The Romance Fantasy Novel MC is Only Into Me

“Let’s check first, Mary.”
“Yes, benefactor. What should I do?”
“As you can see, I have a honey candy in my hand right now.”
“Looks delicious!”
“I’m going to hide this inside my sleeve. What were you thinking?”
“Please, just one bite! I’ll suck on it once and give it back!”
“If you want, try taking it once.”
Ransell watched Marigold, waiting for her hand to move.
It was to find out how skilled Marigold’s stealing was, taught by the thief master.
Spot-!
‘...!’
The moment Marigold’s hand blurred, he quickly grabbed her wrist in one move.
“Ugh!”
“Got you, you little thief.”
“Please spare me! Ah, no, how did you know?”
“......”
Marigold was dumbfounded.
“I’ve never been caught head-on before...”
Ransell admired Marigold’s hand. It had almost slipped into his sleeve.
If he had been a bit slower, she would have almost reached it.
“Eat it.”
“Ugh!”
‘How much stealing has she been doing?’
Ransell carefully assessed Marigold’s talents as a thief one by one.
“Grab it!”
“Yes!”
“Bring it back!”
“Got it!”
“Hide!”
“Erasing presence is your specialty, right?”
“Cry!”
“Waaaah!”
“Go to Hesty and get some snacks!”
“Yes! Huh? That’s just an errand...”
“Lie down!”
“Yes!”
“Wash your hands after eating!”
“Yes!”
===============
—Imperial Year 816, September 15. Weather: occasionally cloudy.
—Marigold has trained in stealing. Pickpocketing advanced (55%), lockpicking advanced (19%), dagger skills intermediate (11%), undercover intermediate (32%), stealth intermediate (12%), tanning beginner (86%), paralysis poison beginner (7%), throwing intermediate (29%), mouse training intermediate (38%), acting intermediate (5%), begging intermediate (12%) proficiency increased.
※Part-time job interview list updated. New jobs added: thief, ninja, assassin, labyrinth explorer, covert operation unit, secret police, laborer, undercover reconnaissance team, elite thug, elite beggar, slave chaser, actor, magician, shoemaker, trap maker, poison needle maker.
‘Terrifying.’
Watching Marigold train three mice to run around her body, Ransell felt a kind of awe.
Marigold’s skill level was too high.
Too high, even.
Though she had the thief master as a teacher, to have grown this much at fifteen was purely talent.
‘What kind of life did she live to master such a mix of skills?’
To Ransell’s question, Marigold answered,
“Nothing special. My master and my master’s friends were all good people. I learned little by little from them. They’re all gone now, though.”
She shrugged.
Ransell stared into the eyes of the three mice piled atop Marigold’s head like sticky rice cakes, then straightened his back.
Anyway, this was good.
“Mary, listen carefully. Everything the troupe needs, you have to steal. You know the next performance is in just one week, right?”
“Yes! But is it okay if I steal again...? I was planning to wash my hands and live honestly...!”
“Who told you to waste your talent like that?”
“...Ransell-nim did...”
—Earn honestly. You little thief.
Ah.
Right.
Ransell naturally changed the subject.
“Don’t think stealing is always bad, Mary. There are righteous thieves in this world.”
“Righteous thieves?”
“Yes, righteous thieves.”

Ransell put his hand on Marigold’s shoulder and leveled his gaze with hers.
“In the capital of the empire, there are plenty of people who built wealth with blood and sin. It’s fine to pickpocket those kinds of guys. In fact, even the gods would want it. Even if you steal a lot, it doesn’t even show.”
“......”
Marigold clenched her fists as if remembering something from those words.
“As you say, Ransell-nim. I’ve realized it. All wealth and riches in this world actually belong to the Creator. Taking them from bad people and moving them near me isn’t a sin.”
“Ah, you’ve opened your eyes, Mary. Join the Thieves’ Guild.”
Ransell’s mouth curled up on one side.
“Let’s go. Night walk.”
“I’d follow you even to hell, Ransell-nim.”
 
