I Reincarnated Into A Single-Celled Organism! - I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 149

The week went by quickly as I copied the library while working on the house and garden. During that time, Abigail remained quite busy and I didn’t see her or Mara very much. However, the girl named Penny frequently took her tea on the porch and watched disapprovingly. Since I only occasionally visited the library and left, she seemed to have the opinion that I wasn’t studying at all. She wasn’t necessarily wrong, but I didn’t care what she thought anyway.

On the final night before the exam the next day, there was a knock on my door. I opened it up to see a woman standing there nervously. She was one of the servant girls. At least, she was wearing a maid outfit and her head down in subservience. I recognized her slightly. When I first arrived at the Capala compound, she was the one being harassed in the street. Her father was one of the gate guards.

“Did you need something?” I asked cautiously.

“M-my lady ordered me to come to the building to serve Master,” she replied nervously.

I had said that I could use a hand. She was a dainty thing though. When I spoke of servants, I was thinking of someone who could help work on the farming. After all, I didn’t want to spend all day caring for the plants. I guess there weren’t many strong and able young men working for the Capala compound these days, so she would have to do it.

“In that case, you can clean.” I stepped aside and escorted her into the house.

“Ah! C-clean? You want me to clean?” she asked in confusion.

“Yeah…” The pair of us froze as we looked over the practically empty house.

I had taken out everything that was broken, and that was just about everything. There was no furniture in the house and although I had managed to seal all the drafts, there was still a lot of work that needed doing. I had been busy setting up the farmland, so I hadn’t spent all that much time working on the house. There was only one room that could be considered livable, and that was my bedroom. Since I was sleeping there, it made sense to fix it up first.

The maid looked around the derelict place covered in dust and grim like she might cry. I felt a little bit bad. It seemed like she wasn’t used to roughing it like other commoners. Had I been given a warning, I could have at least set up a room for her.

“It’s a work in progress.” I coughed awkwardly. “For the time being, you can sleep in my room.”

“Sleep in…” Her head dropped down once again. “I understand. As master commands.”

I guided her to the bedroom. She seemed to be shaking slightly. I thought I had done well to manage the cold drafts, but perhaps I still had some space to patch.

“Tomorrow, I will get you a room set up,” I promised her. “Just sleep here tonight. Tomorrow, just work on dusting and sweeping. “I’ll work on repairing the house. It’ll be a few weeks, but soon we’ll have a home.”

“Ah? You’re not sleeping?” She noticed I was closing the door with myself on the outside.

I stopped, a teasing smile on my face. “Why, would you like me to warm your bed?”

Her face turned red. “Th-that’s not…”

“Goodnight.” I shut the door before she could answer.

I wasn’t a fool. It seemed like both Abigail and the maid had misinterpreted my intentions. The maid might not be able to help too much with the hard labor, but she wasn’t unattractive, so I had no problem keeping her around to tease. Of course, I could just take her to bed, but it was much more enjoyable to get her to ask for it.

Of course, this wasn’t the world I was born in. I wasn’t surrounded by girls who grew up on female empowerment. This world didn’t have condoms and birth control pills, let alone abortion. I used to be able to get girls to offer themselves up with just an ounce of teasing. College was the age for experimentation, after all. Yet, so far, the girls here had been much harder to seduce. I had already practiced my techniques on a couple of women, and while I got positive responses, none of them had pushed things past propriety.

Well, I also intentionally targeted the difficult ones. During my month following Sammuel from bar to bar, there were certainly women who would have folded with ease. There was no challenge there though. Paragons were just naturally more appealing. It was hard to want to chase after a commoner considering the alternative was available.

I went out onto the second-story porch and went to rest. It wasn’t that chilly that night, and even if it was, I could always produce my heat. We were in the sealed-off compound of the Capala estate, so I wasn’t expecting any danger, but just in case I still had a sentinel placed as well as a few noise-making traps.

