CH 75

“Everyone’s looking at us, Ray. Please don’t.”

I walked over to Raymond and whispered softly.

A crowd surrounded us. The guards will be arriving soon, and the drama will only get worse.

I didn’t want to decorate the front pages of the capital’s newspapers tomorrow.

When I grabbed his hand and pulled him towards me, Raymond gently moved away from the man.

“Remove swords.”

The knights retreated by Raymond’s order.

“Ha… Thank you. Thanks!”

The man grabbed his broken wrist and ran away.

Raymond turned slowly to me. Even if his prey slipped out from under his nose, he no longer worried about it.

Those people disappeared from sight, and I let go of his hand.

Raymond’s gaze followed my hand as I released him.

It was a look that showed me his regret.

I turned away from him and turned to the girl who was still kneeling there.

“Are you okay?”

The little girl fell into a stupor, still couldn’t raise her head and trembled.

Old rags didn’t protect her from the cold, and she was still in shock.

When I tried to take off my cloak and cover it, a large robe suddenly wrapped around the child.

Surprisingly, it was Raymond.

“Night is cold. Don’t take it off.”

“Thanks.”

The girl raised her head, as if regaining consciousness.

Pale emaciated face and scar. From the moment I saw the rags on her, I already knew that this child was from the slums.

However, seeing the traces of suffering on her young face, it made me even more painful.

After I gave birth to Carlisle and raised him, I couldn’t help but become more attentive to children.

I picked up the fallen violets and put them in a basket.

“Oh, your hands will be dirty, I…”

“They may be dirty, but look how beautiful it is. Hmm. How much will you sell them all for?”

“Huh?”

The girl’s eyes widened.

She was surprised to hear that I was thinking of buying flowers that had just rolled on the ground.

“The flowers are ruined, so…”

“I only say this because I have a way to preserve even these flowers. Therefore, I want to buy these beautiful flowers from you and make them even more beautiful.”

Astonishment settled in the pure children’s eyes.

Patting the girl on the head, I tried to get a silver coin out of my pocket.

But again, Raymond was faster than me.

He gave the girl a silver coin.

“Here’s the payment for the flowers.”

“This is too much, I can’t…”

“You can accept this. Thanks to you, I met the person I wanted to find.”

The person you wanted to find?

I turned to him. I wondered if he meant me.

Raymond smiled at the girl and thrust a silver coin into her hand.

“Take this one too. And tomorrow visit the guards and show it when dawn. Then we will find you a better job.”

Raymond gave the girl a gilded tablet representing the imperial family.

The girl didn’t know what it was, but she understood that it was very expensive.

She bowed deeply to Raymond.

“Thanks. Thanks. I will never forget this mercy.”

“You will repay the debt to me if you are happy in the future. You, escort the child home.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And make sure they find a job for her tomorrow morning.”

Raymond added quietly.

The escort and the girl were gone and Raymond was now targeting me.

“I haven’t seen you for a long time.”

He looked at the girl with a face full of boundless care and pity.

I don’t remember ever seeing such kindness in him.

I looked at him a little dumbfounded, and woke up from his quiet talk.

“Ellie.”

He took a step closer to me and frowned.

“What are you thinking of wandering here alone like this? Look now what happened. Are you okay?”

He looked at me anxiously and held out his hand.

I stepped back, avoiding him.

“I’m okay. Thank you for helping me, sire.”

In an emergency, I spoke to him as in our shared past. But now everything is back to normal.

It was only a brief moment when I was surprised by his appearance.

“I’d better leave.”

Whether he liked it or not, I had no desire to be here.

I took the censer and lifted the basket of violets.

However, this turned out to be overwhelming – to immediately hold a heavy box and basket.

But I didn’t want to show weakness in front of him. And so, when I tried to walk past him, giving strength to my hands, a basket of violets was suddenly brazenly stolen.

“I bought this thing.”

He looked at me and shook the basket in front of my nose.

“Huh.”

It was absurd, but I couldn’t argue it.

It wasn’t me who paid the girl.

But of course, I still considered the purchase mine. I said that I was buying all her flowers, and then he suddenly thrust a coin into her.

But if you think about it, he never said he was buying them.

“Who would have thought you were so fond of violets.”

“I like it. Because this flower looks like someone precious to me.”

I froze for a moment. I still remember how he told me in the past:

“This flower looks so much like you.”

You wanted to remind me of these words? Make me nostalgic?

“So be it. Then I will leave without them.”

When I wanted to pass by, he grabbed my hand.

I frowned at his rude gesture, but he immediately loosen his grip.

“Do you want to leave just like that?”

“Is there anything else you want to tell me?”

“You owe me.”

I’m sorry, what…?

I looked at him confusedly. He continued, without even moving an eye:

“Didn’t I save your life a moment ago? Is it enough to just give me a ‘thank you’?

It was ridiculous to hear that he saved my life.

It was a little dangerous, but not too much.

If I had revealed my identity to them, they wouldn’t have touched me with a finger.

I opened my mouth to challenge this claim, but Raymond was faster.

“Buy me something in return.”

He pointed somewhere with his finger. When I followed the direction, I saw a kiosk selling barbecue.

“Will you eat this?”

“Yes.”

He looked at me with a face, as if asking, what is the problem?

Has Raymond ever eaten this kind of food?

I have known him for a long time, but I’ve never seen him touch street food.

If you look at it that way, first of all, he has never even been at the night market.

And while I stared dumbfounded at the skewers, Raymond came close to me.

Before I could even brush it aside, he grabbed the box containing the incense burner.

“What are you doing?”

“This will be a pledge that will prevent you from escaping.”

He laughed at me and my embarrassment, and was the first to walk to the kiosk.

What the hell is going on here?

It was absurd.

I regained consciousness belatedly and followed him.

“There are two choices: sweet and spicy. Which one do you want?”

“Two sweets.”

Raymond answered without bothering to ask my opinion.

Will he be able to eat two of these barbecue at once? When I thought about it, he held out one to me.

“It’s more edible than I thought. The sauce is sweet, not spicy.”

Unlike me, he tolerated spicy food well. I couldn’t eat anything spicy at all.

But did he know about it?

I don’t remember that he was interested.

“It’s a little uncomfortable to eat like that. Well, this is street food…”

I took the skewer from his hand.

“That’s okay for me.”

I didn’t like eating street food, but I didn’t find it unworthy like other nobles.

When I lived in Lund Kingdom, I bought street food whenever I went to the market with Carlisle.

The sweet taste of the barbecue spread over my mouth.

Rather, this whole situation and Raymond’s presence were uncomfortable, not street food.

“Five coppers.”

“Keep the change.”

Raymond handed the silver coin to the merchant before I could get my hand into the wallet.

“I decided to change the rate.”

He said, ignoring my reaction.

“I changed my mind. Barbecue is too cheap. Buy me something else.”

What the hell are you going to do?

As I stood there in complete confusion, Raymond turned to me.

“Why don’t we go somewhere else?”