking as a real estate expert, but this kind of house will be worth shit in the future, shit! There’s nothing to envy about that Leo guy’s property! From now on, we need to change our way of thinking and just stack buildings 10, 20 stories high like matchboxes on small plots of land and sell them off piece by piece, you know?”

What do you think? He asked, his eyes sparkling.

“How innovative.”

“Right?”

‘Yeah, sure.’

Kise replied indifferently as she walked through the hall and down the corridor.

“You should buy land first when you get money, too! Think long-term and just let it sit! Then, when land prices skyrocket, you build a high-rise on it! How about it? It’s a very tempting plan, right? Want to get rich with me?”

“Sure, anything’s fine. As long as you’re not asking me to be your guarantor.”

“Darling! You’re so cold!”

“I don’t stamp other people’s contracts.”

“That’s too harsh!”

“I’d rather die than stamp it.”

“Darling!”

“Not even if I died and came back to life.”

The mansion consisted of an entrance building with a hall, a drawing room, and several guest rooms.

Exiting through a corridor led to another small garden.

From there, it was divided into east, west, south, and north wings. The area they were just in was the South Wing.

“You said the place I’ll be staying is the West Wing? Should I use the left corridor?”

Pushing aside Tristan’s assistance, Kise found her way perfectly on her own.

As written on the address, her destination was the West Wing (W). Kise Ohara, who had assumed she would be sharing a living space with two men, felt her vision turn yellow with shock, but Leonhardt whispered to her that there was no one in the West Wing.

Even so, she was about to argue that they would still be under the same roof, but now that she saw it with her own eyes, even the roof was different from where he stayed.

He said his room was in the North Wing with Tristan.

In fact, the North Wing was the largest.

In such a large house, there was no butler, and she hadn’t encountered a single servant attending to chores.

As Kise, looking puzzled, was about to step inside, Tristan pulled her away toward a different path.

“Why do you keep doing this? I told you I won’t vouch for you.”

“Have dinner before going up. There’s no kitchen in the West Wing, you know. Or would you rather go hungry?”

“Let’s go.”

Replenishing energy is very important.

Kise followed right behind Tristan as he led the way. He swung open the heavy door of the North Wing wide. The smell of food wafted out gently.

Drawn by the appetite-stimulating aroma, she walked as if hypnotized until something blocked her path at the entrance.

“Did you brush off your clothes before coming in? Dust!”

That something was a person.