—————————
[Fallen Noble Lady Simulation]
Creating the schedule for the third week of September.
Mon – Break into usurer’s mansion.
Tue – Break into illegal slave trader’s mansion.
Wed – Break into red-light district’s brothel.
Thu – Buy props for performance. (Location: Capital auction house).
Fri – Rehearsal. (Location: Baron Evil Shen’s mansion).
Sat – Rehearsal. (Location: Baron Evil Shen’s mansion).
Sun – Theater performance. (Location: Capital central theater).
※This stealing is permitted by the gods! Faith, stamina, sensibility, charm, and allure UP!
—————————
At dawn when everyone was asleep, Marigold climbed over the wall.
Her movements running low in the garden filled with leaves made no noise at all.
Ransell followed behind at a step’s distance. In stealth, her skills were actually much better than his.
The figure running on all fours with a black robe fluttering, scanning the ground, looked like a slightly large cat if you didn’t look closely.
“Ransell-nim, this way.”
“The roof?”
“Yes, I’ll come down from the roof. People usually keep their safes near the bedroom.”
“That’s some expertise.”
Ransell watched blankly as Marigold used hooks and ropes to descend upside down.
She looked like a spider slowly descending on a thread.
A short whistle. Three mice quickly slipped into the mansion from Marigold’s body right after.
The mice would now search all over the house, find the direction of the safe, and watch for human reactions.
‘Found it?’
Not long after Marigold wriggled through a window.
“Ransell-nim. Found it, here.”
“Shh.”
She reappeared carrying a heavy treasure chest.
‘A real thief, no doubt. Though a true thief indeed.’
Marigold’s expression looked urgent as she returned to the roof.
“Run, Ransell-nim!”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“There was a trap under the safe!”
Just as she said that, a loud alarm rang out.
Clang-! Clang-! Clang-!
“A thief has broken in!”
“Catch them! They couldn’t have gotten far! Catch them right now!”
Damn.
Ransell immediately turned his back as soon as he received the box from Marigold.
“We weren’t caught, right?”
“They couldn’t have seen our faces! Huff, huff!”
Only after running hard to lose the pursuers did they return to the mansion.
“Ugh!”
Exhausted, Marigold’s expression was full of exhilaration.
“Heh heh, heh heh... Ransell-nim, the taste of this is amazing. It’s my first time stealing from such a big rich mansion.”
“......”
“Uh huh huh huh.”
You’re serious, Marigold.
“What house shall we rob next, Ransell-nim?”
...
“Ransell-nim, where on earth do you get all these stolen goods?”
“Curious about the origin of these items? Not very like the Thieves’ Guild Master.”
“...You’re right.”
The Thieves’ Guild Master called to the mansion was stunned seeing the heap of stolen goods.
Silver and gold coins, silk, silverware, jewels, decorations all mixed together without order.
This was the result of Marigold and Ransell diligently robbing wealthy merchants in the capital over the past week.
“You can dispose of these, right?”
“It’s hard to do it all at once. We’ll have to slowly smuggle them out little by little.”
“That’s fine.”
It wasn’t just about money from the start.
“But Ransell-nim, if you keep stealing this much...”
“Don’t worry. I know well.”
Ransell chuckled.
“After all this, the empire’s knights won’t stay still.”
Outside the capital, countless poor people starve and die every day, and nameless corpses rot in dark alleys, but the empire’s knight order just pretended not to care, saying ‘people are meant to die.’
But now, they were beginning to stir their heavy bodies.
They would gladly organize search parties to protect the wealthy’s property.
“Mary. Let’s live quietly for a while. Running the troupe will be fine for now, got it?”
“Is that washing my hands?!”
“There’s a time for everything.”
“Understood. Quietly for a while...”
Marigold nodded.
“Stealing is fine, but my dream is still to be an actress. Since things came to this, I’ll turn my life around with acting, Ransell-nim!”
Right.
In two days, Marigold would become an actress again.
It would be her first performance after changing the troupe’s name from Logi Troupe to ‘Dante Troupe.’
“Ah, if this love is a curse, I’ll go to hell!”
Though the script was still a cheap, third-rate melodrama, and the troupe was just patched together by dragging actors scattered here and there back to the mansion.
“Mary, you’re playing a male role?”
“Yes. The rival knight in this story. It’s a lead role, a lead!”
“Moved up in the world, huh?”
“Hehe, just wait until I become famous. I’ll spread the word everywhere that I succeeded all thanks to Ransell-nim.”
Though the troupe was made up of only young women, with even the male roles played by women dressed as men, it was somewhat clumsy.
“Risen! I accuse you of sin, Risen!”
As time passed, it was starting to feel pretty good.
“Wow, you’re working hard again today.”
Even Baron Evil Shen, who initially had a sour look, now seemed quite satisfied.
“At first, I thought Ransell was up to something strange again! But now, it’s pretty lively and good. My mansion feels full of life.”
“That’s good.”
He no longer complained about his mansion being used as a rehearsal space and lodging without permission.
...
Performance day.
“The Dante Troupe cannot perform at the central theater. If you want, perform somewhere out in the marketplace.”
===============
—Imperial Year 816, August 22. Weather: cloudy.
—Marigold’s troupe failed their performance!
“I told you I’d be kicked out soon.”
At Duchess Ox’s words, Ransell scratched his chin briefly. He thought he’d heard something about it before but didn’t expect it to be today.
“No matter how much you change the name, it’s still the Logi Troupe, so getting kicked out was inevitable. Didn’t you know that, Ransell?”
Behind her, a deeply disappointed Marigold and the Dante troupe actors appeared.
They sat down in a daze, unable to say a word.
“If you’re sad, why don’t you try raising it again from the start? If the troupe is recognized as good, you’ll be able to perform again at the central theater.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Duchess Ox smiled knowingly.
“I’m better at judging people than I look, Ransell. You could be a good troupe leader. Use my name as a patron. If you restore my damaged honor, I might reward you handsomely.”
“...What kind of reward?”
“Ransell, I heard you don’t have a wife yet, right?”
Ah.
That was a bit...
“I’m already grinding my teeth thinking about how people will talk behind my back that I’m the one who failed raising a troupe. Don’t miss this opportunity I gave you.”
With that, Duchess Ox disappeared.
Central Theater.
It was the stage Marigold must climb to become the ‘Prima Donna Marigold of the Theater.’
Winning first place there was the «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» condition for the ending.
‘Hmm.’
Ransell looked at Marigold.
She was completely dazed.
 
===============
—Imperial Year 816, August 23. Weather: cloudy.
—Marigold’s karma has decreased.
—Current karma score is ‘14’.
‘...?’
In the dark dawn, Ransell woke up to an unexpected alarm.