Chapter 53
Riina, holding the glass of peach champagne that Becky had handed her, paused.
She had expected him to move on after exchanging greetings, but for some reason, Lione remained standing there, maintaining a distance of a couple of steps from her.
She narrowed her eyes but didn’t back away from him significantly or urge him to leave, unlike last time.
For now, she hadn’t suffered any harm because of him, so she couldn’t avoid him too conspicuously.
Moreover, she needed to maintain a friendly relationship with his family…
No matter how she looked at it, there was no better place to entrust and grow money than the Bartorio Count’s family.
Riina glanced briefly at Lione and soon engaged in light conversation while receiving greetings from others.
“Among the items coming up for auction this time…”
“A very interesting machine from the south…”
While these conversations of little nutritional value to her were going on, people also flocked around Lione.
It was a natural result, if anything.
With people who were already at the center of attention gathered in one place, it was inevitable that eyes would be drawn to them.
No, not just eyes were focused; people who had been gathering one or two at a time now surrounded them without even room to step.
Because of this, Lione, who had clearly been a couple of steps away, unintentionally narrowed the distance with Riina.
“I’ll just move a little to the side…”
Lione tried several times to move away from Riina with a troubled expression, but he repeatedly failed, pushed by the wave of incoming people.
At some point, when their eyes met, Riina sighed lightly and waved her hand.
Perhaps understanding that she meant not to worry about it, Lione’s eyes widened for a moment before he stopped trying to move away from her.
How much time passed like that? Lione’s face, which had been receiving all the incoming attention, subtle pestering, pure admiration, and even twisted jealousy, suddenly brightened in an instant.
“Here.”
As he smiled broadly, people’s gazes naturally turned to the person at the end of Lione’s gaze.
Lione’s friend hesitated for a moment when many people’s attention suddenly focused on him, but soon nodded once towards Lione.
However, he didn’t approach Lione directly while looking only at him longingly, but first approached Riina, who was beside him.
“It’s been a while, Lady Bolshevik.”
Riina nodded indifferently towards Lione’s friend who was bowing his head and averted her gaze, but she looked at him again at Lione’s subsequent reaction.
“Weren’t you late?”
“Ah, I had some business.”
“Perhaps…?”
“I don’t know what you’re imagining, but it’s not that kind of thing.”
As his friend shook his head with a faint smile, Lione deliberately drooped his shoulders as if disappointed.
“You don’t appreciate the thoughtfulness of even preparing a gift.”
“Even if you pretend to be disappointed like that, I won’t fall for it.”
“Oh my, does it not work anymore?”
Lione patted his friend’s arm familiarly, and his friend casually received his playfulness.
Seeing the two who looked quite close even if one were to watch while running at full speed, a clear furrow formed between Riina’s brows.
“It seems that person is still close with the young lord Bartorio.”
Someone else opened their mouth as if agreeing with the words someone had uttered.
“Indeed. I don’t remember anyone else who has been around him for so long.”
“Oh my, was that so?”
“Yes. The Bartorio young lord is quite…”
Various stories unfolded from those who picked up on the words of a young lady who trailed off like that, and somewhere in the middle, the friend’s name flowed out.
And Riina, who was nodding at hearing the friend’s name, paused.
Something was gnawing at her nerves.
It wasn’t because of his family.
If it was, she would have felt something from the moment he greeted her.
She wanted to ignore it and move on because she didn’t want to get involved with the troublesome Lione, but it was indescribably unsettling to the point of overwhelming even that desire.
Riina, who had listened with one ear and casually dismissed the words of those gathered around, carefully observed Lione and his friend without being noticeable.
Why did it feel so uncomfortable to have those two people close together?
“Oh my, I hope this doesn’t become noisy again.”
“Since he’s so famous as a friend, it should be fine, right?”
“Yes. If it’s that person…”
Although it would have been understandable if someone caused trouble because Lione noticeably cherished his friend, surprisingly, Lione’s followers around them were quiet.
They must know too.
If that friend had felt the same way towards Lione as they did, he should have removed the ‘friend’ label a long time ago.
“Hmm.”
Riina habitually touched her lip where it had bled inside.
Lione clearly had a similar expression before his friend arrived, but now he was enveloped in an air that was subtly, slightly more relaxed.
