Chapter 46
“Are you curious about the market?”
“I…”
“What exactly are you so curious about that you’re wandering around like that? Even the locals don’t roam the markets that way. I’ll give you the Central Market. But Palpien? Really?”
“Excuse me…”
“The goods are all the same anyway. Whatever they sell at the market, it’s all more or less the same stuff.”
“Today…”
“It’s not like you’re planning to buy anything. Lately, you haven’t even been buying snacks, let alone knickknacks. So why on earth are you trying to go to yet another market since the crack of dawn…?”
“…Let’s go to the department store.”
Abel, who had been gradually spiraling into a rant, faltered.
“What?”
The woman, blinking her swollen eyes, tentatively looked up before casting her gaze down again and speaking.
“Your favorite clothes were ruined because of me. I wanted to buy you a new outfit…”
At those words, Abel’s eyes shifted to the bag Seo-ah was holding.
The clothes she wore were high-quality since Oscar had bought them for her, but the bag she had purchased herself was nothing short of crude. Not only that, but from following her around, he had learned that she tried to spend money only on the absolute bare minimum.
He felt like an idiot for faltering even for a moment.
“You’re going to buy me one from the place where you got that bag?”
“No, that’s not it…”
Abel closed his eyes tight and muttered.
“Forget it. You don’t even have a clue how much those clothes cost.”
“Would this be enough?”
At that, the professional seducer instinctively paused, and Seo-ah opened the clasp of her crude bag with pale fingertips.
She forced open the bag, which had grown stiff in the cold weather, and pulled out a piece of paper that Barbara had stamped for her.
“The clothes he was wearing would have cost roughly this much.”
The amount Barbara had written down was staggering. The clothes had looked as luxurious as Oscar’s, but even so, she hadn’t realized they would be this expensive. As someone who tried to avoid using the money Oscar provided as much as possible, she had hesitated at the daunting figure, but Barbara had stamped it with an indifferent air.
However, looking at it again, the heavy sum weighed on her heart. Just then, Abel thrust his face forward. Uncomfortable with the sudden proximity, she held the paper out to him, and Abel took it as if he had been waiting for it.
Tick, tick.
She felt as if she could hear the sound of a second hand passing in her ear.
After a brief pause, Abel whipped around to face Seo-ah.
“Senior Barbara wrote you a check?”
“Yes.”
Abel turned his head back to the check. Seeing his eyes drift to the left, it seemed he was counting the digits. Seo-ah watched his reaction nervously before speaking tentatively.
“Is it… not enough?”
“If it’s not enough?”
If this isn’t enough… You’re hopeless at ever becoming rich.
“I’ll ask Madam Barbara for a little more.”
As if he truly couldn’t understand, Abel looked straight ahead, then at the check, then back at Seo-ah. His eyes narrowed as he studied her. Then, whatever he was thinking, he began to stride toward the main building.
Seo-ah hurried after him, offering a small protest.
“I didn’t steal it.”
“Obviously.”
It wasn’t that he trusted Seo-ah, but rather that it was obvious Barbara Valt’s vault wouldn’t have been robbed.
The people of the mansion watched as Abel Sting practically ran toward the main building, followed by the stranger who was desperately trying to keep up.
Among them were the master of the mansion and Barbara.
Oscar was leaning against a window frame looking out, and Barbara handed him hot coffee on a saucer.
“…and so, I couldn’t stop her. Rather than having her wander here and there, I thought it would be better to have her stay in one place. I will triple the backup team and ensure they avoid the crowds.”
When Oscar didn’t take his hand out of his robe pocket, Barbara set the coffee back down on the table and bowed her head.
“It seems they are looking for me. I will go down for a moment.”
When she stepped through the door connecting the bedroom to the office, Simon was waiting. Since they were the two who served Oscar most closely, Barbara gave him a low warning as soon as she saw him.
“His mood is not very good.”
Simon shrugged.
“It seems he took several more showers even after bathing in cold water last night.”
