“Don’t just call your sister’s name like that!”
Richter’s reaction nailed Elise’s thoughts.
“It is Iris. But you still deny it to the end.”
Elise slowly backed away and sat in a chair.
Karan watched the conversation between the two with interest, not intervening.
Every time Elise made a sarcastic expression, his belly button trembled.
“She doesn’t matter.”
“What did my sister do for Lord Richter? Hold your hand? Or dance at a party?”
Richter closed his mouth. Elise’s eyes narrowed.
“No way… Did you do this without any reward?”
“It’s not at the command of Iris!”
When Richter raised his voice, Karan immediately kicked his back.
Richter bent forward and hit his forehead on the floor.
“Uh, huff.”
He groaned. When Elise looked at Karan, he stepped back and answered.
“I slipped.”
To Richter, it sounded like he had been hit in the back of the head.
Elise waited for Richter to get up.
“Lord Richter, do you trust Iris? Will she reciprocate your love?”
“I didn’t do it hoping for a reward!”
Elise stared at him sternly.
“I’ll end your futile love.”
Richter tried to say something more, but it was useless. Karan gagged him.
“If you make even a small sound, I’ll make sure you won’t be able to make a sound for the rest of your life.”
The small threat was an added bonus.
****
“Do you call people early in the morning?”
“If you don’t like it, you don’t have to come.”
Elise answered without even looking at Iris, who was coming in through the wide-open door.
“But you came to check even though you didn’t like it?”
“What?”
Elise poured tea into Iris’s teacup with a puzzled expression.
Iris sighed inwardly at the sight of Elise, who looked fine.
‘Stupid Richter! He acts like he would do anything for me, but he couldn’t even touch Elise.’
Iris didn’t know about Elise’s attempted kidnapping.
It couldn’t be helped because Elise was too well off for someone who had been through a lot.
“You seem to have come home well yesterday. And you seem to have rested well after coming? You look good.”
If she looked closely, she wouldn’t be able to say that, but Iris’s interest was always in herself, so she didn’t see the dark circles under Elise’s eyes.
“I came back well. There was something in the middle though.”
Iris, who had paused, put down her teacup. Elise’s expression had been bothering her since earlier.
The faint smile on her lips seemed to be probing me.
“So what’s the reason you wanted to see me in the morning?”
“Do you know a person named Richter?”
“Richter?”
“Yes, Richter Vermont.”
“I’ve never heard of him.”
Iris was brazen. She didn’t change her complexion while lying.
“I see. He seemed to like you quite a bit.”
Would Elise know that she had planned to get Richter and her into trouble?
Why is she suddenly bringing up Richter?
Iris clenched her teacup.
“Do you think I’m like you? If I line up the people who like me, it can go around the training ground and still have some left. Do I have to remember all those people?”
“But Richter would be a bit special.”
“He’s a man I don’t even know the face of. Vermont? What kind of family is that attached to? Just hearing the name, it doesn’t match my status. Don’t bring up such a man. It upsets me in the morning.”
Iris drew a line thoroughly. She didn’t even realize that was strange.
Elise nodded nonchalantly.
“I didn’t know you thought that way. About Richter. He looked affectionate.”
“What? You met Richter?”
Elise shrugged her shoulders.
Iris’s head was spinning.
‘If Richter and Elise met, that means he did something, then Elise wouldn’t be this fine. The people he deals with are notoriously dirty.’
It was clear that Richter hadn’t touched her.
‘But why does she keep bringing up Richter? As if she knows?’
“I understand your thoughts, sister. By the way, I’ll tell you in advance. Congratulations on your engagement with His Highness Chase. It seems I will be leaving first.”
“I’ll refuse insincere congratulations.”
At the words that were no different from expelling a guest, Iris got up.
It was time to go back to the room and contact Richter.
“It’s sincere.”
Elise didn’t get up with her, she just lifted her head and looked at Iris.
“Just like the things you did to me were sincere.”
Iris clenched the back of the chair.
Richter did something.
And Elise knew that Iris was involved in it.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Did you get delusional?”
But Iris left the room, pretending not to know until the end.
After she left and the room became quiet, Elise looked out the window. New sprouts began to sprout in the desolate garden.
A season good for starting anything.
“It’s also a good season to change your mind.”
Elise got up and crossed the room. When she opened the small side door, Richter fell out.
He propped himself up on the floor with his hands tied in front and shed tears.
