Chapter 9
Even after leaving Raynan’s office, I still felt a little weird.
So you’re saying you weren’t bothered? Does that mean I will be okay in the future?
“That doesn’t mean it’s bad.”
Was this meant to comfort me? Normally it would be like that, right?
No, what am I thinking right now? Raynan is comforting me? Me?
A weak laugh escaped my mouth. She was obviously mentally overwhelmed.
It was understandable. What a shame it was that the two of us were alone in the office.
He’d said he wasn’t bothered, so what about Cecil and Edwin?
My head spun with confusion. But it didn’t last long.
Anyway, no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t find an answer. Unless I went in and out of Raynan’s mind.
Since Raynan, the person in question, said so, I had no choice but to believe it.
A shallow worry arose, wondering if I could fully trust it, but I tried to push it deep into my heart.
It doesn’t seem to be a bad thing, so let’s be happy for now. I’ll think about the rest later.
Fatigue quickly set in; just looking at him seemed to drain me of all my energy.
And I felt even heavier now that everything I had been dreading had been resolved so quickly.
“Oh, how long have you been like this?”
I was walking very briskly with the intention of getting away from Raynan as quickly as possible, but when I came to my senses, I found that I had stopped in one place.
As I was thinking about the meaning of what Raynan said, I didn’t even realize I had stopped walking.
I was busy thinking about going back and making various preparations before Edwin came back. My hurried pace stopped once again just a short distance from Edwin’s bedroom.
It was because a hand suddenly appeared and grabbed me.
“Erin?”
“Why are you so surprised?”
“No, of course I was surprised because you suddenly appeared and caught me. What are you doing here?”
“Huh? No, I saw you while passing by.”
“Passing by?”
I looked around at Erin’s words. Because it wasn’t a place she would particularly pass by.
Erin’s place was quite far from here. Besides, it must have been quite awkward for her to wander around here alone.
“Why are you alone?”
“What? Who am I supposed to be with then?”
“What about you, Edwin?”
“Ah… Well…”
Erin looked around for a while, even though it was obvious that I was alone. As if Edwin would appear at any moment.
“Well, it was a good thing he’s not here, I was planning to go see you.”
“Me? Why?”
“The Duke’s story I told you about before…”
“Oh, that. A story that most people don’t know? Anyone talked about it?”
As soon as I brought up Raynan’s story, Erin urgently cut me off without even listening.
“No, it’s not like that…”
“The Duke doesn’t usually express his emotions very well.”
“Hmm. That’s right.”
“More than anything, Roman is a witness. Honestly, that’s how Roman rose to that position. Do I need to hear another story?”
“Ah, Roman said that, right?”
As expected, did Roman become a close associate of Raynan like that? It seemed like Roman could show up in front of him at any time without worrying about Raynan’s cold gaze at all.
While I was lost in thought, I felt pain in my arm. It was because Erin was holding my arm very tightly.
“Erin?”
“You’re not planning on asking Roman, are you?”
“No. Are you crazy?”
“Good idea. Who doesn’t know Roman? Roman is the person who turns even the smallest flaw into the worst weakness and would sell the Duke for money.”
As expected, in terms of notoriety, there was no one in the Loerian family who could match him. I began to feel unfair that I had suffered for no reason because of his unknown expression and eyes.
In that brief moment of thinking about Roman, Erin shook my arm nervously. As if she was demanding an answer.
For a moment, I crumpled my face from the pain I felt through my arm. But while Erin was looking at my face closely, she couldn’t read my emotions at all.
I was puzzled to see Erin looking particularly anxious today, but I gave her the answer she wanted.
“That’s right. Rather, Erin, does your arm hurt?”
“Oh sorry.”
Erin was startled and took her hand away. She said as she gently rubbed me, feeling sorry for holding me so tightly without realizing it.
“Erin, are you afraid I’ll say something to Roman that might be wrong for you?”
It also seemed like she was trying to comfort me. But I felt like I had to be the one who comforted her.
Erin looked panicked, as if she was being chased by someone. I couldn’t figure out why she was so scared that she didn’t even listen to what I was saying and kept talking like that.
“Erin, I just thought that information was correct, so I just wanted to say thank you.”
“… Huh?”
Erin froze at my words. The look of disbelief on her face made me feel even more puzzled.
“What’s the matter?”
“Oh, no. What happened?”
“It’s not like that… Rather, where did you get that information? because I was a little skeptical that it was actually true.”
I smiled apologetically, and Erin awkwardly smiled along with me.
“Yeah. It’s a story that’s hard to believe…”
“Is there anything else?”
“Huh? Ah… I’ll see what I can find out.”
Slowly regaining her normal expression, Erin stared at me, as if she would find out something.
She looked like she was debating whether or not to ask, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to talk about Edwin or Raynan easily.
“Erin?”
