CH 69

Marchioness Neir was sweating profusely and her eyes were red.

No matter where Ophelia looked, the marchioness seemed to be sick, but no matter how much she looked, there was no news that she was particularly sick.

“It’s certainly not normal. Even for Marchioness Neir, she was overly irritable and aggressive.”

“Is she sick somewhere?”

“Well…”

Richard retraced almost weathered memories and recalled two things Marchioness Neir was obsessed with.

There was only one thing that she placed at a higher priority than that of her subtle persistence for the throne.

“Marchioness Neir, who takes care of her body excruciatingly well, has never caught any diseases, so it wouldn’t have suddenly broken somewhere.”

“But poison doesn’t work very well on her. She developed a tolerance by eating a lot of poison.”

“What if it’s a poison that doesn’t work immediately?”

“Hn, Marchioness Neir could have eaten something like that… She could have eaten it without knowing. Yes… she was in a coma last time.”

“It would be her daughter who made her that way.”

“I think you’re trying to kill Marchioness Neir, not the other way around.”

Richard laughed as Ophelia shook her head bitterly.

“We’ll soon find out which one will be more difficult to play against.”

“What did you check?”

“I heard that the back alley was shaking, so I stopped by there for a while.”

“Shaking?”

“Yes, bodies came pouring out in heaps.”

The chubby merchant who had vomited up all the information to Richard the other day was also found cleanly decapitated.

“Since it’s the back alley, isn’t it just a fight?”

“If it’s like that, it would be normal, but only those related to drugs died, so it must be done by a specific person.”

“If it’s medicine… is it that? The fatigue reliever?”

“Give it up. I won’t hand it to you even if your eyes shine like that.”

“Did I say anything?”

Ophelia pursed her lips in displeasure and tilted her head.

“Didn’t you say you’ll bring the man who made the drug?”

“He’s missing. I’m not sure if he hid on his own, or if he’s part of the mountain of corpses, so we’re investigating.”

“Then did the supply of medicines also stop?”

“For now.”

“Thank god.”

Richard, reaching out to pat the head of Ophelia, who couldn’t hide her disappointment, soon withdrew his hand.

With her rounded shoulders drooping and a frown on her face, Ophelia muttered.

“Well, besides drugs, there’s also human trafficking. Pseudo-related.”

“There is no news about them yet.”

“Uhm, if that’s the case, I’m glad.”

As a matter of fact, among the documents she was carrying in her arms were the assassinations of the three families, which were related to human trafficking and religion, but neither of them knew at this time.

Ophelia took a deep breath and shrugged.

“What else is left to do!”

Hearing her voice blazing with the will to finish everything quickly, Richard lightly threw her a task.

“It seems like something from James’ mission is connected to Neir, but we’re not sure yet.”

“You said it was related to the village. The… uhh…”

“It’s an artificially organized village centered on one person. It’s a village that was created without any precursor or reason, so James felt particularly uncomfortable with it.”

“Come to think of it…”

Once again tilting her head, Ophelia scratched her memory.

“Didn’t you say that Neir was involved with all that strange human trafficking?”

Richard also paused at that.

“I’ve dug into it, but it seems she has nothing to do with it.”

“Well, there isn’t a straightforward way to control cults, so unless Marchioness Neir is the leader, it’s going to be a headache to touch it.”

Like that, Ophelia and Richard put together almost all the pieces to portray what Raisa was doing.

However, it was fragmented, seemingly unrelated information, so they couldn’t draw a proper, complete picture yet.

When the other work was settled to a certain extent, Ophelia smiled and said,

“Oh, and I won’t be around tonight.”

There was no answer to the lightly thrown words, but Ophelia was so excited just by the fact that she wouldn’t be working that she didn’t notice at all.

Richard stared at Ophelia and asked.

“Not… around?”

“Yes! Ophelia is free! Only for a moment.”

The voice of Ophelia which was imitating Dobby, whose voice Richard had no knowledge of, diminished towards the end and became sullen.

(TL/N: harry potter reference, haha.)

The golden eyes that had sunk to the depths at the word ‘not’, returned to their original color at the words ‘a moment’.

“I guess you’re going to see the festival.”

“Yes. I will leave as soon as Iris is finished.”