The next morning, I awoke to the maid bringing me breakfast. She had gone to the mansion to cook it and then brought it over early in the morning.

“Master, thank you for everything,” she said as she put the plate in front of me. “Master shouldn’t sleep outside though. You might get sick.”

“You don’t need to worry about that.” I sighed. “I’ll work on your room tonight.”

Her eyes widened. “B-but Master, it wouldn’t be appropriate! Surely, you could ask my lady to hire some laborers to do this…”

I waved my hand. “I said, don’t worry about it.”

She looked like she wanted to say more, but she remained quiet for the remainder of breakfast. Once I finished, I headed over to the main building. I found Pierre already there waiting for me.

“You wish to go dressed like that?” He glared at my common clothing with disgust. “You didn’t spend any of your wealth buying adequate clothing?”

I had worn something from Sammuel to the dinner banquet a week prior, but I needed to return his outfit. I only had the same farmer clothing that I had inherited from Tanner. It was a cut better than most of the stuff farmers wore. After all, Tanner and his wife both had come from paragon families, so they had never wanted money. I could only shrug helplessly.

“I will take him,” a voice cut in, interrupting whatever rude answer Pierre was going to come up with.

The girl named Penny approached me. She wore a smile on her face, but I could see a scornful look in her eyes. I had a feeling that she was up to something. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in a position to reject her.

“You will?” I asked, returning the smile she gave me, at least on the surface.

“I am Lady Penelope Capala. Your fiancée’s uncle is my father, or you could say that we are biological cousins,” she explained.

I had already guessed their relationship prior, but it was hard to tell people’s exact relations since everyone seemed to call each other cousins.

I gave her a bow. “Good morning, Lady Penelope. You said you would take me?”

“The exam is in a few hours, but only those of proper status will be there. We can’t have you going out looking like that. I will take you to the tailor to get some outfits made. We will then go to the exam.”

“Then, I’ll have my lady lead the way.”

She made a face. “Spoken like a true commoner, as if we would walk.”

She escorted me out the front door and parked in front was a carriage and driver. Compared to most of the stuff I’d seen on the Capala property, the driver looked young and skilled, and the carriage looked rather new. She seemed to notice me admiring it.

“The Capala family tree is complicated. There are countless branches and subordinate families. Our branch functions out of Lightning Ridge, and we’re quite profitable.”

“I see…” I responded as I got into the carriage.

The carriage left and about ten minutes later pulled up in front of a shop. This was part of the nicer side of town. There was considerably more security and wealth on display. The roads were paved with stone and there were even trees planted to provide shade. This would be considered the upper side of town. The driver opened the door for Penelope, but I got out on my side.

We entered a high-end shop. A man who looked about as snobby as Pierre seemed to be waiting for our arrival.

“May I help you?” He asked as Penelope approached him.

“Please, prepare this man’s appropriate clothing. He is the new fiancé of the Capala family.”

“Ah, yes, I understand.” He gave a nod, and soon I was being measured and fitted.

The tailor brought me to a changing room where there were already several sets of clothes set aside. He had me try on a few different clothes, and then he did several more measurements. Penelope remained there the entire time. If she was expecting me to be shy, I was never that kind of guy. I immediately stripped, pulling off my shirt upon request.

Standing in nothing but small clothes, I was expecting Penelope to blush, but she looked me up and down thoroughly. “At least, you’re not at a complete loss.”

I coughed, quickly putting on the next outfit. I guess every girl in this world wasn’t a complete flower. Some girls were bolder.

“I can have one ready in an hour,” the tailor stated after he finished. “The rest of the wardrobe will be ready by next week.”

“Very well.” She responded before shooting me a snobbish look. “Stay here and wait for your outfit. I have something to do.”

She looked mildly distracted. I agreed to her orders, even helping open the door for her. As she passed by, she didn’t even acknowledge me, but I slipped a sentinel on her just in case. Since I agreed to marry Abigail, I might as well do my due diligence and protect her from threats, both foreign and domestic.