Supporting Characters Also Need Some Love

CHAPTER 3: YOU ARE QUALIFIED TO BE THERE (XIX)

Part 058

His touch on her lips came with a light press. The hand that was holding Adrian’s hand tightened at the strange sensation of warmth, just tickling, some kind of tingling, numbness in her fingertips. As he took her hand, his lips moved slightly. She could feel the slight tilt of his head even without seeing it. She was dizzy at the feeling of her sensitive epidermis being rubbed. Ugh, what should she do with this? She couldn’t even breathe!

 

At that moment, the carriage rattled.

 

Adrian quickly dropped into his arms around her shoulder. Perhaps a stone got caught in the wheel, and the carriage started to roll peacefully again, but her heart was not at all calm. After looking out of his window for a moment, Adrian turned his head and met his eyes again. His left hand was still holding his hand, and his body was barely held in Adrian’s right arm. As she looked up, Adrian with a strange face lightly licked her lower lip.

 

She thought she heard a ‘pop’ somewhere.

 

The blood rushed all over her face, making it throbbing. As she lowered her head with her face reddened, Adrian let go of her shoulder and laughed ‘haha’. Then he quietly sat down next to her and squeezed her left hand. 

 

‘What to do? What to do, what to do?’

 

Adrian’s face, which glanced at her as if he couldn’t lift it, was nothing different. His eyes were still red, but his face was still smiling, and her face, which she touched with her right hand, was on the verge of catching fire. As soon as she arrived at the mansion and took Adrian’s hand and got off the carriage, she walked up to her room as if running.

 

“Lord, lord. Why are your pupils… are you angry at something?”

 

Franz’s frightened voice was heard from behind, but it was not a situation to be concerned about. When she lowered her head and ran into the room, Jenny with a surprised face followed her. Jenny, who looked at her face and checked it, clicked her tongue as if she noticed something.

 

“My ee, uhm. Ahh! This uhhh.”

 

After exclaiming something incomprehensible, she asked.

 

“Shall I get some ice water, lady? Would you like to wash your face?”

 

“Is it that much red?”

 

“Yes, I think it will explode.”

 

“Oh, ice water is good. Bring me a lot.”

 

She looked in the mirror while waiting for Jenny, and it was very spectacle. Anyone couldn see this, she just had her first kiss. Exciting! The memories of 24 years as Mi-Hyang and Damian’s 18 years were all inside her, so wasn’t it the first kiss in 42 years? She shouldn’t react to this but… but a person’s face could turn this red? If she did this well, would it really explode?

 

She washed her face with ice water, and then untied her hair, and while she undid her hair, she changed into a simple dress. In the meantime, the face that looked like a tomato on the verge of bursting returned to its original color. She took a deep breath and entered the drawing room. Homer and Adrian were already seated and chatting, then looked at Damian and smiled broadly. This was as difficult as this. Seeing Homer with dull blonde hair and a sweet smile with twinkling amber eyes, and Adrian’s smile that breaks down and blooms in full bloom with his dark hair, was mind-boggling.

 

She managed to catch her spirit and went to the seat of honor that the two men had vacated as if it were natural for them to sit down. Then, as if he had waited, Adrian, who was sitting on the long sofa to the right, came closer to her seat and sat down. Could you please move away, Adrian? Even that bright smile looks captivating, as if his mind had rotted from a single kiss.

 

“So, did you get the papers?”

 

“Yes, Damian. I was managing it more poorly than I thought. But what about Damian? Are you crying more?”

 

“No. It’s fine. Never mind.”

 

She fanned her hand and Adrian grinned, and Homer narrowed his eyes, looked at them alternately, and cleared his throat. She didn’t know if he was ignoring it or not, but she was thankful either way.

 

“I took a quick look and found that my assets are enormous. The biggest thing is that I bought four mansions on Midok 1st and 2nd Street, and the amount invested in various merchant houses is quite large. Will I be able to see you for a while?”

 

“Is it so? However, real estate or investment money is difficult to turn into cash right away. If the money leaked somewhere, it would have been essential to cash it out.”

 

“I’ve seen a lot of Merchant names intertwined with Lutherans, nobles, and other marquess, so I’m going to investigate from now on. But, the name of the agent who bought the mansion is very familiar to me more than the Merchant.”

 

“Milena Tominok, it looks like a woman. Do you know someone?”

 

“We’ll have to investigate whether it’s the same person, but it’s certain that the name of the lady-in-waiting close to Hubimama is Milena.”

 

“If you say the maid closest to you…”

 

“When she entered the palace, she came with her parents. She must be a male poor noble who is related by blood to the Luther family. I will find out.”

 

“If the lady-in-waiting really is the biggest owner of the four mansions, should it be regarded as actually owned by Hubima? I think you should do another investigation.”

 

“Okay. Let’s check that out too. I’ll let you know at the princess’s palace on Monday.”