“With Iris?”

“Yes.”

Every time a word came out between her pink lips, Richard repeatedly alternated between feeling wary and relieved.

“Then what about Cooper?”

“What?”

“You’re not going with him too?”

“Oh, not today. Catherine is joining us, we’re going to have a girls’ night.”

Richard’s nerves, which had softened for a moment at the mention of a ‘girls’ night’, were tightened again when he realized she said it wasn’t today.

“Not today?”

“Yes. The aides, including Cooper, decided to see the festival tomorrow…”

Before Ophelia could finish her words, Richard shook his head.

“Cooper is going to be busy.”

“What?”

When Ophelia widened her eyes like a stunned bunny at Cooper’s sudden change in schedule, Richard nailed it very firmly.

“Cooper will be busy tomorrow and won’t be able to make it to the festival.”

“Uh… then Iris and I will stay back as well.”

“No, only Cooper will be busy.”

Although unable to fully understand why, Ophelia nodded.

For…

Iris, Cooper, and Ophelia all had the same title of ‘aide’, but each had their own area of responsibility and there was certain confidential work they didn’t share.

Not hiding her regretful expression, Ophelia let out a sigh.

“That’s too bad.”

She was genuinely sorry, and she looked at the pile of papers. So she hadn’t seen Richard’s golden eyes sink so deep into the abyss.

“The opportunity to spend quality time together is gone.”

How could it not be a pity that she could not enjoy the festival with her comrades who had shared the joys and sorrows of handling so many papers together.

“Even in the future, there will be no time to spend together.”

“Huh? Cooper has a lot of work?”

“Yes.”

Even if there wasn’t, Richard was going to create work and throw it at Cooper. So, yes, there would be a lot of work.

Actually, Richard knew.

To Ophelia, Cooper was nothing more and nothing less than a colleague.

And it wasn’t just the two of them together, Iris would be there too, thus there wouldn’t be any excitement between a man and a woman between them.

Nonetheless, it was annoying.

It was so annoying that he couldn’t stand it or watch it.

No matter how childish the jealousy was, it didn’t matter.

No, he would rather be openly jealous, so it would be nice if she would notice at least a little bit.

Richard stared blankly at Ophelia, who was chattering about what to eat and what would be fun at the festival.

“Ophelia.”

“Yes.”

“Aren’t you going to ask what Cooper is going to be busy with?”

“Can I ask?”

“Yes.”

“Then what is he going to be busy with?”

“I hate that he is going to the festival with you.”

“Don’t like it? Richard?”

“Yes.”

“I see…”

‘He doesn’t like it.’

Ophelia nodded with a calm face.

And that was it.

Even though it was said this openly, Ophelia couldn’t even think of the ‘quality’ of jealousy.

Romance or love, how could it be noticed when even its existence had disappeared.

Richard laughed at himself.

For Ophelia, as in the case of Cooper, Richard was not a man, but a mere companion.

It was just a little more special to share things that no one else in the world knew.

Unconsciously, he reached out to touch her cheek, but then withdrew it.

Previously, once, his breath had tickled her flushed cheek, and she had pressed her fingertips to straighten his furrowed brow.

It was just a routine for the two of them.

During that countless long time together, they leaned and held on to each other in search of warmth.

But, now.

Those soft cheeks, those unknowingly parted red lips, those slowly blinking eyes.

He didn’t have the confidence not to hug her if he touched her.

“…Your Highness? Richard.”

Of course, Ophelia, completely unaware of his feelings, strode towards him.

Lifting herself up onto her tiptoes, she reached her hand out without hesitation and touched his forehead.

“You don’t seem to have a fever?

It was just a touch on the forehead, a trivial touch that would be forgotten if they turned around.

Richard couldn’t count the number of times he had been closer to her than that.

Now, every time her fingertips, which carefully smoothed his forehead and swept his hair, brushed over his skin, the greed deep in his stomach was seething.

The desire to nibble away at her fingertips, if he could, right now, was running dangerously high.

Ame: Love plot and r/s progression!!!!! We’re slightly more than halfway through the entire story?! What!?

Dea: I’ve spent half of this chap screaming at ophelia’s obliviousness…and sympathising with Richard, life’s hard for him out there haha