Chapter 98
The corners of Einar’s eyebrows dipped slightly as he shook his head.
“I just… want to be close to you.”
His sincerity flowed without reservation.
I want to be by your side.
That was all he meant.
It wasn’t dramatic, nor was it poignant or beautiful enough to stir one’s heart.
Yet why did that one sentence settle so deeply in her chest?
Unconsciously pressing her hand against her heart, Riina soon sank deep into her chair.
Einar then spoke the words she was about to say next.
“Ah, and is it alright for me to handle Bolshevik’s internal documents?”
It was a statement that would make anyone who overheard question the Second Prince’s sanity, but Einar added with the utmost casualness:
“You know, if I wanted to, I would discover everything even without these documents.”
This too was an outrageous claim, but Riina understood immediately.
What Einar desires comes to pass.
So there was no need to worry about internal information leaking from the documents.
“Einar.”
“Hmm?”
“Then wouldn’t the confidential documents be fine too?”
“That’s true, but I personally feel I shouldn’t touch those. I’d like to leave Bolshevik’s mysteries as mysteries.”
At his response, thrown like a jest, Riina suppressed a frivolous laugh and simply picked up her pen without further comment.
Scratch, scratch.
How much time had passed with only the sound of pens racing across paper and documents rustling?
Seeing the incredibly fast-growing stack of documents Einar had processed beside her, Riina spoke:
“You’re excellent at handling documents too.”
It was a casual remark, close to admiration, but Einar’s answer came from behind the neatly stacked completed documents:
“Even a quick glance shows the mistakes…”
But his words cut off abruptly, and soon Einar’s head peeked out from the left side of the quite tall stack of documents.
He smiled awkwardly and gently asked:
“Was that obnoxious?”
At his attitude, which seemed to acknowledge his mistake first, an ordinary person would have waved it off or sighed and moved on.
Of course, Riina didn’t hold back:
“Yes. No matter how carefully I review, something always goes wrong.”
It wasn’t even a matter of reviewing once carefully.
Whether she checked twice or countless times, something always went awry.
The only reason the frequency wasn’t high was because Riina pathologically pursued perfection in her work.
Yes, she was obsessively perfect in her duties.
Before her regression, she had focused on becoming the perfect Bolshevik heir, and after her regression, she did so knowing that her decisions profoundly affected countless lives.
She soon shook her head and readjusted her pen.
“Anyway, since you’re offering to help, I won’t refuse.”
Since he had already sat down and made himself comfortable, Einar wouldn’t retreat, so it was better to acquiesce.
Scratch, scratch.
Flutter.
How much time had passed with only the sound of turning pages and moving pens?
“There, now it’s done.”
Einar put down his pen as he turned the last document.
Riina, taking the document he handed her, responded with disbelief:
“You’re right. It’s… finished.”
As Einar had said, processing all the documents except the confidential ones hadn’t taken long.
Moreover, there was no need to review the documents Einar had approved, so it truly was finished.
Although Einar’s document processing ability wasn’t particularly trustworthy based on what she’d heard, his luck was beyond doubt.
If he had decided to process documents, they must have been done properly.
Lightly turning his hand, Einar stood up and extended his hand toward Riina.
“Shall we go now?”
Placing her hand on his as he smiled, Riina chuckled.
With her mind spinning frantically about Jane and the Third Prince—mostly Jane—it wouldn’t be bad to step outside for a brief respite.
“Alright. Since you’ve helped this much, I’ll accompany you.”
“An infinite honor, my princess.”
Around the time Einar was leaving the Bolshevik estate with Riina.
Lione was repeatedly sighing behind a pillar not far from Jane’s quarters in the Bolshevik estate’s annex.
“Was it meant to be like this? No, this situation isn’t bad. It actually seems good. But was it really meant to be like this?”
After muttering incomprehensibly, he looked down at his own hand and blinked slowly.
It was a bizarre sight, half-embedded in shadow, yet it felt completely natural.
No, that’s precisely what made it feel more bizarre.
