She couldn’t tell what he was afraid of.
Was he scared of Philome running away, or was he afraid of going mad?
He didn’t elaborate, but for some reason, Philome felt that it was both.
Meeting his gaze, she slightly parted her lips, inhaled, and then exhaled.
Kaien smiled gently while putting her shoes back on, watching the rise and fall of Philome’s chest.
“By the way, why did you ask? Were you really going to run away?”
“… Even if there was such a thought, it would have disappeared after hearing the Duke’s words.”
“Did you?”
Kaien paused, still holding her shoe.
At that, Philome quickly shook her head.
“No, not at all.”
Relieved by her firm words, Kaien finished putting on her shoes. The shoes felt quite heavy compared to her slender ankles, so he asked, gauging the weight.
“Should I bring a different pair of shoes?”
“Are there other shoes?”
“Gio does.”
How could he say that so matter-of-factly? Philome suddenly felt sorry for Gio.
“Don’t worry, I’m taking good care of Gio’s salary.”
Kaien seemed to pick up on Philome’s thoughts immediately and added.
After all, Kaien wasn’t the type to be stingy with money, and he took good care of his people, so Gio was probably earning more than Philome thought.
But Philome shook her head.
“I’m really fine. If I were uncomfortable, I would have said so, but I’m fine, so I’m refusing.”
“Instead, let’s stay a little longer before we go back. We were just going to show our faces and leave anyway.”
“Then, since His Majesty has left, can we stay a bit longer?”
“That’s fine.”
“Not here, though. I want to catch some fresh air in the garden.”
“Alright.”
Kaien immediately escorted Philome to the garden. As the cool breeze blew, the stuffy air of the banquet hall felt refreshing to her chest.
Philome closed her eyes and took a deep breath before exhaling, prompting Kaien to take off his outer garment and drape it over her shoulders.
“Was it stuffy?”
“Yes, a little.”
At her words, Kaien rolled his eyes, and Philome quickly added, “I was going to tell you, but you just moved at that moment. Really.”
Philome pulled up the jacket Kaien had given her. It faintly smelled of him.
She liked that. It felt as if Kaien was tightly holding her, so she smiled quietly.
“By the way, what do you do when you go down to the North?”
“Mainly, I conduct reconnaissance twice a day. The location is the ‘Snowfield,’ where the monsters are asleep.”
“Snowfield…”
Philome murmured the familiar word that had been mentioned several times in the original story.
[To You Who Do Not Regret] centered around the love between Nadia and Kaien. Since it didn’t focus much on events, the surrounding settings and explanations were naturally quite lacking.
Even so, the Snowfield was a name that Philome had heard often enough to feel familiar with.
‘But why can’t I remember the details well?’
With the possession buff, she remembered the original story quite vividly. Yet, strangely, her memories of the Snowfield were hazy.
Philome tried to recall more about the Snowfield but soon gave up. Given that there were no memorable chapters, it was clear that it hadn’t been a significant issue in the original story either.
Kaien watched as Philome rubbed her arms and said, “Let’s head back now. If you want to rest a bit more, we can go to the lounge.”
“No, I’ve rested enough, so let’s go back to the banquet hall.”
The two of them were about to turn around.
“Wait a minute!”
But suddenly, someone rushed out and blocked their path.
“Emon?”
Philome exclaimed in surprise, calling out the name, while Kaien narrowed his eyes.
Philome was startled not only by Emon’s appearance but also by how different he looked.
Originally, Emon had golden hair and brown eyes. He wasn’t strikingly handsome, but he had a warm appearance and an average height, so if he dressed up nicely, he could at least be considered decent-looking out of courtesy.
Knowing that he looked much better when dressed up, Emon was quite serious about his appearance, rivaling Countess Bonita.
Whenever they met at the mansion, he was always flamboyantly dressed, with perfume as a given, and he always wore a jacket.
But Emon now looked completely different from usual.
His hair had grown long past the point of needing a cut, sticking out in all directions. The unkempt hair looked greasy, and his shirt showed signs of not being ironed for a long time, wrinkled with stains here and there.
Moreover, his face was haggard, with dark circles under his eyes. It was clear that he needed to put in effort to look presentable, yet he was poorly managed and his outfit was messy. It was obvious how serious his condition was without needing to look closely.
“What on earth have you been doing here? Do you have any idea how much I’ve been searching for you?”
Philome was momentarily shocked by Emon’s appearance, but then his words left her dumbfounded.
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve been avoiding me on purpose!”
“You came looking for me?”
At the unexpected revelation, Philome turned her head away.
But Kaien also had a genuinely perplexed expression. He looked at Philome with an air of injustice before recalling something.
“Could it be that beggar who came looking for you recently?”
“Beggar?”
“Yeah. I heard that a beggar caused a scene a few days ago, demanding to see you. I later found out that Sebastian took care of it without any reports coming to me.”
“Is that beggar you?”
Philome asked, scanning Emon up and down.
If he had come to the Duke’s residence looking like this, even if Emon revealed his identity, they likely wouldn’t believe him and would send him away.
Emon flushed and shouted, “W-what do you mean, beggar! I just haven’t had time to tidy up because I’ve been sorting out my family affairs!”
‘It seems like his financial situation is really bad.’
It wasn’t that he couldn’t afford to change into a clean shirt. He probably cut back on or eliminated the servants’ salaries to save money. The servants would have had no reason to stay in a place that was not only going under but also didn’t pay them properly, so most of them likely left.
Otherwise, there wouldn’t be any marks on that shirt that looked like they were from trying to wash it alone.
“So why did you come here?”
At Philome’s question, Emon began to stammer.
“Even though… we ended on bad terms, it’s true that we cared for each other sincerely.”
Philome turned to look at Kaien.
“That’s a lie…”
“…Of course, memories tend to be romanticized, but I truly cared for you.”
“That’s a lie.”
This time, as Kaien muttered, Emon’s lips quivered before he firmly pressed them together and continued speaking resolutely.
“…Right. We never loved each other. But we respected each other!”
“Huh, what? Respect?”
Kaien could no longer contain his incredulity and let out a hollow laugh.
“Emon Kevan. Do you think it’s respectful to leave your fiancée on the day of the engagement and run away with her friend?”
“That was just a mistake!”
It was Kaien who pointed out the details of his words, but it was Philome who was addressed by Emon’s shout.
Philome couldn’t bring herself to shout in front of Kaien and found Emon’s expression ridiculous as he looked at her.
“Why are you taking it out on me when the Duke is the one speaking?”
At a loss for words, Emon deliberately chose not to respond to Philome’s comment.
She realized that Emon still hadn’t gotten to the point and let out a deep sigh.
“Just tell me why you came to find me. This is the third time I’m asking, so please give me an answer!”
Emon opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water.
Then he hung his head low.
“…Can you lend me some money?”
Since she had somewhat expected this, Philome was neither shocked nor disappointed.
‘I’ve come too far to be disappointed.’
She had never had high expectations, but any remaining hope had vanished when he ran away with Nadia on the day of the engagement.
Philome swallowed her sigh and spoke firmly.
“No. I don’t have any money.”
“What, what? There’s no way you don’t have money. The Duke is rumored to care for you a lot!”
At that remark, Kaien straightened his shoulders with a sense of pride. Philome looked at Kaien in disbelief for a moment before replying to Emon.
“What does that have to do with you?”
“What?”
“I’m asking what the Duke caring for me has to do with you.”
“There must be some money you can give me.”
