Leta asked Carver to take her there next time, and he readily agreed because it wasn’t difficult.
“Apart from not knowing me,” he thought, “it would make her happy to know that Leta is alive.
“Maybe when Leta and I are together, she’ll recognize me…”.
Even though they were related by blood, Riley, and Leta had a special connection, and she might feel something. She must also have memories of the three of them together, so Carver still held onto hope.
Fortunately, no one had appeared claiming to have found Riley anywhere. If Ren hadn’t known her, he would have just thought she was someone who resembled her. Plus, because Carver had been seeing her all along, he recognized her, but if it were someone else, it would have been difficult to recognize her easily.
Ren seemed to have deliberately erased everything about Riley from his mind. Her traces were gone as if she had never existed. Because of this, Carver was anxious.
The mana occasionally felt in the village was what bothered him. He was naturally drawn to that place, perhaps by the faint mana that Ren hadn’t erased.
At first, Carver couldn’t muster the courage to go in and just stood outside staring at the shop from afar.
“Why don’t you go in and buy something instead of just staring like that?” Harvey, who was watching beside him, couldn’t stand it any longer and blurted out with a frustrated expression. Carver remained silent, unmoved by his words, and stood still in his place.
Finally, Carver spoke, his eyes still fixed on the shop.”I heard you handed in your resignation again.”
“You’re not going to fix it this time, either.”
“Isn’t it time to give up if you know?”
At Carver’s words, Harvey tightly pressed his lips together. His lips trembled as he tried to lift the corners of his mouth, which rarely rose these days, to force a smile. He had reached the point where his cheeks were twitching from the effort of forcing smiles too often.
“I just want you to know that I barely held back from handing in my resignation …… for the one hundred and fortieth time today.”
“I guess I haven’t been paying too much attention to you lately.”
“…Forget it. when will you stop this nonsense?”
Harvey shook as if he were going crazy.
If only there were a set time, he would have put it on the work schedule. But Carver always headed here whenever he had free time, regardless of the time.
“How do you manage to finish everything alone, even with a mountain of tasks?”
That statement also meant that Harvey had to follow Carver wherever he went, regardless of time or place, even when he was busy.
But there was no point in arguing.
Carver had completed all his work without a hitch.
“Don’t tell me to work while you go alone. Who will take responsibility if something happens later?”
“But I always finish my work before coming here.”
Harvey exploded at Carver’s words.
Even though he was just away for a moment, he was like a prince of a country. He had to find a substitute during his absence and prepare excuses so that no one would suspect anything.
“Are you calling that work?”
“Shh, people will start to think weirdly around here.”
“Don’t you think it’s strange to stand in the alley watching until it’s almost an hour?”
“Don’t worry about that. I hid my presence well.”
Harvey decided not to say anything more. No matter how much he said now, Carver wouldn’t hear it.
‘Even though he saw him every day, why couldn’t he let go like this?’
“You said there’s nothing unusual.”
“…Yeah, you’re right.”
“Now please let it go.”
At Harvey’s words, Carver’s heart sank with a thud. He wouldn’t dare to let go of her that easily, and he had never once forgotten her.
“Could I ever forget her?”
No, since he met her, there had never been a moment in his life where she wasn’t the reason for his existence. He had spent every day engulfed in guilt, always watching her from behind.
“If I could let go of her that easily, I would have ended it sooner .”
‘Could he ever dare to let her go easily?’
‘How could he compensate for her suffering due to him, due to the contract between the royal family and the Traillah family?’
“It’s absurd that I’m even thinking about this.”
It was a question with no answer, even if I, not being the party involved, pondered over it.
“Perhaps I may have to carry this burden for the rest of my life.”
Carver’s head drooped down. Harvey couldn’t help but feel sorry for him in moments like this. Perhaps it was because he had watched Carver’s feelings for Riley since childhood.
“If anything unusual happens, report it immediately. Now please, just leave.”
While he couldn’t hear the conversation inside the shop, He had instructed him to immediately contact him if there were any strange behaviors from the man they were observing or any peculiarities in his actions apart from their usual routine.
As expected, the reports they received from them were unremarkable.
Harvey simply thought of her as a woman who resembled Riley. ‘Who else could go through so much and still be able to smile like that?’
“There’s no way to identify any peculiarities.”
Kaver smiled at Harvey’s words. As long as Ren was watching over her, it was unlikely that others would sense her presence.
Since Harvey was the only one unaware of this fact, it was natural that he couldn’t understand Kaver’s actions.
“So please believe that she’ll be happy somewhere. It would be better for everyone.”
“…You know that’s not possible. The contract will soon proceed.”
Whether she wanted it or not, the contract would eventually be fulfilled. Unless the sword forcibly rejected it, once the abilities manifested and the markings appeared, there was no way to refuse it.
It had been the longstanding contract of the sword.
“She must have been someone who didn’t want it.”
Harvey was aware of this as well.
That was why they had tried to retrieve the sword that the duke had refused to hand over.
The sword had returned to its original form. To maintain its physical presence, a contract had to be made, but since the contract hadn’t been properly completed, time was running out.
“Oh, one more thing. Yesterday, the knights mentioned something troubling.”
Harvey had agonized over whether to bring up this topic countless times. He still didn’t feel inclined, but he thought it would be better to mention it now than to let it become a bigger issue later.
“Duke Theo is conducting inquiries to find his former wife.”
“Wasn’t he on good terms with his mistress after the divorce?”
After that, Kaver had thought that he had given up on Riley. He had heard bit by bit that she was living modestly, keeping a low profile, and quietly going about her life without revealing herself in society.
“What nerve does he have to search for Riley? Isn’t there a warning for him not to do so?”
Of course, he had been forced into signing the contract, but he didn’t think that he had loved Riley. If he had, he wouldn’t have treated her that way during their time together.
Moreover, Theo had not severed ties with his mistress and had been living together with her. ‘Why would he be looking for Riley now, after divorcing her?’
On top of causing him to lose his inheritance, he now wanted to tear him apart that a jerk who had hurt Riley badly, even if it meant doing so at this moment.
“Yes, but… could he have caught wind of something?”
The Prinz family was inherently shady, so they might have caught wind of something.
Although the Prinz family held the title of duke, they didn’t have much to boast about. Despite their good reputation in society, people were likely to have turned a blind eye to their true nature.
“I need to properly inform them again.”
Kaver decided that he would secretly seek out Theo.
“Make sure he doesn’t even dare to breathe near here. If he catches my eye, everyone here will have to lay down their lives,” he said.
Perhaps he would kill him on sight if he caught his eye.
Harvey understanding Kaver’s intentions from his gaze, nodded and turned his head away.
“Perhaps my eyes are deceiving me, but it seems like that scum is right in front of me…”
A familiar figure near the shop caught Harvey’s attention. Even with his eyes closed and then opened again, Duke Theo was unmistakable.
“My lord, over there!”
Harvey quickly turned his body and glanced around, then gestured in the opposite direction.
“If it were Riley, she would be in the shop. There must be something I need to divert my gaze for.”
Although Kaver knew that Harvey’s words were false, he pretended to turn his head towards his hand.
Without Kaver’s notice, Harvey swiftly raised his hand and beckoned. The hidden knights emerged and quickly grabbed the man who was about to enter the shop, making him disappear in an instant.
“I can’t live up to my own name.”
Harvey wiped his chest without Kaver noticing. Nonchalantly changing the subject, he joked, “I must be losing my eyesight. Let’s go inside now.”
I need to learn how to lie better.
Kaver chuckled softly at Harvey’s words.
“…Shall we pay a visit to the clinic?”
“They say stress is the root of all illnesses… Think about what might be causing it, my lord.”
“Just a moment.”
…That’s him.
Kaver’s steps, which had been about to turn back, came to a halt.