He kept checking his hand, clenching and unclenching his fist, but his hand eaten by darkness remained invisible.
“How did it end up like this?”
How indeed…
He recalled that time, still vivid enough to remember even the scent of the wind.
‘You should quit being a servant.’
After saying this, Einar immediately took him to a location on the outskirts of the capital.
‘Y-Your Highness?’
Just as Lione, who had reluctantly followed him with Riina’s permission, was about to ask Einar something:
‘I said your talent was wasted, didn’t I? Here’s someone with that talent. Do well.’
In the empty, spacious clearing, Einar’s behavior—as if speaking to someone—froze Lione, and Einar patted his shoulder and smiled.
‘You’ll be able to finish quickly. You might perfectly achieve what you desire.’
‘What? What do you…’
Einar left immediately, and Lione was left alone in the empty lot.
As he recalled this far, Lione’s complexion turned pale, and frustration burst from between his lips:
“I thought it was an empty… place, but it was no such thing!”
Despite the rather loud noise, the servants passing right beside the pillar where Lione was hiding in the shadows didn’t notice his presence.
Realizing this fact as he sensed the servants’ presence, Lione sighed so deeply it seemed the ground might cave in.
He felt an indescribable emotion toward himself for being excessively, unnecessarily good at this infiltration technique.
There was clearly no one visible to him, yet he could vividly picture where people were and what they were doing just from their presence.
And the person who taught—no, instilled—this in him had smiled.
Quite contentedly.
Even after Einar left the clearing, Lione remained frozen in place for a while, surveying the excessively quiet surroundings.
Yes, it was too quiet.
A terribly artificial silence where not even insect sounds could be heard.
The moment he realized this, Lione instinctively jerked his body backward.
Thud.
The metal needle that narrowly missed him buried itself deep into the ground, and after that…
Lione, who had involuntarily shuddered, looked down at his body, which was half “embedded” in the shadow with perfect naturalness.
He couldn’t have predicted or even imagined such a thing was possible.
‘A true genius! A prodigy that might appear once in a thousand years!’
According to the person who taught him all this in an instant, this wasn’t something achievable through effort but solely dependent on the presence of talent.
“I was always physically adept, but to this extent…”
Wasn’t it unnecessary to be this good?
Swallowing the words that wouldn’t come out, Lione pulled his neck back slightly.
Servants had stopped right in front of the pillar where he was hiding and began chattering.
“…so I’m not confident!”
“What confidence! If you love someone, go straight for it! Don’t waste time circling around only to have someone else snatch them away!”
“What? There are others who love him besides me…”
The utterly ordinary love story of strangers that could be heard anywhere.
But the moment he heard this conversation, Lione nodded vigorously.
To be so good at even this. He should be grateful for his talent.
He had wished to remain unnoticed by people, and wasn’t this the perfect way to fulfill that wish through his own power?
Come to think of it, the Second Prince had said:
“Perfectly achieve what you desire…”
The resentment toward Einar that had grown vigorously as he was driven to the brink of death in that clearing hadn’t melted away like snow, but it had been somewhat diluted.
To throw him into a death trap without a word of explanation and then leave.
Recalling that time, Lione, who again felt a chill and a surge of resentment, exhaled deeply and began moving swiftly toward his destination without further delay.
He had to move to protect the Young Miss.
When he returned to the mansion that day after countless brushes with death, Riina had patted his shoulder and whispered:
‘Well done.’
It was just one phrase.
But the sincerity contained within it made Lione unconsciously scratch his chest.
Hmm, I should express my gratitude to the Second Prince after all.
Resentment aside, he had become slightly more helpful to the Young Miss than before.
Though his status as a personal servant remained unchanged, now that he had become a servant with a somewhat different meaning.
He needed to hide in someone’s shadow for Riina.
After he gained the ability to merge with shadows and disappear seamlessly from anywhere, Becky, who had suddenly appeared as if knowing, got straight to the point as always:
‘So you’re protecting the Young Miss?’