“Yes? Ah, anyway, it was good. So do you think you caught the Duke’s eye?”
Surprised by Erin who spoke in a bright voice, I walked closer to her.
“Shh. If anyone hears it, they will misunderstand it. And I didn’t mean to catch the Duke’s eye…”
“Between us?”
“It’s really not true.”
“Okay. But if there is anything, you must let me know.”
You had no idea.
No matter what I said, it was clear that Erin thought I was targeting Raynan.
Erin has clearly never met Raynan.
It takes a lot of courage to stand under his gaze, but to target him. It was nonsense.
If you saw him in person, you would understand me a little more. My regret grew.
“Rather than that, Renee…”
“Oh, I’m sorry. There’s something I need to prepare before Edwin comes. Let’s talk again later.”
Because Erin’s story became longer, more time passed than expected. I suddenly felt anxious because I didn’t know when I would return, so I quickly left Erin and entered Edwin’s bedroom.
Edwin came back just in time as he was getting ready to wash up and grabbed snacks.
“Did you get back?”
“Yeah.”
“Would you like to take a shower first?”
“Yes. I’ll wash up quickly and come back.”
Even though he had a face with a lot of things he wanted to say, Edwin kindly walked to the bathroom with Marvin, his servant in charge.
After a shorter time than before, Edwin appeared with a clean face. I couldn’t tell if his red cheeks were due to the excitement of his first class not subsiding, or if it was the effect of being in the hot air.
When he saw the snacks I had prepared, I grabbed Edwin who was excited and tried to run away. Edwin realized what I was going to do and calmly sat down on the chair with a sad expression on his face.
Edwin had a relaxed look on his face while I was drying his hair, which was still full of water.
He felt awkward at first, but now he leaned in naturally.
The texture of his fuzzy hair was just like his personality. As I happily dried his hair, Edwin sometimes tilted his head and looked at me.
The moment our eyes met, his face naturally changed, and a smile spread across his face as well.
“Renee.”
“Yes, Young master Edwin.”
“I really like Renee.”
Edwin said, his eyes narrowing. I wanted to hug him, to see him so shy and yet so clear in telling me what was on his mind, that he liked me.
I never thought the difference in status could be this sad.
“Oh, I really like young master Edwin too.”
Instead, I smiled brightly and expressed my feelings, and Edwin seemed to have something more to say.
But what came out of his mouth were not words but a sigh. He stared at me for a moment and spoke with a somewhat serious expression.
“I wish we could be together for a long time… But Renee is fine the way she is.”
It was an incomprehensible word. While I was trying to guess the meaning of Edwin’s words with a puzzled look on my face, Edwin smiled brightly as if he had never done that before.
“I’m just saying that I like Renee.”
Even though his hair was disheveled from drying, Edwin smiled beautifully. I put down the towel and straightened his hair.
“It’s done now.”
At my words, Edwin quickly got down from the chair and went to get the snack.
“How was your first class?”
He took a bite of the cake and answered with a slightly sullen expression.
“Hmm… He says I’m not ready for the wooden sword yet. Said we need to do other things first.”
“Then I guess you can hold a wooden sword later?”
“Yes.”
“Then Edwin will have something to brag about that day, right?”
“… Really?”
“So today you can brag about how your first lesson went. Because I really don’t know what a swordsmanship class is like.”
“It’s hard, but it was fun.”
The sullen face quickly disappeared and Edwin smiled brightly again. Sometimes he seemed to act out of character for his age, but at times like this, he was a perfectly normal child.
“Study too… It’s difficult, but it’s good to learn.”
… I see. You like studying.
Although it was incomprehensible to me, it was an extraordinary word anyway. I can’t believe he enjoys learning.
I felt a little sorry that the sudden increase in classes was because of me, but I didn’t think I needed to worry.
As expected, Edwin chatted happily for a while, saying that he saw a lot of great things today, and that even though what he had to do was boring, it was still fun.
There was a lot to talk about, but he also had to eat snacks, so his mouth literally couldn’t rest.
I nodded my head happily at him, and sometimes gave exaggerated reactions.
Just by being with Edwin, my nervousness and anxiety disappeared. The time spent with Edwin was truly peaceful.
*****
Marvin, who would have been busy cleaning up at any other time, sneaked out of the bedroom very quietly while Renee was distracted by Edwin.
Centered on Edwin’s bedroom, Marvin’s room on the right and Renee’s room on the left.
Marvin went straight to his room. As soon as he opened the door, someone who was waiting for him greeted him with a sharp voice.
“Why are you here now?”
He was startled by a loud voice before he could close the door. When no other sounds were heard from outside, he sighed and asked in an annoyed voice.
“What do you expect me to do when you show up at a time like this?”
“That’s why you should have done your job.”
Erin, who was sitting on the bed with her arms crossed, blamed him in a very irritated voice.
