Chapter 81
He hadn’t even breathed a word about love to her, so what could she say—’Thank you for your love, but I must decline’?
That Einar surely knew she wouldn’t accept him.
A man who had never failed at anything, not even once in his entire life.
He claimed it was simply due to ‘luck,’ but it couldn’t be luck alone.
Just as bread doesn’t suddenly appear when there’s only water and air, his success too was something he had achieved because he had taken action.
Einar’s voice cut through the silence between them.
“You’re telling me to let it go for now.”
Riina gave no answer to that.
Taken at face value, he was probably referring to Lione.
But Einar was a skilled hunter.
A hunter who not only had luck but was overflowing with every other element needed.
So the one he would ‘let go for now’ was probably…
In the end, Einar wouldn’t make a confession that was obviously doomed to rejection.
Riina gazed at Einar steadily and swallowed a sigh.
She hoped.
That Einar’s love would pass like measles—painful while it lasted but ultimately healing.
And that her own heart would likewise be something forgotten once a season passed.
The next moment.
As if reading her thoughts, a low voice crept across her skin.
“You said it yourself. That it might just flow away.”
Those words pulled out without any context.
Riina opened her mouth, but once again, no sound came out.
Eventually, Einar, who had stepped back from her, slowly approached.
Like a predator stalking its prey, he drew leisurely close to her.
Einar’s breath scattered slowly as he gripped the armrest of the chair where Riina sat, trapping her in his embrace.
The precarious atmosphere between them swelled like walking a tightrope.
And for the first time since meeting him, Riina felt ‘discomfort.’
No, it was tension.
The kind that made her fingertips tingle, that made her heart pound so hard her hair stood on end.
Einar smiled, his eyes curving into crescents.
Was the thundering sound by her ear hers, or his?
She saw his piercingly transparent blue eyes grow hazy, and within them, the unfathomable emotions swirling in whirlpools.
But they would settle soon enough.
Riina would suppress all these surging emotions.
He couldn’t let that happen.
He didn’t want to let that happen.
Einar brought his lips close enough to almost touch the spot right next to her lips and whispered.
“It won’t flow away, and it won’t pass.”
Around the time silence fell between Einar and Riina.
Jane was keeping silent before a sudden visitor—no, an unwelcome guest.
The massive bulk before her shrank as much as possible under her gaze, but even that annoyed her.
Before even his breathing could annoy her, Jane controlled herself and spoke.
“Hans, I told you not to come looking for me like this.”
“S-sorry.”
Hans shrank his enormous shoulders even more while reading her mood.
But given his build, it only made his muscles ripple.
Jane, whose irritation had risen to her throat, furrowed her brow without bothering to hide her annoyance.
“Not a word of contact, then suddenly showing up like this means you have something definitive about that…”
But before Jane could finish speaking, Hans put his hands together and bobbed his head.
“Sorry! I’m sorry!”
At that, Jane’s eyes flashed colder than a northern blizzard.
Hans bowed his head, saying sorry until his mouth was dry, but Jane didn’t say a single word.
Eventually, when Hans had bobbed his head so much he was getting dizzy from the motion.
Jane opened her mouth.
“Why did you come when it didn’t work out anyway?”
At Jane’s words, sharp enough to pierce his chest, Hans answered in a voice that crawled with complete dejection.
“You… you said to tell you if it got delayed. So that’s why.”
“You actually remembered that.”
It was sarcasm that even a passing monkey would have caught, but Hans smiled vacantly without any depth.
“Of course. It’s what Jane said.”
“How wonderful it would be if you remembered the other things I asked of you the same way. Like not to come barging in like this, for instance.”
Only then realizing that Jane was displeased, Hans shut his mouth tight.
Jane, who had been about to speak to him, also shut her mouth tight.
No. That won’t do. This stupid fool in front of me is still needed.
He even has a rather important role, so it would be troublesome if I kept pushing him and his heart turned away.
But she absolutely didn’t want to comfort him or react sharply and apologize, so she changed the subject entirely.
“That thing—tell me exactly what the part is.”
“Huh?”
At Hans’s slow-witted response, her barely suppressed anger flipped again, but Jane pressed it down and answered.
