“You have finally managed to complete a ledger without a single error, Gi-Reu,” Queen Myeong-Hwa remarked, her eyes scanning the neat rows of characters in both of their accounting books. She closed the covers with a definitive thud, a look of satisfied relief on her face. “It took significantly longer than I had initially anticipated, but your grasp of arithmetic has improved noticeably. Good job.”

  “Ha! You were finally able to grasp it after all,” Mi-Reu added, sitting cross-legged beside her twin. Her own book had been finished and approved nearly an hour prior.

  “What was that? Are you mocking me?” Gi-Reu retorted, his face flushing with a mix of exhaustion and irritation.

  “Mock you? I am simply stating a verifiable fact,” Mi-Reu replied, her lips curling into a playful smirk.

  “You—!” Gi-Reu was about to launch into a full-scale argument when Queen Myeong-Hwa tapped her low table with a sharp clack.

  “Stop your bickering, you two!” she commanded, though her tone remained affectionate. As they fell silent, she offered them a warm smile. “With this hurdle cleared, I can finally rest easy knowing you both can responsibly maintain your own budgets. Remember, even if you are the ones managing them—”

  “We must let you inspect them regularly! And we must not squander funds on unnecessary expenses!” both twins recited in a practiced, perfect unison.

  With a final, loving pat on their heads, Queen Myeong-Hwa rose from her seat, her silk robes rustling softly against the floor. “Well, then, I shall take my leave. I have other pressing duties to attend to.” As she reached the sliding doors, she paused and cast a warning glance back. “And don’t you dare start another fight the moment I am gone.”

  With that final instruction, she exited the room.

  The second the doors clicked shut, Mi-Reu let out a long, dramatic sigh. “Finally. We were granted permission to manage our own funds months ago, but we’ve only just now gained actual access to the treasury thanks to that brain of yours being as smooth as a polished marble.”

  “MY BRAIN? Look who’s talking!” Gi-Reu retorted, folding his arms and pouting deeply.

  “It is a simple matter of cause and effect,” Mi-Reu replied, tapping her temple. “If you had been able to write the accounts properly from the start, we would have already been able to use our funds for the System, wouldn’t we?”

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Oh, as if it’s fair!” Gi-Reu sighed, his frustration boiling over. “You were an accountant in your past life, weren't you? Of course you find this easy! I am just a normal eight-year-old boy trying to learn math while also being a prince!”

  A heavy silence settled in the room for a few minutes. Mi-Reu looked at her brother’s slumped shoulders and felt a pang of guilt. She looked down at the floor, her voice softening. “I’m sorry, Gi-Reu... I didn't mean to be cruel. I just wanted to tease you a bit.”

  “It’s fine,” Gi-Reu replied, the tension leaving his face as he offered a small, forgiving smile. He straightened up, his eyes bright with renewed interest. “Check the System now, then. We finally have official access to our royal stipends, so the numbers should have shifted.”

  Mi-Reu nodded and focused her gaze on the translucent panel floating in the dim light of the room.

  [Memory Archive System

  Balance: 840 Yang↑

  Cognitive Bandwidth: 1.5↑]

  “It shows 840 Yang as the balance now!” Mi-Reu giggled, the sight of the increased digits providing a sense of triumph after months of waiting. Not only had her balance grown, but her steady mental efforts in bookkeeping had seemingly nudged her Cognitive Bandwidth up as well.

  Gi-Reu nodded emphatically. “Finally! Use it now, then. We have enough for two Quick Recalls and change.”

  “What? Why should I use it immediately?” Mi-Reu was taken aback by his urgency. She instinctively wanted to hoard the resource. “Shouldn’t we save it? If we are patient, we can try out the more expensive abilities in the store, like the Re-watch.”

  Gi-Reu sighed, placing a hand on his forehead in a gesture of mock despair. “You really don't use that brain of yours for practical matters, do you?” He looked at her seriously. “What did you call it? Virtual Currency.”

  “The number representation in the System is linked directly to the physical money we actually possess, right?” Gi-Reu asked.

  Mi-Reu nodded slowly as he continued his lecture. “So, even if you use the Virtual Currency inside the System, the physical coins in our locked chests won't magically disappear. However, if we spend the physical money on things like new riding gear, food, charcoal, or gifts, the virtual numbers in your panel will decrease accordingly, won't they?”

  The realization hit Mi-Reu like a bolt of lightning. “Since we will inevitably have to spend physical money for our daily operations and royal obligations, it will always drain the virtual currency. It will be incredibly difficult to save up for the high-cost abilities if we just let the balance sit there while our physical expenses pile up.”

  “But,” she continued, her eyes widening, “if I spend the Virtual Currency whenever it’s available for smaller snippets of information...”

  “You get the maximum utility out of the System before the physical money is spent on mundane things!” Gi-Reu finished with a triumphant grin.

  Mi-Reu nodded vigorously, her admiration for her brother's intuitive logic reaching a new peak. “Gi-Reu! You truly are a genius!”