CH 88

“You want Lady Bolsheik to stop being my aide.”

There was no ferocious aura that would tear limbs apart like before.

However, there was no sign of friendliness or willingness at all! There wasn’t, but there was no need to struggle desperately to live.

“Yes.”

“The reason is?”

“I will make a covenant with Lady Bolsheik…”

“What nonsense!”

Lawrence couldn’t even finish his sentence.

Dumbfounded and with a stuffy nose, Ophelia felt dizzy even without shaking her head.

Richard, who was in Sheffield and was on the verge of cutting Lawrence’s throat at the fitful resistance, buried his back deep into the sofa.

Then Catherine covered her eyes with one of her hands and let out a long sigh.

It was because she instinctively realized that whatever her brother said was wrong.

“It’s a waste of time…”

“That’s bullshit!”

After yelling a word that was stronger than nonsense, Ophelia stared straight at Lawrence.

With blue eyes that were cold enough to freeze the insides.

“Me, to stop being an aide… whoever wants it? Is that even the reason for the proposal? It seemed the premise was that if the lord proposes, I must accept it. If this isn’t a dog’s barking—oh I’m sorry to the dog. If this isn’t crazy, then what can I call crazy?”

Words that were harsh enough to make Lawrence’s stomach ragged were fired at once.

It was Ophelia who, upon seeing Richard during their first meeting, became restless and even shuddered intermittently.

When she decided to carry out her job no matter how dangerous the locust swarm was, he saw a sense of determination and responsibility…

“Lord Lawrence, please explain properly.”

At Ophelia’s cool voice, Lawrence responded immediately, mirroring her proper posture, which was a straightened back and steady chin.

“Yes! I will explain properly.”

Catherine, seeing their figures through her fingers, closed her eyes altogether.

‘That stupid idiot! If you had explained it properly from the beginning, it wouldn’t have come to this point.’

As for Richard, he began to wait and see from the moment Ophelia fortunately stepped forward among the misfortunes.

“I am afraid of His Highness the Crown Prince.”

This was a sudden confession without any warning, but Ophelia waited silently for the continuation.

If he wasn’t afraid of that Richard, he would be one of the best in the empire, no, in the entire continent, so it wasn’t too surprising.

“So there’s no way I can just leave a colleague alone, especially someone dear to Catherine.”

Ophelia nodded first and then processed what he said.

‘So, if we are colleagues, then we will be people who fear Richard. And Catherine’s precious person is me.’

At last…

“I just wanted to save Lady Bolsheik. She is afraid of His Highness, but is an aide who has to be the closest to him.”

Lawrence said everything that was on his mind.

“Isn’t there only two ways to quit being an aide? Either when His Highness throws you away or when you get married and become so busy that you can’t serve as an aide anymore?”

“That’s why I’m coming forward to propose.”

“Yes!”

Thinking that it had been delivered properly, the color began to return to Lawrence’s pale face.

“Any other purpose besides that?”

A slow, dreadfully low voice flowed from Ophelia’s back.

“None.”

But truthfully, needless to say, there were some.

Because if things didn’t go like this and went as he expected, he wouldn’t bother breaking up.

Even if she wanted to break off the engagement, he would have tried to change her mind.

He liked Ophelia well enough.

Although it was not love at first sight or a passionate love that burned like fire, the emotion based on human liking would have blossomed sufficiently.

If it hadn’t been like this.

Shouldn’t remaining alive be the priority, regardless of whether there was a human crush or not.

It was unexpected that the crown prince was here right now, but what was even more devastating was the crown prince’s love for Ophelia…

“Lord Lawrence.”

“Yes.”

Ophelia waved her hand, a thin smile hanging from her lips.

“I think there is a very big misunderstanding.”

“Misunderstanding?”

“I’m not afraid of Richard.”

As she shut her mouth, the drawing room fell into silence; none of their breathing could be heard.

Naturally.

Catherine nodded hard as if expressing she knew it, and Richard just smiled.

As for Lawrence, who had received an answer… his mind was blank.

The premise, which had been believed so far, was shattered at once, without a second thought, by the person concerned.