“I’m thinking of asking His Highness the Third Prince.”
Hans blinked.
He had heard Jane’s words but couldn’t readily understand them.
And for good reason—the Third Prince?
Such an unexpected person, and one so far removed, had suddenly popped up.
Seeing Hans stupidly rolling his eyes, Jane let out an obvious sigh and added.
“If it’s His Highness the Third Prince, he’ll definitely be able to obtain the part. Hans won’t have to strain himself…”
“Strain myself!”
Hans shouted out, rolling his bead-like eyes, but Jane didn’t so much as twitch an eyebrow.
“Keep your voice down. And you are straining yourself. There’s been no word at all. Even if the part is rare, it’s not precious, so His Highness the Third Prince could surely bring it.”
Of course, someone of ‘His Highness’s’ stature could easily obtain such a part.
But he hadn’t been sitting idle either.
Hans felt hurt that Jane didn’t acknowledge his efforts—wearing out his feet running around trying to find the part.
But it had been something he had volunteered to help with when she hadn’t even wanted it in the first place.
‘I don’t want to drag Hans into this. Even though we’re like family—no, precisely because of that.’
She had shaken her head after revealing the story behind herself and the Bolshevik family.
But Hans himself had gripped her hand tightly and nodded.
‘What are you talking about! I think of Jane as family too, so I want to help even more!’
‘But Hans…’
Hans had cut off Jane’s attempt to dissuade him again.
‘I’ll help you!’
Remembering up to that point, Hans dropped his head weakly.
Of course, he would never know until his dying day that on that past day, at that time, Jane had deliberately mentioned ‘family’ to use him, and had viciously curled her lips when he burned with such passion.
“Do you have anything more to say?”
“N-no.”
“Then I’d like to be alone now.”
Like that, Hans was chased away—no, actually chased away—and hurriedly left Bolshevik Manor, his steps gradually slowing.
Dragging his feet as if weighted down with heavy anchors, Hans let out a deep, long sigh.
“I disappointed her again.”
His drooping shoulders showed no intention of straightening.
It was only his heart that wanted to do anything for Jane.
Looking back, he hadn’t properly done a single thing for her, so Hans felt infinitely small.
“His Highness the Third Prince.”
What’s more, now beside Jane there wasn’t just him, but someone far greater…
Hans stared distantly at the imperial palace rising majestically in the center of the empire.
Never once until now had he thought anything about the palace this way or that.
It was too distant for him, a completely different world.
Not just for him, but for most imperial citizens.
Yet that noble royal blood had suddenly become far too close.
Of course, it was Jane who had grown close to him, but for Hans it was the same.
Jane was his family, and if anything happened to her, he would treat it as if it had happened to him.
“Hah.”
It was good for her, so it was good.
Even thinking that way, Hans’s shoulders only drooped further and further down.
As he moved his steps, he eventually headed to the blacksmith shop he had visited yesterday too.
Yesterday he’d heard there were no parts, and today he’d even heard they would leave it to His Highness the Third Prince so he needn’t worry, but he couldn’t not go check.
“Whooooo.”
With a deep sigh, Hans headed to the blacksmith shop with his head hanging low, then raised his head with a face black as death.
-Clang! Clang-clang!
The ear-splitting noise and the smell of melting metal made him feel somewhat better, but that was all.
Hans moved inside, hoping there would be some small news about the part.
Just as he was about to speak upon spotting a familiar back, the blacksmith turned around quickly and their eyes met.
“Hey! Perfect timing!”
Unlike usual, the blacksmith waved his hand upon seeing him.
When the bewildered Hans waved back anyway, the blacksmith gestured broadly.
“Come here!”
At that, Hans’s face brightened immediately.
The only reason the blacksmith would call him like this would be because of the part he had mentioned over and over since missing it at the auction.
“Did it come in? It came in, right? It must have come in for you to call me?”
Like Jane had said, thinking the blacksmith was calling him because there was a part, Hans impatiently looked down at the blacksmith’s empty hands, and his face immediately crumpled.
“Stop joking around and if it comes in, hurry up and show me…”
“Hello there.”
Hans, who had been examining behind the blacksmith, soon came face to face with a grinning man.
