Chapter 077
“Should I leave then…?”
Joy, who had been watching my reaction, awkwardly stood up and said,.
At his words, I shook my head.
Being alone made the memories of yesterday come back like a broken record, making me feel even more depressed.
“Hmm? Aires is here too.”
I noticed Aires sticking close behind Joy as he awkwardly sat back down.
“Oh, yeah. I thought it would be stuffy just staying in the tower, so I brought him along.”
“Hi, Aires.”
Greeting the child, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, I smiled brightly and waved. The child, who had been hiding behind Joy, cautiously emerged and approached me.
“Do you want a snack?”
At my words, the child’s eyes sparkled, and he nodded eagerly.
“Okay. I’ll ask someone to bring it right away. If you need anything else, just let me know.”
As I patted the child’s head, he seemed pleased and smiled shyly.
He had changed so much compared to when I first met him that I barely recognized him.
‘His mother would be so happy to see him like this.’
Seeing the child brighten up naturally reminded me of his mother.
Contrary to the doctor’s words that she would regain consciousness soon without any special issues, the child’s mother was still lying in bed.
Hiding my complicated feelings, I absentmindedly continued to stroke the child’s head when a warm cup of tea was offered to me from the desk.
“What is it?”
“Even though I look like this, I’m good at making tea. I finally got to show off my skills after a long time.”
Noticing that I wasn’t in a good mood, Joy seemed to have made the tea as a form of comfort.
“Go ahead and drink it,” Joy said in a voice full of anticipation.
I was absentmindedly staring at the brownish tea swirling in the cup when I finally brought it to my lips.
“…Huh?”
As I swallowed the tea all at once, I froze in place.
The intense bitterness made my tongue curl, and I couldn’t bring myself to swallow any more.
“Hmm! Is it because they’re expensive tea leaves? The aroma is nice.”
Joy, sitting across from me, sipped the tea with a nonchalant expression, repeatedly praising the tea he had made.
‘How can he drink that and say it tastes good?’
I looked at Joy with astonished eyes while still holding the half-finished tea in my mouth.
However, keeping this awful tea in my mouth was even more torturous.
Gulp.
In the end, I swallowed all the tea that remained in my mouth.
“Would you like me to pour you more, customer?”
“No, no. It’s more than enough; just let Joy drink it all.”
I desperately stopped Joy from getting up to pour more tea into my empty cup.
“Really? Well, okay then.”
Surprised by my intense reaction, Joy shrugged his shoulders and started drinking tea again.
Thanks to Joy, my dazed mind was now wide awake, and I regained a bit of vitality in my dying face.
“Did you have a big fight with your husband?”
At that moment, Joy, who had been quietly sipping his tea, glanced at my face and cautiously asked.
“It wasn’t a fight. More like…”
It was more accurate to say it was about the divorce.
I recalled Evan’s face when he brought up the topic of divorce last night.
‘Liar.’
Did he really think that I would believe him if he insisted it was a misunderstanding with that expression?
“Why, there’s a saying in some countries: a couple’s fight is like cutting water with a knife.”
Just as my feelings of indignation were settling down, Joy spoke up softly.
He added that in a fight, the one with the louder voice always wins, so you must never be intimidated.
Realizing that this was Joy’s way of comforting me, I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.
“Thank you, I’ll take that to heart.”
I agreed with Joy’s advice that I shouldn’t be intimidated.
“By the way, about the protective barrier in the border area…”
At that moment, Joy paused for a moment before slowly continuing.
“It’s scheduled to be completed within a week.”
“Really?”
I was delighted to hear that the protective barrier would soon be finished.
“Yeah. And once that’s done, I plan to leave this place.”
“Ah…”
My momentary joy faded quickly.
At Joy’s words about leaving, my expression hardened as I looked at him.
Even though it was something that had been planned, it felt too sudden.
“Where will you go after leaving here?”
“I haven’t decided yet. I’ve always just gone wherever my feet took me.”
As Joy finished speaking, a heavy silence fell over the office.
I knew that someday this day would come, but as the farewell approached, a sudden loneliness washed over me.
“If you haven’t decided where to go yet, can’t you stay here until you do?”
“Well, I think it’ll be harder to leave if I get too attached.”
I tried to hold onto Joy with a sense of reluctance, but his attitude seemed firm, as if he had made up his mind.
“Okay. If that’s how Joy feels, then I can’t hold on any longer.”
I smiled bitterly and respected Joy’s decision.
At that moment, as the silence lingered, Joy, unable to bear it, stood up with an exaggerated demeanor and exclaimed.
“Wow! Suddenly, you’re feeling down, and it’s making me feel weird. Don’t worry. I’ll finish my work perfectly before I leave.”
Knowing that he was acting more animated to endure the heavy atmosphere, I played along and shot back that I would definitely check on things, so he should wait and see.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
After deciding on the day to leave the territory, Joy became even more proactive in his investigations.
It seemed he was serious about finishing his work perfectly before leaving.
“Joy, you don’t need to push yourself too hard.”
After finishing the investigation, I approached Joy, who was dozing off on his horse.
“Yawn. It’s fine. If I happen to find a gem or something, I’ll earn more money, so it’s worth it.”
“If you want to make that much money, why not just stay here? I could give you a lot more than selling potions.”
I subtly suggested this to the money-driven Joy.
“Uh, how much? Ahem, no! It’s useless to try to hold me back like that.”
He seemed momentarily tempted but quickly regained his composure and displayed a sharp determination.
He was almost swayed.
As I lamented inwardly about how close I was to convincing him, Joy subtly shifted the topic elsewhere.
“By the way, there are still a lot of knights around. Didn’t you say you talked to your husband?”
“I did. That’s why there are fewer now.”
I gave a self-deprecating smile in response to Joy’s question.
It had already been four days since Evan brought up the topic of divorce.
I had planned to avoid seeing Evan until I sorted out my thoughts, but for the sake of a smooth investigation of the territory, I had no choice but to bring up the need to reduce the number of knights with him.
However, Evan’s response was a firm refusal.
“We need that level of protection in case something happens.”
He meant that he had stationed so many knights for my safety.
But I wasn’t going to back down either, and we eventually compromised on having five knights accompany me whenever I went outside the castle.
‘He might as well treat me coldly like when we first met.’
He treated me the same way he always had, as if he didn’t remember our conversation from that night.
His attitude only deepened my confusion.
“What the hell is he trying to do?”
If he was going to be kind, he should just be kind; if not, he should act like Delos and be a jerk.
Why was he being so kind when he said he would divorce me in a year?
Was he really the kind of person who would be so affectionate even to someone he didn’t care about?
“Ah, ahem. I guess I asked a pointless question.”
As my expression suddenly turned troubled, Joy noticed and spoke up.
Soon after we arrived at the castle, Joy headed straight for the tower, and I made my way back to my room.
Feeling low lately, I skipped dinner and went straight to wash up before heading directly to bed.
midori
thanks! evan’s lucky the viewers actually know he likes her, otherwise i’d say he’s stringing her along!!