Chapter 8
“So this is…”
“This is the apple that young master Edwin picked himself.”
“Are you saying you grew your own apples?”
“It’s an apple that he picked himself.”
Did you prefer to grow your own? I was a bit perplexed at Raynan’s unexpected words.
After all, it wasn’t bad. Why didn’t you think of that?
Raynan’s voice as he pulled me out of my thoughts was filled with a bewildered emotion.
“I got it.”
“Yes.”
Hearing my confident answer, he stared at the apple in his hand for a moment.
It was a different apple that Edwin had picked after climbing the tree, and he and I were both very proud of how delicious and beautifully ripe it was.
The saying that human eyes are similar seems to be true. Even Roman, who was standing next to Raynan, looked at the apple as if possessed.
If it’s pretty in my eyes, it’s pretty in everyone else’s eyes.
As I stared at Raynan with a happy face, our eyes met.
“He climbed a tree?”
Ah… My head and eyes moved in a hurry. It was because I felt the atmosphere was different from what I had intended.
You’re worried, right?… Yes. No parent, no matter how indifferent, would not be surprised if a child climbed a tree.
I blamed myself for not noticing such feelings, and answered in a brighter voice than at other times.
“It was a low tree, so it wasn’t that dangerous.”
Even with my words, he could hardly express himself.
“Of course, if he fell, I was ready to catch him.”
Even though I showed a fairly strong posture, he only raised his eyebrows and showed no reaction.
“Edwin climbs much taller trees. He was so athletic that I wasn’t too concerned about it…”
At that moment, Roman’s eyes met. He looked at me for a moment, then shook his head and avoided my gaze.
Roman is the first to avoid my eyes. He had never done it before. It was said that most people would avoid their eyes if they met his dry, unreadable gaze.
But then…. But then Roman..
Am I in a situation where I can’t make eye contact right now? Am I okay?
Roman didn’t even look at me, let alone turn his face towards me.
He avoided me. That was intentionally avoiding my gaze.
Having an unknown omission, I looked at him even more tenaciously. Roman, who didn’t know she was going to be this tenacious, turned his head slightly, and awkwardly raised his eyes somewhere in the air again.
What!
It was a time when I was about to take a step forward without realizing it in my frustrated heart. A voice I had forgotten for a moment held my feet in place.
“He has good motor skills. It’s time to learn swordsmanship.”
I was taken aback by the unexpected words. Swordsmanship?
“We’ll start today.”
“I see.”
Roman, who answered politely, approached Edwin, who was next to me.
“Young master Edwin, I will take care of you.”
It was the first friendly Roman face I had ever seen. But Edwin held my hand tighter.
I was also surprised because I didn’t know what to do because it was an unexpected situation.
His clear blue eyes were staring intently at me. Realizing that I had shown my heart to Edwin for a moment, I wrapped my arms around his hands and said.
“I don’t know what swordsmanship lessons are like, so young master Edwin, you’ll have to go and tell me.”
“Renee… doesn’t know?”
“Yes. I never learned swordsmanship.”
“I see. Okay.”
Edwin’s anxious eyes filled with determination in an instant. Roman looked at me with a more mysterious expression than before, and took Edwin out.
I felt like I was driving this little kid into the private education market with my own hands.
Once Edwin came back, I would hear what he wanted to say, he could decide whether to continue or whether to make him quit somehow.
He would probably continue. I don’t think Raynan intentionally did bad things to Edwin.
He didn’t take care of him, but it didn’t feel like he had any bad intentions, so I didn’t have to worry too much.
“Then I’ll go too.”
“Wait.”
I quickly turned to follow them, leaving me alone with Raynan in the office.
Everyone, please don’t leave me alone.
I tried to hide my desire to cry. I gently raised the corners of my lips that did not rise again.
I hoped Raynan wouldn’t notice the muscles on my trembling cheeks.
“Didn’t I tell you not to bother me?”
I also tried to relax my mind with his voice. But soon, I woke up like I was covered in ice water.
“Did I bother you?”
“No.”
My heart, which fell to the floor in an instant, found its place, but I couldn’t understand the question.
I rolled my eyes for a moment and reflected on his words, then carefully opened my mouth.
“Are you saying this doesn’t bother you?”
“You should tell me stories about Edwin like this every once in a while.”
Oh my gosh. Erin, I think you were right. Was it really advanced information?
No, then what was Roman’s meaningful expression? Are you just harassing me?
It was a pretty reasonable assumption. I couldn’t figure out why he was so grumpy towards me, but judging by Roman’s notoriety, he was a person who could do it for no reason.
Even in the midst of this, there was no feeling of warmth on Raynan’s face, so I had a small worry about whether I could take it literally.
But I decided to let it go, because it raised the question of whether he was capable of smiling.
It was a good opportunity to shake off the anxiety that had remained in the corner of my heart for a while.
