CH 60

“Oh! A big investment?”

“Yes. Catherine isn’t the kind of kid who talks nonsense in that way.”

“Come to think of it, Young Master.”

“Well?”

“You said that the soon-to-be guest is someone close to Lady Catherine.”

“Yes. She said they will be friends for life.”

“You’re not going to treat her like how you treat Lady Catherine, are you?”

Lawrence beamed in response to the suspicious general manager’s words.

“Of course not. I have to set the best example.”

“I believe you. She’s an investor.”

“Yes. I’ll leave it to you. That important person will be imagining what this place will be like all the way in the carriage, with great anticipation. So, mmhm?”

“Yes. Leave it to me.”

The general manager pounded his sturdy chest with his fist and declared that he would do his best.

However, contrary to Lawrence’s expectations and the firm determination of the general manager, Ophelia was not thinking of even the ‘brew’ of the brewery or the ‘sheff’ of the Marquisate of Sheffield in the carriage.

She was pondering on yesterday’s happenings, tilting, nodding and shaking her head.

“What is it?”

What shimmered in Richard’s golden eyes yesterday… 

Ophelia thought of herself as a pretty smart person. Wasn’t she even close to being able to ‘speak through the eyes’ with Richard?

And yet, at that moment, she couldn’t quite figure it out.

Ophelia was quick to think about everything.

Before she possessed this novel, she had no choice but to do so to live a smooth social life, and after this out of the blue possession, she had to adapt in order to survive.

Such senses were no exception to dating or love.

If there was someone who was interested in her, Ophelia would have noticed right away. She wouldn’t pretend to be dense and ignorant as though she was the only one who didn’t know.

But not now.

That was for certain.

As she told Richard, she couldn’t think about relationships or love now.

It would be an accurate expression to say that she had completely forgotten that such a thing even existed.

Since she forgot its existence, how could she sense or consider it?

Even if her head was spinning, it would be the same as idling.

And it was the same even if the person was Richard.

To her, he was just a comrade to get out of the freaking loop of infinite regressions.

What she once thought had not changed even now.

Since he was the main character of the world in the novel, his partner must be somewhere else.

Although she had stopped thinking about whether this place was a novel or reality, she was still convinced that she would never be the one to stand by him.

“Was it to kill?”

Ophelia, who was completely mistaken, shook her head right away, knowing that even if she contemplated it, that was not the correct answer.

Richard didn’t mean to do so, but Ophelia was engrossed in thoughts about him as she was on her way to meet Lord Sheffield.

The carriage, which ran without stopping, gradually slowed down and eventually came to a complete halt.

But even then, Ophelia was unable to get Richard out of her mind.

And what pulled her into her reality was the sunlight pouring silently through the open carriage door, piercing her eyes.

“It’s so bright.”

A man’s hand appeared before Ophelia’s eyes as she muttered involuntarily and reflexively frowned.

At the same time, a soft voice that was easy to hear rang out.

“Welcome, Lady Bolsheik.”

But Ophelia couldn’t hold his hand.

Seeing with eyes adapted to the light, the person who extended his hand towards her was not a servant.

Lawrence Sheffield. Catherine’s brother, the successor of the Marquisate of Sheffield, was reaching out his hand directly towards her.

This was their first meeting, but she could tell without an introduction.

How could she not recognize him, who had the same eyes and similar features as Catherine.

Ophelia spoke with a perplexed expression.

“I apologize for saying this at our first meeting, Lord Sheffield. Could you please keep your distance from me?”

.

Around the time Ophelia and Lawrence first met each other.

With his back buried deep in his chair, Richard lazily tapped the armrest.

Tak, then tak again.

Like the pendulum of a clock, the regular tapping stopped at some point.

He stood up silently and picked up his robe without hesitation.

“I’m not interested.”

“You’re too much!”

“Both. Whether it’s a relationship or love…”

As much as Ophelia was preoccupied with Richard, he was also constantly thinking of her.

And he concluded.

—I’ll have to go too.

It was not that he didn’t trust her.

‘Even if Ophelia isn’t as interested in love, if Lord Sheffield falls in love with her at first sight…’

—Quak-deuk.

