Chapter 60
“Sit down for now.”
Though it was unclear whether she had passed his test, she hadn’t failed either, so she was worth observing a bit more.
At his chin gesture, Jane gracefully took a seat on the sofa, and Smith gave a brief nod as he watched her.
Indeed, she seemed better educated than he had expected.
He opened his mouth towards Jane across the table, which didn’t even have a cup of tea on it.
“Bolshe… ahem, hmm.”
Smith cleared his throat after almost uttering “Bolshevik lady,” a term he had become accustomed to using, and immediately added,
“How is Riina?”
“She went out today.”
Smith’s eyebrows twitched at the concise, crisp answer.
He soon stroked his chin and scrutinized Jane anew.
Surely this one, no, the Bolshevik’s shadow must be aware of his current relationship with Riina.
Therefore, she shouldn’t give the usual “She’s doing well” answer that people typically offer to such questions.
But saying “She’s not doing well” would be a lie.
In the end, she had to find a third answer that wasn’t a simple binary choice, and this commoner, no, this shadow in front of him, instantly found and delivered that answer.
Moreover, it was the most appropriate one.
This wasn’t intended as a test, but if it had been, she would have passed it very easily again.
She might be more useful than expected.
Without realizing it, Jane had established herself in Smith’s mind not just as someone worth observing further, but as someone potentially useful.
Smith rubbed his chin and spoke again.
“What do you do at the Bolshevik household?”
It was an extremely brazen and rude question.
Though Jane was a commoner and Smith was the Third Prince, with the gap in their social status as high as an insurmountable wall, she wasn’t just a simple commoner.
Recalling this, Jane controlled her twisting lips.
It was nonsensical from the start that he had arbitrarily summoned her, already a “shadow,” to the palace.
They said he had tolerated the Third Prince’s foolishness quite a bit before breaking off the engagement.
Indeed, the fake one is hopeless.
Although it was frustrating that she, the real one, couldn’t make a grand return and instead had to clean up after the fake one for a while, she could probably use this fool until then.
Having finished her calculations, Jane offered a very appropriate answer.
“I’m still lacking, but soon I’ll be supporting everything Miss… does from behind the scenes.”
It was a statement of pure facts.
As Riina’s shadow, she would naturally soon be in a position to perfectly support her from behind.
But to Smith, brimming with desire and ambition, it sounded slightly different.
As if, if he played his cards right, he could use Jane to bring down Riina, or even better, the entire Bolshevik family.
Of course, if Jane, whose life goal was to ‘return’ as the true heir of the Bolshevik family, had heard this, she would have laughed through her nose at such a foolish thought.
But fortunately or unfortunately, neither of them had the ability to look into each other’s minds…
He nodded towards Jane and curled up the corners of his mouth.
“It seems you and I will have to keep an eye on each other for a long time.”
Despite Smith’s words implying no answer was needed, Jane just smiled faintly.
* * *
While the Third Prince and Jane were exploring each other and falling into their own separate dreams,
Einar and Riina were weaving through items brought in by foreign merchants in the inner part of the alley.
“So you were trying to buy goods at a reasonable price and sell them at a higher price.”
“Yes. It’s the method with the lowest risk for gaining big profits from a small investment.”
Einar, who had been nodding, opened his mouth as if something had occurred to him.
“Help…”
But before he could finish speaking, Riina answered.
“If Your Highness offers, I won’t refuse.”
As Riina nodded shamelessly, Einar tried to nod confidently too, but hesitated.
He soon shrugged and said,
“I’d like to help if I could, but unfortunately, I’m banned from entering casinos.”
“I thought so.”
There’s only so much a casino can do against someone who only wins, no matter what game they play.
“You were investigated, weren’t you?”
“Ah yes, they wondered if I was using tricks or cheating.”
It had been quite a while since Einar had gone to a casino.
Back when his cheeks were still chubby.
‘Your Highness, going out of the palace to observe the lives of the empire’s citizens as a duty of the imperial bloodline isn’t meant for visiting places like this.’
The aide who still guards Einar’s side shook his head with the same parched expression then as now.
‘What are you talking about? The people who come and go from casinos and those who run them are also citizens of the empire.’
‘It sounds plausible when you put it that way, but…’
‘We’re already here, so don’t say much. What should we try first?’
First experiences are always exciting.