 

As the outlines of the things she had never thought of while researching so far became more and more clear, she felt more worried than the sense of accomplishment that she was getting closer to her goal. If the prince was really making money, if the money was not spent on mediocre extravagance but really flowed into the enemy country, what would happen to Eilene? If it turns out that Hubie embezzled the royal family money by creating a ghost foundation, then even queen Hubie would be punished. Even Dozern couldn’t avoid responsibility. But what if it turns out that the funds went abroad for the rebellion? Was it a plot for a rebellion involving foreign forces, or was it an immediate decision by His Majesty? Like Adrian said, was it really beheading? So, was Eilene dying too? Was she really unaware of this situation? It didn’t seem like she was pretending not to know, but she seemed sincere when she said that Dozern would of course become king, and why she went to war. If things go awry, it’s hard for Eilene to escape the same punishment, but this bastard didn’t tell the kid and dragged her into this?

 

Adrian’s large hand covered her cold hand. When he looked up, he saw a worried face. He smiled at her as best he could, but he probably didn’t smile wide. The worry that filled Adrian’s face did not disappear. The mind was too complicated. She hated war. The invasion of the Principality of Taln, she hated it even more. Neither her father nor Lutban may be involved, and Adrian must be in the vanguard.

 

It was scary and she hated it. So she wanted to stop it somehow, but then wasn’t it like she was strangling her friend’s neck with her hands? She needes to see Ailene again somehow.

 

* * *

 

On Sunday, when Damian didn’t go out, Jenny enthusiastically went to the sponsored herb field. When she had time, she was willing to do anything. For example, things like full body massage, hair packs, and nail care. Instead of Damian, who, if left alone, didn’t pay any attention to beauty, only Jenny was busy. Of course, everyone knew that what she enjoyed the most was herself. Now, quite a lot of herbs are growing tightly, so even though she expanded to receive it twice, she was in a position to run out of space. With the weather getting colder, she decided to put away the summer herbs and secure a place to plant the winter herbs, and she sat down to buy tools, but Franz, who had just arrived, squatted down next to her with a large body.

 

“I’ll help too.”

 

Jenny glanced back at Franz. It’s strangely stuck these days. He was almost always hanging out beside her while the lady was staying at the mansion. When she told him not to come up to the third floor, he snooped at the entrance of the stairs on the third floor. Well, it’s good to have more workers. She was all the more special because these days she was playing tricks with Ruby Gayoung. In her Anna-less Ethart mansion, Ruby was on the sidelines of her career for her age. The oldest maid, Jenny, didn’t know anything about anything not related to Damian, nor did she work part-time, so she had been spending a lot of time alone these days, leaving Ruby alone who seemed busy with other things. To Jenny, Franz’s snobbish behavior was not bothersome at all.

 

“Then pull the weeds over there. You only know the weeds so you don’t spoil the herbs, right?”

 

“Leave it to me!”

 

He ducked, wriggling his large body, buried his head in the dirt and began diligently tearing something out. His big back was quite sturdy and cute. After replanting the herbs for a while, Franz, who worked hard without saying a word, approached her to praise her with pride.

 

“Hey! Why did you pull that out!”

 

“Yes?”

 

Franz looked up at Jenny, with an innocent face smeared here and there with dirt on her, dumbfounded. He left the weeds to be pulled out intact and pulled out all the apple mints that had grown. When Jenny was so full of energy that she couldn’t even speak, Franz instantly fainted, as if she knew she had done something wrong. He said, gently rubbing the uprooted apple mint he was holding in his hand into the soil.

 

“They said it was a weed… because this is grass… that’s a flower…”

 

As Franz, who carefully picked and gathered only the apple mints, carefully avoiding weeds and flowers that had sprouted small flowers with his hands like a pot lid, whimpered, Jenny let out a deep, very deep sigh. Jenny’s sigh made Franz even more depressed. His legs would go numb, but when Franz, who had offered to help, was intimidated and noticed, he burst into laughter in the midst of his absurdity.

 

Jenny, who picked and laughed, patted Franz on the back and said.

 

“It’s okay. It’s okay. Are you a knight or a gardener? You might not know. It’s okay, so I’m going to bring those mints and make a lot of lemon juice today.”

 

“I’m sorry, miss.”

 

“What’s wrong with sorry. You just have to do your job well. Instead, if you can’t protect my lady properly, then you will die.

 

“Yes! I will protect her with my life!”

 

“If you get hurt, you die too.”

 

Franz’s mouth caught in his ears at Jenny’s words, which she spat out while gathering apple mints scattered on the floor. In any case, convinced that he was worried, Franz jumped up to get the apple mints he had gathered on the other side and sat down with a loud noise. He squatted for a long time and got cramps. He didn’t want to show a weak side in front of Jenny, but he was holding his breath because he felt like his calf would tear, and Jenny, who saw this, clicked her tongue with her face at the very bottom of her face.

 

“Anyway, he’s a very hands-on guy. Meow, meow. Meow! Meow!”

 

Franz sat next to her and looked at Jenny’s meowing face, then shed some tears and laughed. After getting hit in the back of the head for laughing without reason, the two of them meowed vigorously.

 

“Aaagh!”

 

“Hey, meow!”

 

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Translator Note: