CH 113

When 〈 Monita’s March 〉 comes out, there will probably be a lot of commotion.”

The song the symphony orchestra was playing right now was 〈 Monita’s March. 〉 This was the great commotion I expected. The desire to watch the fight was rising like a chimney though the desire to see how I was going to score the bad guy was more desperate.

When I arrived at the meeting place with Seymour, he hadn’t arrived yet so I stood alone on the balcony and thought quietly.

‘…How dare he hurt young Evan like that? I’ll make his life hard for the rest of his life.’

The scars of childhood never go away.

I knew this because I was bullied by many people in my previous life as an orphan. Besides, it was like that in my childhood days before being possessed. In addition, my parents always fought, and after they died, I could see that they were afraid that their relatives would take over.

Such memories couldn’t be erased even if I wanted to.

‘But really… Why am I so agitated?’

Even though I tried to keep my composure again while getting some fresh air, I kept thinking about the past that the scroll book had shown me and got angry.

‘Rather, Evan doesn’t mind… wait.’

Had I ever worked so hard on someone else’s business? I was busy looking for my own way to live, and I didn’t care about anything else because I was making my own money.

I was dazed as if I had been hit in the head.

If there were one thing I’d moved that had nothing to do with my interests, it was Evan… Perhaps, from the first time I saved him from Ludva, my eyes widened the moment I saw the marks of abuse on my husband’s body.

The moment when each person realized that they like someone could be different. When the other person looked cool, when your heart was pounding, or when you kept thinking about it. As for me… his misfortune felt as unbearable as mine.

“I myself had forgotten, why do you care so much?”

Why did I care so much about Evan… The reason why I couldn’t stand it even though he was fine…

Could this also be the result of the fairy’s breath shaking my emotions? Still, fairies wouldn’t make you have feelings that you didn’t have. The feelings I kept ignoring, never acknowledging…

‘Ah, I…’

At the masquerade ball, while watching him wearing a black cat mask and looking down at me, a thought came to me spontaneously and stopped. The reason why I kept doubting that ‘Evan doesn’t like me?’ even though I heard it directly from his mouth…

“Is anyone there? Summon all the kitchen maids now! Attempt to poison…”

The first time I vomited blood, Evan was lost in thought.

“I will be a better family than all your relatives put together.”

Evan, who said he would become a warm family member after kicking out the woman who had only been thinking about stripping me off.

“I will never do anything that bothers you. So, my wish is that you never leave me.”

Evan, who told me not to leave behind the mask.

“If you ask me to destroy the world, I can destroy it without asking why, but there is really nothing I couldn’t do for you.”

Evan told me that without hesitation.

‘I—’

I bit my lower lip. Conceivably, the reason I subconsciously denied it even though I thought that Evan might like me…

‘…I guess I like Evan.’

Maybe since I thought it was cute that the nape of his neck turned red as a child, at that time, I didn’t even know I liked him blindly.

It was a feeling I couldn’t explain because I was attracted to him unexpectedly from the beginning. From the beginning of my stay at the Duke’s residence, I was busy surviving, but I always had my eyes on Evan.

…Was the game really over since I felt that Evan, who others said was not cute at all, was cute for me?

Possibly, I was afraid of him being indifferent to me when he grew up, so on the night of the founding festival six years ago, I asked him to please remain as close friends without any conflicts. No matter how much I was setting up an angle to run away first, I asked him to be kind to me in the meantime.

Thinking of his safety during the terror attack, taking risks, and managing the Duke’s work brilliantly…

‘What should I do… I’m really crazy. I’m afraid of affection, so I went all the way to Borotna, but what if I get better?’

I panicked and stood there blankly.

It was because I never thought I would fall in love with someone so stupidly. Maybe, there was nothing wrong with being close to Elanie, but subconsciously, I thought that I absolutely didn’t want them to get close…

‘It’s not going to be forever anyway, but I still didn’t like her being married to Evan.’

I sighed and caught my breath.

Even though I lived pretending to be the smartest in the world, I only knew my heart after the fairy’s breath helped me.

No… In the first place, the scroll book showed Evan’s memories as the most difficult fantasy to see…

‘I guess it’s because I’ve been by his side for too long. Anyway, I guess I didn’t know more because of our relationship as husband and wife.’

Or, even if I liked him, I might have denied it with a self-defensive attitude because I thought I was the only one who would be hurt if I liked him. So, whenever he pushed me away, I felt sad, and as much as I felt sad, I tried not to be aware of my feelings…

Even though Evan treated me as a very precious family member, I didn’t take it seriously because I wanted more than that. Although I thought that I shouldn’t wish for it, that if he truly liked me, it would be catastrophic.