“It’s fortunate that there hasn’t been an incident like last time today.”
Someone’s tactless whisper, apparently trying to catch Riina’s attention and show that they were thinking of her.
As others quietly backed away from the person who had whispered, a memory flashed like lightning through Riina’s mind.
‘Good heavens, the Bartorio young lord…’
Someone’s voice mixed with bewilderment and lamentation.
“Fri…end?”
A clear crease formed between Riina’s brows at the small voice that escaped without her knowing.
Because that man was not Lione’s friend.
Friend? Isn’t that laughably absurd?
The man now sitting in the friend’s seat was the very person who would push Lione into the abyss of despair.
A bloody love triangle between that friend and another, a viscount’s daughter.
More precisely, at the end of the jealousy and madness of two people, a man and a woman, with Lione in the middle, which reeked of blood enough to numb one’s nose…
‘Go to the Bartorio family.’
‘You said it was a funeral, right?’
‘Yes.’
The funeral she attended as a representative of the Bolshevik family.
‘Thank you… for coming.’
Count Bartorio was silently screaming, burying his child in his heart without shedding a single tear.
‘We’ve lost a truly precious person.’
‘Yes. Indeed.’
As Riina was about to leave after fulfilling her duty as a family representative at the funeral of someone she had little interest in, she heard very contrasting stories.
‘I shouldn’t say this, but it’s better that he died like this…’
‘It’s much better from the family’s perspective. He ruined two other families, so it would have been hard for Bartorio to just let it go.’
Emerging from the memory that ended with someone’s voice, Riina stared blankly at Lione.
Nowhere on Lione’s face, which was listening attentively to people’s stories and answering everyone equally with a neat expression, could the shadow of death be found.
Although it’s not clear exactly when that incident happened, it couldn’t have been too long ago from the current point in time.
In the blink of an eye, Riina decided.
It would be better not to get involved after all.
There will be countless people who will die in the future besides Lione.
In the impending border conflict between the Empire and neighboring countries, won’t several people die each day?
Just because she knows doesn’t mean she has an obligation to prevent everything, and even if she stepped in, could she prevent it?
It would be fortunate if it didn’t worsen instead.
Should she adjust her plans a bit to recover her investment in the Bartorio family a little faster?
She needs to create seed money quickly.
She had planned to look into it more before proceeding, but in Riina’s life, plans are meant to be broken, aren’t they?
The plan was naturally ruined, but should she consider it fortunate that she at least had the knowledge to maintain the overall framework?
Riina traced her memories from before the regression, scanning through a list of items whose value had been reassessed belatedly.
Finally, she took her gaze off Lione and his friend and opened her mouth.
“There seems to be something interesting among the items coming up for auction.”
* * *
The day after the tea party where Lione, Riina, and the person pretending to be a friend but who wasn’t a friend met.
In the capital mansion of a viscount family that had a quite close relationship with the Bartorio Count family, groans were flowing out.
“Ugh… ugh.”
“Miss, Miss! Good heavens, where did this fever come from!”
A panicked servant rushed out as if rolling, and subsequently, an emergency was declared in the viscount’s household.
Fortunately, the Bartorio Count family immediately sent a doctor, and while the examination was taking place.
“It must be because it’s her first time in the capital, she got too excited and developed a fever.”
“Ah, that happens sometimes.”
“Given that she’s particularly weak, even a small stimulus could have caused a severe fever.”
“That’s right. She was already pushing herself too hard, saying she’d definitely find a wonderful love in the capital.”
“Her body is weak, so there’s urgency for an heir, but if the young lady collapses, it would be putting the cart before the horse.”
The servants who had followed her from the viscount’s territory gathered and plausibly analyzed why someone who had been fine until yesterday was burning with fever overnight.
Eventually, the doctor who finished the diagnosis handed over a small note.
“It doesn’t seem to be a serious illness, but, well…”
The doctor, who had been choosing his words for a moment, tilted his head and asked.
“Did you perhaps go somewhere yesterday?”
“To a tea party…”
The doctor nodded as if it was the answer he had expected to the servant’s explanation that followed.
“I see, so that’s it.”
“Pardon?”
The servant, who had been relieved at hearing it wasn’t a serious illness, asked back with a puzzled face, but the doctor waved his hand and said…
