Chapter 63
When Lione tilted his head at the even more unexpected proposal, his friend quietly sipped his tea.
The fastest and most efficient way to ruin this marriage.
Since there were dealings between the families from the start, it wouldn’t break easily.
But if it was the Bartorio family, they wouldn’t force Lione if he shook his head.
So he just needed to make Lione shake his head.
“The four of us together…”
“Yes. The one you’ve been so curious about will be there too.”
Having thrown out such good bait, Lione surely wouldn’t refuse.
In his friend’s mind, scheming to protect his love, a sinister plot emerged like a picture.
Who Lione’s marriage partner was didn’t matter.
What mattered was the fact that he had fallen for her at first sight enough to end his long unrequited love.
Yes. If he, Lione’s long-time friend, desperately clung to him while confessing that he had helplessly fallen for Lione’s intended bride.
Lione would willingly give up this marriage for his friend’s sake.
“Right. I’ll try to arrange something. But, will it be alright? If I come along…”
As Lione’s words trailed off, his friend smiled benevolently.
“She’s someone you’re going to marry soon. Emphasize that point and keep it brief.”
His friend added as if joking,
“Don’t be too nice when you meet.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.”
Lione, patting his friend’s shoulder, didn’t notice his friend’s sinister smile.
* * *
Around the time Lione was brewing tea for his friend,
Riina and Einar were settled in a corner of the auction house.
This was one of several simultaneous auctions during the trade negotiations period.
It wasn’t a massive auction restricted to selected individuals, nor was it a street market auction disposing of nearly worthless items.
In one corner of the auction house, an auction house servant bowed while holding a nobleman’s outer garment.
“Welcome. If there’s anything you need…”
In another area, people who, though neatly dressed, definitely didn’t look like nobles were gathered in clusters.
“I heard there’s an unusual machine among today’s auction items.”
“Isn’t it parts rather than a machine?”
“Same difference.”
The two groups didn’t mix like oil and water, but they didn’t clash either.
This auction house was somewhere between the highest and lowest levels, where nobles occasionally visited and others could enter without much burden.
And in a space that could overlook the auction stage at a glance while being enclosed on all sides to block external views…
“Here’s the auction item list you were looking for.”
While Riina looked over the list handed to her by the manager rather than a servant,
“How about this?”
When Einar pointed to a necklace at the top of the list, Riina readily nodded.
“It’s nice.”
“Then this?”
This time when he pointed to a mirror at the bottom of the list, she nodded the same way.
“It’s nice.”
No matter what item Einar pointed to, Riina just mechanically nodded.
At this, Einar’s eyebrows shot up.
“Riina.”
“Yes. It’s nice.”
“As I thought, you’re neither looking nor listening.”
Einar reached for the list she was practically burying her nose in, then withdrew his hand.
And he started just staring at her.
One or two strands of the Bolshevik’s signature rose-red hair had fallen across her white cheeks, which were so pale you could see her veins.
And those impossibly transparent yet unfathomably deep blue eyes hadn’t looked at him even once.
Isn’t it truly strange?
Einar tilted his head, resting his elbow on the table and his chin in his hand.
Such perfect ignorance.
Those who liked him naturally hung on his words, and even those who disliked him never let his words slip by.
They could find fault with or extract information from anything, after all.
But she…
“Riina.”
“Yes.”
Though responses came promptly, that was all.
Einar reached out, not for the list in her hands but for the red hair that had fallen across her white cheek.
For a while, he played with the smooth strands of hair wrapped around his fingertips.
-Smack.
“Don’t be annoying.”
Riina’s gesture of batting away his hand was completely natural, and her expression didn’t move a single eyebrow.
After releasing the ends of her hair, Einar sank deep into his chair’s backrest.
Well now.
He tapped the armrest while wearing an ambiguous smile that might or might not have been real.
It wouldn’t matter if he made childish observations like “you’re the first to treat me this way.”
It was the truth, and probably would be the first and last time.
She would be the only one who could escape the shadow of “luck” that loomed over his entire life.
His only person who understood, his only ally, his only…
No, something more than that.
He couldn’t quite grasp what this feeling was that kept scratching at his insides.
Staring at Riina while lost in thought, Einar could hardly imagine that this feeling stirring him up might be something close to love.
He hadn’t fallen for her instantly as if struck by lightning, nor had she seeped into him like clothes getting wet in drizzle.
Rather than love between a man and woman, it was closer to comradeship.
But it seemed to be more than just that, leaving him wandering.
Einar just…
Just cared about Riina.
Just found her different from others.
Just that – he hadn’t yet realized that this “just” was love.
Eventually, Einar shook his head to clear his thoughts.
Endlessly brooding over something he couldn’t solve didn’t suit him.
He decided to focus on Riina in front of him.
And he hoped she would focus on him too.
Besides, Riina had just finished looking through the list, hadn’t she?
Not missing the opportunity, Einar spoke up.
“Should I just buy everything from here to here? I’ll buy it.”
He drew a diagonal line from the beginning to the end of the list while grinning.
Seeing Einar’s bright smile, most people would have dismissed his outrageous statement as a joke.
Or declined because it was too burdensome.
But Riina didn’t belong to “most people.”
“I have that much money too.”
How many people could dismiss enough money to buy all the auction items as “that much”?
Moreover, this auction was a bit more serious than ones held just for fun to stir up excitement.
The auction house manager standing right beside them was busy swallowing his dry saliva.
His mind was spinning as his eyes rolled.
There were two ways to buy all the auction items.
First was to win everything through normal bidding.
“If we start with the auction and win each item one by one…”
As Einar began, Riina continued.
“One or two would be fine, but if we keep winning consecutively, people will start deliberately raising the prices.”
“We should hire proxies then.”
“That would be better.”
At Riina’s straightforward response, Einar turned his head toward the auction house manager but stopped.
“Winning everything through auction would take too long and be troublesome.”
As soon as his words ended, the auction house manager’s heart started beating heavily.
The other way to buy all the auction items was none other than…
Einar grinned while handing over the item list.
“How much for everything?”
The answer to his question came from somewhere other than the manager.
“Einar.”
“Ah, I know you can afford it too.”
“I don’t need to buy them, and I told you.”
“Right. You said you’d select good items to win at auction for big profits from small investments.”
“You know this well, so…”
Before the “why?” could leave her lips, Einar answered.
“Because I want to do this for you.”
There truly was no other reason.
No other reason was needed.
Shaking her head, Riina slowly turned her gaze toward Einar.
No words passed between the two as their eyes met.
Just blue flower buds blooming pop-pop-pop in the gray wilderness.
How long had they been looking only at each other as if they were the only two people in that space?
Just as the auction house manager was about to suffocate from dancing anxiously on his feet, unable to do anything,
Einar leaned in slightly and added in a lowered voice.
“Well, if I must give a practical reason, let’s say it’s to protect your assets? You need funds, don’t you?”
To anyone listening, it sounded like something he’d just made up, but even that was quite plausible.
But Riina still didn’t brighten her eyes or nod.
Nor did she cling to his arm with a bright smile.
“Is that really the only reason?”
At this, Einar rubbed his chin with a serious expression.
“Do you need a few more? Then wait a moment, I’m thinking now.”
His genuinely serious demeanor finally made Riina laugh.
“What is that?”
“Since you said you need reasons, I should give you some.”
Watching Einar furrow his brow in deep thought, Riina swallowed a light sigh.