As I couldn’t help but get lost in what to do with the feelings that I had just realized, the balcony door opened.

“Miss Laria, sorry for being late.”

Seymour rushed in.

“I was caught by Princess Elanie on the way…”

“The Princess? Is the fight over already?”

“No. She said to Olivia, ‘If you’re going to brag about being wealthy in front of me, throw at least gold!’ The Princess tried to throw me. She said she couldn’t throw real gold because she was afraid Olivia would like it.”

…It seemed that the thing happened because Seymour’s middle name was Gold.

“I did everything as you said.”

Then, he gazed at me and spoke intently.

“Lord Gerdi? It seemed that he was a bit greedy for money. He said he would buy iron ore right away. I advised him to stake all his possessions.”

Seymour and Kyle were in the middle of adjusting the amount of iron ore mined by mutual agreement. Since there was a considerable amount of reserves, if too much were released to the market, the price would drop too much.

“So, I got the bill right there and then.”

But now, I was thinking of stabilizing the price by gradually increasing the amount of mining.

This was because it would be difficult if the greedy Emperor became interested in the price when the iron ore supply went out. I had to lower the price moderately before the imperial family wielded their power recklessly and forcibly lowered the price.

“Because I told him myself that there is almost no iron ore left in Hanua.”

“Yes.”

“Well, it turns out that there are more reserves.”

Having seen iron ore prices skyrocket once, it was easy to seduce another price surge again. In this way, Lord Gerdi would be able to spend the family’s money.

“Thank you.”

The amount of the bill was substantial. I accepted his offer and smiled.

“Then, you can go now.”

“What? Why?”

“You should go to the Princess. You had much trouble because of my request.”

Even though he was explaining the situation to me, I was a bit sorry that I would only think of Elanie.

“Huh… Why would I go there?”

Seymour spoke slowly, dumbfounded, and I blinked.

“The Princess is fighting.”

Seymour replied absurdly.

“It’s a nice spectacle to see, though isn’t it enough to spend time with Miss Laria?”

“Well…”

I picked out my words.

“I thought that the two of you would have a special relationship if you received an invitation from Princess Elanie and even danced together for the first dance.”

“It’s special because we are exchanging money. However, if you’re talking about a relationship between a man and a woman…”

Seymour frowned and shook his head.

“Absolutely not. Why would the princess like a man who was only a commoner?”

“Yes? But the first dance…”

“That was a special request from Princess Elanie. She hasn’t taken control of the noble family yet, so she can’t take sides.”

He explained as he waved his hand.

“Dancing with a baron with a lot of money like me is a good way to put things off.”

It was… If Elanie danced with the son of a noble, it had a political meaning. Because of that, if she wanted to step back, dancing with someone like Seymour was the right choice.

“We just have the same political philosophy. Don’t misunderstand. Princess Elanie only thinks of me as a pretty money line.”

“Huh… Well… What is your political philosophy? Did you even have a political philosophy?”

“Well, I don’t know anything about complicated circumstances.”

Seymour shrugged her shoulders.

“I like the divorce law.”

“You’re not even married yet?”

“That is…”

At my words, his green eyes twitched aimlessly before he stared at me and replied as if possessed.

“Well, after a while, someone might find me a better match than her husband…”

Suddenly, I thought that Seymour was also under the influence of the fairy’s breath.

“At that time, I wished there was at least a system that would allow her to separate from her husband. Because…”

Listening to his words, a very uneasy feeling came over me.

According to the original story, Seymour and Elanie should already be in love. So, he wouldn’t say anything like a pretty money line.

Elanie was such a fiery personality that she was never the kind of woman to hide her heart from the man she liked. And Seymour, too… With common sense, if the girl you like was fighting, of course, you would want to go out…

“…Since Miss Laria has Lord Evan as your husband, she will never turn her eyes to another man, regardless of her feelings.”

My heart dropped.

…Please, please.

“Well, that…….”

“Of course, even if the divorce law does not change your mind… I was so desperate that I wanted to lean on even the smallest possibility.”

Even though it was a quiet statement, the emotion contained within it was never so.

“…I didn’t want to say anything because I was afraid that it would be embarrassing… I don’t know why.”

Continuing his words, his eyes narrowed sadly.

“Maybe, it’s because Miss Laria is so pretty today.”

A wind blew from somewhere.

I panicked and took a deep breath. It was one of the most difficult moments of my life.