The shock of having his firm belief shattered…

Lawrence’s face instantly turned red.

Judging from the way he often teased her with an easy grin, Catherine thought he would just slide over the pit like a snake even if the situation was like this, but it wasn’t.

Lawrence couldn’t say anything for a while and was busy cooling his red face, and Ophelia didn’t say anything else to him.

—You’re completely mistaken, that’s a delusion. 

She couldn’t say it like this.

By the time Lawrence’s face, which had been dyed as red as the color of Ophelia’s hair, was about to find its original color.

Unexpectedly, he spoke first.

“I made an absurd misunderstanding.”

It was a colossal misunderstanding, but he actually didn’t have to apologize because he didn’t harm Ophelia with it.

Rather, based on the misunderstanding, he even tried to save her, who seemed to be in trouble.

No matter how good the intention was, if the result was terrible, no, if the damage went beyond terrible, it wouldn’t have been so easy. However, it was concluded before any damage was done… 

‘Well, before another weird misunderstanding appears, I need to make it clear.’

Ophelia added a further explanation.

“The sudden appointment as an aide without any preparation or explanation is due to circumstances that are difficult to announce. Besides, it was me who wanted to become an aide.”

She did not specifically mention the ‘difficult circumstances’.

To tell the truth, she would have to explain all the series of events that happened after the crown prince was suddenly kidnapped in the chain of infinite regression, but that could never happen.

Well, since she said it roughly, each person would imagine a different ‘difficult situation’.

Most probably some kind of deal with the family and the imperial family.

Anyway, it was not a lie, was it?

“I’ve never been scared or afraid of His Highness, no, Richard. I didn’t become an aide because I was weak or threatened.”

Repeated fact-checking was an unspoken pressure not to bring out such crazy words again.

And Lawrence, who knew it very well, bowed deeply.

“I understand, Lady Bolsheik.”

In response to the neat answer, Ophelia straightened up and let out a light sigh.

As Richard looked at her small back, he had to struggle to suppress the desire to hold her by the waist.

Lawrence’s completely unexpected misunderstanding with such an unanticipated visitor was resolved in an unexpected way.

However, even Richard himself did not know how long his patience, which was formed as a result of this incident and was thin enough to break at any moment, would last.

‘Will I say it?’

He wanted to grab Ophelia right away and tell her.

‘I love you. I can’t stand it because I love you.’

He wanted to inhale her, to his heart’s content, to kiss her, and to give her a radiant smile.

‘Can… Can I?’

What if the moment he said it, she walked away.

What if she no longer made eye contact with him or called him by name.

Then he wouldn’t even know what to do with himself.

‘So I will be patient.’

Richard was walking a precarious tightrope between the two options.

.

It was the third night since all people in the streets and alleys, regardless of gender, age, or status, were rocked by the saint. 

A corner of a family’s mansion located in the capital.

“You’ve been waiting for this?”

A shrill voice overturned with excitement cut through the stuffy air.

The woman, the owner of the mansion and head of the family, smiled coyly as she stroked the cheek of the handsome male servant standing in front of her.

“Be nice and there will be a price.”

The male servant didn’t answer. He just lowered his eyes.

At first glance, he seemed to be obedient, but if you looked at it in another way, he seemed to be ignoring the whole situation.

Unlike the male servant, who did not move like a stone statue, the woman could not hold back her excitement and touched his clothes.

How long has it been?

A black figure reflected in the servant’s eyes, which couldn’t even look like the eyes of a dead fish.

The servant silently took one step closer to the woman, to be more precise, towards the woman who was entangled with him, and swung the statue he was holding.

—Pujeok.

A sound like a watermelon breaking echoed, and at the same time, the woman, who had been groping the servant, slumped without making a sound.

Ame: I guess this afraid/proposal misunderstanding has no relation to the fake saint oops (///￣ ￣///) a moment of silence for Lawrence, who was sacrificed for ‘relationship progression between the novel’s leads’

I’m kinda stoked for the next arc, opening with a bang!

Dea: I hope Lawrence can get a nice fiancee, he deserves it after all this!