The pin holding the robe could not withstand the strength of his grip, twisted and broke.

At that moment, as if breaking out of the shell.

It was clear that the seed, which sprouted from deep inside him and was so small that he could not even discover its existence, suddenly grew in size without him noticing.

‘That’s…’

Richard pressed his hand against his chest and tightly closed his eyes.

Even when he closed his eyes, bright red traces scattered as if they were imprinted on his eyelids.

Ophelia. Ophelia Bolsheik.

He knew the name to be given to that thing that beat in his heart.

How could he not know?

He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

It was only now that he realized the feeling that had become a huge tree inside of him, grasping the whole heart.

Richard tried to let out a devastated laugh, but it didn’t even come out, merely shattering inside.

‘Since when was it?’

Since when did she, an uninvited guest who barged into his life because she could not die, settled so deeply in his heart?

No, what was the point of estimating the time between them?

The time they spent together was so long that even counting was pointless…

But wasn’t it just a standstill?

Regressions that repeated the past time.

All relationships with them have become meaningless due to their own memories and emotions that gradually separated them from those who did not know the return.

It must have been the same with Ophelia.

The same time was repeated, so the relationship shouldn’t have changed too much.

‘Is it said that the human mind is something that doesn’t go the way you wish?’

Okay.

The same time, repeated again and again.

Even though the endless hours were suffocating in such a dark, tomb-like silence, it was more tolerable than any other night.

‘It must be because you were by my side.’

Nothing had changed from before.

He was still regressing against his will, and he still didn’t know when it would end.

‘It was a life that can’t die, but from some moment, I can’t stand it without you by my side.’

‘Breathe… I can’t breathe, I can’t live without you because I can’t breathe.’

‘Like you took my breath away’

The woman who suddenly appeared.

The woman who took his breath and grabbed his heart.

Richard rubbed his chest.

His heart, which had not been beating because it had hardened, beat in sync with her heartbeat when he was with her.

‘You… Where the hell did you come from?’

And in the next second, a possibility crossed Richard’s mind.

Like how she suddenly appeared, wouldn’t she disappear like a lie at some point?

‘Ophelia disappearing.’

‘Not by my side.’

Richard’s golden eyes darkened.

“Like that…”

‘I can’t let go like that.’

‘I won’t let go like that.’

—I’m going to you.

“Will I give up so easily?”

He grinned, showing his teeth and laughing ferociously.

It was she who reached out her hand.

He had no intention of letting go of that hand.

Even before he realized his true feelings, he didn’t want a tomorrow without her by his side.

As she was the only one who could have had the same experience and seen the same place.

Now that Richard realized that Ophelia was the one holding his heart, he had to see her right away.

He wanted to keep her by his side, and he wanted to be by her side.

Still holding the pin, Richard hesitated.

A familiar air was quickly drawing closer towards the door.

—Tok tok.

He was about to ignore the knock when he heard Iris’ voice outside.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness, but this is urgent.”

After a moment of agony, Richard stepped on the window sill.

If Iris said it was urgent, it would be a major matter.

Which could even affect the entire empire.

However, his choice was not the empire, but only one person.

Ophelia.

He was about to go to her with a light smile when the door burst open without permission.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness! But this must be conveyed…”

“Iris.”

After barging in without his permission, Iris begged for forgiveness, but shut up at Richard’s call.

“What’s going on?”

He didn’t say a word of criticism, but dry words fell even before he could tell her to raise her head. 

“It’s a swarm of locusts.”

The thing that made Iris come in without his permission was a swarm of locusts.

Definitely, there must be something else going on.

“Details.”

Iris kept her head down and continued her report.

“…there are already three territories that have suffered such severe damage. And although the current isn’t as severe in those places for now, the reason I mentioned the locust swarm as an urgent matter is…”

Richard knew what Iris was about to say before she could continue.

“Is it the third?”

“This is the second time this unusual thing happened… What? The third?”

Ame: ONE DOWN at recognizing it’s love, ONE MORE TO GOOOOO! 

Dea: can you feel the love tonight~ (well not Ophelia, she’s like that one meme with ‘love is in the air’ and then there’s this one guy spraying the air with an air freshener)