The Supermarket System

Chapter 56: 56. Vivienne

Vivienne was a 15-year-old girl; she was about the same age as Kaileon, Laura, and Jessica. Even so, Vivi—as she was called at home—was indeed smarter than other children her age. She quickly learned to read and write, and she was already good at math when she was only seven years old.

At first, she was like that because she and her mother wanted her to outshine Laura, another daughter of Marquis Maustrine—the child of his legal wife.

Although the Marchioness Maustrine never treated her children differently and loved Vivi just as much as her own daughter, Vivi’s mother was still not satisfied with that.

It’s true that Vivi’s mother never wanted to take the Marchioness’s place, but she desperately wanted Vivi to outshine Laura.

Unfortunately, Laura grew up to be a beautiful, friendly, and sociable young woman. Almost everyone liked Laura.

Therefore, Vivi immediately agreed to the Duchess’s request to join Kaileon’s, since the Duchess considered Vivi to be very intelligent.

By taking on such an important task, Vivi hoped she could outshine Laura in every way.

Vivi’s task wasn’t just to become one of Kaileon’s employees, but also to seduce Kaileon into falling in love with her. In addition, Vivi was only required to report anything suspicious about Kaileon.

Those were the only tasks the Duchess assigned her.

It seemed very easy.

But Vivi never imagined that Kaileon would be exactly her type. Handsome, calm, soft-spoken and polite, yet firm.

Moreover, Kaileon didn’t hesitate to discipline her.

He treated everyone equally, regardless of whether they were nobility or commoners, men or women.

On top of that, flirting with Kaileon felt almost impossible, because he didn’t seem interested in women.

Yet Vivi was convinced she was very beautiful—more beautiful than Angeline, that weak princess.

That day, Vivi spent her time observing Kaileon, trying to catch his attention, but Kaileon didn’t pay special attention to anyone. Everyone was truly treated equally.

But even though it was only one day, Vivi had gained a lot of new insight from being with Kaileon.

Because of that, she couldn’t wait to meet the Duchess and report everything to her.

"Come in, Vivi, I’ve been waiting for you," said Nathalia, who was ready to welcome Vivi with tea she’d just brewed and some sweet pastries.

Of course, Vivi was delighted; she immediately sat down and reported everything she thought needed to be reported to Nathalia.

"Here are the names of everyone who was accepted, along with their backgrounds. There’s nothing special about them, other than the fact that they’re nerdy people who really love thick books. Also, our goal is to set up our own flour mill, which will employ local residents. There will also be training there for residents who want to learn how to make flour. The mill already exists—it’s a small place, located near those wheat fields over there. Oh, right—" Suddenly, Vivi handed Nathalia a gift, a wooden food box.

"What’s this, Vivi?" the woman asked.

"Before I left, Kaileon gave this to me—it seems he knew I’d be staying here, right? The big one’s for the Duchess, and this small one’s for me, because I really love this—Kaileon’s homemade pizza."

Nathalia furrowed her brow, then opened the wooden box. Inside were three slices of something called pizza that looked absolutely beautiful and delicious. Even the aroma was incredibly tempting.

"Pizza?" Nathalia asked, confused.

Vivi nodded, "Yes, pizza! He said it’s a dish from a faraway country on another continent... made from flour. Oh, and there’s another dish called noodles—that’s really interesting, too. The plan is for Kaileon to share recipes using that flour with everyone, so they’ll know how to use flour for more than just hard, tasteless bread. If people start to understand how to use flour, then flour production can be increased, and wheat farmers won’t have to sell their wheat to the nobility at such low prices anymore—"

"DAMN IT!"

Vivi’s heart nearly stopped when she heard the Duchess of Arslan’s scream. The woman looked furious at that moment, so Vivi shrunk back and fell silent.

Afterward, she could hear Nathalia cursing Kaileon and the Duke, as well as their plan to destroy the scheme she had carefully built over the years.

All this time, Nathalia had managed to reap huge profits from the nobility by sabotaging the poor so they couldn’t sell their goods on their own.

The market, built for the people so that ordinary citizens of Arslan could sell freely, was also sabotaged by the Duchess. The Duchess sold market stalls to nobles and wealthy individuals who could afford them.