“Instead.”
At that moment, when excitement was spreading in my heart, I heard Raynan’s rather firm voice.
“Instead?”
“Don’t make any gifts in the future.”
“Then ca…”
“I think you should stop giving cards, too.”
As if he knew what I was going to say, Raynan cut me off before I could finish.
Edwin really liked it. I remembered Edwin’s face, who was worried but excited and prepared, so I answered in a voice that was weak without realizing it.
“Yes…”
Raynan’s face twitched as he heard the small but gloomy answer.
I thought I had made a mistake and tried to correct my answer, but Raynan was faster than me.
“It’s not that it’s bad.”
“Yes?”
“No, never mind. You should get back.”
I think your voice is softer than other times, am I mistaken? Or maybe I heard it wrong.
I wanted to make sure I was right, but Raynan quickly waved his hand and gave an order.
I only blinked, but only when I met his bloody eyes, I quickly left the office.
Also, It was clear that a comfortable and bright future did not come easily. If I relaxed even a little, my future was likely to darken again.
I rubbed the goosebumps on my forearms and hurried to Edwin’s bedroom.
*****
As soon as the door to Raynan’s office closed, Edwin stared at the door for a long time with a worried expression on his face. More specifically, he wanted to see Renee over the door.
“Are you worried?”
“Yes. Renee is a little….”
Edwin rolled his mouth to find the right word. Roman, who looked at his busy eyes, gave an answer instead.
“She’s clueless, isn’t she?”
“Yeah. Clueless.”
Even the way he sighed and shook his head.
He was genuinely worried, but Edwin didn’t know that he looked infinitely cute.
The more he worried about Renee, the more his cheeks puffed up as he worried about Raynan and her
It was quite difficult for Roman to resist the urge to pinch his plump cheeks. More than getting Raynan’s bloody gaze.
“More than that, You seem to like Renee.”
Hearing Roman’s words, Edwin barely looked away from the door.
As if when he made a serious face, Edwin answered with a smile brighter than ever.
“Yes. The best in the world.”
“That much?”
Asking Edwin, Roman had a slightly puzzled face.
“Why?”
“Because I’ve never seen anyone give their heart to someone this much.”
Edwin smiled broadly, whether he knew the meaning of his words or not.
“Will my father let Renee go?”
“I don’t know.”
Originally, Roman was a person who avoids giving answers with vague words, but this time he was sincere.
At first, he clicked his tongue when Renee started popping up, and I was surprised that Raynan didn’t say anything about Renee though.
She was only doing things that Raynan didn’t like, Renee: Not to mention chaotic and meaningless remarks, as well as sudden appearances and taking Raynon’s time.
Edwin, who was still young, knew, but Renee didn’t know. The fact that she’s sticking her head in the lion’s mouth right now.
But Raynan frowned at what she was thinking, but in the end he accepted Renee.
Maybe he liked her.
At the thought that came to mind for a moment, Roman immediately smiled and shook his head.
Of course, even in Roman’s eyes, Renee, who jumps hard and shows off her existence, is imaginary, but would Raynan think so too?
No, it was a bad idea.
It seemed that his judgment was clouded for a moment because he remembered the mournful gaze that had been chasing him tenaciously. Anyway, the opponent was Raynan.
Roman opened his mouth to organize his thoughts.
“I wonder how long it will take, too.”
“Do you want me to tell Renee?”
“Young master Edwin?”
“No, Roman.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
At the sight of Edwin nodding his head as if it was natural, Roman opened his mouth.
“The Duke pays me well when he uses me.”
“I’ll keep it a secret that you taught me to write without my father’s knowledge.”
“All right.”
Although he did not learn to read from Renee, Edwin knew how to read to some extent. Occasionally, it was thanks to Roman taking the time to teach him.
Edwin, who cutely deceived Renee with a face that he knew nothing, said to Roman with a bright face.
I wondered if Raynan would be unaware of this, but Roman graciously accepted the offer of intimidation from the owner of the future, who was still young.
He liked Edwin so much, so it was better for Renee to stay with him as much as possible.
“Then shall we go now?”
“What should I tell Renee?”
“Anyway, whatever young master Edwin is doing right now, Renee will listen.”
“Is that so? I can’t wait to be an adult so I can have more to show off.”
In an instant, Edwin, who returned as innocent as a child his age, and Roman, who had the meanest face in the world, moved on. In the meantime, the friendly conversation continued.
Of course, in the eyes of the servants who could not hear their conversation and only looked at the two of them from a distance, of course, they couldn’t seem to get along so well.
Rumors had been circulating about Edwin for a while.
What they didn’t know was that while Edwin and Roman were chatting, a new rumor about Edwin had been added to the mix.
Judging by the look on Roman’s face, it was the rumor that Raynan and Edwin’s relationship had been very wrong.
