Chapter 80

After all, wasn’t someone like that the type to speak so humorously on the surface while keeping everything stored away inside, ready to find fault at any moment?

When Jane remained silent, Smith cleared his throat awkwardly, feeling embarrassed.

‘Ahem, the reason I called you here today is nothing other than this.’

He lowered his voice to a whisper, as if sharing some tremendous secret.

‘Riina falls far short of what it takes to inherit Bolshevik, doesn’t she?’

And the words that came from his mouth were indeed worthy of him lowering his voice so dramatically.

Who else but the Emperor himself could dare say that Bolshevik’s sole heir lacked qualification in the current empire?

Especially when there wasn’t even anything worth whispering about regarding Riina’s supposed lack of qualification.

Jane’s lips, which had been wearing a gentle smile, twitched slightly, but she didn’t take the bait he’d thrown so eagerly.

She simply remained silent.

But didn’t the old saying go that silence meant consent?

Even so, Smith had to ask again.

‘Don’t you think so?’

Since this was a plan to overthrow Bolshevik, there couldn’t be any lukewarm elements.

Seeking agreement from some commoner shadow was humiliating in itself, but it was too risky to simply command her to follow his orders blindly.

Besides, what stood before him wasn’t the kind of tool that would prostrate itself at a single word and be used like his own limbs.

A tomb-like silence flowed between them.

Jane smiling like a mask and Smith rolling his eyes cunningly.

Ultimately, they had different purposes, but at least they shared one goal.

Riina’s downfall.

Just as Smith was about to break the terrible silence and speak again.

‘I’m not in a position to make such comments.’

Jane spoke.

And her answer was ambiguous beyond measure.

But Smith’s face brightened noticeably.

‘Ah, yes. Of course, of course.’

Since Jane, being Riina’s shadow, was supposed to obey her unconditionally, the very fact that she gave such an evasive answer revealed her true thoughts about Riina.

Smith nodded his head broadly, not bothering to hide his satisfaction.

With that answer, Jane had already boarded the same ship as him.

He continued without hesitation.

‘The Second Prince will never become Crown Prince.’

He added with a confident smile.

‘Someone like that can’t become Crown Prince. I’ll be the one sitting in that position.’

Smith revealed his ambitions as soon as he confirmed Jane’s thoughts.

‘What a fool with grand ambitions.’

Jane sneered inwardly, but her smile didn’t crack even slightly.

Besides, it didn’t matter to her whether Smith became Crown Prince or not.

Even if she became Duke of Bolshevik later, she would remain loyal to the empire, but that was all.

Wasn’t Bolshevik a house that even the royal family couldn’t carelessly covet or touch?

But through the Third Prince’s voice, a quite plausible plan flowed into her ears—one she had even vaguely considered herself.

‘It’s truly deplorable. I had thought she was inadequate as Bolshevik’s heir, but to commit such an act. To dare harm one who carries royal blood…’

Jane, who had been recalling up to that point, looked up at the sudden sound of knocking.

-Knock knock.

She frowned slightly.

There was no one who would seek her at this hour.

The servants wouldn’t come and go unless it was their designated time, so it couldn’t be a servant.

Or perhaps the servants had finally accepted her suggestion and come to have tea…?

“Come in.”

After granting permission while clinging to that thread of hope, the door opened silently.

After accepting Lione as a servant like a bolt from the blue, Riina stretched out lengthily in her chair.

Staring blankly at the ceiling for a moment, Riina soon closed her eyes and let out a sigh.

“I’m barely managing my own affairs, yet first Becky and now Lione.”

In the end, she had been the one to extend her hand first to both, making it all the more ridiculous.

With Becky, what started as getting ahead of things to prevent her from becoming Jane’s hands and feet and interfering with leaving the family for a free life had ended up making her a closest confidant.

With Lione, what began as trying to save him from such a miserable and tragic death had similarly resulted in another closest confidant servant…

“What business do I have meddling in such unnecessary affairs?”

Riina let out a bitter laugh at herself, then shook her head.

The water was already spilled, and what was done was done.

Anyway, she planned to leave the family and disappear within about a year, so as long as both of them got by without incident until then, it would be fine.