In fact, the Duke had allocated a large budget to build that market, which was supposed to be made available to the public for free.

All this time, the Duke’s indifference to such minor matters had greatly benefited the Duchess.

Now, it turned out the Duke was acting through his son, Kaileon.

"I knew it. All this time, he was pretending to be weak and helpless, just so I’d take pity on him and leave him alone. It turns out it was all just a cover, to stab me in the back," the woman muttered, a look of anger clearly visible on her beautiful face.

"Vivi!" called Nathalia, startling Vivi, who immediately looked at the Duchess with a frightened expression.

"Yes, Duchess?"

"Keep getting close to Kaileon, keep an eye on him... if you can, get close to Angeline too. I can’t get close to Angeline because Jenny is with her—Jenny is a spy for the Crown Prince of Nagreize, so I have to be careful. But you can always get in there and help me, right, Vivi?"

Timidly, Vivi nodded in agreement.

Nathalia then began eating a slice of the still-warm pizza, and she realized it was the wooden box that was keeping the food warm.

"This is delicious. Give me your box too—you must have eaten plenty over there, right? Now go to your room, or head back to the pavilion to gather any information you can about Kaileon."

Vivi simply nodded and obeyed the woman’s instructions.

She went to her own room, reflecting on what had just happened, and suddenly felt tired.

Vivi knew that siding with the Duchess was something she shouldn’t have done. But what else could she do right now besides obey her? Besides, her mother’s current position was also thanks to the Duchess; otherwise, Vivi’s mother wouldn’t have been accepted into aristocratic circles.

You could say that Vivi lived a comfortable life in the Maustrine family—or rather, thanks to the Duchess.

"Liking Kaileon is pointless; he’s not stronger than the Duchess, is he? Besides, Kaileon is still too young to put up a fight. The Duchess knows people in the demon kingdom..." muttered Vivi, who was already lying on the bed in her room.

***

Meanwhile, Kai was in his own room, watching a recording of the conversation between Vivi and the Duchess.

He wasn’t surprised, since he’d already anticipated all of this.

After all, it’s impossible for a girl like Vivienne to work unless asked by someone like the Duchess.

"So, Vivienne has to get close to me too? I wonder what the Duchess will do next? I’m really worried, because I have to leave Arslan soon—wait a minute."

Kai fell silent after he realized something.

"Did Jessica invite me on purpose, so the Duchess could come back and wreak havoc in Arslan again?" Kai muttered again.

In the midst of his anxiety over what might happen, the system screen suddenly appeared in front of him.

[To ease your anxiety, why don’t you go to the system store and see if there are any missions you can complete to get something that might be useful to you?]

Kai laughed at this, then got up from his bed and prepared to soak in the warm water in his bathroom.

After soaking in the warm water, with lavender aromatherapy, he began to relax.

In a relaxed state, it was easier for him to decide which mission to take on to earn—hmm.

Kai discovered something interesting.

There was a skill he could purchase by completing missions.

The teleportation skill.

That particular skill could only be used by someone with at least red-level magical energy.

A skill possessed by no one other than high-level wizards—it had even once been deemed a lost magic. Because teleportation magic cannot be learned by just anyone.

But with teleportation magic, Kai could move around easily.

There was one caveat to this teleportation skill: Kai could only go to places he had previously visited.

It cannot be used to go to places Kai has never visited at all.

However, the teleportation skill Kai will receive has different levels, ranging from basic to intermediate.

"What do these levels mean, system?" Kai asked, confused.

[It means that the teleportation skill—or teleportation magic—you will receive could be intermediate-level teleportation magic, but it could also be basic-level.]

[It depends on how well you complete your missions; the better your work, the greater your reward.]

Then, Kai began reading the mission he had to complete, and his brow furrowed in confusion.

"Sell pastries and cake made with flour as the main ingredient and make a profit of up to 500 large gold coins? This isn’t a dress that can be sold for a very high price—oh my gosh! What am I supposed to do?" Kaileon muttered in frustration.

He ran his fingers through his hair, hoping that would help his brain work better. But he stopped when he heard Angeline shouting from outside Kaileon’s room.

The only word Kai managed to catch was "snake," which Angeline had shouted.

Hurriedly, Kai grabbed his towel and wrapped it around his body to cover himself from the waist down to his knees.

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