Oscar would often wash in water so cold it would give a frail person a heart attack. However, the water was used less for washing and more as a means to cool the emotions simmering inside him. The fact that he had showered several times meant his interior was boiling that much.
Simon’s face twisted.
“He has a schedule until tonight.”
“Is it for entertaining?”
“He’s the one being entertained.”
Barbara clicked her tongue.
“If you have anything to report regarding Count Jerome or the Marchioness, gauge his mood and do it tomorrow.”
“Understood, Senior.”
Barbara passed Simon, who bowed lightly.
The office led to the reception room, and beyond the reception room door was the grand hall. The noblewoman in her black dress crossed the hall with busy steps and descended the magnificent staircase. When she reached the main floor at the turn of the landing, her eyes met Abel’s as he walked toward the door left open for ventilation.
Seo-ah stopped between the wolf statues at the mansion entrance, while Abel climbed the stairs of the main building alone. Behind him, she could see Madam Barbara standing with a straight posture.
It seemed Abel didn’t feel comfortable holding such a large sum of money himself. In that case, it would be better for him to speak with Madam Barbara.
Seo-ah took a small breath and looked away from the two. Her gaze fell aimlessly upon the life-sized wolf statues.
The wind blowing past the statues was cold.
Seo-ah turned toward the Annex. The wide-open garden came into view. Looking at the garden, the things cluttering her mind receded into the background for a moment.
Servants moved to and fro around the fountain that had stopped running. As the wind shook the trees surrounding the mansion, the leaves clashed with a noisy rustle.
Shhhhh, shhhhh.
Today, it sounded just like the crashing of waves. And so, she thought of the sea. The sea, in turn, reminded her of her grandfather and the quilted clothes he used to make for her.
“You’ve grown taller this year, so you’ll need new clothes.”
Even though she had nowhere to go, her grandfather had always made her an outfit nice enough to wear out.
“You must dress warmly and stay healthy this winter as well, do you understand?”
A strand of warm memory, summoned by the cold wind, briefly thawed her heart, which had been frozen with self-loathing and guilt.
“Ack!”
Suddenly, a sound like a death rattle came from the direction of the main building. It was definitely the sound of someone being choked, and it even sounded like Abel’s voice.
She hurriedly turned toward the entrance of the main building. However, Seo-ah couldn’t help but tilt her head in confusion. Though she could only see his back, Abel looked perfectly fine.
But a moment later, when Abel turned back toward the outside of the mansion, Seo-ah’s eyes narrowed instinctively.
Abel Sting, who had just made a loud noise as if he were being strangled—the same Abel Sting who had been shivering with disgust and pouring out all sorts of verbal abuse toward her—was…
He was smiling with terrifying brightness.
A chill ran down her spine. All sorts of thoughts began to race through her mind at lightning speed.
Why is he doing that? Is he so dumbfounded because I’m so shameless?
Abel strode out. Seo-ah faltered backward and eventually stopped at the edge of the stairs leading to the garden. Even then, her mind was a tangle of complicated thoughts.
Is he laughing because it’s absurd? I mean, how ridiculous must it be? It probably looks like I’m trying to settle things with money. No, that’s exactly what it is. And it’s not even my money…
“Where did you say you wanted to go earlier?”
She stared blankly up at Abel Sting as he approached her. He narrowed his eyes into a very sweet expression. Even for someone as fickle as him, this was too much; he went from insulting her to being angry and then suddenly smiling, leaving her completely unable to find her bearings.
“You said let’s go to the department store?”
In the middle of the magnificent mansion that sounded like crashing waves, the professional seducer’s work ethic flared up to the top of his head as he wagged his tail playfully. Watching him, the stranger’s eyes trembled slightly.
The department store.
Madam Barbara, who had said there was no need to compensate for Abel’s clothes, had finally spoken after several earnest pleas.
“You should be able to find his clothes easily if you go to the department store.”
And fortunately, Abel seemed to very much welcome the proposal to go to the department store and buy him clothes.
