Chapter 84
“The payment for the story about Einar having heaven-sent fortune was the items here.”
“Yes.”
To Max, who nodded obediently, Riina curled up the corners of her mouth and asked.
“Tell me. Is the information you have more valuable than the items here?”
“Not really.”
“Good, then this becomes simple.”
Riina’s red lips whispered a truly interesting story to Max.
“What if I had misfortune that’s the complete opposite of the luck Einar has?”
Even while unfolding this story, Riina didn’t mention regression.
Since she had already paid enough with the story about misfortune, there would be no need to bring up regression.
“…such things have happened recently. Well, you could say misfortune comes in stages.”
Max listened attentively to Riina’s story with wide eyes and perked ears until the very end.
And immediately after she closed her mouth, he asked.
“Don’t you have other stories besides that? For instance, about the magic I can perform?”
A question that seemed to know about her regression, as if trying to draw out the story.
Though it was delivered in a tone and voice as casual as asking about today’s weather, Riina naturally didn’t fall for it so easily.
“I’ve already paid enough.”
“Oh my, that’s right. You’ve given me more than enough. I’m the one in debt now. This debt…”
Before Max could finish speaking, Riina gestured.
“Find out exactly what this machine is.”
At this, Max blinked.
“That’s enough?”
“What else could you do?”
“No, well… The people I’ve met have asked me to do various things.”
Riina chuckled and shook her head.
“I don’t need any of that. Unless you can eliminate my misfortune, that’s about all I want from you.”
After checking beyond the window, Riina stood up.
“I’ll take this blueprint. It seems our conversation is finished, so I’ll leave first. Go out the way you came, merchant.”
After Riina left with the utmost casualness, Max, left alone, blinked rapidly.
“Fortune and misfortune.”
He had already heard that Einar was the owner of heaven-sent luck.
That alone would make for a tremendously interesting story.
And the person such a man decided to stay beside was that Bolshevik.
“This family never runs out of interesting stories even without my intervention.”
Moreover, wasn’t this generation’s Bolshevik said to be the owner of ‘misfortune’ abandoned by heaven?
“A way to eliminate misfortune… It’ll be a tremendous story for the first time in a long while since that incident.”
With those words, rather than melting into shadows or hiding in darkness, Max disappeared from that spot in an instant, as if by magic.
Returning to her office while leaving Max as he was, Riina saw Becky fidgeting and gestured.
“What’s wrong?”
Becky scurried close to Riina’s side and whispered.
“You asked me to observe the shadow.”
At this, Riina immediately dismissed everyone around.
With only the two of them remaining, Becky methodically laid out Jane’s activities she had been observing.
“His Highness the Third Prince?”
“Yes. He summoned her twice. Even on the day of the engagement ceremony.”
‘So that’s what she’s been up to.’
Riina glanced toward the palace and soon nodded.
“If His Highness summons her, she has to go.”
It was obvious what Smith would say after summoning Jane.
Since she wouldn’t meet with him, he was probably probing about her circumstances or weaknesses.
But to do such things while knowing that Jane was Bolshevik’s ‘shadow.’
‘Should I say something?’
Riina immediately shook her head.
What kind of person was Smith?
Wasn’t he an annoying pest who persistently clung to what he wanted?
If she said even a word unnecessarily, it was obvious he would tenaciously latch on, taking it as an opportunity.
But she needed to find out what the two of them had discussed.
As Riina traced through her mind the list of those she had sent to the Third Prince’s palace, Becky’s even lower voice reached her ears.
“And she’s been trying hard to recruit internal personnel.”
At this, Riina’s eyebrows twitched.
“Within the family?”
“Yes. For now, she’s reaching out to the servants.”
Riina didn’t say that they would become Jane’s people anyway later, so it wouldn’t matter.
There was a proper order to all things.
Someday, in the not-so-distant future, when Riina left the family and Jane took her place, that would be then.
Right now, Jane was nothing more than a shadow.
“The annex servants?”
“Yes. She made so many proposals to have tea together that they said it now feels like a greeting.”
Becky shrugged and continued.
“Of course, everyone knows they can’t get close to a shadow, so they’re all declining.”