But soon, Einar spoke with an indifferent face as he put down his cards.
‘I won again this time.’
He had mastered everything from roulette to dice to cards not long after entering the casino.
The moment he realized that he wouldn’t lose no matter what he touched, that his absolute luck applied to gambling as well…
‘This is meaningless.’
As Einar carelessly discarded his cards and indifferently swept up his chips, several shadows fell over him.
‘Sir, I’m sorry, but you’ll need to come with us for a moment.’
Recalling up to that point, Einar returned to reality at the sound of Riina’s voice.
“What did you say?”
“I told the truth. That I was just very lucky.”
To this, Riina shook her head gently.
“Who would believe that?”
As soon as her words ended with a faint sigh, Einar replied.
“Only you would believe it.”
Truly, in the whole world, only the two of them, Riina and Einar, could believe in and understand the existence and influence of each other’s terrible luck.
But somehow, to Riina’s ears, Einar’s words seemed to mean something else…
“It’s not so much that I believe what Einar says, but more like Einar would believe me even if I said I planted beans and got red beans here.”
“Ah, of course. If it were you, you would have planted red beans that looked like soybeans.”
“Your unfounded belief is excessively firm.”
“There is a basis for it.”
Einar gently brushed back the hair that had fallen onto Riina’s round forehead.
He deliberately didn’t voice the rest of his thought, but in Riina’s ears, his true feelings rang out clearly.
The basis for his trust was none other than her – his true feeling.
Riina’s deep blue eyes, gazing at him intently, soon became blue swallows soaring across Einar’s ashen sky.
The two, who had been looking at each other without a word, eventually opened their mouths simultaneously as if by agreement.
“It seems that…”
“No matter how…”
As their voices overlapped, they closed their mouths at the same time and then burst into laughter.
It wasn’t a refreshing, beautiful, clear, or lively laugh.
It was just a silly, trivial laugh that would be forgotten as soon as they turned away.
Eventually, Einar spoke while looking at the street lined with casinos.
“You don’t have to refuse. Actually, I can enter a casino anytime if I set my mind to it. Shall I do it for you?”
Isn’t it truly an enticing offer?
With him, he could probably buy the entire casino with just a copper coin.
Even if he was banned from entering casinos, if Einar revealed his identity, such a ban would be powerless.
But Riina slightly furrowed her brow and shook her head.
“I’m not sure if I should say this, but…”
“It’s fine.”
Einar nodded that it was okay without even hearing what she was going to say, but then hesitated.
“I’ll have to decline because it’s too hateful and unlucky.”
Einar laughed at her unrestrained honesty.
“Ah, I see. Then for your sake, I’ll do my best to find good items.”
“That’s enough.”
Soon, the two of them entered deep into the place where foreign merchants traded items not found in the empire.
There’s an old saying that words become seeds.
No sooner had Riina called Einar’s luck hateful and unlucky than his luck began to manifest diligently.
-Thud.
“Hey. You dropped this.”
Einar, who had picked up a pouch that had fallen right in front of him, called out to the person walking ahead.
“Huh? Oh, my. Thank you.”
The man, who had been patting himself down, accepted the pouch, and Einar was about to pass by, waving his hand lightly.
“No, I just returned what I picked up.”
“Ah, wait a moment. Don’t just go like that, let’s see…”
Until the merchant stopped him.
“What is it?”
“Ah, just a moment… Oh! I’ll give you this as a token of my gratitude.”
The merchant took out a small button from his breast pocket and placed it in Einar’s hand.
“It’s not necessary, but…”
As Einar shook his head, the merchant added with a troubled face,
“It’s not good for business to leave a debt, so please accept it.”
“If that’s the case, I can’t refuse.”
Thus, Einar, now holding a small button that looked quite valuable, walked matching Riina’s pace while lightly flicking the button.
And the next moment…
“You there! The person who just received that button!”
He was caught by another merchant.
“I’m truly sorry, but could you sell me that button?”
“The button?”
“Yes. It’s exactly the button I’ve been looking for. I’ll give you this in return.”
“That’s not difficult.”
This time, the button was exchanged for a rather nice hat.
They hadn’t taken more than a few steps when another merchant approached them.
“I’m sorry, but seeing that hat gave me inspiration. Would you trade it for this?”
shockinblue
Einar living that sidequest moment.