Elise took off his gag.
“Uh, huff. Iris Iris…She can’t… She can’t do this to me.”
Looking at Richter, who was whining as if he had been jilted, Elise sighed.
He was a bad person, but his love seemed to be quite sincere.
But she had no intention of overlooking what he had done.
“You saw it, right? Choose. Whether you’re going to jail with a dump or covering up this incident and working for me.”
“What does that mean…”
“Keep watching Iris, whom you love, by her side. And if you remember, let me know.”
Elise will soon leave Bedrokka.
She was going to build up her footing in Tetris and return to Bedrokka again.
But while she was away, neither Iris nor Chase would be idle.
They are greedy, so they will build up their strength without a purpose.
Honestly, Elise underestimated Iris.
All she had was her looks and magic talent.
But when she saw Richter, she realized.
Iris knew how to use people.
‘She must have used people who followed her in the past. One of them was Chase.’
If left alone, Bedrokka without Elise could fall into Iris’s hands entirely.
So Elise needed someone to keep an eye on Iris’s movements.
Someone who wouldn’t be suspected even if they lurked around Iris.
And a person who Iris could use depending on the situation.
She met Richter and was sure he was the right person.
“I won’t wait long. Considering the time to calm your mind…I’ll wait until tomorrow evening.”
“I, what should I…”
Richter seemed to have a lot to say, but Elise pointed to the side room where he had been hiding with her finger.
Richter kneeled and went into the side room.
Thud, the door closed.
Richter lost all his will and closed his eyes, wrapped in darkness.
From the age of 11 to now, at the age of 24, he lived only looking at Iris. But he was betrayed by her.
Finally, the knife of betrayal was stabbed deeper because he had also believed that she had looked at him.
Iris, why did you…
In that narrow room, Richter missed Iris, hated her, loved her, and hated her.
After spending a whole day like that, when night came again, Richter knocked on the side door.
He, who had all the moisture taken out of his body, wrung out his dry throat and said,
“…I’ll do what you want. What should I do?”
****
A week or so had passed since the banquet ended.
“People are lining up at Jasmine’s general store.”
It was a pleasant news just to hear.
“Yes?”
Elise heard the news around her through Regina.
“The Phon Newspaper published a picture of Jasmine’s hair clip. Seeing that, orders came in from far away provinces. It seems that Lady Deboa is very clever. She thought of putting such a picture in the newspaper.”
“Print advertising.”
“Yes?”
“Promoting a product by drawing it in a newspaper, that’s called print advertising.”
“Oh my? How do you know? I’ve never seen it before.”
It was a method Elise had taught to Deboa and Jasmine.
It was a way for the newspaper company to gain money and power. Of course, it could be the opposite.
‘Deboa will handle it well.’
“And about Lady Iris. She seems to be writing letters to Jasmine like crazy. But Jasmine doesn’t reply. She seems to be desperate to get the goods. She came to me sneakily and asked me to get one for her?”
Jasmine had started selling the accessories she had made modestly so far, and they were popular among people because they were perceived as rare accessories.
‘The design is also unique.’
She made accessories with a variety of colors by attaching broken jewels in a tile format.
Each one shone in different colors, in different shapes, and people began to name the shadows of the reflected light.
‘Like the rabbit of light, the guardian angel of the Reville River.’
Just like naming shadows in childhood.
That also became a trend, and these days in the social world, people without Jasmine’s accessories were subtly ignored.
Given the situation, Iris couldn’t help but be anxious.
“Shall I wear the earrings Jasmine sent today, Regina?”
“An excellent choice.”
If she wore these earrings and passed by Iris, her expression would be very interesting.
Elise’s mood was slightly uplifted.
“I’m glad to see you smile, Miss. You haven’t smiled for a while.”
“Me?”
Elise looked at her face in the mirror. As Regina said, there was a smile on her lips.
“Yes. It’s been over a month, but your complexion was dark for a while, so I was really worried. Have you now resolved the problem you were worrying about then?”
Regina seemed to know when she was talking about.
It seemed to be when she had just regressed.
It’s already been over a month and a half.
There were so many things that happened that it felt so long ago.
“Miss?”
Elise came out of her reminiscence.
“I’m sorry for worrying you. I’ll smile more often.”
It seems like there will be a lot to laugh about.
Because she will be leaving Bedrokka soon.
Spring, a new territory, a new beginning was in sight.