She wouldn’t get involved in such matters anymore…

-Knock knock.

Riina opened her mouth while still leaning back.

“Come in.”

As the door seemed to open and cool outside air rushed in to tickle her ankles, the person who entered remained silent, so just as Riina was about to speak.

A shadow large enough to swallow her whole and more cast down from above.

At a distance so close that her breath could ruffle his hair, a gray sky spread out.

In the moment when only she was reflected in that vast sky.

“Einar?”

At the call that flowed between her parted lips, Einar asked.

“What were you thinking about so deeply that you didn’t even look at who came in?”

“Nothing particularly special.”

Though the answer came without hesitation, Einar smiled slightly and added.

“When you say it like that, it seems like something special.”

“Can’t you just let it go?”

At Riina’s deflated voice that flowed out with a faint sigh, the corners of Einar’s long-folded eyes hardened slightly.

For a moment, the distance between them seemed to stretch immeasurably far.

But Einar immediately changed the subject.

“I encountered Young Master Bartorio.”

Though Einar was smiling as he spoke, his gray eyes instantly sank deep to the very bottom.

Riina saw that momentary change clearly, but immediately reached out to push his shoulder away.

“He’s not a young master anymore.”

Einar, who yielded obediently to her touch, tilted his head.

“Not a young master?”

“He’s my servant now.”

It was completely unexpected, so his tilted head tilted even more.

“A servant… Wait. Your servant?”

Einar, who had been reflexively asking, picked out the two irritating syllables.

At this, Riina clicked her tongue briefly inwardly and answered calmly as if it were nothing.

“Yes. My servant.”

At the definitive answer, Einar’s eyebrow shot up.

The fact that Young Master Bartorio was no longer a young master but had become a servant was puzzling enough, and it wasn’t even a servant hired by the family.

“Your personal servant.”

A servant who served only one person.

Truly…

“So Bartorio… I mean, Lione will stick close to you and never leave your side?”

Since it was technically true when put that way, Riina nodded for now.

“Since he’s a servant.”

After staring at her for a while, Einar’s mouth opened.

“Didn’t you avoid even keeping him close?”

“I… did. When someone who brings accidents and someone with bad luck like me sticks together, there are always major disasters.”

“Then why?”

It was a perfectly reasonable question, but the heavy—no, murderous—atmosphere surrounding Einar made her skin sting.

Unless someone had completely lost their sense, who wouldn’t notice that Einar was jealous?

“He said if I didn’t accept him as a servant, he’d keep coming until I did.”

“Like demanding payment after being rescued from drowning.”

As Einar’s coolly sunken gaze turned toward where Lione might be, Riina unconsciously brushed her lower lip.

In that moment when their breaths mingled, his eyes appeared in her dizzying vision.

That gray wilderness that was peaceful yet empty—for an instant, a sweeping wind had blown through it.

And for that instant, she too had been swept away by that wind.

But that was only for a moment.

No…

‘I don’t know.’

Just as Riina had seeped into Einar at some point, from somewhere.

He had spread into her in the same way.

And Riina hoped such feelings would pass.

‘I don’t have the luxury. Freedom takes priority.’

Yes. There was a reason.

It just wasn’t only that.

Because she was afraid.

The heart that leaned toward Einar surely wouldn’t be like that terrible, cruel, and persistently obsessive love she had clung to for Smith.

But deep inside, she had to ask herself.

‘Are you certain it’s not?’

She was afraid of her own love.

Riina closed her eyes tightly, then opened them and spoke.

“He’s also had his entire life swept around by unwanted circumstances.”

“Sympathy?”

Though it was closer to solidarity, Riina brought up something else instead.

“It’s also temporary.”

“Temporary?”

“Yes. Until I leave the family and become free, and until my wager with Your Highness ends.”

As Riina closed her mouth after speaking casually as if it were nothing, silence fell between them.

Temporary. Wager. End.

Things that had never been spoken of until now.

Just as Einar didn’t turn his gaze away from Riina, she didn’t take her eyes off him either.

If she asked ‘Are you jealous?’ right here, he would answer with a smile.

Yes.

Then what could she possibly say?