If she was being blocked at the servant level, it would be nearly impossible for Jane to recruit family insiders.
If the fact that Riina would leave the family and Jane would inherit Bolshevik became known, the story would be different.
But wasn’t that fact known only to Riina alone—no, only to her and Einar?
Since even Jane herself didn’t know this fact, what she was doing now was…
Riina’s finger tapped the armrest of her chair once, then again.
Her brow furrowed as she recalled the conversation she had just had with Max.
‘Hans, they said. The man who made this blueprint and is trying to implement the device.’
‘Hans?’
From Max’s additional words, Riina realized that ‘Hans’ was the big man who had rampaged at the auction house.
And that big man was also the very person who had threatened Becky and was connected to Jane.
Since she would hand everything over to Jane and leave anyway, she had thought to turn a blind eye even if something bothered her.
But there were more than one or two things that bothered her to just gloss over like that.
-Knock knock.
After the knocking sound that cut through her thoughts came a now quite familiar voice.
“Miss, it’s Lione.”
“Come in.”
Eventually the door opened and Lione entered. Riina’s expression became peculiar as she looked at him.
Sebastian had said he would personally handle the education, and from one to ten, wasn’t he exactly like Sebastian?
Even the angle of his bow, the direction he extended his hands, and subtle gestures were all so identical to Sebastian that it was frightening.
-Clink.
Lione’s face was perfectly composed as he set down the chamomile tea Riina enjoyed at the perfect temperature.
Taking up the teacup and sipping once, Riina nodded with a satisfied expression.
“Good.”
At that short word, the joy and sorrow of two people diverged starkly.
At the reaction of the one who was sad—no, angry—not only Riina but also Lione flinched slightly.
Becky’s expression as she looked at Lione was far from ordinary.
Though she was trying her best to maintain a poker face, she couldn’t fool Riina’s eyes, who had learned to wear various masks from a very young age.
Nor could she fool Lione’s eyes, who had grown up receiving the same education as Riina.
Of course, the perceptive Becky also seemed to realize this fact as she hurriedly bowed.
“Right. You can go.”
At Riina’s permission, Becky truly left without looking back.
“Lione.”
“Yes, Miss.”
“Has anything happened recently?”
Lione’s face brightened considerably as he understood exactly what she meant by ‘anything.’
“No!”
At his excessively happy reaction, Riina laughed.
“You seem quite satisfied.”
“May I say this?”
When Riina gestured for permission, Lione answered with a truly sun-like smile.
“This is the first time in my life I’ve lived in such indifference.”
Though it would sound like crazy talk to a third party, Riina nodded readily while setting down her half-empty cup.
“Well, that’s fortunate. In many ways.”
First, it was fortunate that Lione had found his own kind of freedom, and it was also fortunate that the family servants showed excellent work ethics by treating Lione like a dog looking at a chicken even after seeing him.
As time passed and Lione’s interactions with others increased, who knew what might happen, but since she had taken him as a personal servant specifically to avoid creating such situations, there probably wasn’t much to worry about.
“But…”
When Riina’s gaze went to where Becky had disappeared like the wind, Lione shook his head.
“Today was the first time I’ve seen her this close. Until now, I’ve only had contact with Head Butler Sebastian.”
That was part of the education, but it was also preparation for any possible situation.
After Lione became Riina’s person.
She had called Sebastian while keeping the extremely tense Lione by her side.
‘Sebastian.’
‘Yes, Miss.’
She pushed the frozen Lione in front of Sebastian.
‘He’s my personal servant.’
At those words, Sebastian immediately bowed his head.
‘Understood. I’ll handle his education.’
‘Yes. So what I’m saying is.’
Riina, who had cut off her words, left the two alone for a while before opening her mouth.
‘How is it? Do you feel anything?’
At her question, Lione even held his breath.
If Sebastian showed any specific reaction here—for instance, instinctively approaching him or smiling too brightly—then…
He unconsciously swallowed dry saliva.
‘May I speak honestly?’
‘Of course.’
And at his following answer, Lione squeezed his eyes shut.
‘Ah, so my future is again…’
But words completely different from his expectations came flying.
